He leaned in close so his mouth was right by her ear. "I'll call you later, yeah?" Her heart stuttered, and she found herself nodding. "Good." He kissed her again, but there was no tongue, just a light press of his lips against hers. "Now, you better go or she'll come around the corner and see my goods." He tapped her on the kiss, and she made a little noise.
Before Darcy did come around the corner she left Alex standing there naked, her cheeks still hot from what they had done. "Sorry."
"Girl, what in the hell were you doing back there?" Darcy looked curious, even peeked around Mary's shoulder. Mary grabbed Darcy's arm and tried to steer her away, but Darcy dug her heels in the ground. "Wait a minute. Why in the hell did you haul ass out of there? Was it because of Alex? I thought you were just tutoring him so he'd go with you to your sister's wedding? You guys fighting again? Did that asshole make some other dick-wad comment?" Darcy's rapid-fire questions had Mary's head spinning.
"Can we talk about this at home?" Darcy's expression didn't flicker, but as she roamed her eyes up and down Mary, and that confusion slowly vanished, and in its place was a shit-eating grin.
"Oh. My. Fucking. Go-" Mary used all her strength and pulled Darcy out of the locker room, because no way in hell did she want Alex hearing whatever was about to come out of her roommate's mouth.
Chapter Fourteen
"What in the hell are you doing?" Darcy was all but laughing as Mary moved through the gym so fast she felt the fighters stopping what they were doing to watch. "I'll call you later, Mica." Darcy called out behind her. Once they were outside Mary let go of Darcy and stared at her. "Alex was in the locker room with you, wasn't he?" By the heat that covered every part of Mary, and the hundred-watt grin on Darcy's face, Mary knew her friend was aware of what she hadn't said aloud. Darcy leaned forward, and in a hushed, but excited voice said, "Oh. My. God. You slept with him, you slut." She looked around, but Mary knew she wasn't nearly done interrogating her. "Is he big? Oh, God, I bet he is. I knew he fucked you by the ‘I just got screwed good and hard look' written all over your face." Darcy kept going on and on, and Mary glanced around, feeling even more humiliated.
"Shh, Darcy. You're so loud." Scrubbing a hand over her face and then up to her hair, Mary knew her face heated further when she felt her ponytail hanging lopsided. "Yeah, okay I did have sex with him." Darcy took her hand, and they started walking to the curb, but before they made it back to the alleyway and to Darcy's car the sound of the gym's front door opening stopped them.
"Can I give you girls a lift?" They turned around, and Alex walked up to them. Mary's heart immediately started pounding. He had a different pair of shorts on and a black t-shirt, but all she could picture was him naked and thrusting into her. "It's not really safe to be walking alone downtown. Mica shouldn't have let you guys come here alone. He should get his ass beat because of it." His face was a hard mask, and he tilted his head to the side and gestured for them to follow. They looked at each other, and then at Alex as he walked over to a truck parked next to the curb.
"You will give me details later, girl," Darcy whispered, and Mary couldn't help but chuckle. Of course Alex had no problem navigating through traffic and circling back around so he could park next to Darcy's car. There was a moment of awkward silence.
Mary opened the door, but Alex's deep voice stopped her.
"Mary, can I talk to you for a moment?"
Darcy cleared her throat. "I'll, uh, leave you two alone for a moment." Mary wasn't looking at Darcy, but she could hear the smile in her friend's voice. Why was the truck so freaking warm all of a sudden? Darcy gave Mary two thumbs up once she was out of the car and she prayed Alex hadn't seen it, but when she looked at him, saw his grin, she knew damn well he had.
"Your friend seems nice, although if she's seeing Mica she must be a little rebel." That she was.
Mary put a stray piece of hair behind her rear that had fallen from her ponytail. She didn't know what to say, but sure as hell wasn't going to let him see how nervous she was. When he didn't start talking she decided to just get this over with.
"What did you want to talk about?" His amusement from only seconds before was now gone, and Mary's heart raced even faster.
He looked out the window, and then after a long couple of seconds turned back to her. "I want to take you on a date." For a moment all she could do was stare at him, because as silly as it seemed, even after they had just had sex, this was so not what she thought he would be telling her.
"I mean, shit." he rubbed the back of his neck and looked out the windshield. Without looking at her again he said, "I wanted to do this right, but then, well, the whole locker room thing." His grin was back, and she felt her cheeks become fire hot. "I'm going to be honest. I've never done this before. You know, asked a girl out, not even in high school."
Oh. Wow. If that wasn't a bit unnerving and a little bizarre, but then again girls wanted from Alex what he wanted from them, and it wasn't about fancy wine glasses or easy conversation.
"A date?" She felt like a major bitch for saying that so incredulously.
"Yeah. Pretty fucking crazy, I know." His voice was void of emotion, and she knew she had offended him.
Before she stuck her foot in her mouth again she said, "I'd really like that, Alex." A flicker of surprise moved across his face, and then he was grinning. "I mean we did sleep together and all, and I'd look kind of easy if I didn't accept." When he chuckled she started to as well, thankful the mood was a little lighter.
He leaned forward and kissed her, right there, no doubt in front of Darcy. "I think I love you." He was smiling when he pulled back and she knew his words weren't in the literal sense, but that didn't stop her heart from skipping a beat. "You free tomorrow? I want to make plans before you realize you just agreed to go out with me and change your mind."
It was her turn to laugh, but it was more of the nervous variety. She hadn't gone out with a guy in years, but this wasn't just any guy.
"Yeah, I really would like to go out with you, Alex." The tension and awkwardness in the truck dissipated, and giddiness settled inside of her. Mary could handle the truth, could handle being one of the girls who'd experienced one night in the star quarterback's bed, so to speak, but what she hadn't anticipated was the heartfelt apology Alex gave her, or the explanation of why he had acted the way he did at Tainted, or him asking her on a date after he already had her. She had braced herself for the worst, and enjoyed the best, and right now she was uncertain of what lay ahead. That scared the shit out of her. She would just have to go with the flow, and hope she didn't drown in the process.
****
Alex was nervous with a girl, and that was something he had never experienced before. He sat across from Mary at The Refectory, a restaurant that specialized in American and French cuisine. It was one he had passed on more than one occasion, but never in his life did he think he would be sitting within it on a date. What was sad was he hadn't even had anything formal to wear, not living in Columbus. So he had gone to Brooks Brothers and purchased a pair of slacks and an oxford so he looked somewhat presentable. He had worn a getup like this before, years ago, but being in Mary's presence in such an unusual setting, for him anyway, had his palms sweating and his heart racing. He felt like a damn teenager all over again.
"This place is amazing." Mary lifted her wine glass and took a sip. He followed her gaze to the high ceiling with the thick wooden beams, and down to the brick walls that surrounded them. "I've always wanted to come here, but never had someone to go with and didn't want to come alone." Her cheeks turned pink, and he couldn't help but grin. It really didn't take much to embarrass her, even if she was the one doing that to herself.
"Yeah, me, too." It wasn't really a lie, because until he had met her he hadn't cared about places like this. But once she said yes to going on a date with him, he knew he wanted to take her here. They had just finished up their meal, and now a comfortable silence settled between them.
"Did you like dinner?" She had gotten some kind of chicken and pasta dish, and on several different occasions he had found himself drawn to her eating. At times she acted so sensual about eating, and had even moaned lightly with each bite. If she had he didn't doubt her cheeks would have been in a constant state of redness.