Break You

BLAIRE

The smile on my face was not one I could remove. Normally I wasn't one for games or to do things out of sheer spite, but what had happened outside with Jason Bryant was along time coming and freaking priceless. The look on his face-it was like my pointed remark had been drilled into him and he'd never felt anything like it before.

Searching the crammed apartment, I spotted Lauren and Susan right where I'd left them. Walking over, I realized the conversation was right where it had left off, too.Awesome, I hadn't missed any jokes Susan made about old men's balls.

"Here's your drink," I said. I held the slightly warm cup out to Susan and hoped it would shut her up. At least for a moment.

Lauren eyed me. "And where have you been? I know the line at the keg wasn't that long."

"Eh, around," I said. I took a sip of my beer and smiled at her.

"Nu-uh." Lauren's brown eyes glimmered with mischief. "Were you flirting with someone? Off making out with someone? Fucking someone in the corner?"

"Oh my God!" I smacked her arm and balked at her. "Hell no!"

"Better tell me, because if you don't my mind will just keep dreaming up things you could have been off doing for nearly thirty minutes. Trust me-a person can do a lot in thirty minutes." She flashed me an impish smile. "As a matter of fact, I think there's a T-shirt that says something like that in the back of my closet."

Susan chuckled and nearly sprayed the warm beer I'd handed her all over. I narrowed my eyes at her. I wasn't a bitchy person, generally speaking, but there were just those people who rubbed me the wrong way and irked me like no other. Susan Baron was one of those people.

"Fine," I said. "Walk with me to the bathroom."

Lauren grinned from ear to ear. "I knew you had something juicy to tell me."

Smiling, I interlocked my arm through hers."Eh, nothing major."

We weaved our way down the even more crowded hallway, heading toward the bathroom. I really did have to pee, but I also didn't want to be around Susan anymore. Nor did I want her hearing anything I was about to say.

"Enough with the melodrama," Lauren said with an eye roll. "Tell!"

"All right, all right," I said.

In the chunk of time it took for Lauren and me to make it from the kitchen to the bathroom, I'd managed to repeat the entire story of Jason and me to her.

"I know it's immature and dumb," I said as I finished washing my hands at the sink. I scooped up my cup from the counter. Glancing at myself in the mirror, I ran my fingers through my hair, correcting my part, and then wiped my finger beneath my eyes to get rid of a few smudges of eyeliner. "But it felt so good to be able to get him back."

"I'm sure it did." Lauren smiled.

Gripping the knob, I jerked the door open and came face to face with Jason. My heart crashed against my ribcage as our eyes met. I prayed he hadn't been able to hear what we'd been talking about through the door.

"And we meet again." Jason grinned.

My cheeks heated at the sound of his voice. I took another sip of my drink. Hopefully the red tint would be discarded and chalked up as being from the alcohol rushing through my veins.

"I guess so," I said.

Lauren moved to my side. "We haven't met before."

Jason shifted his gaze to her. "No, we haven't. I'm Jason, Jason Bryant."