Sea Breeze 04 - Just for Now

the table. “Tell me what I said, dammit.”
    Dewayne leaned on the table with his elbows and glared at me. “No. You were drunk as shit. I don’t want to remember it. She’s like my little sister, you stupid fucker. She should be the same to you. How you could do something with her like some cheap slut I am still trying to wrap my head around. I know you got issues. But that ain’t an excuse. She looks at you in a way that can only mean you can hurt her. You have hurt her, and she still looks at you with that wistful, dreamy look of hers. It makes me so mad I could beat the shit out of you. Okay? ”
    “It’s different with her, D.” I couldn’t tell him more than that because I couldn’t accept it. There was no way I’d ever be able to have anything more than a friendship with her, but I needed him to know she wasn’t like the others.
    “Maybe. But she’s sweet. She’s good. She’s also innocent. Back off before Marcus figures out there is a reason he should put a bullet in your head.”
    I couldn’t back off completely. I needed her friendship. I wanted to be near her. “We’re friends now. That’s something he’ll have to accept. Nothing more.”
    “Friends? Bullshit.”
    I didn’t expect him to believe me. Why should he?
Amanda
    By the time I left the study group, it was after nine. Today had been busy and somewhat successful. We’d found a flower girl dress. However, the bridesmaid dresses hadn’t been so easy to find. We had another day planned next week to go to Mobile to see if we could find something there.
    I noticed a familiar Jeep parked in the driveway. What was Preston doing? Mom was at home. I’d talked to her already once tonight. Had he been sitting there long?
    I pulled up beside him and got out. I had to get him out of here before Mom saw him. She would have a fit if she saw me hanging around with Preston Drake. He was okay as one of Marcus’s friends, but that was all. She had never let it be a secret that she wasn’t a fan of his.
    Preston was grinning when I got close enough to make out his face. The top to his Jeep was off, and he was leaned back with his head turned in my direction.
    “You’re finally home,” he said. There was no slur to his voice, so he wasn’t drunk. That was a good thing.
    “Yeah, um, what are you doing here?”
    “Go for a ride with me” was his response.
    I glanced back at the house. Mom’s bedroom light was off, and that normally meant she’d taken her sleeping pill already. But he didn’t know that. “Mom is expecting me.”
    “Please,” he replied.
    “My mom—”
    “Is asleep,” he interrupted.
    Sighing, I shifted my feet and stayed a good foot away from him and his Jeep. “Why? It’s late and I’m exhausted.”
    “Because I want to spend time with you. I missed you tonight.”
    He missed me? Really? “I don’t think this is a good idea.”
    “It is probably one of the worst ideas I’ve ever had. Please come with me,” he pleaded.
    I was a female. How was I supposed to ignore that? “Fine. But just a short ride, and then I need to go to bed.”
    I walked around the Jeep and climbed in. I’d never made it into his Jeep the last time he’d asked me to take a ride with him. When I looked over at him, he was staring at the door I’d just closed and his eyes moved to me.
    “Did you . . .” He swallowed loudly. “Did you have an orgasm up against my Jeep that night?”
    He was remembering more and more of our night together. I doubted we’d be done talking about it anytime soon. The more he remembered, the more he was going to want to ask me about it. Then I’d have to relive it.
    I turned my head to look outside before answering. “Yes.”
    “Your shirt was off,” he replied slowly.
    “Yes, Preston, it was. Can we please not talk about this?”
    Preston shifted the Jeep into reverse, and we backed out of the driveway.
    “I’m sorry. It’s just . . . pieces keep coming back to me, and I just remembered you clearly coming for me while I had you pressed up against the Jeep.”
    I would not be embarrassed. I would not.
    “No one had ever done those things to me before. It was a given that I was going to get off easy,” I replied.
    “I was just kissing your tits. No one had ever done that before?” The surprise in his voice made me wish I’d stayed at home. Getting in this Jeep had been yet another bad move.
    “Subject change, please.”
    Preston didn’t say anything else. He drove to the public beach