“Drake’s got you all wrapped up. Wouldn’t be surprised if his possessive crazy ass wasn’t keeping you as far away from me as possible,” Jess drawled.
“Got that damn right,” Preston said as he stepped over the seat in front of us and went directly to Amanda’s side as if she needed guarding from someone.
Amanda slapped his chest. “Stop it. Jess is my friend and you know that.”
Really? Interesting.
Preston scowled and pulled Amanda closer to him before shifting his scowl to me. Then slowly, understanding lit his eyes as he glanced between the two of us. A smirk touched his lips. “So that shit was true? Dewayne said the two of you showed up together at Live Bay. I didn’t believe him,” Preston said, looking more than amused.
“Shut up, Drake,” Jess snapped, sitting down beside Amanda and then glancing up at me. “I’d introduce you, but seeing as how you dated his woman, Jason, I assume y’all have met.”
“They didn’t fucking date,” Preston growled.
Amanda turned to whisper something to him, and I looked away. Let her deal with his insane ass.
“Ignore him,” Jess said. “He goes apeshit whenever he thinks someone unworthy gets near her. Irony in its best form.”
I couldn’t have agreed more. I leaned down to her ear and asked, “How is it that you two are friends?”
Jess leaned back and cocked an eyebrow at me like she was offended. A slow smile finally took its place. “Because Amanda Hardy is hard to resist, even for females. She’s always been good to me, from the time we were kids. And then, of course, there was the time she wanted to get Preston’s attention and decided getting trashed and dancing at bars was the way to do it. So she of course came to see me for guidance.”
What? That didn’t sound like the Amanda I knew. Jess threw her head back and laughed. “If you could see the disbelief on your face,” she said, grinning.
“She really did that?”
Jess nodded. “Yep. But remember, I like Amanda. So I made sure her bad-girl performance was monitored and she was safe. Besides, it didn’t take long for her to figure out that that wasn’t the life she wanted to lead. After that, we really became friends.”
I knew that Jess didn’t tell me this to impress me. She shrugged and turned her attention back to the game. But I couldn’t take my eyes off her. She really was special and she didn’t have a clue.
Chapter Seven
JESS
Amanda was the type of girl I could see Jason with. She made more sense. She was the kind he would have made it work with. She would have brought him back to Sea Breeze over and over again.
I wasn’t.
I was the fling. I spent most of the game cheering Rock’s boy Brent on and pushing these thoughts to the back of my mind. Amanda was the only one of the elite Sea Breeze crowd who gave me a chance. The rest of them stuck their noses in the air and treated me like . . . a stripper’s daughter.
Amanda was different. Just like her brother, Marcus. They accepted everyone. So I refused to get jealous over Jason having dated Amanda. We were just hanging out, anyway. He would be gone soon.
Brent caught a pass, and I forgot my problems and jumped up to cheer. Rock was standing down on the field beside the coach. When Brent came running to the sidelines, he ran straight for Rock and threw his arms around him. I felt a lump form in my throat, and my eyes watered. Preston’s younger siblings had suffered a lot when their mother was alive. The only reason they had survived was because Preston made sure to take care of them. He did things he would probably never forgive himself for in order to supply them with what they needed.
Preston had taken off running down the stands toward the field as he hooted and yelled. Somehow they made this all work, and seeing the happy smiles on the kids’ faces would make anyone tear up. Rock and Trisha made excellent parents.
I reached up and wiped away the one tear that got loose, before sitting back down beside Jason. I could feel his eyes on me, and I glanced over at him and smiled. The curious expression on his face confused me. I turned my attention back to the field.
“When this is over, you want to go get something to eat?” Jason asked.
Looking back at him, I decided there was nothing I would rather do. Getting too attached to this guy wasn’t something I could do, but I liked spending time with him. He wasn’t constantly trying to grope me, and he didn’t talk to me like I was beneath him. He was just as sweet in public as he was in private. And he seemed to like me. He actually laughed at my sarcasm and he got when I was kidding. He didn’t roll his eyes at me or ignore me.
It was a unique experience.