Well, it didn’t really matter. I’d wing it when I got there. The only thing I knew was if anyone was going to get Red’s V-card, it would be me.
5
Scarlett
I SAT ON my sofa, wiping tears off my cheek. Everywhere I looked, I saw Erin. The succulents on the kitchen counter were hers. She bought the flatscreen on the wall two years ago when we moved into this place. The three of us shared the bookcase on the wall. Erin’s shelves were filled with trophies from surfing competitions she’d participated in. I wondered if her parents wanted them. They never cared much for her love of surfing.
Erin and I had met our second year of college in an accounting class and became fast friends. We both had controlling parents and could relate to the pressures of pleasing them instead of ourselves. Surfing was Erin’s escape. Dancing was mine.
Laney had been my roommate since freshman year. She didn’t have the same issues with her folks as Erin and I had with ours, but she struggled to make friends. We all just clicked together.
The three of us were practically glued at the hip for the last four years. It was like we were all pieces of the same heart. When we found each other, we fit snugly together. And now, a part of my heart was gone. Forever.
“God, I miss you.”
My chest rattled as I pulled my damp hair to the side and let it fall over my shoulder. I ran my fingers through it, touching the ends the way Leo had. I had taken an extra long shower, thinking of him.
My lips still tingled with the memory of him kissing me.
My skin heated in all the places he’d touched. Like he’d branded me when I didn’t even know it. I missed his warm body wrapped around mine, comforting and caring for me.
He was charming, cocky, and confident. Yet caring.
I’d liked his playful side and the way his lip quirked up when he was being a smartass. But I hated all the women panting over him. All the women who’d slept with him. All the women who had him before me.
I wished I hadn’t sent him away, but the truth was, we would never work no matter how much I felt drawn to him, safe and comfortable. I’d sensed the bad boy side in him. The one that broke the rules unapologetically and was proud to have had sex with dozens upon dozens of women. He was totally the opposite of me—a rules follower, acutely aware of my actions, and a virgin.
My parents wouldn’t have ever approved of Leo. I could hear them scoffing at his lifeguard job and immoral lifestyle. They weren’t awful people, but they were set in their ways and what they wanted for their five children.
As the oldest, I was the example. My brother and sisters looked up to me. Everything I did growing up was scrutinized and corrected. When I was finally free, I went as far away as I could while staying on the West Coast.
I smiled, thinking of my younger siblings and how they’d probably like Leo. Erin would have loved him.
I sniffled, blinking back tears and shaking my head. No, Leo would have broken my heart because a man like him couldn’t be with only one woman. He wasn’t marriage material. I wouldn’t be enough for him.
I snorted pathetically. Maybe I should have given Leo my V-card, then he would have run away fromme.
Enough already, Scar. I lifted off the couch and padded into the kitchen for some water. Maybe a banana since I hadn’t really eaten anything since breakfast.
The doorbell rang and I froze. It was a quarter to nine, and I wasn’t expecting anyone. It rang again, then rapid knocking followed.
“Red! Red, you in there?”
Lifeguard Leo?
I tiptoed to the door to peer through the peephole. It was Leo.
“Please, Red, let me in. I know you’re in there.”
I gripped my stomach and blew out a breath, then opened the door. “What are you doing here?”
His eyes slowly lowered to my body and his blond eyebrows raised. It was then I remembered I was only in an oversized T-shirt. Since I wasn’t quite five foot three and had stumpy legs, it hit mid-thigh. I curled my toes and stepped behind the door to block his view of me.
“Jesus, you’re gorgeous.”
I ignored him. “What are you doing here?”
“Can I come in?”