Meet Me Halfway

“Okay, so the game is simple, we each take turns saying something we don’t think anyone has ever done. If you have done it, you take a shot. If no one has done it, the person who asked takes a shot. But don’t ask boring questions…I’m looking at you, Garrett.”

I chewed the inside of my lip, listening to Sarah animatedly list off instructions. I’d played the game many times before, back when I hadn’t been old enough to do so, but not since having Jamie. In fact, I hadn’t played a drinking game at all in years.

I raised my hand, waving it above my head, “I’m going to sit this one out since I happen to be the only one who works in the morning.”

We’d all piled our dishes in the—thanks to Garrett—working dishwasher and were now squeezed in around my table. The men had grabbed a few extra chairs from Garrett’s house while Sarah set up the bottle of whiskey, a liter of soda, and a stack of red plastic cups.

The sight itself sent me back in time. I felt like I was a teenager again, standing in the middle of a wheat field, scooping spiked punch from a cooler while someone blared music from a pickup truck.

Layla nudged my shoulder, “Don’t be such a mom, Mads. You can have fun. It’s allowed.”

“You literally just called me a lightweight earlier, and now you want me drinking Jack and Coke less than twenty-four hours before I have to work.” I smashed my lips together, resting my chin on my palm.

She dipped her head, “Touché. All right, you can have wine then.” She jumped up, and thirty seconds later, I had a glass of white wine set in front of me.

“There. Now let’s play. I’ll go first.” She was practically jumping in her seat as she glanced at me, and I knew no matter what I had in my glass, she’d made it her mission to get my “high-strung ass” drunk.

She tapped her fingertips against her cup rhythmically, each click of her calluses making me more apprehensive of what she’d say.

“Never have I ever shoved a full-fledged human out of my body.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I snapped, shoving her hard in the shoulder.

She only cackled like a deranged hyena and pointed to my glass. I grabbed it, taking an irritated sip. I was an annoying drunk, and I puked easily, so I had no idea why she thought it’d be good for me.

It wasn’t until I caught her discreet glance at Garrett that I realized what her true game plan was.

This bitch didn’t want me getting drunk just for the hell of it. No, she wanted to get me drunk so I’d want to get laid. Well, she was going to be thoroughly disappointed because that wasn’t happening.

Sitting to her right, Rick was next, and his question was exactly what I’d expected from him. “Never have I ever done shrooms.” No one moved apart from an exaggerated eye roll from Layla, forcing him to take a drink.

Garrett was next, sitting directly across from me. “Never have I ever been pulled over.” Unsurprisingly, everyone at the table picked up their cups. I caught his eye, but he quickly looked away.

The game continued on, each question ridiculous, yet harmless. Stealing, skinny dipping, and evading arrest. Then it got back to Layla. That beautiful, frustrating—had my best interests at heart but needed to calm the fuck down—woman stared hard at Garrett before cutting her eyes to me and blurting, “Never have I ever, gone the last five years without fucking someone.”

Sarah and Harry set their cups on the table, cracking up like it was the most ridiculous question to be asked all night. But it was the heated pair of eyes I could feel on the side of my face that had my heart picking up speed and a flush creeping up my neck.

With as straight of a face as I could maintain, I downed an overly large amount of wine.

Rick coughed, his eyes widening comically. “Wait, I thought you only got divorced like three years ago?”

“I did.”

“What, you just didn’t sleep with your husband for two years?” he asked.

“We were separated for a while before I was finally able to file for divorce.”

Sarah stared at me like I’d grown another head, and she wasn’t the only one. “You seriously haven’t had sex in five years?” She pointed to her husband, “I’d fucking explode if we went that long, and not in the good way, obviously.”

Garrett grimaced at the visual of his sister-in-law he clearly didn’t appreciate, but he was looking straight at me. “You said finally able to file. Why couldn’t you file before then?”

My grip on my cup tightened, and I cursed myself when his eyes caught the movement. Giving him a practiced smile, I said, “That’s not how the game works, and it’s not your turn.”

Layla leaned forward. “Oh, stop. He’s just curious because you’re hot as sin and none of it makes sense.”

I opened my mouth to defend myself, but she plowed on. “She stayed married and faithful to Aaron’s stupid ass for two years because he was deployed. Bullshit, if you ask me. If anyone deserved to be dropped in the dirt, it was that motherfucker.”

I reached down, pinching the tender flesh of her thigh. She yelped, flinching away from me. I could literally feel the weight of Garrett assessing me, and I met his gaze, putting a challenge in my own. His mouth parted, but Rick spoke first.

“Never have I ever done butt stuff.”

I’d never been so thankful for a change in conversation, and I nearly burst out laughing when Harry looked pointedly at his untouched drink and sighed before then looking at his wife.

Deciding it couldn’t be more embarrassing than what I’d already admitted, I reached forward, fully intending on chugging the rest of my wine and saying to hell with the consequences. I knew Garrett was watching me, he’d never stopped, and the heat was setting me aflame.

I dared a glance, feeling my heart pick up when his eyes tracked my movement. Setting the cup against my lips, I was not at all prepared for him to reach forward and grab his own cup. Holy fucking hell. Did that mean he’d done it to someone else or…

The people around us disappeared, I didn’t even know if anyone else moved to take a drink. I was entrapped by the man across from me, nearly convulsing in my seat as molten lava poured in my core. The cobwebs that’d been covering my libido were long gone, burned up as if they’d never existed.

Not once did he break eye contact with me as we each tipped our heads back. The roll of his throat as he swallowed was possibly one of the most erotic things I’d ever witnessed, and I was suddenly too hot in my own skin. If he’d been able to touch me, just one touch, I might have shattered right there at the table.

And by the way his nostrils flared, he knew it.

Fuck.





Chapter Fourteen





I was death.

That was, if death looked like a pile of dog shit that’d been run over by a golf cart full of polo-wearing, sweaty men before being scooped up and tossed in a lava pit.

I hadn’t woken up hung over. I actually only had a minor headache, which was the surprise of the century for me, but I’d barely slept a wink. I’d passed out within minutes of crashing but had woken soon after with a brain that refused to shut down.

A few hours later, and I was fucking dragging. I’d had to take a scalding shower and drink two large cups of coffee just to find the energy to get dressed for work. I was now slouched on my couch, listening to a lecture about the inefficiency of school drug programs while I worked on a crocheted baby blanket to keep myself from falling asleep a half hour before I needed to leave.

It was going well so far. I’d only had to restart the lecture three times when I’d failed to comprehend a word and re-do the same row of stitches five times when I kept losing count.

I’d finally given up on the lecture and was staring at the half-finished blanket resting in my lap when a knock sounded at my door. My head shot up, wondering who would be here this early. Rick and Layla were passed out in her room, and my parents wouldn’t have brought Jamie back yet.

Creaking the door open, my tongue got lodged in my throat at the sight of Garrett in his hoodie and a pair of sweats, holding a plate of cinnamon rolls. If delicious was a view, this would have been it. He had a slight shadow dusting his jaw, and his hair was tussled in an incredibly endearing way.

“Hey.”

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