Strings of the Heart (12 page)

I couldn’t help giggling. “Why don’t you give me your keys, and I’ll wait at the car.”

He cocked his brows questioningly at me. “I think you’re just trying to abscond with my car.”

“Could be. Guess you’ll have to wait and see.”

Rhys laughed as he dug a ticket out of his pants pocket. “Go ahead and have the valet bring it around. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“No problem.”

As I started out of the study, I ran into Vivian in the hallway. “Leaving, dear?”

“Yeah, Rhys and I are going to get some dinner.”

She grinned. “Have fun. Oh, and do something I would do.”

I couldn’t help laughing at her audacity. The truth was I would be happy to do all the wicked and naughty things Vivian could possibly do if only Rhys was willing. Being in his arms earlier, if only momentarily, felt so damn good. I couldn’t help but wonder if he had any idea what he did to me. Ugh, I hated feeling this mixed up and neurotic. I had to remember that I was strong, beautiful, confident, and that there was no reason why Rhys shouldn’t want to be with me.

As I handed over the ticket to the valet, I silently said a wish for strength so I could get my man.

O
ut the entire evening, the highlight for me was sitting in a tux at B&D’s, stuffing my face with a burger and fries, with a beautiful girl across from me. Once we devoured our food and had gotten enough odd looks from the other patrons because of our formal wear, we headed back to Allison’s place. I stopped off and picked up a six-pack on the way.

After I parked the car, I turned to Allison who hadn’t made a move to get out yet. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m a little scared to go inside.”

Twisting in my seat to see her better, I asked, “What do you mean?”

She giggled. “I have a feeling that Cassie and her date might be banging on the couch. They were already making out on my bed earlier tonight.”

“Damn,” I muttered, trying to rid myself of any thoughts of Cassie having sex.

After Allison got out of the car, she glanced up at the clear sky filled with stars. “It’s such a pretty night. Why don’t we have our drinks out on the veranda?”

“Sounds good to me, Scarlett,” I teased.

“Oh, shut up. Like you don’t have a veranda yourself,” she said, as we started around the side of the house.

“Why of course we have a veranda. I just like to be uncouth and call it a back porch.”

Allison laughed, causing my chest to have an odd clenching feeling. I’m not sure why I cared so much that she found me amusing. But more than hearing her laugh, I loved making her laugh. “What is it about being in Savannah that makes me want to talk and act like a proper Southerner?” she asked.

“I’m not sure. But the city certainly has some kind of pull on you,” I replied, as I uncapped a beer and handed it to her.

“Think it’s the voodoo?”

I snorted. “Could be.” I then raised my beer up to the full moon. “Here’s to all the voodoo and hoodoo that makes Savannah what it is.”

Thrusting up her longneck, Allison said, “To the hoodoo and voodoo.” Then she took a long swig of the beer.

I sat the six-pack on the table, and then we eased down onto the porch swing. For a while we sat in silence, merely listening to the heave and sigh of the swing. Turning my head, I eyed her profile in the moonlight. “You know, I just keep learning more and more about you, Allie-Bean.”

“And precisely what did you learn about me tonight?”

I swallowed a large gulp of beer. Then I grinned at her. “First of all, you become a tough little cookie when provoked.”

Allison threw back her shoulders and huffed out a breath. “She was a bitch. No, actually, she was a cunt,” she replied.

Beer spewed out of my mouth onto the tiled floor. “Holy shit, did you just say
cunt
?”

Giggling, she ducked her head. “Yeah, maybe.”

“Okay, chalk that up as something else I’ve learned tonight. You can have a real potty mouth when you want to.”

She smirked at me. “Like I didn’t learn it from my big brother?”

“Well, that’s probably true,” I conceded.

“So what else did you learn about me?” Allison prompted.

“Well, besides the fact you can go from genteel to raging bitch in a few seconds, I found out that you can handle your own in a tough social situation like that. And you certainly know how to dress to impress.”

“Thank you,” she murmured softly.

“Most of all, I’ve learned you are a woman of many complexities, and it’s very intriguing.”

Her mouth made a perfect little “O” at my declaration. Everything I said was the truth. In the last thirty-six hours, I truly had come to see Allison in an entirely different light. It was hard imagining that I’d known her seven years and not realized it at all. Not only was she a woman now, but she was a very interesting one. I wasn’t even sure Jake was aware of all the many facets that made up her character.

“You’ve learned so much about me, but I’m still missing some things on you,” she said.

“I’m sure all you would have to do is Google me, and a lot of shit would come up.”

She wrinkled her nose. “I don’t want impersonal information like that about you. I want it straight from the horse’s mouth.”

“Fine. I have nothing to hide, so fire away.” I cocked my brows at her. “But be forewarned that turnabout is fair play.”

“I don’t mind.”

“So shoot.”

Tilting her head, Allison asked, “How old were you when you lost your virginity?”

The audacious question, coupled with her interested expression, caused me to spew out the sip of beer I’d just taken. Swiping my hand across my mouth, I said, “Damn. Going straight for the jugular on that one, aren’t you?”

She giggled. “Would you rather me have asked the last time you cried?”

I shook my head furiously. I wasn’t one of those emotionally stunted men who thought it was weak to cry. It was more the fact that I didn’t want to have to acknowledge that it had been three days ago after I saw my sister. I wasn’t ready to go there with her yet.

“So answer the question,” she pressed.

“Actually, I was a late bloomer. I was nineteen.”

Her brows rose in surprise. “Seriously?”

I laughed. “You sound so shocked.”

With a shrug, she said, “I just imagined you being young. Like fifteen.”

“I was finishing up high school at fifteen. Trust me, for most of my teenage years, I wore glasses, had acne, and weighed one thirty soaking wet.” I shook my head as I was assaulted by a barrage of painful teenage memories of being bullied and being made fun of. It was just another reason that I hated living in the past—it was too fucking painful.

Trying to lighten the dark mood pervading me, I motioned to myself. “I was not always the stud you see before you today,” I teased.

My efforts were rewarded by a laugh from Allison. “I find that hard to believe.”

I couldn’t help shuddering. “Oh trust me, there’s photographic
and
video evidence.”

She shook her head. “Nope, I’m sorry, but I can’t imagine a time when you weren’t a hottie.”

“As fucking misguided as you are, I gotta say thanks for the compliment.”

With a grin, she took another sip of her beer. “So who was she?”

Shifting in my chair, I couldn’t help feeling a little uncomfortable with her questioning. I mean, where the hell was she going with this? And now because she had brought it up, I couldn’t help wanting to know the same shit about her…or did I?

“You want me to elaborate about losing my virginity?”

“Of course. After all, elaboration is the key element of Southern storytelling, and we are in the most Southern city in the South.”

“True, very true.” I took a long pull from my longneck. For reasons I couldn’t even fathom, I felt the need to defend myself to Allison. “The thing is, I had gotten some action, but I still hadn’t sealed the deal, so to speak.”

“Lovely,” Allison said, wrinkling her nose.

“Hey, you’re the one who wanted me to elaborate.”

She laughed. “You’re right. Please continue.”

“By the time I’d turned nineteen, things finally were looking up for me. I’d just met Jake and the other guys, and we were starting to play at Eastman’s. After being sick, I got put on steroids and started beefing up. I got Lasik surgery, and my mother actually gave me a year’s supply of chemical peels for my acne as a birthday present.”

“But you digress,” Allison said, with a grin.

“I’m trying to save face here about why I was so old when I lost my virginity.”

“Pray continue.”

I laughed. “Anyway, her name was Melanie. She was in some of my law classes at Emory. Since I was feeling more confident, I got up the nerve to ask her out. Thankfully, she said yes, and we started dating.”

Surprise filled Allison’s face. “Oh, so you have been in a relationship.”

“A few, yeah. None really lasted a long time. I did have my heart broken when I was twenty-one.”

“Interesting. And where was the deed done?”

With a wink, I replied, “In a pretty posh suite at the Ritz in Atlanta.”

Her eyes bulged. “Really?”

“Hey, give me some credit here. I’m not the type of guy to lose it in the backseat of a car.”

She giggled. “No, I can’t see you doing that.” Leaning her elbows on the table, she added with a teasing lilt to her voice, “Of course, you had to pick somewhere high-end. Couldn’t lose the V-Card at the Holiday Inn, could you?”

“Hey now. I can’t help how I was raised, even if I try to escape it as often as I can.”

“So we know you had a posh first experience. But what about the relationship itself? How long did it last between the two of you?”

Tilting my head, I delved into my past. “Six months. She was a few years older than me.” At Allison’s continued questioning expression, I said, “She wanted more—a whole lot more than I was ready or willing to give at nineteen.”

“I see,” she murmured.

“And what about you?” When her usual red flush tinged Allison’s cheeks, I shook my head. “Oh no, don’t think you’re getting out of this one.”

“I’m not,” she huffed.

“Then spill it.”

“Fine,” she muttered. I turned a laugh into a cough when she squared her shoulders determinedly while downing the rest of her beer. “I was seventeen.”

“Man, you beat me by two years, huh?”

“Sex is never a competition.”

“Sometimes it is to see who will finish first,” I mused, which caused her to blush. “Anyway, please continue with the sordid details.”

“Like you, I was in a relationship. Dylan and I started dating when I was sixteen.”

Holding up my hand, I asked, “Just how old was he?”

“Eighteen.”

“Older man, huh?”

With a slight shrug, she replied, “I was a junior, and he was a senior.”

“Cradle robber,” I teased.

“I would hardly call that age difference cradle robbing.”

“Was he like the typical older guy who dated younger girls to get one thing?”

“Not exactly. I mean, our six month anniversary fell right after my seventeenth birthday, and he hadn’t really been pressuring me or demanding anything of me.”

“So where did you do the deed?”

A shy smile pulled at the corners of her lips. “Jake’s farm.”

Her declaration caused me to bolt upright in my chair. “Excuse me?”

“You guys were out on tour, and no one was there. It was the perfect place where we could be alone. I told my mom I was spending the weekend with my best friend, Kim. We didn’t go in the house—we stayed in the loft.”

I shook my head in disbelief at her. “Jake would blow a fucking gasket if he knew you lost your virginity in
his
loft.”

Allison merely rolled her eyes at my declaration. “Like he hadn’t defiled that place in a million different ways before Abby came along.”

“Actually, he never brought chicks to the farm. I’m pretty sure the only woman he’s ever had sex there with is Abby.”

“Really?” Allison asked, her brows rising in surprise.

“It’s the truth. I’d tell you to ask him, but that would be totally inappropriate.”

She giggled. “I agree.”

We sat in silence for a few moments. After I popped the tops on another beer for the two of us, my curiosity got the better of me. I detoured to a questioning path I had no fucking business going down. “Besides this Dylan, has there been a lot of other guys?”

Allison cocked her brows at me. “Are you actually asking me for my number?”

Grimacing, I guzzled down half the beer I’d just opened. After I swallowed, I shook my head. “Sorry. That was wrong of me.”

As her fingers played with the label on the beer bottle, Allison stared straight ahead. Finally, she murmured, “Three.”

“Excuse me?”

Her gaze flicked to mine, and she gave me a mischievous smile. “My number is three.”

I sucked in a breath like I’d been sucker punched in the gut. I wasn’t sure why her number mattered to me. I didn’t know whether to be relieved or slightly shocked. Not that in the vast scheme of things, three was that big a number. I knew Jake would be horrified she had been with one guy. “I see.”

Raising her beer bottle to her lips, Allison snorted. After taking a sip, she eyed me. “That’s all you have to say. ‘I see’?”