She stays put. Of course. She likes being in charge of everything. After a moment, though, she stands and walks in front of me. I once made the mistake of letting her follow me, and she took the waiter’s tip when my back had been turned. I know better now.
“Let’s go do something,” she offers. “A couple thing, not just dinner.”
I know why she made up with me. She’s determined to keep me from Gracie. If we fight hard enough that we break up, I think she’s convinced I’ll go to Gracie for comfort. She really wants me to stay away from her. I think that’s why she’s still in this relationship. Because she just doesn’t want Gracie getting me in any way, shape, or form.
As we climb into my car, Donna turns to me, putting a hand on her wrist. “Let’s go away for a weekend then. Just us. We haven’t done that in a while, and I think that’s why our relationship is so strained. We just haven’t hadustime.”
Yeah, that’s not it, but whatever.
“A weekend to where?” I ask, my curiosity piqued.
Our weekends out usually consist of a lot of sex. That’s the part I like the most.
She shrugs and gives me a playful smile, batting her eyes. “You can choose if you want.”
I quirk an eyebrow, genuinely surprised. It isn’t often she lets go of the controls. “Me?”
She nods fervently and bites her lip. My eyes linger on the action and graze down to her plump breasts, practically bursting from her bra and shirt. A mound of cleavage is showing. I can’t remember if that’s how she looked when we entered the restaurant, but at the moment, I’m not really concerned about that.
“I get to choose?” I repeat, just wanting to double-check.
“Absolutely, baby,” she purrs, stroking my arm with her nails.
I look down at her arm and then back to her lips and lean over, reaching around her head to curl my fingers in her hair and pull her close to me. I smash our lips together and kiss as hard as possible. Our tongues fight for dominance for a few moments before I pull back and turn to put the key in the ignition and start the car. She breathes heavily, giggling slightly, and when I peek at her again, she’s fixing her hair in the mirror. I decide to just ignore her for the moment.
I need to get my head straight. But I can’t do that if all I do is think negatively about shit.
Pulling into traffic in silence, I go over her offer. A getaway might be nice, but other than the sex part, I really don’t want to be alone with the woman. It’s easier not to focus completely on the negative things if we aren’t left alone.
When I come to a rolling stop behind a line of cars, I drum my fingers on the steering wheel.
“What about a couple’s retreat sort of thing, but also, we double?”
“Double?” she asks, sounding slightly confused.
When I look at her, she’s staring at me with bunched-up eyebrows and her phone in her hand. She had obviously turned to it and whoever she’s talking to these days. I don’t go through her phone. I want to trust her, even though I know better.
“Yeah, like a double couple thing. Us and Devon and Kate.”
Her eyes light up, and I guess it’s because Gracie hasn’t been. She squirms excitedly in her chair. She may not be very fond of Kate and may not see her as best friend material, but she treats her a hell of a lot better than she does Gracie and tolerates her even better than that. A double couple’s weekend away with those two shouldn’t be too much of an issue for her.
“We can do that if you’d like. Absolutely!”
I smile tightly and turn as a horn honks. I move the car forward, realizing the line in front of me has moved a great length.
Donna starts to babble, going on about what we can do during the weekend away, already making plans. I roll my eyes in annoyance, but keep my face pointed away so she can’t see it.
Just keep her happy until you can get shit figured out.
Figured out. Those words echoed in my mind. My stomach clenches. There was one simple way to figure shit out. I would have to get away fromboth of them.My fingers tighten on the steering wheel, and I feel what little of the cheeseburger I ate curl in my stomach. I can’t move in with Donna, and I can’t keep living with Gracie. That’s just the facts. My teeth clench together.
The answer is simple and has been staring at me right in the face this entire fucking time. Why the hell it took me so long to figure out, I don’t know. I’m an idiot, I guess.
Donna prattles in my ears, and I proceed to ignore her. I really don’t care what she’s talking about. All I know is that I’ll give her this double date weekend shit and then move in with my parents and go from there. Because that’s just what’s going to have to be done. I’m going to have to move home, get my head straight, and strike out on my own.
Fucking awesome.
Chapter9