Page 40 of Use Me

After I told Bridgette off, we walked into my building and up to my place. I‘d expected Rhys to be all over me. That was our thing. When we had a run in with our exes, we had sex with each other. But he didn’t even try. Instead, we snuggled in my bed and fell asleep. And I was okay with that.

Now for the second morning in a row, I woke to the smell of coffee. “I’m going to get used to this.” I grinned and rolled over to face Rhys.

He reached for my mug to hand it to me. “That’s what I’m hoping for.”

I stared at him, my hand reaching up to take the coffee from him. “I thought—”

“I’m kidding, Cupcake. I know what this is, but I’m not going to just leave. We are friends, right?”

I smiled and took the cup. “Of course, but …” I hesitated. Did I really want to ask what was on the tip of my tongue? Bringherup again. Or even tell him that I was starting to feel as though I might want to date again, and if Philip called, I’d go out with him.

“But what?”

I smiled tightly still not sure, but I went with it. “But are you going to get back with Bridgette?”

“Fuck no!”

“Last night was the second time we’ve seen her while we were together. I’m not sure she’ll ever give up.”

“She’s fucking crazy.”

“Should I be worried?”

Rhys scrunched his eyebrows. “Meaning she might hurt you?”

“Well, she seemed pretty angry last night, and now she knows I only live right across the street.”

Rhys draped his free arm around me. “She’s twenty-three, and she just threw away the best guy she will ever be with.”

I snorted. “Cocky much?”

“You keep coming back.” He winked.

This was true. Rhys was a great guy. So great that if he asked me out on a real date, I’d go with him. I was curious if we could work, but he told me he didn’t want a serious relationship right now, so maybe I should just date and have fun? Marriage and kids could wait. Women were starting to have their first child in their early forties now. I could do that. So if Philip called, I was going to go out to dinner with him.

There was nothing wrong with dinner.

Ashtyn,

The rose is red. The violet is blue.

Sugar is sweet. And so are you.

-SA

I wanted to get an update from the developer of the floating island because the last I’d heard, they still hadn’t announced a completion date. Just as I was sending the email, my desk phone rang.

“Ashtyn Valor,” I greeted.

The man cleared his throat. “Hey … it’s Philip.”

My breath caught before I responded. He was calling to ask me out, and now I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go. I didn’t want to stop what Rhys and I were doing. What if Philip was the one I was meant to be with, and Rhys was just the one to get me over Corey? I hated thinking of Rhys as the rebound. He was more than that.

Dinner. I could do dinner.

“Hi, how are you?”

“I’d be better if you finally agree to have dinner with me.”