CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
I don’t know what possessed me. I’d later play victim to ending the tension, for having to do the inevitable. For what had to happen. What I had wanted to happen for quite a long time.
But whatever the reason, I leaned into Dex. I grabbed the sides of his head with both of my hands, his hair slightly slippery from the snow and hair gel, and I pulled his face down to mine. I placed my lips flush on his and kissed him sweetly at first, not caring if he returned the favor. Then, when his lips parted slightly, I teased the inside of them lightly with my tongue. He let out a breath of hot air, maybe from surprise, and I pulled back. I kept my hands on his head and tried to catch my own breath before I got carried away.
We looked at each other, both of us a bit in shock, him more than I. There was only a split-second pause before Dex grunted, “Oh, fuck it.”
Then I was in his arms. He lifted me up and twirled me around on the spot, placing me up against the cold brick wall. I wrapped my legs around him, hooking them at the ankles behind his ass. I was vaguely aware that I wasn’t wearing underwear.
He kept one hand around my waist, propping me up, while the other was working its way to the side of my head, disappearing into my hair. He was breathing heavily and staring at my lips. The look in his eyes was utter madness.
“The things I want to do to you…” he whispered roughly.
I took my hand behind his head and brought his ear down to my mouth.
“Do them,” I breathed back, and licked the rim of his ear. He let out a small moan and suddenly his lips were on mine. The sweet business was out of the way. His tongue was rampant and skilled and darted feverishly in and out of my mouth, leaving me panting and needing more, as if I couldn’t be sustained by him. Then his mouth met my neck and started doing the same there, causing the heat to flare up between my legs. I knew we were in public, making out on the side of the road, but I was so close to just hiking my dress up and undoing the fly on his pants.
One of his hands made its way underneath my ass and started feeling up the back of my bare thighs, slowly searching underneath. There was a slight hesitation when he realized I was going commando and another small moan came out from his lips.
“Perry!”
Rebecca’s English accent came through the air, knocking a scary sense of reality into me.
“Perry?” it called again.
Dex and I took our mouths off each other and stared into each other’s eyes, bewildered yet enraptured by what had just happened. I quickly unhooked my legs and he placed me gently on the ground, just as Rebecca came around the corner.
She stopped and looked at us, taken aback and trying not to smile. Though we weren’t in an embrace, Dex had both arms on either side of me, propped up against the wall. Both of us looked disheveled with messy hair, and Dex’s white shirt was half-pulled out from where I must have grabbed at it.
We both stared at her, chests heaving, breathing hard, our breath meeting together in the frigid air.
“Uh, we’re just getting the cab now for us,” she said slowly. “Perry, you want to come and get your coat and purse?”
The way she said it, it wasn’t a question but a command. She jerked her head toward the building and then walked back around the corner. I looked at Dex quickly, pulled his jacket off and handed it to him and then followed her. He reached out for my hand but let go as I kept moving.
I rounded the corner, smoothing out my dress and patting down the back of my head. I was shaking all over, a combination of the cold and the passion.
Rebecca was by the door, giving me a sympathetic look.
“Perry,” she said in a tone I didn’t like.
“Save it,” I said to her and kept walking into the building. The warm air felt heavenly on my gooseflesh.
“All right,” she conceded, following me as I walked through the restaurant. Though it wasn’t true, I felt like everyone had known what I was doing out there.
We entered the party and I saw that the festivities were still in full swing. I turned at looked at her.
“Why are we leaving already?” I asked.
“I think you and Dex need some time to be alone,” she said breezily and walked past me to the table where Emily was sitting with my coat and purse displayed.
I chewed on my lip anxiously. Was Rebecca approving of this whole thing or wasn’t she?
She handed me my coat and bag and then put on her own, the black velvet catching the party lights. She noticed the expression I was giving her.
“What? It’s true. Who knows where Jenn and Bradley went. It doesn’t matter. This just…”
“Has to happen,” I finished without thinking. We looked at each other and smiled, knowing it.
She nodded. “Come on.”
Emily got up and we walked out of the room. I gave the room one last glance, looking at Dean and Seb, who were at the bar, and at Jimmy and Fae, who were talking to the Handyman table.
“Shouldn’t we say goodbye?” I asked.
Rebecca put her arm around me and pushed me forward, gently. “You’ll see them again. For now, it’s best if we leave unnoticed. Trust me. People here talk. And I’m pretty sure Jenn and Bradley will be the talk of the network come Monday, once Fae starts flapping her mouth.”
We walked out of the restaurant and into the cold. Dex was standing in front of a cab that was running, its exhaust filling the frigid air. His back was to us and he was puffing away on another cigarette. I started to question whether a bum had given them to him or not, or if he had a secret stash for moments just like this.
At the sound of the restaurant door closing, he turned around and eyed us briefly. Then he went back to taking a drag.
I was strangely hesitant around him now. I wasn’t sure how to act. But Rebecca did. She marched right up to him, her heels handling the snow with ease, plucked the cigarette from his mouth and tossed it behind her shoulder and into the snow.
“Hey,” Dex protested.
“No excuses,” she said, wagging her finger in front of him. She reached into her giant bag and pulled out the bottle of Jager, which was still half-full. “Take this instead. It’s medicinal.”
“So are cigarettes,” Dex protested. But he took the bottle anyway.
“For what…a broken heart?” she asked. There was almost a malicious edge to her voice, as if she had been down this road with him many times before. Maybe she had been.
“Very funny,” he muttered, glaring at her.
“Oh come on, Dex,” she said, throwing her arm around him and leading him to the cab. “We’re on your side. Always have been. Now get in, pisshead.”
She opened the cab door and pushed him lightly. Then Emily followed. Rebecca looked at me and said, “I’ll take the front. Get in, Perry.”
I did as she said. It was weird to have Emily between Dex and me, but at the same time it left a bit of needed distance. It gave me time to compose my thoughts. That was until Dex passed the bottle of Jager across Emily and straight to me.
I took it and downed a shot against my better judgment. It didn’t even burn anymore. Either I was drunk or my whole body was on fire, inside and out. Maybe it was both.
“Trying to get her drunk, Dex?” Rebecca asked from the front seat, eyeing us briefly.
“Hey, no drinking in the cab,” the driver admonished.
“Oh, relax, we’re dropping them off first,” she said, placing her smooth hand on the cabbie’s shoulder.
I gave the bottle to Emily, sank back in my seat and turned my focus to the window. Seattle looked so different in the snowfall. The urban grit was replaced by a picture postcard scene. In the morning it would probably be all grey slush, but in the evening it was pristine. There was barely anyone around and the buildings looked like icicles rising from the ground. The orange glow that the streetlights scattered on the snow looked less garish and gave off almost a warm, homey feel. Maybe everything was looking better because I just had one of the best nights of my life. Maybe it looked pure because I could still taste the somehow inoffensive taste of Nicorette, Jack Daniels and cigarettes on my lips, could feel his hands on my thighs.
Everything had changed. Everything was going to change. This wasn’t some sexual encounter in the woods. The whole week had been building up to this moment. As Rebecca hinted at, it had to happen. If not, just so I could get it over with. So I could stop wanting him every five minutes. So I could just let it all out.
I breathed out slowly, my breath fogging up the window. I felt Emily’s small hand on my bare knee. I looked at her and smiled quickly, then looked at Dex. He was leaning against the cab window, holding the bottle now, looking like he was passed out.
As soon as the cab stopped in front of his apartment, though, he straightened up instinctively. He leaned forward, thanked the cabbie and handed over the cab fare before anyone could protest.
“Talk to you soon,” he said, patting Rebecca on the shoulder and giving a quick wave to Emily, and exited the cab. I looked at the girls in surprise.
“Well, I guess…thank you for-”
“Perry,” Rebecca said slowly. She eyed the cabbie. He sighed and put the car into park, knowing this could be a long girly convo.
“Perry,” she resumed. “Let’s do lunch tomorrow, OK? I think we’ll have a lot to talk about. I assume we will. Am I right?”