“But—”
A warm hand curled around my waist from behind me, and I felt Drey’s presence immediately. His palm flattened against my abdomen, setting off a flurry of activity at my belly…and a little bit lower.
Then again, his touch always did.
Jeff’s cheeks reddened enough to match a tomato. “Oh.”
“Hey, girl. Who’s your friend?” His hand inched a little lower, and he gently pulled me against him. It wasn’t obnoxiously possessive, but claiming, that was for sure. I didn’t mind, though. For so long I’d belonged or been claimed by horrible men. But with Drey, it didn’t feel horrible, suppressive, or demanding. It was comforting. Reassuring.
“Jeff. He was just saying hi.”
“Hey,” he said, his voice cracking. “You’re…with him?”
“Most definitely,” Drey answered for me as he offered his stash of tickets for the bucket I was holding.
It didn’t escape my notice he was staring this Jeff guy down. A ping of guilt sliced through my chest over the fact that I didn’t even remember the guy. One of my drunken stupors that led to one of my many poor choices.
Either Drey didn’t know this or he did and he didn’t care, because as he reached for the bucket, he kissed my cheek. “Ready to get that teddy bear?”
“I better let you get back to…yeah…nice seeing you again, Sarah.” Jeff hightailed it around us.
Damn it. My past was going to jump up and bite me in the ass all the time, wasn’t it? And at the most inopportune moments!
“He seemed a little squirrely.” Drey came around to face me, his hand gliding up my back and resting at the nape of my neck. “Thought maybe he was hitting on my girl here.”
He clicked his tongue ring against his teeth as he smiled at me, but suddenly his smile disappeared. “What’s wrong? Did he say something to upset you?”
“No.”
“Then what?” He curled a strand of my now jet-black hair behind my ear.
“I…” I took in a deep breath. Might as well tell him the ugly, not that he didn’t already know, but he should know everything about me. I mean, I loved the guy, he deserved to know what he was getting with me.
The real me.
No…theoldme.
“I won’t have you sad on our date.” He tapped my nose. “Spit it out and we’ll run it over with a steamroller, then get back to kissing.”
I laughed. He could just as easily do that, couldn’t he? I wished I could.
“I vaguely remembered him, Drey.” I let out a breath.
We were standing by the half wall away from the basketball game.
“That’s okay. I can’t remember anybody’s name. I—”
“It’s not that. I—he and I. When I was drinking so much. I think—shit.” Yeah, I could talk.
“Hey. Hey.” He coiled his arm around my waist and drew me to him again. I held the bucket up, though, so there was a little space between us. He frowned. “I told you. Past is past.”
“Yeah, but—”
“And remember what I said about buts,” he teased. “I think you owe me for that one.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. He’d said I’d have to pay him in kisses for every time I saidyeah, but. There were a few days when I said it on purpose, just to kiss him. But now…
He pressed his lips to mine. His fingers moved up into my hair now, gently holding the back of my head in place while he owned my mouth. Maybe he was showing Jeff, who might be watching, that I really was Drey’s, or…he was showing me that he really didn’t care.