I nodded. “You want to know something I never said to Layla?”
She shrugged. “Sure, fire away.”
“I never told her I loved her. You see, I don’t just give those words away without meaning. I don’t use them lightly. And even at the time when I thought I loved her and needed her back, I knew deep down it wasn’t true. Not in the way it should be. I mean, I do love Layla as a friend. We’ve been through a whole lot, but I’m not in love with her.”
She was about to speak, but I shook my head and took a step forward, closing the distance between us as the beads of water ran down my back, giving me a chill.
“I get why you thought what you did, and I know that you didn’t want to believe that. It was just my stupid past making it worse. And that’s my fault.”
“But I hit you,” she said as the tears ran down her cheeks. “I shouldn’t have done that. It’s my fault you reacted how you did.”
“No, that’s my father’s fault. Not ours. He made me that way. He used to make me and Bryan fight when we were kids. He would egg Bryan on until I begged for mercy, and when we both got older, we made a pact not to ever do that again. We turned on him when we were big enough, and we beat him and beat him, and it still didn’t make him quit.”
“I looked all night for you,” she whispered. “I came here, I drove across town, but I figured you went to the Tiger Lily Café.”
“No, I almost went there. I guess it’s not going to be the same anymore now that it reminds me of you.”
“It was the place no one expected you’d be before, and now that I know about it, the magic is gone, right?”
“It had a brand-new magic to it now, but I guess I lost that too.”
“You haven’t lost anything that can’t be found.” She put her hand to her heart. “Where were you?” She looked as if the answer might scare her.
Did she think I was with someone else? Dillon had asked me if I was alone. She probably thought I had another woman here with me. “I went to Bryan’s grave. When I saw you in the kitchen and you were so upset, I knew it was over. I just had to get away. To go somewhere, and he was the only one who was going to understand.”
“You got it wrong. That’s not what I was upset about, Seth. I was upset because I ruined it.” She began to cry even harder, and I stood there, wishing I could make it better for both of us. “I ruined everything.”
Hearing her say that made me wince. “I’m the one who ruins things, baby. Not you. You make them better. You make me better too. At least you make me want to be.”
“No, I’m the one who didn’t trust you, and I’m the one who ended things over something out of your control. It was my fault.” Her argumentative tone made me hesitate.
“I should have done a better job of showing you how important you are to me.”
“But you did. I just slept through it. I should have realized. It’s on me.” She pulled her arms in close.
“Are you going to argue with me over whose fault it is?” I shifted on my feet. “I love you. I don’t care whose fault it was.” I closed the distance, pulling her into my arms.
“I love you too.” She began to weep, and I had tears too. They rolled down my cheek and stained her hair. We stood like that for what seemed like forever.
Finally, she lifted her head and stepped back to look at me. I was mostly dry, but I had a screaming hard-on for her. “So, you’re naked,” she said.
I laughed. “I was in the shower,” I said softly.
She grinned. “How much have you had to drink?”
I held up the bottle. “This much.” I was sporting a good buzz to go with my hard-on.
“You’re not going to sober up and change your mind, are you? Because I can’t go through this again.”
I shook my head. “Not a chance. But I would like to go lay down.”
Avery gave me a sympathetic look. “Is the room spinning?” she asked with a smile, taking my arm as if to steady me.
“No, I just want to get you horizontal.” I picked her up, and she laughed with delight as I carried her to the bed.
“I’ve missed you,” she said as I placed her on my covers.
I brushed her hair back from her face. “Not as much as I’ve missed you.”
“Even though I was mad at you because of what I’d heard, all I kept thinking about was how to get you back. I wanted you to be jealous, and I wanted you to fight for me.”
“You don’t know how hard it was not to annihilate Ben. I didn’t believe him for a minute, either. I know that punk was hitting on you.”
“I kind of wanted you to punch him in the face.” She laughed. “I guess that’s pretty horrible.”
“Yeah, especially because I could really fuck that guy up. But I’m serious. I missed you so much you were all I could think about. I haven’t been eating or sleeping right. I’ve been a mess. The only reason I made it through my championship game is that I wanted to impress you.”
“No,” she said, giving me a pointed look. “I’ve still missed you more. And I’m prepared to fight about it.”
“Oh, are you?” I said. “You want to take me on?”
“Yeah.” She smiled, and before I knew it, she yanked off my towel. “What are you going to do about it?”
My lips crushed against hers. Avery put her arms around my neck. I braced myself above her as we made out.
I kissed down
