Come to Me Softly

by A. L. Jackson

“All right, are you ready to make this game legit?” Christopher dug into his back pocket for his wallet and pulled out a twenty. He slapped it down on the pool table.

  With a wry smile, I shook my head. “You really want to go there tonight?”

  “What, you don’t think you can take it?” He squeezed his shoulders together, lifting his hands, palms up. “I mean, if you don’t want to play with the big boys, I’m sure Aly or Fiona would be a good match for you.”

  “Hey,” Aly shot out in defense. The insult earned him a smack to the back of his head.

  Laughing, Christopher stumbled back, gripping the back of his head to guard himself. “You are a feisty one, Aly. I’ll give you that.” Then he dug himself in deeper. “Doesn’t mean you can play pool.”

  A taunting grin split my mouth as I finished off my beer, and I shrugged like I felt bad for him. I sauntered over to the table, every second of this feeling like old times. The good ones. The ones that made me want to stay. I tossed a mocking glare at him, all too willing to take the bait. “I think I can handle it. I just didn’t want you to embarrass yourself or anything. But since you talked down to my girl, I’m going to make an exception.”

  Christopher grinned like I just made his fucking day. “Oh, it’s on, bro.”

  “Count me out of this.” Shaking her head, Aly walked over to where Cash and Fiona were snuggled up at a high round table set up along the wall, before she tossed over her shoulder, “You two are never going to learn.” It sounded like she was scolding us, but she was all smiles because she was just cool like that.

  God, I loved that about her. How casual she was. Game for anything. Fun.

  Even after all the shit I’d put her through, here we were, fucking enjoying ourselves because of Aly’s pure heart.

  There was no stopping the grin pulling at my mouth when I stepped up and racked the balls, thinking back on all those days when Aly was a little girl and had done her best to keep up with Christopher and me, how fucking cute she was as a kid, and how she’d grown into the most amazing girl I’d ever met.

  None were like her.

  No one could touch her.

  Christopher leaned over the end of the table to break. He pulled back his stick and hit the cue dead on. It spun as it sped, slamming straight into the one-ball with a loud crack. Balls shot around the table, bouncing off the cushions and setting up the game.

  Christopher watched them dance around, scatter, then slowly spin to a stop. One solid ball teetered at the edge of the corner pocket before it found footing on the felt.

  I laughed, all raucous and loud.

  He didn’t sink one.

  Christopher groaned and threw back his head, gripping a handful of unruly hair. “Ah, shit. Did you see that? I was robbed. I think you breathed on it,” he accused as he tried to hold in his laughter.

  “Not looking so good there, Christopher,” I said, giving my condolences as I stepped up to take my shot.

  “Come on, baby, you’ve got this,” Aly shouted from where she watched. She rested her back on a high round table, her elbows propping her up. At her ankles, one long leg crossed the other, and she rocked on the spike of her heel.

  Damn.

  Amusement danced all over her face, floated on her words. “Don’t let Christopher hustle you out of that twenty.”

  Christopher’s mouth dropped open. “Are you kidding me? After everything I’ve done for you, Aly Cat, you’re taking his side?” He shook his head. “Now you two are really ganging up on me. How is this fair?”

  I tipped my beer to my mouth, chuckling as I swallowed. I leaned over the table, banked the cue to hit home on the same ball Christopher had left hugging the pocket.

  “Oh, dude… not cool.”

  I smirked at him and proceeded to drive in a couple more before I missed and Christopher stepped in to take his turn.

  I glanced up. In the same second, my jaw ticked.

  What the hell?

  The guy who’d been playing next to us was standing there, chatting up my girl.

  I turn my attention away for all of two minutes and someone decides to make a move.

  Cocking my head to the side, I caught Aly’s eye as she looked at me from over the asshole’s shoulder. She shrugged a little, all innocent, like she found it funny to see the instant shot of possessiveness that locked my hands into fists.

  It wasn’t like he was all over her, or anything.

  Or touching her.

  But he was talking to her and I was thinking that was an automatic foul.

  Like Christopher had said. Not cool.

  I left Christopher to his turn and slipped around the guy talking to Aly. Sidling up to her, I slinked my arm around her waist. I cracked a smile.

  And not exactly a welcoming one.

  Disconcerted brown eyes jumped all over my face, like he was taken aback to find me standing there. He looked all of seventeen, though I doubted very much he would have made it through the front door if he really was. He fidgeted and took one nervous step back.

  “What’s up, man?” I asked, lifting my chin. I slanted what was supposed to be an innocuous glance at Aly, though it was so obviously packed with something that looked a whole lot like jealousy. But shit… this was my girl and I was not okay with some asshole making a move on her. “This a friend of yours, baby?”

  One side of her mouth twitched, and that amusement was back in full force, though this time at my expense. “Oh, this is David.” Her eyes widened as she messed with me some. “We just met, so I guess you could call us friends.”

  “Really?”

  David shifted on his feet, no doubt feeling the lurking hostility that would be all too happy to break free if he didn’t get a clue and take his place.

  But there was nothing aggressive about this guy. He looked more like he was about to piss his pants.

  Couldn’t blame the poor kid. If I were him, I’d be itching to make a move on the knockout leaning up against the table, too.

  Too bad she was coming home with me.

  I tugged her a little closer and my toothy grin widened more. “Well, it was really nice to meet you, David.”

  An uneasy smile wavered on his mouth. “Right, so I’m just going to…” He stepped away with an awkward wave. “See ya around.”

  Quiet laughter rumbled deep in my chest as I watched him make his way back to his friends.

  “Was that really necessary?” Aly asked at the side of my face. I didn’t look back at her until the kid disappeared into the crowd; then I turned to catch the irritated mirth flushing her sweet face.

  “Uh, yeah, it most definitely was.” I turned to gather her in my arms, pressed a kiss to her pouty mouth. “You think I’m really just going to stand there while some kid makes a move on what’s mine?”

  She laughed quietly, biting at her lip like she wanted to laugh and admonish me at the same time. “You could have done that without going all caveman on me.”

  I scoffed, lowered my voice as I spoke against the sharp line of her jaw. “That wasn’t close to going caveman on you, baby. If I wanted to go caveman, I’d toss you over my shoulder and take you back to your bedroom… where you belong.” I growled the last as I jerked her against me.

  It was all a tease. Of course, she didn’t come close to knowing how serious I was. I’d just about lost my cool when I found out about that asshole Gabe texting her during the months I was gone. I knew she’d blown him off, was kind and good the way she always was, but she didn’t string him along. My girl’d been waiting for me. But hearing about it still felt like Aly was threading a needle through my skin.

  Aly twisted her hand in my shirt, couldn’t keep back her smile, her words landing in a harsh, hot whisper on my face. “You are unbelievable.”

  Then I hugged her. I mean, hugged her, my arms consuming as I pressed her warm body to mine because I really needed her to know. My voice dropped as I spoke in her ear, serious and severe. “Won’t let anyone or anything come between us, even
if it’s some punk kid who’s trying his hand at his first pickup line.”

  Aly burrowed into my chest and fingers dug a little deeper into my shirt. “I get it, Jared. You’re going to have to learn to trust me, too.”

  “I do trust you.”

  Trusting her was easy.

  Natural.

  While I rocked her, my attention roamed over the mass of men filling up the space. It was them I didn’t trust. No doubt, most of them were just like me, like I had been, assholes out on the prowl.

  Guys like Christopher, who currently angled up beside us. He cleared his throat. “Well, now that you’ve pissed all over my sister, do you think you could finish this game or are you going to stand there all night and suffocate her? I mean, if you were too scared to play against me, you could have just said something.”

  Laughing, I released Aly and stepped back. My gaze swept the table, counting balls. Christopher had only taken one. “I just was giving you the chance to catch up. Looks like that didn’t fare too well for you.”

  He resumed chalking his stick. “I’m saving it all up for the glorious end. Besides, I was too busy scoping us out an escape route while I waited for you to take out that kid.” He grinned and laughed too loud.

  I rolled my eyes. “Whatever. Let’s just finish this.”

  Christopher and I went at it, slandering each other like we’d always done. Neither of us took any offense. We’d done it for as long as I could remember. It always seemed the thicker the insults were, the closer we got.

  I hated the shit that had gone down between us. But I knew he wasn’t going to hold it against me. I thought he’d probably already forgotten. It was me who didn’t know how to forget.

  I won the game, but it was close. Cash was way too into Fiona to take a turn, so Christopher and I decided to start another round, another twenty on the line.

  Balls skidded around the table when I broke, and Aly wandered over while Christopher went in for his first shot. “I’m going to go use the restroom,” she said as she placed a quick kiss on my chin.

  “You want me to come with you?” I offered, my hand snaking out to tug at two of her fingers.

  So what if I didn’t like the idea of letting her out of my sight?

  No one could blame me.

  Lightly she shook her head and stepped back, her smile all flirty. “Pretty sure I can manage.”

  “I’ll come with you,” Fiona said as she untangled herself from Cash’s arm.

  Reluctantly, I released Aly’s hand. “Don’t be long.”

  Knowing laughter tumbled from her mouth. “I just have to pee, Jared. I’ll be fine.”

  They walked out, and my eyes trailed them, like the heat of my gaze could carve out a path of safety for her as she went. Wasn’t going to let any of these fuckers get an eye on my girl. She couldn’t help it she was the sexiest damn thing that had ever stepped through the Vine’s doors.

  “What is it with girls having to go to the bathroom together?” Cash cut in as he joined us. “That is some messed-up shit.”

  Christopher went in for a shot. “It just means they need a private place so they can talk shit about you.”

  “Really?” Cash said like the thought had never occurred to him.

  I shook my head, chuckling low. I took a deep pull of my beer. Poor Cash was clueless.

  “You’re up, man.” Christopher stepped back and I came up to take my turn. Leaning in deep over the table to get the right angle, I caught Christopher’s eye out of the corner of mine. “You really think my girlfriend is in there slandering me, huh?” I asked. I drew back my stick, set it free against the cue ball. I pocketed the stripped eleven and eyed my next move. I readjusted my spot.

  Christopher stood across the table from me, supporting himself on his cue stick. “No, she’s probably in there singing your fucking praises, or some shit. You two are disgusting. And your girlfriend? She’d better mean a whole lot more to you than being your girlfriend.”

  My shoulders lifted to my ears in a defensive shrug. “What the hell do you think?” Of course she meant more than that. She meant everything. I just didn’t know how to define us, what kind of label to put on us. Us was all that mattered.

  Then the asshole rolled his eyes, because he already knew it and he was just trying to get a rise out of me.

  God, he was a punk.

  I bent in further to take my shot, but instead my attention got stuck on how his eyes flashed somewhere behind me, then narrowed. He leveled them on me. I thought he was pissed before I finally caught the meaning of his expression.

  It was a warning.

  I frowned and started to look behind me when every cell in my body seized. A fucking rock the size of Texas sank to the pit of my stomach when a hand I wasn’t all too keen on feeling again flattened in the center of my back and ran all the way down to grab my ass.

  What the fuck?

  All my defenses kick-started me back into motion. I thrashed as I jerked around. Doing my best to put some space between us, my ass hit the pool table when I came face-to-face with Lily.

  Which was really fucking difficult to do when she was all up in my space, pushing, pressing in.

  I hadn’t seen this chick since I skipped out her door six months ago, back when I was doing just about anything I could to purge Aly from my mind.

  Including her.

  I’d run into Lily during the first week I came to Phoenix. Hooked up with her once when Aly started getting under my skin and I was still trying to convince myself I was never gonna touch her. I was itching to bury myself in Aly and had sought out Lily instead.

  Lily’s blond hair now had a pink stripe running down one side, her sweatshirt cut out at the neckline and hanging off one shoulder. A coy smile curved her mouth. She stood there looking at me like I owed her something, like if she played her cards right she was going to win this hand.

  She stepped forward, so close her breath washed across my face. “Been wondering when you were going to make your way back here. I’ve been missing you.”

  In the handful of times I came back to the Vine after I started things up with Aly, Lily hadn’t been working there. I guess I’d figured she’d moved on, left, though I didn’t give much thought to where because I really didn’t give a shit.

  She hadn’t even crossed my mind when I came in tonight.

  I was too wrapped in the memories… the memories that mattered.

  And this bitch wasn’t one of them.

  I felt Christopher edge around the pool table, coming out to my left where I could see him, where he could see me. Urgent eyes were shouting at me, like he was screaming at me to fix this and fix it quick.

  Part of me wanted to explain myself, to give Christopher some kind of acceptable reason as to why this girl had me backed against a wall.

  But that was completely unnecessary. Christopher already had it all figured out, added it up, surmised the situation. Because he knew the game all too well. He played it all the time.

  I’d had her and she wanted more.

  She inched forward, came in so close she was almost touching me. She rocked a little and brushed up against me. The movement was an invitation, something intended to tempt.

  My fingers jerked. Because the only thing I wanted was to push her back.

  Instead I held in the blink of anger that surged through my veins. Really, I was pissed at myself, anyway. I attempted to control the venom in my voice. “Didn’t come here for you, Lily. Sorry if you seeing me here gave you that impression, but I’d think six months would be plenty of time for you to figure out I wasn’t interested in anything more with you than what happened that one night.”

  Hurt flashed across her features.

  “Really? You seemed plenty interested when you came back looking for me that night.” She almost sneered when she plastered an artificial smile on her face. No doubt, it was more in defense of her feelings than anything else.

  But it wasn’t her feelings I was concerned about. />
  Like I was drawn, I looked over Lily’s right shoulder just as Aly came through the archway. Laughing, completely carefree as she talked with Fiona, her hands were all animated as she talked.

  Panic pushed at my chest. I raked a hand over my head, squeezed the back of my neck. I wasn’t used to this shit. Relationships. How to handle them.

  Wasn’t used to caring.

  But fuck, I did, and the last thing I wanted was Aly to see this.

  I knew the second she did. Her head snapped up and she fumbled to a stop. A deep line cut into her brow. Confusion lit in her gaze as it jumped between Lily and me. It took her less than a second flat to process the scene unfolding in front of her.