Always Remember

bitch,” he hisses, and I feel the bed move as he rubs his leg.
    I smile smugly to myself, snuggling down into the quilt. “Not the place you were expecting, huh?”
    “ That wasn’t a hit. That was a kick.”
    “ What’s your point?”
    “ Donkeys kick.”
    I shrug. “So I’m a donkey, you’re an ass. We’re even. Now shut up, I’m trying to sleep.”
    The tele goes off, and the mattress dips as he lies down. He moves a little closer to me, and I feel him move my hair from my ear.
    “ And one of these days, Jennifer, I’m gonna ride that donkey right out of you.”
    “ You absolute-”
    “ Goodnight, gorgeous,” he whispers, shifting to the other side of the bed.
    My lips twitch. Butthead.

    ~

    I honestly thought that if I didn ’t get out of that bed, that room or that hotel this morning as soon as humanly possible I was gonna go bat shit crazy and jump on that annoyingly arrogant git.
    Bing is sex on legs and then some, and he knows it. He knows he ’s got that sexily styled messy hair that looks like he’s just run his fingers through it, and he knows his smoky, mocha brown eyes can draw you in to another world with just one look. He also knows he has a better six pack than Carlsberg could ever dream of making.
    Him knowing it is the problem because he flaunts it every second he gets. Like this morning, when he came out of the shower wearing nothing but a little white towel. I’m pretty sure my face went seven shades of pomegranate and well, if I was a lesbian, which I’m definitely not, the sight of him all wet and dripping would have made me straight again.
    I shake my head and unlock my flat door. I think I ’m mentally disturbed. I just broke up with my boyfriend of three years and I’m dreaming about licking water droplets off my best friend’s brother.
    God, someone call the men in white coats or, better – pass me the vodka.
    I nudge the door shut with my hip and set my suitcase down against the wall. After a day of travelling, being attacked by my crazy yet loveable niece, that final day in Lilac Bay, and a night sleeping next to the guy who has inappropriately appeared in my dreams for the last six months, I ’m ready for a holiday abroad. Or maybe, if I’m lucky, a trip to space.
    Crap on a lollipop. I shake my head at myself, and chuck my c oat on the sofa. My phone rings, and I jump, my heart thudding. Okay, it’s too damn quiet here.
    “ Hello?” I hold it to my ear.
    “ Are you back? Mum said you were stranded with Bing. You have no idea how sorry I feel for you right now!” Lexy exclaims.
    “ Considering you’re ringing on the landline phone then yes, I am home, you moron.” I laugh. ‘“And you have no idea how torturous it was.”
    “ Torture? Tell me more.”
    I can envision her sitting down with Alec leaning in to listen. “Your mum rang ahead and booked us two rooms, or so we thought. We get there and there’s only one. Your brother, the fucking genius he is decided that because it was a double bed, we’d share. I wanted to toss him into the snow.”
    “ And he sleeps naked,” Lexy muses.
    “ I’msorrywhatdidyoujustsay?” I spit out without breathing. “ Naked ?!”
    I had that fine, naked piece of ass next to me all night and I didn ’t even realise?! Wait, “fine, naked piece of ass?” Mother Nature must be on her way ‘cause this is definitely my hormones.
    “ Mm, he usually does. I think its habit from when he used to sleep around,” she explains almost apologetically. “I don’t know if he did last night though. Probably not.”
    I remember the way he leaned over me, his lips millimetres from mine. “He probably did. It’d be just like him to do that.”
    “ You have a point. But he didn’t crash you into a lamppost or anything, did he?”
    “ No, if he did I would have crashed his ass into a tree or something.” I shrug even though she can’t see me and take the orange juice from the fridge.
    “ I don’t doubt it. Anyway, I just wanted to make sure you got back okay. We’ll be back in like ten days.”
    “ I’m fine. How is... Um, how’s Carl?” I flinch at the guilt that slices through me. Wait, I don’t have anything to be guilty about, do I? Oh, I am so not on board with this self-doubt shit.
    “ He’s... Okay, actually.” I imagine her frowning. “I dunno, this was for the best, Jen. Neither of you have really been happy lately, have you?”
    “ No, I don’t think so. The arguments and all that crap was