I squirmed a little in my seat. The condescending look she gave me made me all kinds of nervous. “Colt’s roommate.”
Gertrude steepled her hands together, resting them beneath her chin. Her lips puckered in thought, twitching side to side. “How old are you, Alexis?”
A ball of nerves lodged in my throat. Why’d I suddenly feel like an errant child being chastised by a parent? “Twenty...”
“Mmhmm...”
Mmhmm...What did that even mean? “So...”
“So, don’t you think you’re a little too old for games, darlin’?”
Blood rushed to my cheeks. I could feel how red they were as I sputtered a bunch of nonsense...She was right. We weren’t children anymore. This wasn’t a game. This was my life. “I just thought that if I could make him jealous...”
Gertie’s head nodded slowly. “You thought you’d make him realize what he was missing...”
“Exactly! Except he’s just going about his business...Maybe he doesn’t have those kind of feelings for me, Gertie.” I felt tears burn the backs of my eyes. “What if it’s all one-sided?”
Gertie rolled her eyes, waving a hand in dismissal. “A blind man could see the love that boy feels for you. I saw it, Alexis. I felt it.” She thumped a hand on her chest. “Right here...You feel it too.” Her eyes met mine, daring me to deny it. “Tell me you don’t honestly believe that boy is crazy about you.”
My heart tightened in my chest. “I think...maybe...I mean, I guess. Yeah. I feel it. There are times I’m sure of it. But then I walk in and he’s getting a blowjob in the living room of the house we’re sharing, and I just don’t know how he could possibly feel the way I feel for him.” Tears lined my cheeks. I swatted them away.
“You don’t?”
“No! Who does that, Gertie? I mean, if he loved me...why? Why would he do that?”
Gertie covered her face with both hands, blowing out a long and frustrated breath. Her head finally came back up, and there was a sad smile on her face. “You, Alex...You have been doing that for three years. You’re the one here under the guise of trying to decide whether or not you want to marry another man. A man you’ve been dating for three long years. You’re flirting with his friends. Dating his friends.”
My jaw dropped as I was stunned into silence.
“Honey, when was that boy supposed to tell you he was in love with you?” Her warm hand reached out, rubbing the tops of mine, which were laced on the table in front of me. “You think you’re hurt, and you’re confused. Put yourself in that boy’s shoes for two minutes. What have you done to show him how you feel? Have you given him any reason to be confident enough in his feelings to think that you might actually return them?”
COLTON
I HAD MY FEET kicked up on the couch, watching Top Gun while stuffing my face with a bag of popcorn when I heard the front door knob rattle. Instantly, my heart rate sped up in anticipation of seeing her face. It was a physical reaction I’d been having for so long that you’d think I’d have gotten used to it by now. But I guess they wouldn’t call it addiction if people ever become numb to the high. Alexis Mack was like a drug to me.
“Hey,” she called out, rushing into the room with a smile that stretched from one ear to the other. Alex joined me by the couch, dropping a to-go bag from Sammy’s onto the coffee table. Then, she leaned over and pressed a kiss to my forehead. “Brought you some lunch.”
“Ahhh,” I moaned, patting my stomach. “You know the way to my heart.”
“Your dick?” she quipped.
I winked, sitting up on the couch to give her room to join me. “How was your visit with Gertie?” I asked, digging into the doggie bag as she sat to my left. Her leg pressed up against mine.
“Insightful.”
“How so?” I asked with a mouth full of club sandwich. I moaned my appreciation, giving Allie the old thumbs up.
Alex chewed on her lip, a nervous habit of hers. “She just made me realize some things.” Being evasive, were we?
I swallowed the food in my mouth, licking a bit of mayo from my bottom lip. “Such as?” I asked, deciding not to call her out on how hard she was staring at my mouth.
“Hmm?” Allie asked, looking up to meet my eyes.
Chuckling to myself, I repeated the question. “What kind of things did Gertie make you realize...Stay with me here.” I winked and she smiled.
“Well, the most important thing is that I shouldn’t be wasting my time going out on dates when I came here to spend the summer with my best friend.” She blushed, nudging my arm with her shoulder.
“Have I told you yet how much I like Gertie?” I took another bite of my sandwich. “Wise, wise woman, that one.”
Her laughter hit me right in the feels. She sounded like my Allie again. Somehow, I knew everything was about to get better between us. It’s crazy how much I still missed her, even with her right here. We hadn’t been ourselves. We weren’t usually so tense with one another.
“I’m glad you feel that way...because she also said that you shouldn’t be having whores over to the house.”
I choked.
“Shit.” Alex was laughing so hard as she pounded on my back. “Dramatic much? Damn, Colton. I mean, if it’s going to kill you, you can keep the blonde Hoovers.” She rolled her eyes deliberately.
It took me a couple of minutes to dislodge the food that got caught in my windpipe. Allie sat there in hysterics throughout the ordeal. I cleared my throat a couple of times before responding to her last remark. “I’ll ditch the blondes, but I can’t promise I won’t need some mouth to cock resuscitation. He may go into shock without any attention.” I winked, tucking a finger beneath her jaw to push her mouth closed. “Know of any brunettes that want to attempt such an arduous task?”
Alex’s face turned beet red as she began sputtering all sorts of nonsense. “I can’t believe you just said that to me!” she finally got out.
“I can’t believe you aren’t willing to compromise here. Meet me halfway, baby.” I gave her my best hubba hubba eyebrows.
That little poke earned me a punch to the ribs. “You’re such a pig, Colton Fowler.”
I was having way too much fun with her, and I wasn’t ready to quit yet. “You remember that deal we made when we were kids?”
“Which one?” she asked, giving me a little side eye. She knew me well enough to know that I was up to something.
“Veda and Thomas,” I rasped, licking my lips to see how she’d respond.
Alex’s breathing quickened. “Mmhmm.” She nodded, looking around the room, refusing to make eye contact. As an unspoken rule, we’d never discussed that kiss.
“I thought we could maybe try something similar, for old time’s sake...”
She ran her tongue over her top teeth, glaring at me. “What’d you have in mind?”
This was going to be good. I wished I would have had a video camera to record her reaction. It was going to be epic. “Okay, so...hear me out before you go all batshit crazy on me, okay?”
“Just spit it out already!” She looked ready to strangle me and finish off the job I’d started with the sandwich.