Sea Breeze 04 - Just for Now

Five
Preston
    You can’t leave a guy to “sleep it off” when he’s barely had anything to drink. A few shots of tequila does not a drunk Preston make. I lay back on the bed and stared at the white ceiling fan slowly spinning. Letting everyone around me think that I was just living from one party to the next had always been easy. It covered up the truth. I liked pretending to be carefree. It had always been better than the truth.
    Letting Amanda Hardy think I was as shallow as I’d convinced her I was hurt like a son of a bitch. I didn’t want to see the disappointment and disgust in her eyes. The only thing that kept me from blurting out the truth while she went on and on about my sucky behavior was the fact that the truth was worse.
    Reaching over, I picked up the white teddy bear lying beside my head and held it up to my nose. It was Amanda’s. It smelled like her. This was her sorry-ass father’s condo, but this had to be Amanda’s room. Staying in here wasn’t going to be possible. I’d just think about all I couldn’t have. I placed the bear back in its spot and stood up.
    Marcus was my best friend. Sure, there was a group of us, but Marcus was the one I loved the most. He’d always seemed to know more than I wanted him to, but he never said anything. Instead of asking me questions like Rock had when we were kids, Marcus had brought me an extra lunch every day. He never mentioned it. He just did it. When I’d been bruised from one of my mom’s boyfriends’ drunken fits, Dewayne and Rock had asked why. Marcus had changed the subject and then slipped into the school office to get me an aspirin that he’d casually placed in my hands without explanation.
    The guys were my family, but Marcus was my brother. Blood didn’t matter. He’d cared when no one else had known there was something to care about. I had to let this fascination I had with his sister go. I also needed to get downstairs and celebrate with him. He’d found someone worthy of him. Being locked away and sulking over Jason Stone showing up with Amanda was unfair. Marcus didn’t deserve this.
    I walked down the stairs and into the living room. As I entered the room, Willow smiled at me and motioned me over. She was surrounded by guests, but her attention was on me. I could see the concern in her eyes. If anyone understood my life even a little, it would be Willow. She’d had a suck-ass family tree too.
    “You’re back,” she replied, with a smile to let me know she was glad I’d returned.
    “Yeah, I figured things had time to cool off. I didn’t want to miss tonight. I’m sorry about earlier.” I stopped at that. I couldn’t explain any more to her.
    Willow shrugged one shoulder. “No worries. I think the guys were just worried about that guy causing a stir. He was a friend of a guest. He’s been escorted out.”
    I reached behind her to the bartender and grabbed a beer. It was safer than the tequila shots.
    Willow raised an eyebrow. “Ever heard the saying ‘Liquor before beer, never sicker’?”
    I tipped the bottle to my lips, took a swig, and grinned. “Sweetheart, it’s liquor before beer, never fear.”
    Willow laughed. “Guess you’d know this better than anyone.”
    “He’s been drinking before he was old enough to shave,” Marcus drawled as he came up behind Willow and wrapped his arms around her waist.
    Willow tilted her head back, and I watched as Marcus bent his head to capture her mouth with his. They were so fucking sweet it made me sick. It also made me jealous as hell. I would never get that. I could never love like that. Ever.
    “Glad you came back down to the party. I knew you weren’t drunk when Amanda took you up there,” Marcus said, once he’d released his fiancée’s lips.
    “Yeah, I figured I’d given the guy time to leave or calm down.”
    Marcus nodded. “I walked him to the door. Trisha said she was sorry. She told Krit he could bring a few friends. That was one of them.”
    Krit was Trisha’s brother and the lead singer in a band. He didn’t normally have the best crowd surrounding him, and he traveled with a posse.
    “Well, Krit’s friends have gotten classier. That guy was the son of a neurosurgeon in Mobile.”
    Women always talked. They told me about their husbands and how they were neglected. I didn’t need to hear an excuse as to why they hired me, but they always felt like they had to give me one. It had been my first time with that woman. Normally, I kept my