Committed to You (4 page)

I directed my gaze back to her naked finger on the hand resting on our dinner table.

My ring should be there.

Evie claimed that she forgot to put it back on. I believed her, but I also knew the intricate parts of her mind that she never understood herself. Whenever she stopped wanting to be in a relationship, she unconsciously prepped herself for the break-up.

One summer when we were sixteen, I came to California to discover that she had some dickhead boyfriend. He was a jackass, drove his dad’s sports car like it was his, and spouted jokes that weren’t even funny. She’d met him in church, so her mother, Mrs. Elaine, had given him full approval. I’d stayed with Pipe and his dad that whole summer. Every time that jackass came around with Evie, I dug my nails into my palms and gritted my teeth. She wore his letterman jacket and kept a cross around her neck that had his name written on the front.

It didn’t help that the guy didn’t like Pipe much. Granted, Pipe was going through a serious Marilyn Monroe phase, donning a wig and white dress, which he kept flipping up to show his bare ass to whispering onlookers.

We were all getting sick of Pipe that summer.

Yet, Jackass made the mistake of insulting Pipe and saying that he would go to hell one day for being gay. Evie checked him right there and told him to go home. Next day, she’d somehow lost Jackass’s cross and had no idea where she placed it. Day after that, she’d left his jacket on Pipe’s couch when she went home. That was Evie’s MO. Right before she broke up with someone, day by day, she placed distance between her and him.

Pipe and I burned the guy’s jacket.

That was the best part of the summer.

Third day, she broke up with Jackass, and he spent the rest of the summer crying outside her window and begging her to take him back. Mrs. Elaine had to threaten him with one of her guns to get him away from her doorstep. Although he’d had Mrs. Elaine’s approval earlier, once I told her about his disrespect to Pipe, she was through with him.

Evie left my ring in the hotel room.

That’s what she did with all the guys right before she broke their hearts. She pushed our possessions away. Tomorrow, it would be something else of mine that she discarded or forgot, and then the next day, she’d be gone. And I couldn’t do anything but deal with it.

Would we even be friends?

Clapping, Evie turned to me, right as the lights came on and the rest of the audience cheered at my life. She leaned my way, but still wasn’t close enough. “Stop being nervous. You rock. It doesn’t matter whether you win or not.”

“I’m not nervous,” I said.

“You’ve been digging that fork into those poor carrots and slicing them into itty bitty pieces all night.”

I glanced at the plate. Carrot carnage greeted my eyes. “I’m not nervous about the damn trophy.”

“Then what are you nervous about?”

Everyone in the ballroom got up for a standing ovation. Even the people at our table jumped up and congratulated me. Evie and I looked at Cynthia.

“Oh my god! You won, Jay!” Cynthia hugged me hard. We rose together. Lights shined in my eyes. My palms were sweaty. I adjusted the tie around my neck as the noise rose.

Covering her mouth, Evie got up too and pumped a fist in the air. “I knew it! I told you!”

“You have to get your trophy, crazy.” Cynthia gave me a soft kiss and sucked my bottom lip. “Go get what you deserve.”

“Okay.” I looked at Evie. Her eyes gleamed with water. She clapped so hard I was sure her palms would be sore by tomorrow morning.

I stepped to her. “I love you.”

Her eyes widened. She plastered on that fake smile that she always wore when she was anxious. “Go up and get the Heisman, dickhead. You can tell me all of that later.”

“But I want to tell you now.” I came closer.

Cameras flashed around us. Confusion spread across most of the people’s faces that stood by our table. They probably wondered why I hadn’t gone to the stage after kissing my girlfriend.

Because I haven’t kissed both of them.

Evie knew what I was going to do and in seconds realized that she had no way to escape without looking crazy. “Jay, don’t.”

“Forget that. I’m done with your rules.” I seized her waist, pulled her to me, and captured that soft mouth. She groaned as I parted her lips with my tongue. When it came to her body, I had all the ability to tame her. Her lips, breasts, and stiff little nipples were all mine to lick and do as I pleased. Even that sweet lush softness between her thighs belonged to me. It was just her mind and will that drove me insane and screaming to God.

Gasps sounded. Whispering next. A lot of the clapping decreased. The thunderous roar lowered to scattered claps and whistling. More cameras flashed. When I broke away, a few had their cell phones out to record our kiss. Evie’s face was flushed with heat, but her expression said she wasn’t pleased. I should’ve cared, but I didn’t. She was already going to leave me anyway, but unlike the other guys she’d broken, I wouldn’t go out quietly.

I would keep fighting my way back to her heart, with no chance for her to catch her breath. She thought she could just give me a sample of how great life was with her and then walk away.
Wrong move.
She had to provide me with the reasons we were done and watch me solve them one by one until she had no reasons left.

Cynthia tapped my back. “Jay, go up and accept your trophy.”

I licked my lips. The bitterness of lemons coated my tongue. Evie had been sucking on one from her virgin cocktail all night.

Our gazes met.

“I won’t make this easy for you,” I whispered to her.

Before she could respond, I walked off to accept my trophy and wandered through the massive sea of shocked faces that gestured from Cynthia to Evie and whispered in their neighbors’ ears.

During the news conference after the ceremony, reporters bombarded Jay with questions about the kisses. He replied with, “no comment,” and pointed to the next person. After the tenth time of answering the same way, everyone moved to the typical topics.

“Will you be finishing college or entering the NFL draft next year?”

“What teams do you want to play for?”

“Have you been talking to owners yet?”

Jay was born to be in front of the cameras. With each question, he gave the reporters just enough to satisfy them, but nowhere near enough to truly answer the group. His face wore a cheerful expression with that winning smile, but his gaze darted throughout the crowd, searching. When it landed on Evie, he let his shoulders relax and the wrinkle that had formed in the middle of his forehead smoothed.

She’s still here, Jay. Don’t worry.

Evie hadn’t said anything to either of us since the kiss. She just tapped her left foot over and over and checked her watch. Any fool could sense that a violent storm was coming soon, and I wasn’t exactly sure that I wouldn’t be harmed in the process. My stomach was twisted in knots of worry the rest of the night.

Could this be the day when everything is all over?

The plan had been to go celebrate in clubs all over the city after the event, but when we climbed into the taxi, Evie gave the driver our hotel address. No one countered it, not even Jay who held his trophy in his arms. Business cards stuffed his pockets, most from agents and the rest from publicists who believed he would need some media cleaning up soon. All three of our phones rang over and over. None of us had the courage to pick up.

They’re probably just calling to congratulate Jay, but regardless, they’ll most likely ask about the kisses.

Once we arrived at the hotel, Evie yanked those heels off, jumped out of the cab, stormed through the lobby, tapped her bare foot on the elevator in a furious motion, and burst through the door of our room.

Jay stopped me from going in. “You don’t have to deal with this. I’m the one who messed up.”

“You didn’t really mess up. You were just too excited and forgot.”

“No.” He tossed me an evil grin. “I meant to kiss her in public like that, and as far as I’m concerned, it’s worth her chewing me out, but you don’t have to be around for the argument.”

“I’m a part of this just like the two of you. I’ll be fine.” I stepped into the room, spotted Evie’s angry expression, and immediately regretted my words. Jay came in, took off his suit jacket, and closed the door behind us.

Maybe I should go downstairs for a while.

“Not only did you embarrass Cynthia and me.” Evie pointed at him. “You ruined your career.”

Jay set his trophy and jacket on the table. “Oh really? What career?”

“Teams want you. I read some article about how you would get loads of offers from companies to sell their brands. Not happening anymore. You kissed two women while cameras were on you, and not friendly little kisses. You devoured our mouths! Really? That’s going to bring up all types of discussion on your morals and character, besides the fact that it made Cynthia look like an idiot girlfriend and me a boyfriend-stealing whore.”

He crossed his arms over his chest. “First of all, I’m not even in the draft yet and don’t know if I’m ready for the pros, so slow down.”

“Whatever, Jay.”

He shook his head. “Second of all, it didn’t make either one of you look like idiots or whores. You’re putting all of that into your head yourself.”

“Just stop talking. You think everyone is accepting like you. It’s not true. They judged us all tonight.”

“Evie it’s not like that—”

“And you’re really going to try and say that you don’t believe you’re ready for the pros? Whatever. Your body is big enough to be a pro quarterback. You won the Heisman. Your career is all in front of you. Instead of being the freaking American boy next door that everyone painted you as, you have an orgy fest at the table in front of thousands of viewers! You make out with Cynthia and then turn right around and slob me down.” Evie slung her shoes on the bed and marched over to her bags.

“I didn’t devour anybody’s mouths or slob either one of you down.” He leaned on the wall.

I seized the opportunity to take my own heels off and get out of my dress. My phone buzzed. I checked it. Five missed calls from Mom.

What does she want? Is she pissed about the kiss too? Did she see it?

“Asshole!” Evie yelled.

“No one will care about some nobody quarterback—”

“You’re not a nobody. You just held a press conference, idiot. Clearly you’re somebody.”

He smiled. “I’ll be nobody by next week and those kisses will be replaced by another scandal from some more significant person.”

“Look at you over there grinning like you’ve accomplished something great. I tell you not to kiss me in front of people and you just do it in front of TV cameras.” She pulled out jeans and a shirt.

“It won’t get any press—”

“Google yourself! Have you ever done that?” she asked.

“No.”

“You have more internet hits than actual pro players, and you threw all of that away to be a big cave man.” She held onto her clothes and did this odd impression of a barbarian, arching her back up, raising her shoulders to her ears, and letting her arms hang out like guerillas arms. “Look. Me Tarzan. You Jane. Me piss on you to tell all the other jungle animals know you mine.”

I shouldn’t have, but I broke out into laughter. Jay glared at me. All I could do was shrug as Evie sashayed those hips past me.

“You’re an asshole! I asked you not to kiss me in public.”

“I asked you to wear my ring. You broke my rule. I get to break yours.” He unbuttoned his shirt, took it off, and also pulled off the thin shirt he’d had on under it. The lamp’s light painted his chiseled chest with a lovely glow.

Evie turned around to say something else, but stumbled on her words when her gaze hit his body. I knew from watching them fight before, that things could go either way. Jay didn’t control many things when it came to Evie, but anytime he talked to her when he was half-naked, she tended to be as easy to mold and reshape as soft clay.

She watched him throw his clothes to the side and said nothing else.

“What?” He moved her way, opened the top of his pants, and paused right in front of her. “We should be celebrating out in New York City tonight, but instead I’m arguing with you about a kiss, the same one you moaned through.”

“I didn’t moan.”

He closed the small distance between them. “Yes, you did.”

She inched back. “Jay, we should talk.”

“No.”

“No?” She raised her eyebrows. “No, you don’t want to talk?”

“No, I don’t want to break up.”

The fact that she didn’t give him a quick response knocked me right into a pool of unease.

Why did Jay think Evie was breaking up? What would that mean for us, or even more important Jay and me?

They stood there, staring at each other for several quiet seconds. There was no doubt that Jay would do anything to keep her, and that she would simply demand that he leave me. I gulped in a thick lump of fear. Odd sensations fizzed in my stomach. It was that weird bodily reaction I have right before my anxiety attacks take over.