Eversea A Love Story

dames and you blame me for talking you out of having sex with Jack Eversea.”
    She made a good point.
    “Are you still drunk?” I glared at her. “Anyway, I don’t know why he’s here. Probably to let me know about the restraining order after my phone call.”
    “Yeah, right. Guys don’t just show up like this, especially after a phone call like that. And if he was really in love with Audrey, he would definitely not have come over here. You gave him the perfect out, and he’s still here.”
    “Maybe it’s just a booty call.”
    “Maybe it is ... ” Jazz winked . “Lucky you.”
    “You do realize it will be you mending the pieces of my broken heart in the morning?”
    “I believe we were doing that anyway.”
    “Good point.”
    Jazz then stood tall, laid a hand over her heart and hissed out the corner of her mouth like some retarded ventriloquist, “I, Jessica Fraser, hereby grant my good friend, Keri Ann Butler, permission to embrace her inner strumpet, and I do so with the utmost promise of confidentiality and lack of judgment.”
    “Lack of good judgment you mean.” I rolled my eyes at her, but inside, thinking about going to bed with Jack, my stomach twisted and turned in nerves, and not a little heat. However, he and I had some shit to sort out, so the chances of that ever happening were remote at best. I frowned.
    “ If you’re done ... ” I crossed my arms and tapped my foot.
    She grinned wickedly. “Just be safe about it, I am not ready to be a godmother.” And with that effective cold bucket of water dumped on my stirring libido, she made a hasty exit, brushing past Jack and up the stairs.
    Ugh! I stomped my foot. I couldn’t believe she would encourage me, then scare the shit out of me in the same nanosecond. Typical.
    “Uh ... do you think I could borrow a towel or something...” Jack asked, his eyebrows raised in bewilderment at the long hissing exchange he’d just witnessed.
    “Oh yeah, sorry. Uh, go sit by the fire, I’ll bring you one.”
    “Here ya go!” came Jazz’s voice down the stairs as a huge white bath towel flapped to the bottom.
    “Uh, thanks,” Jack called out, heading for it.
    “No problem,” she sang. “Y’all have fun!”
    And we heard Joey’s bedroom door bang shut.
     

 
    T W E N T Y - O N E
    I looked at Jack in my darkened living room. He was still standing awkwardly and soaking wet, but now trying to dry himself over his wet clothes. He should really take them off before he got a chill, but I was going to bite my tongue until it bled before I suggested that.
    “How did you get here?” It suddenly occurred to me I hadn’t heard his bike.
    “I ran, slash, walked.”
    “In the rain?”
    “Well, it was a bit dangerous to be out on the bike, and it didn’t seem so far ... but I wasn’t thinking about what it feels like to try and get somewhere fast in soaking wet jeans. And damn, when it rains, it rains here.”
    It sure did. “And why are you here?”
    He looked around the room, maybe for somewhere to sit, before settling down onto his haunches and looking into the fire. The firelight dancing across the planes of his face was devastating.
    I swallowed and looked away.
    “Yeah, sorry about there being no furniture,” I said a little acidly, maybe to cover my nerves. “Apparently someone paid to have my floors done.”
    “There is such a thing as a gift without strings, Keri Ann,” he said quietly. “Not that I’ve ever received one, but I certainly didn’t expect anything from you for that. I just did it. Without thinking. I could. So I did.” He shrugged, as if it had been the most simple thing in the world. Like buying a cup of coffee. “But, I’m sorry. The last thing I wanted to do was upset you. I understand pride. Trust me.” He laughed, humorlessly.
    My heart twisted at his reference to never having been given a gift with no strings. I was such a sap.
    He seemed to gear up to say something else, like he was trying to find the right words to explain something. “I want to go and tell everyone to get screwed,” he started. “But I owe them too much. I wouldn’t be where I am today in my career without them. It makes me doubt my ability. But it’s not actually me they care about, I’m alone in this. They care about me being in the right place at the right time, dating the right person,” he looked at me before continuing, “God, I know I’m not making sense to you. I know I tried to explain this before ... ”
    I