like he even waited before we stopped…” Face flushing, I brush it off. “I’m just tired. Ignore me.”
“No, wait.” He keeps ahold of the car so I can’t drive away like I’m itching to do. My palm twitches on the gearshift but doesn’t move it into drive. “What do you mean all the people he’s slept with? Trust me, Red, he’s not sleeping with anybody.”
I blink. “What? No, that’s impossible. Even before things got … tense with us, he’d either come home later than normal or not until the next day.”
He just shakes his head adamantly. “I’m telling you he hasn’t been sleeping with anybody. I’d know. The ass has been cramping my style. There’s a permanent indent in my couch because of him.”
All I can do is stare.
Jay’s brows go up. “I swear I’m telling you the truth. The nights he got home later was probably my fault. We all know I like drinking a little too much, and more than that, I like making stupid decisions while I drink. Easton tends to go with me to the bar when he knows I’m in a mood that way I don’t drink and drive or start more fist fights.”
“More?”
He winces. “I’m usually a happy drunk, but I have my moments. It doesn’t matter. The guy has been sleeping on my couch for a while. It started after you two got into it about something. He wouldn’t say what and I knew better than to pry. I’m going to be real with you, Red. My friend is screwed up over you.”
I gape.
He just nods.
My shoulders drop. “He acted like…”
“Like a piece of the male anatomy?” I appreciate that he’s trying to keep it clean in front of Ainsley. “I’m sure. People usually act up when the chicks they’re into seek out other guys.”
I have nothing to say to that.
He shrugs casually, like this is just another conversation to him. “You’re his girl. I shouldn’t say that because he’ll kick my you know what, but it’s true. He talks about you all the time, even now. And whatever happened between you two that left him drinking on my couch and making baked goods at three in the morning made me gain about twenty pounds, so thanks for that.”
Normally, I’d find that funny. My lips refuse to waver with an oncoming smile or any form of amusement though. “He’s really been staying with you?”
He leans closer. “Do you want to see my dessert collection at home? I can’t have anybody else over in fear that they think I got domesticated or some shi—er, crap. It’s like Betty Crocker threw up all over the place.”
Just to be sure, I press. “And he’s never slept with anybody?”
He sighs, wiping a palm down the side of his face. I get it, I’m being annoying with the twenty questions. I just can’t wrap my head around him not sleeping with anybody. I know he has the opportunities to, even witnessed the numbers slipped into his hand or the looks he’d get when we were out shopping. “No. You were the only one, Red. Swear on what little remains of my masculinity.”
“Baking doesn’t make you less masculine,” I point out.
“No but smelling like sugar does.”
I don’t say anything right away. “I never wanted to hurt him, Jay. I never wanted to hurt anyone.”
“I know you didn’t.”
My eyes go back to the building, but the blinds never move again. I take a deep breath and look in the rearview at Ainsley. Her chest still rises and falls in a slow rhythm, peaceful in her slumber. “I should really go home. Tell him…” Tell him what? That I’m sorry? “I don’t know. Maybe don’t say anything at all.”
Amusement lightens his face. “Trust me, the minute I step inside he’ll be hounding me for answers. Even pissed off, he worries about you. Even asks about that one.” He nods his chin toward the back.
My chest fills. “She asks about him too.”
That isn’t a lie either.
The first time she signed “When is Easton coming home?” I felt a deep ping in my heart that radiated pain down my whole body. Then she’d ask again. I could never give her a sure answer. So, I’d lie and tell her soon.
I just hope that won’t stay a lie for long.
“Bye, Jay.”
He pats the car and smiles. “Bye, Red. If you need any more piercings… Well, best go to the brute in there. A-hole wasn’t too happy with me for touching his girl.”