500 Days (14 page)

“
Fine,” Alex said,
grabbing her cue stick. “But this time, no crying like a baby if
you lose.”

“
Don’t worry sweetheart. I
don’t plan on losing.”

“
You break.”

Halfway through the game I noticed Rachel
and Lincoln were getting bored. I gave Rachel some money and told
her to get us some drinks and shots and not to worry, the game
would be over soon. Alex laughed. Lincoln offered to help Rachel,
which I was glad. One less distraction I had to worry about. I
circled the table looking for my next shot. I called it. “You’re
never gonna make that,” Alex taunted. It was a bank shot into the
side pocket. She leaned up on the table, teasing me.

“
Are you trying to
distract me?” She slid down to her elbows and rested her chin on
her hands. From this angle I could see directly down her shirt.
Damn. She smiled. I shook my head and took the shot, missing. I
cannot let that happen again. Satisfied with herself, Alex stood
up, and walked the table looking for the perfect mark.

Twenty minutes later, we were down to the
final ball. My palms were sweating. I needed to make this shot. I
called it and closed my eyes for a second. I pulled back the cue
stick and followed through. I opened my eyes just in time to see
the ball go in. I tried really hard not to rub it in, but I could
not keep the smile off of my face. Alex looked mortified. I
couldn’t tell which bothered her more. That she lost the game or
she lost the bet, maybe it was both. She hung up her cue stick and
walked back to the table crossing her arms. “Let’s just get this
over with.”

“
Can’t I at least enjoy my
win for a moment?” I sat back on the table, proud to have won this
game, because honestly, for some reason I couldn’t explain, I can’t
bear to see her walk out that door with that scumbag.

“
Do not make this anymore
torturous than it already is.”

“
Am I really that bad?”
Before she could open her mouth I stopped her. “Never mind. I don’t
want to know.”

She grabbed her purse. “You might want to
tell your new friend you have other plans.”

“
As should you.” She
glared at me, clenching her purse tightly under her arm. I got up
and only now noticed neither
Lincoln nor
Rachel had returned since they went to get drinks over a
half
-
hour ago.
Puzzled, my eyes searched the bar. I found the two of them cozied
up in a corner together. “Well, it looks like they already saved us
the trouble.” This just got better and better.

Alex frowned, clearly upset that she got
ditched for the voluptuous redhead. “I have to tell Declan I’m
leaving.” We walked back to the table to find it empty. “What the
hell?”

“
Wow, dissed by the guy at
the bar and your friend. You’re on a roll.”

She spun around. “May I remind you that you
were also left behind?”

“
Yes, but I’m not going
home empty handed. Shall we?” I gestured to the door. She stomped
off, leaving me unable to wipe the smile from my face. I walked her
to my car and noticed a bit of admiration in her eyes at the beauty
before her. That changed the second I stood beside her. I opened up
the door for her and she barely batted an eye at my generosity. I
stifled an eye roll and almost ended shutting the door on her. The
anger that crossed her face was enough to make me smile again. I
walked around to the driver side. Alex was combing her hand over
the dashboard, taking in the aesthetics and cool leather beneath
her.

“
You like?”

“
It’s okay,” she said,
turning her head toward the window. I started the engine and
shifted to drive without another word. I didn’t really have a plan.
I wasn’t even sure why I actually followed through with the bet.
One minute I wanted to punch a wall because she was so aggravating
and the next all I wanted to do was protect her, touch her fair,
smooth skin. She had a way of getting to me. I just hoped I didn’t
regret this.

When we arrived at my house, I didn’t even
bother this time to open the door for her. If she expected me to be
a dick well then that was what she was going to get. I was halfway
to the door before Alex was even out of the car. I heard her mumble
something under her breath making me chuckle to myself. Greyson was
in the living room entertaining a few friends. Alex entered making
Greyson drop his remote. He looked at her and then back at me,
shell shocked. I moved in close to Alex’s ear and pressed my hand
on her lower back. I felt her flinch slightly. Part of me should
have been happy, but another part of me was sad that she was
repulsed by me. I led her past the still shocked Greyson and back
to my bedroom closing and locking the door behind her.

She looked so tiny, fragile, and she was
also trembling. She encased herself in her long arms for comfort.
For some reason she seemed scared and I didn’t want her to feel
that way. “You don’t have to be nervous. I already told you I don’t
want to sleep with you.”

“
Why not?” she asked, a
little surprised with herself for just spitting it out.

“
Alex look, you’re
beautiful and you know it,” the shift in her stance and the slight
blush in her cheeks made me think she wasn’t told that very often.
“In any other circumstance I would have tried to get in your pants,
but for the fact that you seem to annoy the hell out of
me
,
it’s not
worth it.”

She whipped her fierce green eyes on me.
“I’m not worth it? So you’re basically calling me trash.”

“
I didn’t say that. I said
you annoy me.”

“
Calling me annoying is
not any better. God seriously, you are the biggest asshole ever.
You don’t even know me.”

“
This coming from the girl
who claims she knows me. You’re very quick to pass judgment
yourself.”

“
Why am I even here? Why
would you want to spend time with someone you find annoying?” She
was ready to bolt. I could see it in the way she positioned
herself.

I stood up and blocked the
path to the door. “I wanted to know more about the girl with the
attitude. I feel there’s something else underneath all that rage.
Nobody has that much anger for no reason which makes me believe
someone did you wrong
,
so you’re taking your hostility out on the wrong
people.”

“
Nobody did me wrong. I
just don’t like guys who feel they can have anybody they want. You
act like you’re god’s gift to women. You’re just like every other
guy who is looking for self-gratification.”

“
You talk big but I bet
you’re just a scared little girl who doesn’t know what she wants so
she takes everything out on everyone else.”

“
Screw this.” She made a
move for the door, but I stopped her.

“
You lost a bet,” I
reminded her.

“
I cannot even begin to
understand why girls throw themselves at you.”

“
Because they know they
will have the best night of their lives and it feels good to be
wanted.”

“
How do you think they
feel after you ditch them in the morning or kick them to the curb
when you’re done? I’m sure they feel very wanted then.”

“
Most girls know from the
second they leave the bar with a stranger that there is nothing
more guaranteed then a night of sex. If they’re expecting anything
else then they shouldn’t be going home with someone they just
met.”

I could see it in her face she was trying to
come up with a reason to say I was wrong, but was having a hard
time finding fault in my logic. “It still doesn’t make it right to
use girls the way you do.”

“
Who says they’re not
using me?” She tilted her head to the side giving me a look that
said she didn’t agree. “Okay, so tell me Alex, how many one night
stands have you had? Do you stay or do you slip out before they
wake up?” When she didn’t speak I knew my answer. I was slowly
learning we were a lot more alike than she would like to admit. “I
believe that makes you a hypocrite.”

She scowled at me. “I am nothing like
you.”

“
Prove it.”

“
I am not sleeping with
you.”

“
I never said that. Sit,”
I gestured to the bed. She looked around for another option and
found a chair in the corner. Damn. When I knew she wasn’t going to
make a bolt for the door I took a seat back on the bed. We sat for
a while in a standoff silent contest. I knew if I wasn’t the one to
say something we would probably sit here in silence for the rest of
the night. I wouldn’t mind. She was beautiful, in that
girl-next-door kind of way. She had this kind of sex appeal that
she didn’t even know existed. Even her brooding was
sexy.

“
Tell me about yourself.”
She turned her head refusing to look at me. Her knee bounced up and
down like crazy. She examined her nails making it a point she was
not going to talk to me. “You know we can sit here all night and
have a staring contest or you could actually talk to me. You know,
like, have a conversation. It’s something that people often
do.”

She scowled at me not appreciating the
sarcasm. “What do you want to know?” she asked, straightening out
her skirt. She was uncomfortable talking about herself. I would
have to tread lightly to keep her from wanting to tear my head
off.

“
You have a thing for old
classics. As much as you would like to deny it
,
I noticed you admiring my
car.”

“
My brother Jaxson works
in the automobile shop downtown. He always liked tinkering around
with cars.”

“
So you have two
brothers?”

“
Four, actually.” Her body
shifted and she seemed to relax a little. “My eldest brother Jack
is in the marines. Jasper, as you know, owns the tattoo shop down
town, Jaxson is my twin, and Jacob is the youngest who just
graduated high school. He’s going to move in with Jax and Jas at
the end of summer and go to school here.”

This was the most I ever heard her talk
without her flinging insults at me. It was kind of nice. “I noticed
there seems to be a theme there. All your brother’s names begin
with a J, but not yours.”

“
My mom let my dad name
all the boys, but when I was born she stuck claim on getting to
name me. She told me the reason she went with a different letter
was because she wanted me to stand out in a group of
boys.”

“
But they still named you
Alex, which no offense, is a boy’s name.”

“
Alexis, my full name is
Alexis. Everyone just calls me Alex for short.”

“
What do your parents
do?”

Her expression changed and something told me
this was a sensitive subject. She fidgeted with the hem of her
skirt before she answered. “It’s just me and my brothers.” I let
the subject drop, detecting this was not something she wanted to
talk about.

“
You go to school at
CU?”

“
I’ll be a junior this
year.”

“
It’s funny that I never
saw you.” The campus was fairly large so it was quite possible we
just never crossed paths.

“
That’s probably because I
attend school for an education while you’re too busy looking for
your next conquest.”

“
You really think I’m just
this giant man whore?”

“
You have yet to prove me
wrong.”

“
Okay, you’re right.
Considering my current reputation I can understand why you would
think that. I love women yes, but that’s not all I think
about.”

“
Okay, what’s your
major?”

“
Undecided.”

“
How am I not surprised?
What year are you now?” She laughed, shaking her head and thinking
she had me figured out. “You gonna spend the rest of your life in
college so you can live out your glory days?”

“
Actually, I was pre-law
my first two years. I switched to undecided because I was tired of
having people dictate my life.”

“
And you still don’t know
what you want to do?” Her tone was a little less sarcastic this
time. I shrugged my shoulders. I never really planned ahead. I was
more the type to just fly by the seat of my pants.

“
I’ll figure it out
eventually, but why not enjoy what I can while I’m
young.”

“
So you have no plan.
Whatsoever?”

I shrugged. “Plans are for
people who have nothing better to do.” She made a disapproving
noise in the back of her throat. “You’re one of
those
people who have their whole
life planned out, don’t you? You know exactly what you want to do.
You know where you want to work, live, how many kids you want to
have. You have the perfect plan for your future.”

“
You are so far off it’s
not even funny,” she said. I could feel her defensive walls
building back up.

“
Care to enlighten
me?”

She crossed her ankles and tucked them
underneath the chair. “Just because I know what I want doesn’t mean
I have my entire future planned out. I know for a fact that plans
don’t work. They’re often broken by unforeseen events.”

“
You speaking from
experience?”

She kept her lips tight
and I had a feeling I was wading
in
dangerous territory. “You gonna tell me next you had a hard
childhood and life isn’t fair, blah, blah, blah.” She changed the
subject. A tactic I’ve used several times to take the heat off of
me or when I didn’t want to talk about something.