Chapter 8
"You're a lawyer too, aren't you?" I teeter on the edge of the couch, holding tightly to my robe.
"What?" The wide grin that accompanies the question speaks volumes. "You have something against lawyers?"
"I have something against liars," I counter. "Nathan is a liar."
He pulls his hand through his messy brown hair. "Nathan's crazy about you."
I almost laugh out loud. Nathan sent him here. I know it. "Nathan's crazy about sex." The statement escapes me before I have a chance to temper it.
He lifts a brow as if to question whether that's a bad thing or not. "I don't know what went on with that other guy but he sat down to talk to Nate when I went to get a beer."
I know it shouldn't matter to me whether Nathan went there to meet Drew or not, but it does. "So, you were the old buddy that Nathan was meeting?" There's really no purpose in asking him that. He's Nathan's friend. He's going to lie to me for him. I'd probably do the very same thing for Rebecca.
"We had to talk about a case that I'm working on with him. A friend of his…" he stops himself before he offers more. The flash behind his eyes suggests he's just realized that he's confirmed my suspicion that he's a lawyer.
I wait for him to continue but he sits in silence, his eyes glued to me. "Drew just showed up?" I ask. If I can grasp even the smallest bit of understanding about what happened the other night, it will help me push this entire episode into my past, where it needs to stay firmly entrenched.
"He sat down with a beer for Nate while I was at the bar. He wasn't there more than a few minutes before you walked up to them."
I'm at a loss for how I ended up in the very same bar with Drew and Nathan just as Drew felt the need to buy Nathan a beer for f*cking me first. "Life isn't that much of a coincidence." I stand with the hope that he'll take the not-so-subtle hint and get out of my apartment.
"I don't know anything about that." He stops right in front of me. "I do know that Nate is in love with you."
***
"Put on some clothes." I push past him the moment he swings open the door to his apartment.
"You could take off some." He sweeps his eyes slowly over my body. I'd thrown on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt before I'd hopped in a taxi to come to his place after Garrett left.
"Nathan." I sigh heavily. "Please put on some clothes." It's as much a demand as a plea. I can't look at him when he's standing in front of me only wearing boxer briefs and a smile on his face. He's too handsome, and muscular and everything. Why do I still want to feel him inside of me when he's such a f*cked up excuse for a human being?
"I'm hot."
"You're what?" He's right but why the announcement?
"It's hot in here, Jessica." His hand glides through the air. "I'm too hot for clothes."
In more ways than one, I want to say. "Okay, well…" I have nothing. Now I have to interrogate him when he looks like he stepped off the pages of an underwear ad. Why hadn't I called first to see if he could meet me somewhere?
"What do you need?" He brushes past me and walks towards the small bar. "Do you want something to drink?"
I watch as he takes a long, leisurely sip from a bottle of water. I can't look at him anymore. I wish I had never laid eyes on him. I'll never meet another man as beautiful as he is. "You said no lies." He did say that. He's always said that to me.
"I've never lied to you, Jessica." He cocks a brow but stays firmly in place. I'm a little shocked, and admittedly, a bit disappointed that he hasn't tried to embrace me. I miss his hands on my body. I wish things hadn't become so complicated.
"You lied about Drew." I can't look at him as I say the words. "You lied about knowing him."
"I don't know him," he says softly. "I only know him as Cassandra's excuse for an ex-husband."
"You're in love with her," I snarl. "Everything you do is for her." It's petty and childish and I don't mean it. I'm just so tired of trying to wrap my brain around the fact that he made a bet on my body with her ex.
He raises both brows as a sly grin slide over his mouth. "Jealousy suits you, Jessica."
"Jealousy?" I scoff. "I'm not jealous of her." Did that sound even remotely genuine to him? Of course I'm jealous of her. He's kept the depth of his connection with her hidden from me the entire time we've been f*cking each other.
"You're protesting too much." He tips the bottle of water in my direction before he takes another sip.
I shake my head slightly as I sit down in a chair. "You're being a f*cking lawyer again, Nathan."
"I'm being reasonable, Jessica." It's a comeback that tears into me. The suggestion that I'm not being reasonable stings.
"Speaking of lawyers, your friend came to my place tonight," I say the words as nonchalantly as I can manage. I want to gauge his honest reaction.
"What friend?" He doesn't even bat his long, perfectly shaped eyelashes.
"Garrett." My eyes are glued to his face as the name leaves my lips. I know he's not going to be surprised in the least considering he probably sent him over there with an agenda and a pair of boxing gloves as a nice touch.
"What?" He slams the now empty bottle of water onto the bar and it teeters slightly before it falls over. "Garrett was at your place? Why?"
He's either been taking acting lessons or he really has no clue Garrett was on a mission to convince me that Nathan loves me. "You didn't know he was coming over?"
"What the hell is going on between you two?" He's rounding the bar now and it's only going to be three, two, one second until I see his entire body on display in his underwear again. There it is. Dammit.
"He brought me a present." I know my eyes are dancing with the words. I can feel the tension in the air. Nathan can't tolerate the idea of my being alone in a room with a man. I'm taking some perverse pleasure in watching him squirm over this. It's nothing compared to how he's made me feel over his bet with Drew, but it's a start.
"What the f*ck?" He pulls his hand across his forehead to remove a few stray beads of sweat. Great, now he's not only semi-nude, he's glistening.
I pull on the collar of my t-shirt. It does feel extra hot in here. "He came over tonight." Way to drag it out, Jessica. Just tell him that Garrett was a messenger of love who visited you to convince you that Nathan has real feelings for you.
"Jessica." He's across the room and sitting next to me before I can process it. "Tell me there's nothing there."
"Nothing between me and your friend?" The words are barely audible. I can hardly think, let alone string a question together. He's too close. I can smell his cologne and almost touch his bare leg.
"Christ." He grabs both my shoulders in his hands. "This needs to stop tonight. Tell me how to fix this. Now."