Single, Available, and Completely Attached (6 page)

“Me?
 
I’m Drew.
 
Annabelle and I—we go
way
back.”
 
He referenced the phone call she’d made earlier this week.

“You know this guy?”

“Unfortunately.”
 
She eyed him angrily, but she almost seemed relieved as well.
 

“I think it’s time to move on, man.
 
You wasted your time tonight.”
 
Big Nose narrowed his eyes, sizing Drew up. He was probably about the same size as Drew, which worried him a little bit.
 
It had been awhile since he’d been in an actual fight.

“He’s right, Greg.
 
I win,
”
 
Anna
spoke suddenly, her eyes only on Drew.
 
She pushed herself from the wall, stumbling slightly.
 
Big Nose reached out and took her by the arm, obviously still clinging to some vain hope that he was going to go home with Anna.
 

What kind of an idiot was this guy?
 

The kind of idiot who would suffer through just about anything to get a little taste of the beautiful woman just within his reach.
 

Drew couldn’t blame him, really.
 

“I’ll take it from here.”
 
Drew told him, the tone of his voice telling the other man that whatever hopes he had for tonight were no longer an option.
 

“Drew can take it from here.”
 
She nodded her head, her eyes still on Drew.
 
Big Nose wandered off, swearing loudly as he did so.
 
Anna hardly seemed to notice, though.
 
“He was my ride.”
 

“I can take you home.”

“Of course you can.”
 
She stumbled a bit more as she stepped toward him and Drew couldn’t help himself—he was beside her in a moment, wrapping his arm around her waist.
 
“I would have been fine, you know.”
 

“I know.”
 
Drew agreed, even though he couldn’t disagree more.
 
They approached his SUV and he helped her inside before walking over to the driver’s side of the car and hopping in.

“I am perfectly capable of this sort of thing.”

“You most certainly are.”

“Everyone else is.
 
Alice, and you, and every other guy I’ve ever known.
 
I can do it, too.”

“I’m sure you can.”
 

He drove toward the townhouse he knew Anna shared with her sister, grateful he had paid attention to Jeff enough to know that they hadn’t moved since Drew had first met her.
 

“…it can’t be that hard.
 
Sex doesn’t have to be emotional.
 
It can just be physical.”
 
Anna continued to ramble at his side.
 
Drew’s only response was to agree with her, nodding his head often.
 
It wasn’t a long drive and just a few minutes later, he was pulling up in front of her house.
 

“I’ll help you inside.”
 
He announced.
 
Anna didn’t protest as he walked around to her side of the vehicle and helped her from the SUV.
 
They made their way up to the porch, both silent.

“Looks like you win, Drew.”
 
She told him as they reached the door.
 
Drew took her keys from her and began trying each key.

“What’s that?”
 
he
asked, confused.

“You’re going home with the most desperate girl in the crowd.”
 
The door opened, leading into darkness.
 
Drew turned to look at her, knowing it was a mistake.

The sadness in her eyes grabbed on to his chest, clenching at his heart.
 

“You weren’t the most desperate girl in the crowd, Annabelle.”

“You don’t believe that.”
 
Her eyes filled with tears and she looked away from him.
 
“I don’t even believe that.”

“You’re just trying to make the hurt go away.
 
That’s all.”

“Will you come in?”
 
She asked him, finally meeting his eyes again.
 
The tears were gone, but the sadness remained.
 
He knew he shouldn’t, but he felt his head nod.

He was just going to make sure she got inside okay.
 
Jeff would want him to be thorough.
 

Anna stepped inside, dropping her purse on the floor and fidgeting with her shoes.
 
When she couldn’t slip them off, she plopped onto the couch and began fidgeting with the straps.
 

Drew watched her for a moment.

“Sit down, make yourself comfortable.”
 
She sat up, giving up on her shoes for a moment.
 
“Have a drink.
 
Or two.
 
Or five.”
 
She giggled a bit as she leaned over and pushed a bottle of rum toward him.
 

“Oh, I’m okay,”

“Drink, Drew.
 
It’s no fun if you’re not drunk too.”
 

What harm could one sip do?
 

He reached out and picked it up off the table, drinking straight from the bottle.
 
Anna clapped her hands.
 
“You know, I don’t need your help.
 
You don’t have to look out for me.”
 

“I’m not.”
 
But his response was too quick, his tone too defensive.
 
“I mean, I’m just looking out for Jeff.
 
You two will probably get back together a month from now and I don’t want—”

“We won’t be getting back together.”
 
She sighed loudly, leaning back into the couch.
 

“You say that now.”

“I say that always.”
 
She began fussing with her shoe again.
 
“Can you help me?”
 
She asked finally, holding her foot up above the coffee table.
 
Drew tried not to notice the length of her legs revealed by her very short skirt.
 

Instead he chose to focus on the irony of her request.
 
Hadn’t she just declared that she didn’t need his help?
 

His focus, however, didn’t last long as she reached up and removed her hair from whatever had been holding it up.
 
Drew watched as it fell, framing her face.

She was still one of the most beautiful women he’d ever seen.

He took another drink from the bottle, this one much longer than the
last,
and perched himself on the coffee table in front of her, taking her foot into his lap.
 
He fumbled with the straps while she watched him.
 
When he finished with one, she placed the other in his lap.
 
He tried not to notice the way she rested her bare foot on the table beside him, the other still in his lap.

“Relationships are stupid.
 
Isn’t that what you said?”
 
Drew stared blankly at her.
 
Had he said that to her?
 
He couldn’t remember…and as she leaned forward a little, it became that much more difficult to recall.
 
“Relationships are stupid.
 
People are stupid.
 
But what you need is passion.”

“I did say that.
 
You’re paraphrasing, I think, but…”
 
He rambled, very aware of the way her eyes held his.
 
He was fairly certain they hadn’t had this conversation—had he said something on the show?
 

“But what if passion and love
are
the same thing?”
 
She asked.

“Passion never lasts, Annabelle.”
 
Of this, Drew was certain.
 
Passion could bring two people together, but it inevitably faded.
 
And once it did…what was left?

“So then it’s best to just keep things simple.
 
Sex is just sex.”
 
She leaned forward just a little more, his hand slipping a little higher, so that it was resting on her leg.

“That’s what I’ve always said.”
 
He agreed and Anna nodded, shifting her eyes to the place where he was touching her.
 
Drew wondered what was going through her mind in that moment.
 

“It doesn’t have to be emotional.”
 
She added and Drew shook his head in agreement, now very aware of the way his hand rested on her bare skin.
 

He pulled his hand away, reaching for the bottle and taking another long drink.
 

“Take us, for example.
 
I can hardly stand you.
 
You’re rude, and annoying, and kind of a chauvinistic jerk.
 
But we could have sex.”

He almost choked.
 

She didn’t really say that, did she?
 

When he looked up to meet her eyes though, he found that she was staring at him, an eyebrow raised.
 

He took another drink, swallowing hard.

This was a bad idea.
 
Drew was becoming more and more aware of how bad an idea this had been with each passing moment.
 

Anna began to pull her foot away from his lap and Drew wondered if she knew how slowly she was moving.
 

“I mean, technically, that—us—it would be possible.”
 
He finally gave up on talking and nodded his head, very aware that he sounded like an idiot.
 
Wasn’t she the
drunk
one?

Anna leaned forward so that she was only inches away from him.
 

“Can you help me upstairs, Drew?”

“I…”
 
He broke off for a moment, meeting her eyes.
 
He remembered the first time they had met—the way it had felt to kiss her.

He wondered what it might be like to kiss her again.

She reached forward and plucked the bottle from his hand, pressing it to her lips and taking a sip.
 
He took it back and took another drink.
 

“Help me upstairs.”
 
She rose to her feet and took him by the hand, pulling him deeper into the house.
 
He followed closely behind her as she led the way upstairs, telling himself he was only going to make sure she made it up the stairs without killing herself.
 

When he didn’t stop outside her bedroom door, he told himself that Jeff would want him to make sure that she was tucked in, snug and warm for the night.

“Anna—”

“How does it work?”
 
She asked him, touching the buttons on his shirt.
 

“How does what work?”
 
Drew was very, very distracted.
 
He couldn’t take his eyes away from her.
 

“Sex.”

“Well, I think that much is obvious.”

“
Casual
sex.”
 
Drew bit his lip, trying to tell himself to walk away.
 

“Annabelle…”

“Why do you call me that?”
 
She asked, finally looking up to meet his eyes.
 
Drew shrugged his shoulder, unable to think clearly.
 
“I’m sad, Drew.”
 

“I know you are.”
 

“I don’t want to be sad anymore.”
 
She laid her palm flat against his chest and he could hear the tears in her voice.
 

He was a jerk.
 
Such a jerk.

Here she was, on the rebound—and Drew had actually considered taking advantage of the situation.
 

Sure, she wasn’t exactly protesting.
 

But that made him no better than the guys he had told himself he was protecting her from.

“Come on, let’s get you to bed.”
 
He stepped backward, creating some distance between them.

“Are you coming with me?”
 
She reached up and unbuttoned the top few buttons of her shirt.
 
Drew watched for a moment, knowing he couldn’t.

“That’s probably a bad idea.”

“It’s an even worse one to leave.”
 
She finished unbuttoning her shirt and Drew groaned inwardly.
 

Yep, this was torture.
 

“That’s not what you’ll think in the morning.”
 

“But that’s hours away.”
 
She closed the space between them, fidgeting with the lowest button on his shirt.

He had to leave before he did something he was going to regret.
 

And so he reached forward, taking her face into his hands.
 

Then he leaned in, touching his lips to her forehead.

“Goodnight, Annabelle.”
 

Before she could stop him, Drew turned and hurried from the room.
 

He didn’t realize he was holding his breath until he was sitting behind the wheel of his car, staring up at the window.
 
He watched her silhouette for a moment before starting the car and pulling away.

He needed to go home and take a nice, long, cold shower.
 

Anna lay in bed for quite some time, staring up at the ceiling.
 
Her head was pounding viciously, her stomach felt as if she had spent the night on a small boat in the middle of a tsunami, and her mouth was very, very dry.

But that wasn’t what was keeping her in bed.

No, she could handle all of that.

It was the fact that she was pretty sure she had attempted to bed Drew Whitman last night.

Though she was alone, she felt her face redden and she tugged the blankets up over her head, groaning quietly.
 

If she were to be completely honest with herself, though, she would have to admit that she was grateful that he had stepped in when he did.
 
She had a feeling that if she would have gone through with her original intentions, the shame she felt this morning would be much, much worse.
 

Fortunately for her, she didn’t have to see Drew ever again.
 
Something told her that he wouldn’t be all too eager to find himself within her presence again, so at least there was that.
 

With a heavy sigh, she tossed the blanket aside and rolled out of bed, padding quietly down the hallway so that she could use the bathroom.
 
She groaned again upon looking in the mirror, realizing that she had not only slept in her clothes from the previous night, but also her makeup.
 

Unable to stand it, Anna climbed into the shower until the hot water ran out—which wasn’t long, seeing as how their water heater had been declining for years now—but it was wonderful while it lasted.
 

“There you are,
”
 
Alice greeted her when she finally entered the kitchen.
 
“And just how are you feeling, sweet Anna Marie?”

“Your voice is entirely too high pitched, Alice
Maloy
.”
 
Anna glared at her sister.

“Aw, dear sister.”
 
Alice placed a paper cup in front of her.
 
“I bought you coffee.”

“That doesn’t change the tone of your voice one bit,
”
 
Anna
told her, taking the lid off the cup and taking a hesitant sip.
 
It was lukewarm, but it would suffice.
 
“But I appreciate the caffeine.”

“Well, the last I saw of you last night, I thought you might.
 
Although I’m a little surprised you’re home already.”

“I never made it further than the front sidewalk, actually.”
 
Anna reached for the sugar dish.
 

“Aw, really?
 
That guy was kind of cute—maybe his nose was a little on the big side, but—”

“I…”
 
She shrugged.
 
“I couldn’t go through with it—so I just came home and…went to bed.”
 
Anna decided to spare herself the mortification she would suffer by telling her sister what had really happened.

The part where she had not only failed to pull off the illustrious one-night-stand, but she had taken it even further and attempted to proposition her ex’s
best
friend, Drew Whitman—known philanderer?

Oh, and that even
he
had turned her down.

No, she was much better off keeping all of that to herself.
 

“Oh well, there’s always next time.”

“I’m not entirely sure there will be a next time, Allie.
 
The way I’m feeling right now…I’m not even sure I’m going to make it through the day.”
 
Alice sighed loudly, rolling her eyes.
 
“And, just for that—I’m going to spend the day in front of the TV watching crime shows.”

“Well, you enjoy wallowing in your sorrows, sissy.
 
I’ve got a shoot anyway.”

“I’m not wallowing.
 
I’m recovering from your influence.”
 
Anna hugged her coffee to her chest as she turned and walked down the short hallway, where she stretched out on the couch, reaching out for the remote.
 
The bottle of rum still remained on the coffee table and she felt her cheeks flare as she remembered how uncomfortable Drew had looked.

Though she knew she was alone in the house, she reached down and pulled a loose blanket up over her head.
 
“What a mess,
”
 
she
muttered to herself.

She was beginning to come to terms with the fact that she just wasn’t built the same way as Alice.
 

The idea of going home with some random stranger…it wasn’t exciting or liberating at all for her.
 

It was terrifying.

And deep down, she knew some meaningless encounter with an even more meaningless man…that wasn’t going to help her feel any better about what had happened with Jeff.

She was once again reminded how grateful she felt toward Drew.
 
Twice, now, he’d saved her from doing something she was certain to regret—three times, if she counted his own rejection.

A subtle sting afflicted her pride for a moment as she wondered how many times Drew had turned down a woman who was willing and able.
 

She was probably the first.

Still, he had done her a favor, she reminded herself.
 
Since the night she’d first met him so many years ago, the last thing she had wanted was to find
herself
counted among the barrage of women he’d used up and tossed away.

Anna sighed as she lowered the blanket, reminding herself to take comfort knowing that, so long as she stayed out of his way, she wouldn’t have to face Drew ever again.

She knew, with one hundred percent certainty, that he was going to do his very best to keep his distance, too.

~*~

Drew stared at the building in front of him, drumming his thumbs nervously on the steering wheel.
 

This was a terrible idea.
 
No, worse than terrible—it was a
ridiculous
idea.

But for whatever reason, unbeknownst to him, he was here.

He watched as another group of kids wandered into the building, all carrying backpacks, looking excited to be here.
 
He wished he could share their enthusiasm.

He glanced down at the clock, realizing he had been sitting in his car for going on a half hour now.
 
And considering all of the kids that were wandering around…he figured he’d better get on with it, or someone was going to call the cops.
 

With a loud sigh, he pushed the door open and dashed toward the building, holding the door open for a pair of middle-
schoolers
before following them into the building.

Drew hadn’t been inside the community center in a very long time, but he could tell that it had been through a lot of renovations in the last few years.
 
The walls of the entryway were bright and boldly
colored,
various posters and works of art lining them.
 
There was a desk off to the side, and a message board opposite it, filled with papers.
 
Only the aged tiling gave the impression that the building was actually quite old.

“Can I help you, sir?”
 
The woman at the desk asked.
 
Drew noticed her name tag, labeled Crystal, and he smiled his most charming smile at her.

“Good afternoon, Crystal.
 
I was actually hoping to see Miss
Maloy
.”

“Is she expecting you?”

Drew was willing to bet a significant amount of his net worth that, in fact, she wasn’t.
 

“I’m an old friend, and I just found myself in the area…thought I might pop in for a quick visit.”
 
Crystal frowned, and Drew tilted his head.
 
“I’m sure it won’t take too much of her time.”

Because she was probably going to murder him before he had the chance to speak.

Yep, this was a really, really, bad idea.
 

But it was too late, and he was already committed.
 

“Let me just call her up for you.”

“That would be great.
 
Thanks, Crystal.
 
You’re a peach.”
 
He grinned at her before turning around and walking toward the board.
 
Flyers were pinned all over it—a pick-up basketball game was open every Monday and Wednesday.
 
Tutoring was offered every day.
 
Someone was trying to start a comic book club.

“What are you doing here?”
 
If sound had the ability to kill, he would surely be dead right now.
 
Drew turned around very slowly, suddenly very glad that they were in the public domain.

“Hey, Annabelle—”

“Don’t you
Annabelle
me—I asked you a question.”

“I…”
 
He glanced around nervously.
 
“I was thinking I could use a little time on the court.”

“This is a community center.
 
For kids.
 
I know you may have the same maturity level as a freshman in high school, but that doesn’t quite qualify.”
 
Anna’s arms were crossed over her chest, her eyes narrowed.

He didn’t know what she was so mad about.
 
Really—he’d done her a favor by taking her home the other night.
 
There was no telling what Big Nose had in store for her.

For a moment, he considered telling her this.
 

“Well, color me confused,
”
 
he
shrugged.
 
“I thought this was like one of
those
rec
—”

“What are you doing here?”
 
She repeated, and Drew realized in that moment that it wasn’t so much anger that she was glaring at him—but embarrassment.
 

Obviously, she hadn’t forgotten about her little…proposition.
 

And Drew decided then that he couldn’t make it any worse for her.
 
He’d come here so that he could tell her he hadn’t been stalking her—that, in fact, he’d just been doing Jeff a favor, like he asked, and that she was free to do whatever she liked with her life because he was officially off-duty.

But it didn’t take a genius to figure out that a revelation like that would only make Anna feel worse.
 

Having your ex’s best friend babysit you, at his request, because he was worried about you even after you broke his heart…

That put you in the pitiful pile.
 

Drew remembered her words from the other night, when she labeled herself as desperate.
 

“I…found twenty dollars in my car.
 
I just wanted to see if it, you know, belonged to you.”
 
And if that wasn’t the lamest of excuses, he wasn’t sure what was.
 
For a moment, he worried she might buy it, and he tried to recall whether or not he actually had any cash on him.

“Go home, Drew.”

Without another word, she turned and began walking down the hallway she had arrived by.
 

And, not knowing what else he should do, Drew listened to her, walking through the heavy front doors and back to his car.

As he pulled out onto the street, he recognized something he’d missed earlier.

It wasn’t just that Anna was embarrassed…

If Drew didn’t know better, he would almost believe that, in some way, he’d hurt her feelings.

When he walked into his apartment twenty minutes later, he knew he’d made a decision.

With a sigh, he threw himself down onto his couch and pulled his cell phone from his pocket.
 
He opened a new text message and typed quickly.

How do I make Anna hate me…less?

Within moments, his phone rang and he groaned, knowing he should have expected it.
 
“What happened now?”

Drew sighed, wondering why his friend always assumed he was to blame.
 

“I don’t know.”
 
The truth was
,
he really just wasn’t sure what he should tell him.
 
Obviously, that whole part about Anna throwing herself at him should probably be left out of the conversation.
 
“She’s mad.”

Jeff sighed impatiently.
 
“Could you elaborate a little?”
 

No, Jeff, I really can’t.
 
Drew leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees.
 
“I don’t know.
 
I ran into her at some club this weekend—”

“She was at a club?”

“She was with her sister.”
 

“Oh, great—you know, I
knew
Alice had something to do with this—
”
 
Jeff
broke off and Drew imagined him massaging his temples or pinching the bridge of his nose.
 
“Go on.”

“I don’t know, she was pretty drunk, and some guy was trying to take her home.
 
So I—gallantly, I may add—stepped in.”

“So you made her feel like a child.”

“No, I—”

“Anna
hates
being treated like she doesn’t know what she’s doing.
 
In her mind, she’s been able to take care of herself since she was five.”
 
Drew rolled his eyes as he threw himself back into the couch.
 
“Then what?”

“What?
 
Nothing.”
 
He heard the guilt in his voice and knew that Jeff wouldn’t miss it.
 
He was a lawyer, after all.