Until Alex - J. Nathan Page 0,60
for. Almost.
“I don’t want you going to that dance.”
I blinked hard. “What?”
He grasped both sides of the door frame and leaned in. His words were slurred, and his breath reeked of cheap beer. “I don’t. Want you. Going to that dance.”
“Hayden, you’re drunk. Why don’t we talk in the morning? After your guests leave. Where are they anyway? Naked in your bed?”
One corner of his mouth lifted, but not in amusement. The anger in his eyes made that abundantly clear. But why was he angry? If anyone had the right to be, it was me. “You’re driving me fucking crazy,” he growled.
Oh no he did not. “Me?” Okay, so I knew it was useless to argue with a drunk person, but it needed to be said. “I’m driving you crazy? Let me tell you what, buddy. You’re on the crazy train. Actually, you’re driving it.” I threw my arms out at my sides. “I’m right here. I have been since day one, and you’ve done nothing about it. Oh, wait. You brought home two skanks whose faces you won’t even see, after you said you didn’t do that anymore.”
His glassy eyes stared me down, his voice just above a whisper. “You’re not going to that dance.”
I dropped my head in frustration. “Okay, so you clearly didn’t hear a single word I said.” I grabbed hold of the doorknob. “Good night, Hayden.” I swung the door shut, but the toe of his shoe stopped it.
He pushed it open, causing me to step back. He sauntered by me like I’d asked him in and dropped down on the sofa, extending his legs and crossing them at his ankles.
I stood in the doorway looking down at him in utter bewilderment. “First of all,” I whispered. “My aunt’s sleeping. Second, you have two girls in your apartment waiting to make your night.”
He spread his arms over the back of the sofa. “Come sit down.”
“You’re crazy.”
“Yeah, I think we already covered that. Something about me driving the train.”
I closed the door and walked over to the loveseat across from him, avoiding close contact at all costs. But without warning, Hayden flew off the sofa and yanked me down beside him, wrapping his arm around me and drawing me into his side.
“Hayden?”
He tightened his grasp, preventing me from escaping.
Why, beyond all common sense, did I like it? Why did I feel at home with his scent filling my senses and his strong arms wrapped around me? Ugh. He was so damn frustrating. And he brought two girls home! Two girls who were still in his apartment.
The thought sobered my temporarily shaky judgment. “Well this was nice. But I’m sure you don’t want to keep your girls waiting.” I tried pulling free.
I could feel the slight bouncing of his chest in silent laughter as he held me tighter. “Why do you do this?”
I huffed. “Do what?”
“Make me feel things.”
“Things? What kind of things?”
“Things I’m not used to feeling.”
My traitorous heart sputtered. Why was he doing this now? Did he even know what he was saying? Would he even remember come morning? I couldn’t stop myself. “I didn’t know I was doing that.”
Hayden dropped a soft kiss to the top of my head, letting his lips linger for a long while. So long I assumed he passed out. “Oh, you know alright.”
I huffed out a breath, partly because he was cutting off my circulation and partly because I was so damn exasperated by his Jekyll and Hyde behavior I couldn’t take it any longer. “Then why? Why’d you bring them home?”
The silence was deafening.
Then he sighed, a long drawn-out sigh reserved for no-win situations. Battles you could never even dream of winning. “It’s what I do. I screw up everything good in my life. Everything worth holding on to.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
ALEX
I jolted up, my eyes shooting around my aunt’s sunny living room where I was sprawled out the length of the sofa. Hayden was gone. There wasn’t any sign he’d ever even been there.
Had he?
“Fall asleep on the sofa again?”
My head whipped around. My aunt stood in the kitchen dropping slices of bread into the toaster. “I guess so.”
“Can I get you something to eat?”
She wore yoga pants and a T-shirt, so I knew she was on her way to the gym. I could fend for myself. “No, thanks.”
She walked into the living room and sat down on the arm of the sofa. “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
The uneasy look in her eyes told me she was treading lightly.