Accidentally On Purpose Part 22

"Almost a year."

"I don't want to b.u.t.t in, but..."

"But?"

He reached across the table and took my hands into his.

"Coming from a guy who wasn't always nice to women, he's only going to treat you the way you let him. If you continue to be tolerant of your circ.u.mstances, he's not going to have a reason to change."

I stared at him as if he just said the most remarkable thing I've ever heard, and maybe he did. It was something I already knew deep down, but to hear it vocalized by Leo really put things in perspective.

I was still gaping at him and he still had my hands when Kyle cleared his throat beside us before sitting down beside me. I let go of Leo, reluctantly, when Kyle put his arm around me.

About a half hour later, after making sure that I had all of Leo's contact information and vice versa, Kyle and I headed back to our hotel.

"That was an interesting night," he said sourly as we walked into our room.

"Yes."

"What was with the hand holding?"

"Just a friendly gesture."

"What were you talking about?"

"Nothing important."

I quickly changed into a pair of pajamas and went into the bathroom to brush my teeth. Kyle followed me.

"Your demeanor was weird."

"When?" I asked with a mouth full of toothpaste foam.

"When I came back and you two were holding hands."

"Maybe it was because you were gone in the first place."

He said nothing to this and I was able to finish brus.h.i.+ng and rinse my mouth out.

"You never told me that you hooked up with him before."

"It wasn't important. It was a long time ago." I sighed and sat down at the table in the corner of the room. I felt like I was being interrogated. I rested my head in my hands, feeling the effects of too much wine.

"How far did it go?"

"What do you mean how far did it go?"

"How far did it go? Just making out? Third base? Homerun?"

"I hate when people use baseball to discuss s.e.x."

"Fine. Did you just make out with some light petting or did you f.u.c.k him?"

I looked up at him. He was standing in the middle of the room, arms crossed, smoldering.

"I thought you were cool with it?"

"Maybe I'm not."

"Well, that's becoming very obvious, Kyle."

"You haven't answered my question."

"Maybe I don't want to answer your stupid question."

"Maybe that's an admission of guilt."

"Guilt? For something I did before I knew you existed? You can't be serious."

"So, you did f.u.c.k him."

"Yes, you hypocritical d.i.c.k," I snapped. "I f.u.c.ked him. Not once, not twice, but three times."

His face contorted into shock, then pain, and then anger.

"So was this trip a guise to see him again? To get some kind of revenge on me?"

"Are you listening to yourself?" I jumped up. "You sound crazy - crazy and obsessive. This trip was your idea!"

"You chose Miami, specifically because of Leo!" chose Miami, specifically because of Leo!"

"I didn't come down here to sleep with Leo, Kyle. But you know what? If I wanted to, I would, because I don't belong to you."

He flinched as if I had slapped the s.h.i.+t out of him, and I wish that I really had. We stood there staring at each other for a minute.

"I'm going to take a shower," he said quietly, and disappeared into the bathroom.

I was having a hard time finding a sense of inner control. I didn't want to fight with Kyle all night. In fact, I didn't want to see see Kyle for the rest of the night. I redressed, grabbed my purse, and escaped into the night. Kyle for the rest of the night. I redressed, grabbed my purse, and escaped into the night.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

When I got to Leo's restaurant, he was just leaving.

"Hey, what are you doing back here?" He asked. "Where's your stud m.u.f.fin?"

"I needed some air and he's back at the hotel. Are you leaving?"

"Yeah, I'm just going home though."

"Want some company?" I smiled.

He smiled back. "Of course. Let's go."

Leo's house was neater than I expected for a bachelor, neater than his bedroom was many years ago. It was tastefully decorated and he had pictures of friends and family, past and present, all over. Tabitha was in quite a few of them, many with Leo. It made me wonder if they had ever had anything going on, but I didn't feel like asking.

"You want a drink?" Leo asked from the kitchen.

"Always. I think I was born with a tequila bottle in my hand."

He laughed. A minute later he handed me a pretty big, strong drink. "So why did you run away tonight?"

"Oh, you don't want to hear all of the gritty details."

"Actually, I do. Maybe I can help."

He wanted to know, and I actually wanted to tell him, and I'm not sure why. We sat down on opposite ends of the couch, and I started from the beginning. Throughout the story, Leo refilled my gla.s.s several times. By the time I got to the part where I told Kyle I didn't belong to him, I couldn't walk in a straight line, not even in a nice zig zag.

"I mean, I'm right, right?" I slurred. "I don't belong to him. A matter of fact, I don't belong to anyone!" I leaned in close to Leo, which didn't take much. Somehow, we had both ended up in the middle of the couch, dangerously close. "I don't belong to anyone," I repeated.

I wrapped my hands around his neck and climbed into his lap, straddling him. He ran his hands up and down my back.

"You sure you want to go there?" He asked and took a nibble of my bottom lip. "You may regret it later."

"I won't be doing anything wrong. I'm technically single," I said, slowly gyrating on his lap.

"I don't think Kyle sees it that way."

"Can you shut up?" I kissed him hard on the mouth before he could answer.

After a hot minute, Leo gently pushed me away.

"What's wrong?" I asked, baffled.

He patted my thigh. "I'm just not that guy anymore, Emmy."

"You mean you're no longer an easy lay."

"I guess that's right," he chuckled. "You're really attractive, and I really wouldn't mind revisiting the past, but I don't want to take advantage of you at this moment of weakness."

"It's not a moment of weakness," I argued. To try to prove him wrong, I kissed him again. It lasted a little longer before he pushed me away again.

"If you still want me when you're sober, I'll comply," Leo said and eased me off of him.

I sat back on the couch, sulking.

"Why do you have to be so...kind?" I growled.

I fell asleep on Leo's couch, but he woke me up at dawn and drove me back to the hotel. In the car I checked my phone, which had been on silent through the night. Kyle had called me thirty-two times and sent so many text messages that I didn't have time to read them all by the time we arrived at the hotel.

"Sorry for throwing myself on you like that," I told Leo before getting out of the car.

"I hope I didn't make you feel...unwanted. I just didn't want you to regret anything."

"I wouldn't have regretted anything," I said firmly. "Thank you for being so cool about everything." I gave him a kiss, a full tongue on tongue kiss and got out of the car.

When I walked through the door, I found Kyle sitting in the chair I was sitting in last night when we started arguing. His face was unreadable, but I knew this wasn't going to go well, and I knew that I was not going to play nice either.

"Where were you?" He asked quietly.

"Leo's." I stood on the other side of the room, leaning against the dresser.

"The restaurant? I checked there."

"His house."

"Were you drinking?"

"Yeah. Got pretty drunk."

He was silent for a moment, but his next words seeped out like venom.

"Did you f.u.c.k him a fourth time? Maybe a fifth?"

"I didn't have s.e.x with him."

"Why should I believe you?"

"I have no reason to lie, Kyle. I have nothing to lose,"

"Me. You can lose me, or does that not matter to you anymore?"

"I don't have have you, Kyle!" I yelled. "Jessyca has you! I don't have you and you don't have me." you, Kyle!" I yelled. "Jessyca has you! I don't have you and you don't have me."

He sat there, just as stunned as he was when I said that the night before. I couldn't stop myself from talking, making things worse.

"For the record I did try to sleep with him, but he didn't want me to regret it when I sobered up," I started throwing various items into my carry-on bag. "I'm sober now now, and I wouldn't have regretted it."