500 Days

by Jessica Miller

  “There he is,” she clapped, wiggling her fingers with her arms stretched out. I placed him in her lap. She cooed to him as she scratched his ears and chin. He purred like crazy, rubbing up against her. Alex laid back down, content. Lucky spun in circles before he finally made himself comfortable. I started making my way back to the recliner. "What are you doing?” She pulled the covers back and patted the spot next to her. “Come lay with me.”

  One look at her face and I couldn’t say no. I kicked off my boots and slipped under the covers. “You going to sleep in your clothes?”

  “I think it’s safer this way.” She looked at me funny, but didn’t say anything else. I laid on my back with my arms behind my head. Alex rolled over, resting her head on my chest and swinging her arm over my torso. I stiffened for a moment until she relaxed and I could hear her soft snoring. I let out a breath and wrapped my arm around her.

  I made sure I was awake before Alex. I wasn’t quite sure how she was going to feel in the morning or what she would remember and I didn’t want to freak her out. I slipped out of the bed, careful not to wake her and grabbed my boots on the way out. Jaxson and Jacob were still sleeping so I slipped out the front door. I pulled out my phone to call Colton to come get me, but to my luck he was already there dropping off Declan. When she saw me she charged at me. “You better not be giving her the slip so help me god –”

  “Declan, relax. Nothing happened. And I would not do that to Alex and you know it.”

  “Then why are you leaving?”

  “Because I’m not sure what she’ll remember and I don’t want to freak her out when she wakes up.” Declan crossed her arms, studying me. “You really think I would try something with her brothers there?”

  “I guess not. You’re off the hook this time but don’t think I won’t be keeping a close eye on you.”

  “Declan, quit being so overdramatic. You act like I’m some escaped convict. You and I both know I would never do anything to hurt Alex…intentionally. For Christ sake, I think I’m falling in love with the girl.”

  Declan took a giant step back, her lips twitching upward in the corners. “What did you say?”

  I did not mean to say that out loud. My confession surprised me just as much as Declan. “Nothing,” I grunted, walking away from them. I heard Declan giggle excitedly. She tried to chase after me but Colton stopped her and dragged her in the house.

  Chapter 16

  Alexis

  I felt like I got smashed in the head with a sledgehammer. I sat up slowly and tried to piece together what the hell happened. How the hell did I even get home? I was wearing a t-shirt and nothing else. Lucky was curled up on one of my pillows. I threw on a pair of pants and sweatshirt and then grabbed Lucky so I could feed him.

  My kitchen looked like a bomb went off. Empty containers, bottles, and trash were everywhere. I heard snoring coming from the living room. I walked over and found Jacob sleeping on the couch. Then I heard the door to Declan’s room open. I spotted Jaxson coming down the hall. “Mornin’,” he smiled. I looked back at Jacob, confused.

  “Okay, what the hell happened last night?”

  “You don’t remember?”

  I forced my brain to focus but everything was a blur. “No, I mean, I remember a lot of drinking. I know Reece took me to the party but…how did I get home?”

  “Casper brought you home,” Jaxson said, helping himself to my Captain Crunch.

  “What?” Please, oh dear god, don’t let me have slept with him again. “Where is he now?” Jaxson shrugged as he took a big spoonful of cereal. I stole the bowl and box from him.

  “Hey,” he whined.

  “Look at my kitchen. Clean this up now and maybe I’ll think about letting you have some.” I grabbed a new spoon from the drawer and ate the bowl of cereal while Jaxson glared at me. “Get to work,” I pointed at the mess.

  Jaxson walked over to the couch to wake up Jacob. He ripped the blanket out from underneath him causing Jacob to fall to the floor with a loud thud. “What the hell?” Jacob complained.

  “Get up and help me clean up this mess.”

  “Why don’t we just leave before Alex wakes up and she can do it?”

  I took an empty beer can and threw it at him. “I’m up, ass. Now get to work.” Jacob grumbled something and then picked himself up off the floor. I sat at the counter instructing them on how to properly clean up the mess.

  “You know you could help instead of sitting on your ass,” Jacob carped.

  “I wasn’t the one who made the mess.”

  “How do you know?” Jaxson chimed in. “You said so yourself you don’t remember last night.”

  “I could have amnesia and still know it was you two who made this mess. I’m not stupid Jax. Quit your bitching and finish up.” I picked up my bowl and carried it into the living room to watch some TV while the boys worked. The second I plopped down on the couch Declan walked through the door.

  “Well good morning sunshine. I didn’t expect you to be up this early. How ya feeling?” She took a seat next to me on the couch.

  “Like shit,” I replied. “You haven’t happened to talk to Casper this morning have you?”

  “It just so happens that I ran into him when he was leaving.”

  “Did he say anything?” I asked nervously.

  “Why?” she asked suspiciously.

  “Because I don’t remember crap from last night.”

  Declan tried to hide her smile. “What do you want to know?”

  “I’m not sure if I want to remember.”

  “I can promise you didn’t do anything embarrassing aside from doing a strip tease for the entire party.” I dropped my spoon in my bowl causing some of the milk to splash over the sides. Declan started to giggle.

  “That’s not even funny.”

  “A little,” she said. “But you have nothing to worry about. You just got really drunk after Reece left and Cas brought you home and put you to bed.” I raised a brow at her. “He told me he swears he just spent the night to make sure you were okay. And no hanky panky.” I rolled my eyes at her choice of words.

  “He gave me the slip?”

  “Now you know how it feels.” I narrowed my eyes at her. “He said he didn’t want to freak you out when you woke up in the morning and thought it would be better if he left before you woke up.” I nodded my head, agreeing. He was right. I would have flipped my shit if I found him in bed with me. I looked down at my clothes again wondering how I got undressed. I thought about Declan’s little joke about a strip tease at the frat house. I knew she was kidding but I was also hoping Casper didn’t get a private show.

  I decided I would call him later and have him give me a refresher course of last night. For now, I was going to go back to bed. I got up and put my bowl in the sink. “This kitchen better be spic and span when I wake up,” I warned the boys. They both rolled their eyes at me. Lucky was helping them clean up the mess by licking up the crumbs. I scooped him up and carried him back to my room with me. I crawled back into bed needing to sleep off this massive hangover. I turned off my phone to make sure I would not be disturbed.

  I felt the bed sink. I blinked my eyes a few times to adjust to the bright sun shining through the window. When my vision focused, I found Reece sitting on the edge of my bed. I sat, pulling the covers close to me, surprised to see him. “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you. You looked so peaceful I didn’t want to wake you right away.”

  “Oh,” I said, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear.

  “Declan let me in,” he said, clearly reading my confused expression. “I wanted to stop by and see if you wanted to grab something to eat.”

  “I thought your dad was in town?”

  “He is, but I already spent all morning with him and now I want to go to dinner with you,” he smiled, making me blush.

  “Okay, just give me a few minutes to get dressed.” He leaned in to give me a kiss on the cheek when I heard a small meow come from under the blanket
. I pulled my brows in tight, wondering what that was all about. I lifted the covers back to reveal a very ticked off Lucky.

  “Hey little guy,” Reece said, reaching out to pet him.

  Lucky hissed and swatted a paw at him. “Lucky,” I chastised. He trotted over to me and rubbed his head on my arm, purring, but kept his eyes on Reece.

  “It’s okay,” Reece said, smiling. “I’ll wait in the living room until you’re ready.” I smiled back at him and waited until Reece closed the door behind him.

  “What is your deal?” I asked Lucky, holding him out in front of me. “That wasn’t very nice. No fair scaring off a good guy.” Lucky purred like crazy, playfully pawing at me. I placed him in his cat bed and then grabbed a sweater, jeans, and boots. I quickly got dressed and then made my way to the bathroom to brush my teeth. I tried to brush my knotty hair, but gave up halfway when I almost broke the brush. I did manage to get it into a messy braid on the side. It would have to do.

  Reece and I ended up having a lovely dinner. He told me what he and his dad did all day and I told him about the rest of the party – what I remembered. I left out the part about me getting hammered. Reece dropped me off afterwards and then told me he would call me tomorrow.

  I later learned from Jaxson all of what I consumed last night. I nearly passed out when he told me about the joint I smoked. It’s not like I hadn’t ever took a few hits before, but how could I yell at my brothers when I did the same thing? I needed to start setting a better example.

  Jaxson also informed me that Casper had one of the designated drivers take us home and Jaxson was the one who insisted Casper stay to keep an eye on me. By the end of the night I pretty much remembered what happened. It all came back to me in flashes throughout the day. I was the one who asked Casper to stay with me and he was the one to help me get undressed, but in a nonsexual way. And we slept. And that was it. I was relieved to say the least. I told Jaxson he and Jacob got a pass for last night, but I would not accept something like that happening again. He agreed and promised he would make sure Jacob never touched the stuff again, either.

  I text Casper and thanked him for making sure we got home okay and for taking care of me. He said he takes partial fault for my condition since he was feeding me drinks and shots all night. I laughed, letting him know it wasn’t all his fault, but it would be a while before I drank again.

  “We need to talk,” Declan said, taking a seat on the edge of my bed.

  “What’s up?” I asked, placing my phone on my nightstand.

  “You went out with Reece again tonight?”

  “Yeah, I did,” I smiled.

  “And you slept with Casper again the other day.”

  I froze wondering how in the hell she could know that. I tried to play it off but I knew Declan could see right through me. “Who told you that?”

  “You just did.”

  I opened my mouth to argue, but I had nothing. “So what if I did?”

  “Look Alex, I’m all about you doing your thing and having fun, but when it comes at the expense of hurting someone’s feelings you need to think about what you’re doing.”

  “Whose feelings am I hurting?” Besides possibly mine, I added to myself.

  She sighed. I knew she wasn’t telling me the whole story. “I think you need to decide what you, or should I say who you want. It’s not fair to string Casper along for your pleasure and be dating Reece at the same time.”

  “That’s not what I’m doing.” She cocked her brow. “Casper and I are friends, who just happen to have slept together on more than one occasion.”

  “You hooked up twice.”

  I shied away from her, biting my lip. “Three times, actually.”

  She turned slowly, jaw dropped. “Jesus Alex, when?”

  “You’re never going to believe this, but Casper is Mr. New Year.”

  “What?” she exclaimed, disbelieving.

  I buried my head in my hands. “The night of my birthday, when we first, well when I thought it was our first time. He said something that triggered my memory. He called me poison ivy. I thought it was just a coincidence, but there were other things, similarities.”

  “Like what?” Declan asked, hanging on to my every word.

  “His smell, the way he touched me, and the way he…” I cleared my throat, not wanting to have to confess too many details. Declan pulled back and held up her hand, getting the hint. “I think he remembers too, but I’m not a hundred percent.”

  “I can’t believe this Alex! This is so great! Who would ever thought that you and Casper –” I shook my head to stop her rant. “Why are you shaking your head no?”

  “I think you’re getting ahead of yourself here.”

  “But you just admitted –”

  “That I slept with Casper before. Nothing else.”

  “So you don’t like him?”

  I let out a long, deep breath. “I just…there’s no point in admitting feelings because once you do that, then it’s over. You can’t take it back. I’m not ready to risk putting myself out there when I already know the end result.” Declan reached over, placing a gentle hand on mine. “With Reece I know what I’m getting myself into, but Casper, it’s too unpredictable. He’s not the settle down type. He’s too much of a loose cannon.”

  “Some may say the same about you,” she said, tilting her head, brow raised. I narrowed my eyes at her. “Whatever you decide, I’m with you.” Sensing my sudden unease, she left it at that. “Just think about it, okay?”

  I nodded, that’s all I could give her for now. She was right. I needed to make a choice. It should be simple. It was easy to see who the obvious choice was, but my heart and head were currently battling it out. Either would be a risk. I just had to figure which risk was worth it. Casper had been everything I wanted. He was the bad boy with an edge, every girl’s dream and that was the problem. Casper was constantly surrounded by women who he took home on a regular basis. Casper wasn’t the monogamous type. He didn’t do relationships and has proven that to me over and over. I knew Casper was a lost cause even though something inside was telling me not give up. I had doubts but I quickly relinquished them by reminding myself that Reece was the good guy. He was smart, goal oriented, good looking, and someone who knew where his future was going. He was every parent’s dream guy for their daughter.

  I tossed and turned all night struggling with the internal battle that was creating a shit storm inside my mind. I woke up feeling like crap from the lack of sleep. I could barely keep my eyes open during my classes and got called out several times from my professors for it. Casper strolled into class late, sporting shades, and a very messy hair style. “What hole did you crawl out of this morning?” I asked him as he slipped into the seat next to me, tugging off his shades. His eyes were all bloodshot and he had dark circles under his eyes. He looked like he didn’t get any more sleep than I did.

  “Had a gig last night,” he smiled lazily. I raised my brows at him. “The night kind of turned over into the morning.”

  “Ah, I see. Let me guess, a blonde, big boobs and a short skirt?”

  “Nah, I prefer brunettes,” he said, flicking my hair. My heart fluttered as his stormy eyes met mine. I turned away not able to take it. I could feel his close proximity all through class, making it hard to concentrate.

  On the way out we ran into some of Casper’s ‘fan club’. I began to walk away when Casper caught up to me. “Hey what’s the rush?”

  “I don’t want to be late to meet Declan.”

  “Don’t you have a break for lunch now? If you wait I’ll go with you.”

  “I’m suddenly not that hungry,” I said, my eyes flicking behind him. “And you shouldn’t keep your groupies waiting.” He looked torn on what to do but I didn’t give him the chance to debate. I turned and left.

  Later when I got home, I made my decision. I picked up my cell phone and dialed his number. “Hi.”

  “Hey, I was hoping you would call. What are you doing ton
ight?”

  I lay back on bed. The small flutter in my stomach at the sound of his voice told me I made the right choice. “Hanging out with you,” I smiled.

  “I’ll pick you up at eight.”

  “Great, see you then.” I hung up the phone and closed my eyes, reminding myself I made the right choice.

  At six on the dot there was a knock on the door. I answered it. “Casper, hi.”

  “Hey.”

  “Reece.” His eyes turned down and he frowned. I looked over Casper’s shoulder. Reece was standing behind him. Casper turned around and then looked back at me.

  “I’m sorry, I’m not interrupting something, am I?” Reece asked.

  “Can you give me a minute?”

  “Yeah, I’ll meet you down at the car,” Reece said, giving me a kiss on the cheek.

  I looked back at Casper. “Cas, what are you doing here?”

  “You seemed upset today and I just wanted to make sure everything was okay,” he said, slightly pained.

  “Just didn’t sleep well last night is all.”

  “Right.”

  “Anything else?”

  “No,” he said, taking a few steps back.

  “If you don’t mind I don’t want to keep Reece waiting.”

  He laughed humorlessly. “Yeah, your date. I’ll see you around…Katherine.” He turned and left, leaving me questioning if I really did make the right choice.

  Reece and I spent all week together. He joined us for lunch everyday between classes and on the nights I didn’t work I spent them at his place just hanging out and watching movies. I noticed Casper had been somewhat distant and when I asked him if something was wrong he just said he had a lot on his mind. I knew my spending time with Reece was a way of distancing myself from Casper. I thought if I spent all my time with Reece I wouldn’t think about him and the amazing sex we had together or the fact that he was the mystery man from New Year. Was it just a strange coincidence or was it fate that brought us back together? I went with the former. Casper had already proven he wasn’t someone who could change. I was happy spending time with Reece and everyday he let me know I made the right choice in picking him.