Now or Never

texted Derrick and he came to her rescue—again. She must have passed out on the drive back to her mom’s house. Or maybe she was already passed out when he got there. That’s attractive.
    She grasped her phone. One of the crazy cats jumped on her lap, but she nudged it off the couch. Her head hurt too badly. She had to text Derrick and say thank you; it felt like some sort of fucked up walk of shame.
    Thanks for taking me home. I’m sorry I bothered you last night. That was out of line.
    No problem.
    My mom said you’re a Taurus. I hope she didn’t annoy you too much. She’s a little crazy.
    Not at all. How are you feeling?
    Like I drank way too much. I feel like death.
    You threw up all over my shoes.
    WHAT?? OMG are you serious? I’m so embarrassed and sorry. I don’t blame you if you never want to see me again.
    I needed new shoes anyway.
    Do you want to do something later? Grayson held her breath as she waited for his reply.
    Sorry, I have plans. I hope you feel better.
    Thanks. Grayson tossed the phone onto the coffee table. This man was driving her crazy, and she barely knew anything about him. That couldn’t be normal or healthy. But what did she know? She wasn’t exactly an expert on men. What the hell did she expect? Grayson cringed; she threw up on his shoes for crying out loud. She was probably never going to see him again. And it served her right.
    Shit.

CHAPTER 21

    The phone rang when Grayson was elbow deep in suds. She figured it was Luna, so she just finished with the dishes and let the call go to voice mail. Drying her hands she tossed the towel on the counter and reached for her phone. A smile touched her lips when she saw the missed call was from Derrick, and not Luna.
    She dialed his number.
    “Can I see you?” Derrick’s voice crossed the phone line, and her heart did that annoying flutter, which made her want to scream or kick something. He really should not have this much impact on her. It was beyond frustrating.
    She’d already made plans with her sister, and should tell him no, but her brain and mouth had two different ideas. “Sure. I’ve got nothing going on.”
    “Twenty minutes?”
    “I’ll be waiting.”
    Ugh. She was so lame. Playing hard to get was obviously not her strong suit. It probably wasn’t helping that she was available at his every beck and call. Next time she would tell him no.
    Yeah right…
    She called her sister and canceled, then she spent the next twenty minutes looking out the window. The sky had darkened, and it looked like an impending storm was heading their way. A low rumble could be heard in the distance.
    When she saw his SUV come down the road her face broke into a goofy grin, and ran out the door—so much for acting nonchalant. Without bothering to wait for him to get out of the car to open her door, she jumped in.
    “Hey,” Grayson said. She had no idea how to act around Derrick. She wanted to throw herself on him, but instead clasped her hands in front of her on her lap. It had been almost two weeks since she had seen him. Well, if you didn’t count her drunken stupor of shame that she couldn’t even recall.
    “Feeling better?”
    “I’m fine. It’s been three days. Hangovers don’t last that long.”
    She hadn’t heard from him at all during the three days, and it made her crazy. This relationship, if that’s what it could be called, was so mind numbingly confusing.
    “You really should be more careful when you go out,” he headed towards the highway, “when I got there a guy was helping you outside, and his hands were wandering. You were clueless.”
    Grayson shuddered, the thought of some man groping her body when she was unaware made her skin crawl.
    “Thanks for coming to the rescue. I don’t usually drink that much. I guess I was drowning my sorrows.”
    “Sorrows? What kind of sorrows could be racking your pretty little head?”
    He called her pretty, well her head anyway. Answer him, you idiot, she scolded herself. What could she say that she was upset; she hadn’t heard from him in over a week and was trying to forget about him? That would make her seem like a love sick looser.
    “I guess just all the stuff with Josh. I don’t know how I let myself get involved with someone like him.” Grace looked out the window. “I also need to figure out what I’m going to do with myself. I can’t just stay at my mom’s forever. I need to finish school and maybe get a part-time job.”
    “Have you heard from him