her.
“Did you think something happened between us?” Jackson studied me.
I took another sip of beer and I could feel the heat of JJ’s stare as he pointed at me. “You did, didn’t you?! You thought we were Eskimo brothers.”
“No.” I didn’t. Not really. After spending time with Sasha, I didn’t think she would have spent the night with me if anything had happened with one of my brothers, but it was still nice to know.
“Damn. This is worse than I thought. You like her.” JJ leaned in toward me. “You like her, like her.”
I didn’t deny it. There was no point.
“What are you gonna do?” Jackson asked.
“About what?”
He just stared at me, as if my question was stupid. Which it was.
“There’s nothing to do. She’s leaving Sunday.”
“That’s five days away. A lot can happen in five days,” JJ said optimistically as he slapped his hand on my shoulder and leaned closer to my ear. “And it looks like one of you doesn’t want to waste any time.”
“What?” My eyes shot to his and he inclined his head for me to look behind me.
I turned and saw Sasha walking my way.
“Hi,” she said, to the table at large. Both my brothers greeted her then made excuses to get up and leave. They might give me a bad time, but there was never any better wingmen.
“Do you want to sit?” I offered her a barstool and noticed that my heartbeat had sped up. “Can I get you a drink?”
“Actually, I was wondering if you’d like to dance.” Her eyes were bright, and clear and I sensed that she had a different energy about her.
“You know if we do people will probably take pictures.”
She shrugged, indicating she didn’t care if that was the case.
That was all the green light I needed. All night, I’d been wishing that I was with her. Keeping my distance had been torture. I missed her. I’d missed her since she left my house that afternoon.
Without giving it a second thought, I stood, took her hand and led her to the dance floor. When we reached the center, where I thought there was maximum coverage from the dozen or so other couples swaying around us to Jason Aldean’s “You Make it Easy” I pulled her into my arms. As soon as I was holding her close to me, I closed my eyes and exhaled.
It felt right. Just like it had this afternoon when I’d had my guitar in my arms for the first time in close to ten years. I’d been worried that it would feel odd because it had been so long since I’d played but holding that guitar had been as natural as breathing. Since the first time I picked up a six string, it had felt like a part of me. An extension of my body and soul.
And that’s what being with Sasha felt like. Which meant when she left in a few days it was going to feel like a part of me was gone. Still, knowing that wasn’t enough for me to stay away from her even though that would be the smart thing to do.
I didn’t want to think about next month, next week, or even tomorrow. I just wanted to enjoy the moment. For years I felt like I’d been stuck. My life had been in a holding pattern. But not anymore. Now I wanted to be present and not worry about the past or the future.
Her body pressed against mine, and I rubbed my thumb on her lower back as we moved in time to the music.
“Did you have a good day today?” I asked wanting to hear her voice.
Light blue eyes lifted to mine, there was a sadness in them that caused my chest to tighten.
“It was okay.”
“What’s wrong? What happened?” I held her tighter, wishing that I could protect her, that I could shield her from anything that would hurt her.
She bit the inside of her lip and I could see that she wasn’t sure she wanted to open up to me. My first instinct was to assure her that she could, but I remained silent. I’d never want to push or pressure Sasha into revealing something to me that she didn’t want to. I would just remain quiet and be there if she needed someone to talk to.
My patience paid off. She exhaled softly before explaining, “I spoke to Gen, my best friend, and my mom and I just…the conversations didn’t go like I’d thought they would.”
“I’m sorry.”
Her