You can see how much she needs it. It calms the fire inside her, letting her just be. I know what that is to her, because the way she feels with the brush in her hand is the way I feel with her in my arms.
She calms the playboy inside me. She challenges the challenger in me. She softens the hardness inside me.
She could be everything I’ve always needed.
Chapter Ten
BING
Lexy throws the dart at the board in my room. “So you haven’t spoken to Heidi?”
“Why would I have spoken to her?” I scoff. “She might have text me, but it doesn’t mean I’ve replied.”
“Mmm,” she responds, shooting the dart again.
“‘Mmm’? What does ‘mmm’ mean?” I sit up straight just as her dart falls to the floor.
She sighs. “I just… I don’t know. It’s Heidi. She was the first girl you ever, well, had sex with more than twice.”
“And? It was just sex with her.”
“So you say, Bing, but none of us really know that for sure.” She sighs again, dropping her poised arm. “And you did cheat on her.”
“Isn’t that enough to show it was never more than sex?”
“I don’t know.” She turns, shrugging. “I know you like Jen, all right? I can see it in how you act around her. Hell, you’ve been like a kettle just before boiling point since she moved here last year. Any time her name was mentioned you went off worse than me with PMS.”
“I wasn’t that bloody bad!” I protest. Was I?
“Uh, yeah, you were.” She raises her eyebrows, smiling a little. “It’s obvious, Bing, but what is it with her? Really? Is it because you finally attained the unattainable? You finally got the girl? How long will it last, Bing? Huh? Can you tell me that? Because I don’t know.”
My jaw clenches. “You don’t need to give me the 411, sis.”
“No, no, I do. You gave it to Alec-”
“I’m your brother. I’m supposed to kick guy’s asses for touching you, for f**k sake.”
“– And Jen is my best friend, and she doesn’t have anyone to do it for her.” Her brown eyes, a shade darker than mine, are focused on me intently, and I can see her resolve. She isn’t gonna let this go.
“Fine. You want to know?”
“Obviously. That’s why I asked, dipshit.”
I flip her off. “It’s not just because I finally have her, Lex. It’s more than that. I don’t know what it is. Maybe I’m falling for her, but I do know she’s nothing like the others. I don’t look at her and see…” I trail off, unable to find the words.
“Big tits, a skinny waist, and an easy lay?” Lexy asks, amusement behind her dry tone.
“Well, yeah.” I laugh slightly and scratch the back of my neck. “I see Jen, okay? As annoying as she is – and she still annoys the living shit out of me – it’s more than just getting her on her back.”
“Which you’ve no doubt done several times.”
“I don’t ask about your sex life. Don’t assume about mine.”
“I’m not asking. I’m stating.”
“It’s wrong, Lex.”
“You’ve never hidden it. Jen doesn’t tell me anything, but it’s been a couple weeks now. I don’t even want to know how many…”
“All right,” I interrupt. “All you need to know is Jen is Jen, and it’s not just sex. It might not even last forever, but while it does, I’m not gonna let anything get in the way of that.”
Lexy clicks her tongue, and crosses the room to collect the darts. She spins the one that fell on the floor between her fingers, and her eyes meet mine again.
“And what about Heidi?”
“What about her?”
“Her texts? Does Jen know?”
“No.”
“Are you gonna tell her?”
“Do I need to?”
“Well, I guess not, but I know she’ll be pissed when she finds out.”
“Who says she has to find out?”
Lexy grins. “This is Jen. If anyone could unravel the greatest mysteries of the world, it would be her. She’ll find out somehow, Bing, and you know it.”
I smirk. “And then she’d go and kick Heidi’s ass, right?”
“I’m not saying violence will be involved.” Lexy giggles. “But there’s a strong possibility Heidi’s ass might end up meeting the floor.”
“You could be right.”
“So, are you gonna tell her?” The challenge is in Lexy’s eyes, and she throws the dart.
“I wasn’t planning on it. I kinda hoped Heidi would just… Go away.”
“Uh…” Lexy turns again, and sighs. “She won’t go away, Bing. Whatever possessed her to approach you on Saturday night after months has her on a mission. Trust me. She won’t let this go until she has what she wants.”
I lean back on my bed, crossing my ankles. “Go on then, Ms Guru. You’re a girl.”
“No shit, Sherlock.”
“How do you know she won’t leave it?”
“Because number one…” She throws a dart. “She’s a bitch. Number two…” The third dart. “Because of our parents jobs’, we’re in a higher social circle than she is and she wants in, the dirty little scrubber. And number three…” She crosses the room, snatches the darts from the board, and turns back to me, her eyes serious. “For some reason, she hates the idea of you being with someone else. Maybe it’s because she thought she was more than just sex. Maybe it’s because she was disillusioned the whole time you were “together,” or maybe it’s because you cheated. Whatever it is, she’s not over it, and seeing you with Jen has just upped it.”
“It sounds like those books you’re so into.”
“You can’t have fiction without real life to base it on, bro,” Lexy replies. “Heidi didn’t expect someone like Jen to confront her this weekend.” We both grin at the memory. Yep, that was a confrontation all right. “She expected her to step to the side, and she didn’t. Jen stepped forward and f**ked her over. Now, Heidi is pissed, and she’ll do whatever she can to get between you.” The smile drops from her face, and she sits next to me.
“Carry on,” I say quietly.
“I don’t want that to happen, Bing. You and Jen… You’re right for each other. I don’t know what it is, in the same way I don’t know what it is about me and Alec. I just know it’s there. Something in each of you balances the other, and it’s not often you find that.”