Defensive (16 page)

“Here’s your beer,” the waitress said as she sat it on the table and rubbed my arm.

“Thanks.” I offered her as I checked out her body. She was really fit and kind of reminded me of Vanessa. I wasn’t sure why but I pulled her down to sit on my lap. “What time do you get off?” I asked.

She rubbed up and down my arm, then placed her hand on my chest. “In about two hours.”

“Really? Why don’t you go make up an excuse and come with me?” I really had no control over what I was saying. All I knew was that the words were coming out and I wasn’t trying to stop them.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

I wasn’t going to lead this girl on. She was just a distraction from the girl she resembled. “Your place or a hotel. Nobody comes home with me.”

“I could. I promise I won’t tell my friends where you live, Jackson.”

Shit, I guess she knew who I was. It didn’t matter. I was a single guy. “I said nobody comes home with me. Either a hotel or your place.” Vanessa was the only girl I’d brought back to my house since I had moved here. I planned on keeping it that way.

“Okay, you can come home with me,” she said. “Let me go see what I can come up with so we can leave.”

I nodded before helping her off me. “You finally going to get laid?” I heard Ray ask from beside me. Great. Now he decided to pay attention.

“Maybe. We’ll see. She has a nice body,” I said as I watched her walk toward a door and go behind it.

“Hopefully you’ll be in a better mood.”

“Just shut the fuck up.” The waitress came back. It seemed like she had just left, but things were starting to get a little blurry.

“I got it taken care of. You ready?” she asked. I checked her out one more time before I nodded and stood up.

“See ya, man,” Ray said but I didn’t respond. I just walked away.

I could feel that I was really drunk because it was hard to walk straight so I put my arm around the girl. “What’s your name?” I asked.

“LeeAnn.”

“LeeAnn? That’s a pretty name. Vanessa is an absolutely fucking gorgeous name,” I slurred.

“Isn’t that your girlfriend’s name?” she asked.

“Don’t mention her or even think about her,” I said angrily.
Where the hell had that come from?
Before I could apologize for being mean, she pushed up against me, giving me a kiss. It wasn’t a bad kiss, but it wasn’t the best, either. I wasn’t sure if it was because I was so drunk. More likely, it was because she wasn’t Vanessa. Vanessa was a phenomenal kisser.

I woke up the next morning with a splitting headache in a room with purple walls.
What the hell? Where am I?
I felt an arm move across my chest, subsequently making me move my head to the left, where a girl was sleeping.
Fuck! What did I do?
I looked over at the nightstand. I hadn’t been a complete idiot. At least there was an open condom wrapper on it.

I gently lifted her arm off my body and climbed out of bed. I looked around for my clothes, finding her bra and ripped panties first. Eventually, I found all of my clothes and slipped my shoes on. I felt like a dick but there was no way that I was waking her up. This could get awkward and I just wanted to get out.

I stepped outside, jogged a few houses down, and called Ray. As soon as he answered, I barked out, “Come get me.”

“Haha. Where are you?”

“Fuck if I know.” I walked to the corner to look at the street sign. “Corner of Mulberry and Oak.”

“I’ll find you. In the meantime, maybe you should look at TMZ.”

I sat down on the sidewalk. “Why?”

“Just look at it.”

“Okay. Get here quick,” I said and ended the call. I brought up TMZ’s website on my phone.
Fuck!
Pictures of the waitress and me were all over the first page. They had pictures of her sitting on my lap, us leaving together, and one of us kissing in the parking lot. She had to have set me up. There was no way the paparazzi were hanging out in Oklahoma City.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” I yelled out to no one.

I didn’t know whether I should march back into that girl’s house and yell and scream at her for setting me up or not. It wouldn’t do any good, of course. Exactly what the tabloid was speculating did, in fact, happen.

I heard Ray’s truck pull up beside me so I quickly stood up and hopped in. “So, did you see it?” he asked.

“Yeah, I saw it,” I said, looking straight ahead.

“What are you going to do?”

I shrugged. “Not a lot I can do. It’s all true.”

“I meant with Vanessa.”

“Pray she hasn’t or won’t see it,” I said.

He nodded his head. “That would work, except you know that they have a TV show. Eventually she’ll hear about it or see it.”

“Just take me home so I can shower and think.”

A half hour later, I was wrapping a towel around myself when I heard my phone buzz with a text message. It was from Landon.

Landon: Seriously? You fucked someone else?

There was also an earlier text message from Amanda.

Amanda: You fuck face. You are such an idiot.

I texted Amanda back first.

Me: I know.

Amanda: How could you do that to her? This will kill her!

I knew what she was saying was true because, if the situation was reversed, I would die.

Me: I’m sorry, okay? A bad drunken mistake trying to forget that SHE BROKE UP WITH ME!

Amanda: You’re still a fuck face but I understand.

Me: Thanks?

I wasn’t really sure if I should text Landon back or call him. Just because we had become friends didn’t mean anything since he was Vanessa’s brother. I’m sure if she told him not to hang out with me, he would stop. I’m not sure if I’d miss him or Eric more. That kid was great. I decided to take the pussy way out and texted him.

Me: Your sister broke up with me. Technically, I didn’t do anything wrong.

Landon: I know but women are crazy about stuff like this.

Me: I’m on my way to apologize to her.

I hadn’t really thought about what I was going to do until I sent that text. I’d just have to face her and apologize.

Landon: Not a bad idea.

After a few hours, I got dressed, drove over to her place, and sat in the parking lot for thirty minutes. I went over a hundred different ways to apologize, ways to explain to her what had happened. Nothing sounded good, but she had to realize that she was the one who broke up with me. I didn’t break up with her so I could sleep with someone else. It had just happened after she stomped on my heart.

I knocked on her door, hearing the TV blaring from inside. She didn’t answer. After a couple of minutes, I knocked again. Either she knew it was me and was ignoring me or she wasn’t home. I didn’t know if I should be a complete stalker and wait for her or if I should just let it go. In the end, I got back in my SUV and drove home.

After a few hours of pacing my living room floor, I decided to call Amanda. Maybe she would be able to help me get Vanessa back.

“You better have not slept with anyone else since last night,” she said as a greeting.

I ran a hand through my hair, feeling nervous. “Of course I haven’t. Last night was a very bad drunken mistake.”

“Are you calling for damage control?” she asked.

“Yes. I went by her apartment, but she didn’t answer the door. A text doesn’t seem right and I know she won’t answer if I call.”

“Yeah, she probably wouldn’t. Let me think and I’ll call you back, okay?”

“Okay, thanks,” I said as the call disconnected and I fell onto the couch.

Vanessa

I woke up late, dragging my feet into the kitchen for some coffee. I had worn myself out bowling with Shane the previous night. We had bowled several games because I had to prove that I could beat him. Now I was paying for my stubbornness by being exhausted and having a sore arm.

I got a bowl of cereal and sat down on the couch flipping through channels. As I was going through them, I caught sight of Jackson’s face. I quickly pushed the channel button again, but my curiosity got the best of me so I changed it back. It was one of those celebrity gossip shows and it was showing different pictures of Jackson “caught in the act” of cheating on me. The show’s words, not mine. I guess they didn’t know that we had been broken up for weeks.

As I watched the screen, my heart sank. He was already getting back to his old ways, sleeping around. Maybe I had been wrong about the reason we would eventually break up. I’d thought he would want a family with Cynthia, but maybe he would’ve wanted his old lifestyle back instead. He definitely hadn’t wasted any time jumping back in.

While I watched the show, I felt tears fill my eyes. Even though I had broken up with him, it still hurt. Bad. I’m sure the clip was only a few minutes long but it felt like hours as I watched them show the three pictures over and over again.

I decided that I needed to go back to bed. I wanted to drift off to sleep where my dreams were sunshine and roses and Jackson didn’t sleep with anyone besides me. I pulled the covers over my head just as my phone buzzed.
Shit!

Amanda: Are you okay? I’m coming over.

Me: I’m fine. I’m just going to take a nap.

Amanda: Can I come over later?

Me: Yes.

I put the phone down, pulling the covers over my head. I closed my eyes and drifted off. I woke up to knocking on the door. I didn’t want to talk to anyone and Amanda knew I was taking a nap. I climbed out of bed, walked over to my window, and peeked out the blinds. I scanned the parking lot, looking for a car I knew. I finally spotted the Range Rover parked outside. Jackson. He was probably trying to do damage control or he was here to thank me for giving him back his old life. Either way, I didn’t want to hear it.

I crawled back in bed, pulling the covers over my chest. I thought he had left when I heard him knock again. I wanted to open the door and throw myself into his arms while he told me it was all a big mistake. That he hadn’t kissed another girl or gone home with her. That it was all lies. I knew that couldn’t happen, though, because I had seen the pictures.

“Go away,” I grumbled to myself. I walked back to the window and watched the parking lot. After a minute, tears stung my eyes as I saw him amble back to his car. For some reason, it cut like a knife to the heart. Probably because I knew he had walked away from me for the last time.

My phone buzzed from the nightstand. I slowly headed over to it, thinking it would be Jackson. It was Shane, though.

Shane: Just making sure you’re okay.

Me: I’m okay. We aren’t in a relationship so he didn’t do anything wrong.

I typed the truth but my heart felt like it was being beaten over and over again.

Shane: Let me know if you need anything.

Me: Thank you.

I left my apartment for some comfort food. A McDonald’s quarter pounder and fries. Really unhealthy and it would go to my butt later, but I felt like I needed it. I used the drive-thru because I had just thrown on a huge sweatshirt and sweats. My hair was piled on top of my head and my makeup was nonexistent.