"You"re staying her and moving on!"
"But you love me," I said calmly, reaching out to play with a strand of her hair. "Soft. Take out the ponytail."
She jerked away, scooting off the bed. "I can"t do this with you, Caleb."
"Do what?"
"You know," she said stubbornly.
"You"ll have to explain it to me. So far you"ve confused the s.h.i.t out of me with your lying and games. You look beautiful, by the way."
"Shut up!" She made for the door, probably to find a room with a better lock.
"Are you my girl, Gianna?"
Her feet stopped walking away, her head turned to the side so I could see her profile. "Not anymore."
"Don"t listen to your head, listen to your heart. Are you my girl?"
She faced me, her expression tortured. "I can"t be your girlfriend, Caleb."
"Sure you can. Come here and be my girlfriend."
Her head shook in panic, blue eyes pleading. "I can"t be with you."
"You"re with me right now."
"No, Caleb, I can"t be with you."
After a moment, understanding hit me. "You"re talking about s.e.x."
"Yeah," she choked out.
I"d had enough. I went to get my girl. Leading her to the bed with no resistance, I sat her on the end of it next to me, the least threatening spot. Tentatively, I brought my palms up to hold the prettiest face I"d ever seen. "I"ll take you any way I can get you, princess."
Amus.e.m.e.nt entered her eyes and I guessed why.
"You didn"t tell me your dad called you that." Waving a hand at the ridiculously majestic room, I continued, "You"ll have to tell him you"re no longer his princess. You belong to me now."
"He"ll kick your a.s.s."
"He can try." I rubbed a thumb over pink lips. "You shouldn"t have lied to me."
Salty tears welled, changing the blue into an ocean of pain. She covered my hand with one of hers. "I can"t be what you need, Caleb."
Her lips hesitantly meeting mine was a personal miracle. "s.e.x or blue b.a.l.l.s, you"re still my girl."
"Caleb!" Her cheeks blushed, making her skin go redder combined the previous crying. "Do you have to be such a pervert?"
"That probably won"t ever change."
She rubbed her cheek against my palm, seeking a deeper touch. "Caleb, I"m scared of it. I think I"d freak out."
It made sense. I"d read about it in a couple of psychology texts and discussed it with Dr. Adler during our sessions. She"d reiterated what the books had, that women could become averse to being intimate after a s.e.xual a.s.sault.
"Are you still attracted to me?" I asked her.
Her eyes widened before she made a face. "It"d be hard not to be. You"re hot, Caleb."
I laughed, bringing her head against my chest. "Good to hear. I"ve been celibate for eight and a half months, Gianna. I can wait a while longer."
"How much longer?" she asked, tilting her head back to look up at me. "Wait! You"ve been celibate? I thought you had s.e.x with that chick at the party."
Thank f.u.c.k I hadn"t.
"No, I couldn"t go through with it. My d.i.c.k was feeling it, but my heart," and stomach, "protested." I wouldn"t mention the fact that puking my guts out had been what stopped my drunk a.s.s.
And I wouldn"t tell her about Norah yet. Things had gone a bit farther with Norah and I"d just got my girl back.
She slapped my chest. "Dammit, Caleb! You"re not supposed to tell me your stupid d.i.c.k was into some other girl!"
"First off, don"t ever call it stupid, you"ll hurt its feelings. And second, I was wasted and h.o.r.n.y after eight months imprisoned. Let"s not forget I couldn"t go through with it because my heart belongs to you, little liar."
Her eyes dropped to my chin. "Are you mad at me?"
"h.e.l.l yeah, but I"m also happy to have you back. I can be mad later." I jostled her in my arms. "Now tell me you"re my girl."
She giggled through saying, "I"m your girl."
"Tell me you love me," I ordered.
Her laughter stopped and her fingers stroked my face. "I love you, Caleb."
"Good, now erase Gage from the contacts on your phone." I pulled her cell from my pocket, handing it over.
"Gage is my friend," she said sternly. "Besides, I think you"ll like him once you really get to know him."
"I won"t be able to resist kicking his a.s.s again next time I see him."
"You"re not allowed to kick my friends" a.s.ses, Caleb."
"Well, not in front of you," I teased. "And to answer your earlier question, I"ll wait as long as it takes."
"What if it"s eight more months?" she asked in all seriousness.
I managed not to wince. "Eight years if that"s what it takes."
She grinned. "It won"t be that long."
"Thank f.u.c.k," I muttered. "Now since it won"t be s.e.x, what are you going to do to make it up to me?"
Her shy smile only had me wanting to do nasty things to her more. "Cuddle and watch a movie."
Keeping my face blank, I said, "It"s a start."
You haven"t called.
The text message was expected, but also unwanted Is it because we didn"t have s.e.x?
Her second text was just ridiculous. I"d been the one who backed off from actual s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g.
If I was going to make it clear things were over before they"d begun, I would do it face to face. Only wimps broke up with a chick over the phone or through a typed message.
Which was why I"d stopped by the gallery.
Approaching the entrance, I saw her through the window. She wore another of her skintight dresses, this time in white. Her glossy brown hair hung loose in a dark wave down her back.
The bell on the door chimed as I stepped inside. She looked over, smiling when she saw it was me and said something to the customer studying a painting.
Her walk was pure s.e.x and I was actually surprised when it produced zero response in me. Seemed like my d.i.c.k wasn"t into it anymore. I always knew it wasn"t stupid.
"Caleb!" She grinned, reaching out to brush her fingers along my arm. "I would kiss you, but I"m at work."
Not returning her greeting, I scanned what I could see of the gallery. Another potential customer, an older woman, browsed in the back.
"Do you have a break soon?"
She glanced down at the delicate watch on her wrist. "Twenty minutes until my lunch break."
"There"s a cafe a block over," I suggested.
"Wildflower Cafe?"
"Yeah, meet me there?" I asked, dreading it but wanting her to hurry so I could get it over with.
Her excited expression fell, finally realizing I wasn"t quite as happy to see her as she was me. "Okay." Despite her a.s.sertion of professionalism from a couple minutes ago, she came in for a kiss. I swerved, pecking her on the cheek and turning on my heel.
If it had been Gianna I waited for, I would"ve ordered a sandwich for her so it"d be ready and she"d have more time to eat. I definitely wasn"t ordering anything but the cup of coffee I drank. It was unlikely this would go well and I"d planned for a hasty retreat. At least I"d been polite enough to order her coffee. Hopefully she refrained from throwing the hot beverage on my lap.
The door of the cafe also had a bell on it. It dinged as Norah entered, her face expectant. "Did you order yet?"
"I was waiting for you," I replied calmly, setting down my cup.
Relief seeped into her eyes. "Aren"t you going to kiss me now?" She hadn"t sat down, instead standing there stubbornly.
I felt like a jerk doing this, but it was one date and most chicks would"ve let it go when the guy hadn"t called for the entire week afterward. "We need to talk."
"Great," she muttered, her expression becoming pouty as she lowered herself into the metal chair.
"I got back together with my ex," I informed her as nicely as possible for a guy like me.
She snapped forward and a hissing sound escaped her mouth. I recoiled on instinct, expecting her to shoot venom into me with her fangs. "You didn"t say anything about a girlfriend."
"Why would I? We were broken up."
"And you were on the rebound? You couldn"t have been together long, you just got out of juvie."
"We"ve been together since last fall. We only broke up for two weeks," I defended. Normally I"d tell a chick to f.u.c.k off, but I felt mildly bad at messing around with Norah when she"d been expecting more.
"You led me on, made me think we had a connection."
"The only connection we had was my fingers inside you." The words were harsh, but this girl was freaking out on me after one date.
"You wanted me," she a.s.serted, her face becoming softer. "You were aroused."
I leaned back, spreading my legs casually. "Any hot chick can give a guy a hard on."
Her face expressed concern I wasn"t buying. "If you and your girlfriend broke up, don"t you think it was for a reason?"
A perfectly good reason, my girlfriend had been a.s.saulted and was more than a little hesitant at resuming our intimate relationship. But that was none of Norah"s f.u.c.king business.
"We"re solid, me and my girl. No worries."
"You love her?" she asked, fidgeting in her seat as she glanced away.
"She"s the only girl I"ll ever love."
Green eyes flashed fury and envy. "Lucky girl," she snapped sarcastically.
This particular situation was new to me, not brushing off a girl, but telling one that I loved another. "I"m sorry if you were hurt."
It was hard to tell if her tears were from anger or anguish. We barely knew each other, so feeling anything other than anger would be ridiculous.
"I really like you. What"s so special about this girl?"
Holy h.e.l.l, she had to be delusion.
One date!
"Do you really want me to answer that?" At her nod, I reluctantly explained vaguely, "Everything is special about her."
"What"s her name?" she cut in.
"You know what? I"m not doing this." No way was I giving Norah my girlfriend"s name. This chick was borderline delusional. I got to my feet with the intention of leaving.
"Wait, Caleb!" She grabbed my arm as made to pa.s.s.