Ross 03 Leave Me Breathless(19)

Tight butt. Firm thighs. The lingering ache between her thighs was testament that he knew how to use those muscles. The ink…well, she wasn’t into it, but was it a deal breaker? Not in the least. She propped her head up on her hand and tried not to salivate as he moved toward the door.

“Got anything to drink?” he asked.

“All kinds of stuff. Help yourself to whatever you find.”

“Want something?”

“Maybe I’ll have a sip of whatever you’re having.”

She traced the ivy pattern on her sheets as she listened to him rummage around the kitchen. Searching through her cabinets, presumably for a glass, opening the fridge. It was strange having someone around. Strange, but nice. Even if he would be gone by tomorrow.

He walked back in a moment later with a glass of something—she couldn’t see what. He handed it to her as he slid back under the covers, and she caught a glimpse of the glint of silver on his cock and the tattoo just above his pubic area, but she couldn’t make out what it was.

The scent wafting from the glass she held reached her nostrils, and she took a sip, looking at him in surprise. “Apple juice?” she laughed.

“Yeah, so?”

“I just figured you’d go for something a little stronger.”

“It was tempting. Actually, just so you know, I don’t drink that much anymore. Every now and then I’ll have a good time with friends, but not like I used to. Waking up in strange places with strange ink will do that to you.”

“Good to know.” She handed it back to him. He took a drink and set it on her nightstand, settling next to her again. “I didn’t get to see. What did you cover up Casper with?” she asked. She tried to lift the covers, but it was too dark underneath.

“Ghostface.”

She burst into laughter, and he followed suit. “From Scream? You did not.”

“Naw, I didn’t. It’s still a ghost, but it’s a scary-ass ghost.”

“Oh, great. Now I have to come face-to-face with him whenever…”

“You’ll learn to love him. It’s a package deal. The monster in my pants and the monster lurking above.”

“You have a lot of pride in your, erm, endowments, don’t you?”

He cut her a sideways grin. “Am I hearing a complaint?”

“Nope, not from me.”

“All right, then.” She liked the way he looked at her, his gaze drinking her in from her eyes to her lips to the tumble of her hair down her arm. He reached out and touched a strand of it, curling it around his finger.

She didn’t know if she should ask the questions burning in her brain, but she wanted…no, she needed…to know more about who he was. He’d already shut her down once in the car. She glanced down and watched her fingertip trail around a curl of ink on his arm, taking the plunge. “How long were you together with Raina?”

“Three years.”

Eyes widening, she lifted on her elbow and stared down at him. “Three years? How long ago did you break up?”

“About six months before you and I met.”

Well over a year ago, then. That was somewhat of a relief, though she wondered why it had never come up before. “What happened?”

“You met her, didn’t you?”

“But she didn’t get that way overnight. You put up with it for that long, so there must have been something else. I’m sorry, I’m just insanely curious.”

“It was cool to be that needed.”

“Oh, come on.”

“But I got over it.”

“After three years.”

“All right, you want the ugly truth? The girl was insane in the sack. She was insane in every other aspect too. She would go off on someone, or on me, in a heartbeat. It was fun. I got a kick out of wondering what the hell she would do next. We were like the death of every party, because we would get into a gigantic fight, and things would get destroyed…mostly by her as she threw them at me.”

“So domestic violence is a turn-on for you.”

He laughed. “Damn, when you put it like that, it sounds terrible. It wasn’t that bad. She weighs all of ninety pounds. And it’s mostly a front. She can cuss you six ways to Sunday, but if you say something that cuts her, she’ll cry for hours.”

“How did you meet?”

“Our lead singer introduced us. He knew her from Austin, where she used to live. She was in another band, but it was falling apart, and she did some guest vocals with us. When she and I hooked up, she moved here with me. She’s hung around ever since.”

“What happened? I mean, if it was all so much fun for you then—”

“She got pregnant.”

Macy’s heart skipped a beat as everything else froze. Not entirely certain how to proceed, she watched him closely and let him go on in his own time.

“The only other person on earth I’ve told this to is Brian, and I think even that was from shock. He was the one who was right there beside me when she called to tell me. Raina…she was excited. It scared the shit out of me. I mean, I might want to be a dad someday, but not any time soon, right? And I wouldn’t wish her as a mother on anyone. Still, it was my responsibility too, so I wasn’t going to run from it. But it made me realize how little I wanted to be with her. I mean, marry her? Or even deal with her for the next eighteen years while we raise a kid? That’s what freaked me more than anything. Turns out it didn’t matter. She had a miscarriage.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. It was brutal. Sent her into a tailspin.”

“What about you?”

“I guess I’d gotten used to the idea. It’s a shock when suddenly everything you’ve been planning for and worrying about is gone just like that.” He snapped his fingers. “I was pretty messed up too. But I knew by then I wanted out, right, but it only made her cling to me more, and I knew I couldn’t leave her like that. I stuck it out with her a few months until I thought she was in a better place; then I had to bail. She had started talking about trying to get pregnant again, and I just couldn’t deal with it.”

Macy was silent while she digested what he’d just told her. Wow. She’d been expecting petty drama, not the life-altering circumstances that had led to their demise. And all at once she was ashamed of herself for making the crack to Raina about skipping her next dose. For all she knew, the girl was still dealing with the emotional fallout of losing her baby and the guy she loved in short order.

“I feel bad for her, and for a while I tried to be there for her if she needed me, but she would never take it for what it was. She wouldn’t give it up. Then in typical Raina fashion, she started getting crazy on me and my friends, so…fuck her. It’s done, I’m done. She’s a big girl; she needs to deal with it.”

“What about the other girl she mentioned?”

He’d been absently stroking her hair, but at her question, his hand froze. “Nothing to tell. I was a stupid kid. It wasn’t what I thought it was.” He scoffed and muttered, “Obviously,” so low she could hardly hear it, shifting so that he lay on his back, staring straight up at the ceiling.

“Stupid kid or not, it sounds like it had a pretty serious effect on you.”

“Listen to you, getting all deep.” He grinned. He was a pretty good actor, she decided, but not that good. “Like I said, I was a dumbass. She was hot. I thought I was in love. I thought maybe she was too. She wasn’t. End of story.”

She sighed and laid her head on his shoulder. “What was her name?”

“Brooke.”

She wanted to ask more, but the brusqueness of his reply clearly stated he considered the subject closed without even divulging the girl’s last name.

“I was with my first boyfriend for a long time,” she said instead. “We grew up together, so it wasn’t really that I loved him in that way. He was just always there, you know?”

“Why are we tossing around the L-word so much?”

“Hey, you said it first.”

“Then I’ll be the first to shut it down.”

“Fine by me.” She searched her brain for another topic maybe he wouldn’t shut down. Speaking of obvious love… “How long have you and Brian known each other?”

“Freshman year. I knew of him before, but we officially met in art class. He was like the big class star, at least in there. I got sick of it, so I went over to his table one day to tell him I thought his still lifes were okay but his perspective sucked. He said, ‘Hey, fuck you.’ After class, we beat the shit out of each other in the hallway and landed in detention together. Started talking about music. And a dysfunctional friendship was born. We still argue to this day over who won the fight. There’s been more than one rematch.”

She snickered. “Sounds like you two.”

“We’re a good team, though. Especially at work.”

“How are you a team at a tattoo shop?”

“Well, see, he’s stellar at portraits. When Brian draws someone’s face, it looks more like them than they do. You’ve seen his work, right?”

“I saw the drawing he did of Candace. It’s incredible.”

“But he’s not all that great at lettering. It’s his dirty little secret, and I love to give him shit about it. I’m just the opposite. No way in hell I want to fuck up the face of someone’s loved one on their body, you know? Shit makes me twitchy to even think about. So I draw up all his lettering, and he never throws any portraits my way. Give me a scorpion or a gecko or something any day, I’ll bang it out in no time. But not Grandma Lucy.”