Come to Me Softly (Closer to You #2)(19)
Author: A.L. Jackson

“I do trust you.”

Trusting her was easy.

Natural.

While I rocked her, my attention roamed over the mass of men filling up the space. It was them I didn’t trust. No doubt, most of them were just like me, like I had been, ass**les out on the prowl.

Guys like Christopher, who currently angled up beside us. He cleared his throat. “Well, now that you’ve pissed all over my sister, do you think you could finish this game or are you going to stand there all night and suffocate her? I mean, if you were too scared to play against me, you could have just said something.”

Laughing, I released Aly and stepped back. My gaze swept the table, counting balls. Christopher had only taken one. “I just was giving you the chance to catch up. Looks like that didn’t fare too well for you.”

He resumed chalking his stick. “I’m saving it all up for the glorious end. Besides, I was too busy scoping us out an escape route while I waited for you to take out that kid.” He grinned and laughed too loud.

I rolled my eyes. “Whatever. Let’s just finish this.”

Christopher and I went at it, slandering each other like we’d always done. Neither of us took any offense. We’d done it for as long as I could remember. It always seemed the thicker the insults were, the closer we got.

I hated the shit that had gone down between us. But I knew he wasn’t going to hold it against me. I thought he’d probably already forgotten. It was me who didn’t know how to forget.

I won the game, but it was close. Cash was way too into Fiona to take a turn, so Christopher and I decided to start another round, another twenty on the line.

Balls skidded around the table when I broke, and Aly wandered over while Christopher went in for his first shot. “I’m going to go use the restroom,” she said as she placed a quick kiss on my chin.

“You want me to come with you?” I offered, my hand snaking out to tug at two of her fingers.

So what if I didn’t like the idea of letting her out of my sight?

No one could blame me.

Lightly she shook her head and stepped back, her smile all flirty. “Pretty sure I can manage.”

“I’ll come with you,” Fiona said as she untangled herself from Cash’s arm.

Reluctantly, I released Aly’s hand. “Don’t be long.”

Knowing laughter tumbled from her mouth. “I just have to pee, Jared. I’ll be fine.”

They walked out, and my eyes trailed them, like the heat of my gaze could carve out a path of safety for her as she went. Wasn’t going to let any of these f**kers get an eye on my girl. She couldn’t help it she was the sexiest damn thing that had ever stepped through the Vine’s doors.

“What is it with girls having to go to the bathroom together?” Cash cut in as he joined us. “That is some messed-up shit.”

Christopher went in for a shot. “It just means they need a private place so they can talk shit about you.”

“Really?” Cash said like the thought had never occurred to him.

I shook my head, chuckling low. I took a deep pull of my beer. Poor Cash was clueless.

“You’re up, man.” Christopher stepped back and I came up to take my turn. Leaning in deep over the table to get the right angle, I caught Christopher’s eye out of the corner of mine. “You really think my girlfriend is in there slandering me, huh?” I asked. I drew back my stick, set it free against the cue ball. I pocketed the stripped eleven and eyed my next move. I readjusted my spot.

Christopher stood across the table from me, supporting himself on his cue stick. “No, she’s probably in there singing your f**king praises, or some shit. You two are disgusting. And your girlfriend? She’d better mean a whole lot more to you than being your girlfriend.”

My shoulders lifted to my ears in a defensive shrug. “What the hell do you think?” Of course she meant more than that. She meant everything. I just didn’t know how to define us, what kind of label to put on us. Us was all that mattered.

Then the ass**le rolled his eyes, because he already knew it and he was just trying to get a rise out of me.

God, he was a punk.

I bent in further to take my shot, but instead my attention got stuck on how his eyes flashed somewhere behind me, then narrowed. He leveled them on me. I thought he was pissed before I finally caught the meaning of his expression.

It was a warning.

I frowned and started to look behind me when every cell in my body seized. A f**king rock the size of Texas sank to the pit of my stomach when a hand I wasn’t all too keen on feeling again flattened in the center of my back and ran all the way down to grab my ass.

What the f**k?

All my defenses kick-started me back into motion. I thrashed as I jerked around. Doing my best to put some space between us, my ass hit the pool table when I came face-to-face with Lily.

Which was really f**king difficult to do when she was all up in my space, pushing, pressing in.

I hadn’t seen this chick since I skipped out her door six months ago, back when I was doing just about anything I could to purge Aly from my mind.

Including her.

I’d run into Lily during the first week I came to Phoenix. Hooked up with her once when Aly started getting under my skin and I was still trying to convince myself I was never gonna touch her. I was itching to bury myself in Aly and had sought out Lily instead.

Lily’s blond hair now had a pink stripe running down one side, her sweatshirt cut out at the neckline and hanging off one shoulder. A coy smile curved her mouth. She stood there looking at me like I owed her something, like if she played her cards right she was going to win this hand.

She stepped forward, so close her breath washed across my face. “Been wondering when you were going to make your way back here. I’ve been missing you.”

In the handful of times I came back to the Vine after I started things up with Aly, Lily hadn’t been working there. I guess I’d figured she’d moved on, left, though I didn’t give much thought to where because I really didn’t give a shit.

She hadn’t even crossed my mind when I came in tonight.

I was too wrapped in the memories . . . the memories that mattered.

And this bitch wasn’t one of them.

I felt Christopher edge around the pool table, coming out to my left where I could see him, where he could see me. Urgent eyes were shouting at me, like he was screaming at me to fix this and fix it quick.

Part of me wanted to explain myself, to give Christopher some kind of acceptable reason as to why this girl had me backed against a wall.