Page 59

chapter twenty-one

“In the dating world, sometimes it’s necessary to fight dirty. Very dirty. Oh get your head out of the gutter! I don’t mean that kind of dirty. I mean, sometimes you gotta do the shitty hard work in order to get the results you want, ie: you may need to crawl on your hands and knees through mud and nearly get electrocuted before you get your girl, but totally worth it in the end. Because, who do you think nurses you back to health? And then you can really get ‘dirty.’ Feel me?”

~From Max Emory’s Guide to Dating and Other Important Life Lessons

Jason

I flinched when the door slammed and then tried to hide my smirk as I walked back to my room and put on a pair of trunks. Honestly, I’d seen her panic and just assumed it was because she’d come home and didn’t want to see anyone yet. I had no idea she was so insecure about the move, which just made me more curious about the missing ten years.

A decade. And every single day spent without her.

Laughter, and the sound of people screaming in fun, pulled me back down the hall and outside to the back patio. Maddy was nowhere in sight.

Max however, was.

I sighed.

He was the epitome of the word enabler; the guy was passing out tequila shots with limes. Where the hell did he find a half-gallon bottle of tequila?

“Jason!” Max yelled when he saw me. “Grab the keg from the car?”

“Keg?” I repeated. “What the hell, Max?!”

“KEG!” People around me screamed in excitement.

It was like partying with strangers. I didn’t really recognize many people. John, a buddy from the football team, was with his wife, but that was it. Everyone else was only vaguely familiar. I would probably need a yearbook to compare pictures and smiles. After Maddy left, I hadn’t exactly stayed in contact with people I went to school with — too much of a reminder, too painful.

“Hey, slugger.” Liza approached, tequila shot in hand. “Killer party.”

“Yeah,” I croaked and looked away. Liza was the last person I wanted to see; her brother — and my ex-friend — was part of the reason for my misery.

Her face fell. “It’s been ten years.”

“Oh, really? Haven’t been counting. Wouldn’t know. I got a keg to grab.” I smiled politely and walked off, fisting my hands tightly in anger.

Party?

Sounded like the best idea I’d heard in a long time, so after I grabbed all the alcohol from the car, including the keg and four boxes of liquor, I helped Max set it up while he yelled, “SHOTS!”

I quickly gulped down two rounds of Jack and wiped my face, just as Maddy came out of the house.

I started choking.

Not because of the whiskey, but because my spit had gone down the wrong tube.

She looked… edible.

Like I could sweep the vase off the dinner table, spread her wide, and just eat my fill until I was lost to her.

Full breasts spilled over a small black bikini, leaving little to the imagination, the top barely covering nipple, for that matter. And the bottoms? Well, she kept adjusting them.

Let’s just say ten years later, high school bathing suits look small…

In the best way possible.

Head held high, she walked right by me to Max, grabbed a shot, threw it back then sucked the lime he’d held out in front of her.

I growled.