Remember When 2 (20 page)

   Trip lowered a brow, looking at me like I was sorely, sorely mistaken. “Well, first of all, I’d hardly say I ‘kind of got arrested’. What you
heard
was a total exaggeration. Some guy just got pissed when his girlfriend tried to buy me a drink and his guido buddies decided to play tough.”

   “There were guidos there? God, I thought they’d gone extinct.”

   “If only. And how’d you know about that anyway?”

   “I have my sources.”

   He started to shift onto his side, leaning toward me just the slightest bit. “Oh yeah? Well,
I
have ways of making you talk.”

  
I’ll bet you do
.

   I could only guess what sort of “ways” he had in mind, and I knew damn well that I’d never survive them. I decided to give up my source before any such torture could take place. “My cousin Stephen is the guy who saved your ass.”

   “No shit. That was your cousin? Damn. I wish I knew that. He said he was a cop, but I didn’t know
that
. He was a good guy. He could have made things ugly for me. But the press never caught wind of it, so I guess he kept his word.”  He rolled onto his back again and tapped his foot against mine. “He told
you
though, huh.”

   “Yeah, but just me. Don’t worry.”

   “When’d you find this out?”

   “Tonight. Well,
last
night. At my cousin’s engagement party.”

   “He’s getting married? Maybe I’ll send a box of Cubans as a thank you.”

   “Not him. His brother.”

   “The guy bartending? Sean, I think?”

   I gave a laugh and asked, “Sean was bartending that night? That’s pretty funny. He doesn’t even work there! And no. Not him, either.”

   “Jesus. How many of them are there?”

   “Four. Jack’s the one getting married.”

   “Think I’ll still send the Cubans.”

   He scratched the stubble at his jaw, and I don’t know why, but the move caused goosebumps to appear along my bare arms. I gave them a quick rub and tried to chill the hell out. “
Tess
says hello, by the way.”

   “She was there?”

   “Yep.”

   He crossed both arms behind his head, staring wistfully up at the sky. “Hmm. Tess Valletti. How’d she look?”

   “Go fuck yourself, Trip.”

   “What? Are you
jealous
?” he teased, cracking up like my outburst was the funniest thing he’d ever heard. I smacked him in the stomach, watching as he flinched forward, barely breaking his pose as he continued to cackle. “Looks like I struck a nerve.”

   I laughed back, “Well, I know it was a long time ago, but can you blame me? I had the worst crush on you and
she
was the girl you were going out with! What was up with that, anyway?”

   He settled back down and shrugged his shoulders. “Nothing much. We went out on a few dates, that was all. She thought I was too young for her. I was fine with it.” He rolled his head toward me and added, “After all, she wasn’t
you
.”

   I knew he was teasing, so I teased right back. “Oh, sure, Chester. You were so into me that you asked
her
out instead. Jerk.”

   “I was
so
totally into you, dummy. If I wasn’t, I’d have jumped your bones long before I did, but I wanted you to see I was an honorable guy.”

   My eyes rolled on that one as I let out a little snicker.

   “Besides,” he said, “you and Cooper always had your
thing
going on. If you had such a crush on me,
I’d
like to know what was up with
that
.”

   Things were getting interesting. All that time Trip and I spent being platonic, and it turns out we both thought it was because the other one wasn’t into it. God. Stupid teenagers. So many months wasted just because we hadn’t opened our idiot mouths about it. Our year together could have gone very, very differently.

   “And actually,” he continued, “I wasn’t really looking to pick a fight with that monster. New kid, new school, new town. Yeah, thanks. But no.”

   “Did that happen a lot? At your other schools?”

   “What, fighting? Oh, yeah. Almost every time.”

   I felt bad thinking about that beautiful face being beaten to a pulp just for being the new kid. It was probably hard enough having to start over in some strange new place without some stupid bully picking on him. My heart broke for that nomad little boy, just thinking about it. It was enough to make me want to hop in the car and take a cross-country trip to every town he’d ever lived in and kick some ass.

   “Did they hurt you?” I asked, the sadness in my voice unhidden.

   He looked at me like I was crazy. “No. I learned to fight pretty early on. Most times, the guy’s ass I kicked wound up being my closest friend afterward.”

   “Hell of a first impression.”

   “Ya gotta do what you gotta do. I just thank God my old man taught me how to fight. Lord knows he knew how.”

   I knew he and his father had had their problems, but that was the first I’d ever heard about it getting physical. I didn’t think I could handle hearing more about it. “Well, jeez, Trip. Maybe Stephen should have just let you have at it the other night. Sounds like you missed out on the chance to make some new friends down at The Westlake!”

   He sat up just then, and before I knew what was happening, he quickly rolled over half on top of me. He planted a hand on either side of the chaise, at my head, his chest grazing against mine, his lips hovering an inch above my own. My heart was racing as I watched his heavily-lidded gaze fixate on my mouth, his voice seductive and serious as he said, “I’m not looking for any new friends. I kinda like reconnecting with my old ones.”

   I was stunned into silence, just lying there, caged by his upper body, looking into those lethal blue eyes of his. Uh-oh.

   He started chuckling before lowering his head to my shoulder, giving me a quick, flirty nuzzle against my neck. “Shit, Lay. You look like you’re ready to pull the mace on me.”

   I let out the breath I’d been holding and gave a shove against his chest, heaving the big jerk off of me. “Not funny, Chester.”

   Only
he
thought it was just hysterical, because he was still laughing as he stood up and offered an outstretched palm. “Aw, c’mon, babe. Get over it and come dance with me.”

   I was still trying to pull myself together from the near miss, but he wasn’t leaving me much choice (not that I could have made a different one anyway). So, I took his hand and let him haul me into his arms.

   It was the middle of the night, but we were in the city that never sleeps, so we had the soft echo of the music from the jazz club a few floors below to accompany us. He slipped his good arm around my back and held up his damaged one. I slid one hand against the rough bandage at his palm and rested my other on his shoulder, trying to downplay the quickening of my heart as he pulled me closer against his body… and started to sway.

   I was never much of a dancer, and this was a first for Trip and me. Seems there were a lot of firsts between us over the course of my life. First love, first time… first heartbreak. But none of that mattered right then. The fact was, all that stuff was back in our past, and we were dealing with a very, very different present. Somewhere in a parallel universe, Trip and I were happy together. Just not in this one.

   But it was actually really nice just dancing with him. It was really nice just
being
with him. I guessed it would have to be enough.

   “Hey,” I said. “I wonder what time it is.”

   “Who knows. Four? Five? Why, you got somewhere to be?” he teased.

   Even if I did, I wouldn’t have left that spot right then if my life depended on it.

   “Of course not. I just can’t believe we spent the entire night together.”

   He gave my waist a nudge, and I took the cue, giggling while I spun away from his body and twirled in again, where he pulled my back against the length of his front, our arms wrapped around my middle.

   He nuzzled my ear and said, “Somehow, I thought spending the night with you would have gone a little differently.”

   His words shot an electric charge down my spine, and it was all I could do to remain standing upright. My body had succumbed to that familiar melt… and I’m admitting nothing here, but Trip
might
have had reason to believe that I leaned back against him just the slightest bit. I heard the sharp exhale of breath through his teeth before he turned me in his arms and we went back to our dancers’ pose, Trip curling our hands over his heart.

   He looked as pained as I felt at that moment, and I figured we were dancing around something way more dangerous than the roof of my apartment building. If I didn’t change the focus, one of us was bound to do something stupid, and soon.

   Probably me.

   I thought about what we’d been talking about before he pulled a Deney Terrio on me, and asked, “Did you really think Cooper wanted to kick your ass?”

   He gave a sigh and said, “Good God, woman. Can’t I ever get you in my arms without that guy’s name coming up?” It was enough to break the tension, and my shoulders started shaking as I snickered into his. “And to answer your question, yes. At first, anyway. Your territorial friend all but pissed a circle around you that first week of school. He made it very clear that I was not welcome anywhere near you.”

   “You’re kidding!”

   “Nope. Took me a little while before I figured out he was only barking.” His arm tightened around my waist as he bent me backwards for an exaggerated dip, looking intently into my eyes as he added, “But then
you
stopped talking to me all winter and went back out with him anyway.”

   He gave a soft kiss to my breastbone and straightened us both up again, and I tried to appear unaffected by the singe his lips had left behind on my skin. I shot back, “Well, I’m sorry you almost got a beat-down, New Kid.” But then I hid my face in his shoulder, took a deep breath, and added softly, “I’m sorry for a lot of things.”

   Trip’s hand started the inevitable slide up and down my spine as he buried his lips in the hair at my ear and asked quietly, “And what unforgiveable crimes have you committed against me lately?”

   I was in the process of reeling from the sweet, clean scent of him invading my nostrils, but managed to answer, “Not now.
Then
. I’m sorry about…”   

   … ever letting you go
.
I’m sorry for all the time we wasted. I’m sorry for being here with you right now when we can’t do a damned thing about it.

   “… about all the misunderstandings.”

   “Between us, you mean?”

   “Mm hmm.”

   We continued dancing, swaying against one another, and I was caught up in the thrilling and agonizing sensation of having Trip back in my arms once again. I was wondering how that was possible, how he could still manage to incite such an emotional response from me after so many years, when I heard his voice break my reverie.

   “Lay-Lay?”

   “Yeah?”

   “I wouldn’t have changed a thing.”

Chapter 20

HAPPY TIMES

   I downed the one and only shot I’d be partaking in all evening. I was a bit of a lightweight, and simply nursing a few beers would be enough to make me loopy without the added boost of hard liquor. But I hadn’t seen Pickford since the baby announcement. That, combined with the fact that my article was scheduled to hit the papers the very next day was good enough reason to go out and celebrate with a smidge of excess. He and Lisa had picked up my brother on their way into the city so we could have a night out on the town. The four of us went out quite a bit and tied one on every now and again. We were in our twenties, after all.

   Bruce slammed his glass face-down onto the bar and said, “No more girly shots!”

   I gave him a look and countered, “No more shots,
period
. I don’t want to drag your drunken ass out of here in an hour, cutting my night short.”

   I’d slept until close to two o’clock that day, trying to catch up on my shuteye after the all-nighter with Trip. On the plus side, I was well-rested and primed for a late night out. So there was no way I was going to turn in early because of an over-indulging little brother. Bruce had only been legal for two years, and he was still trying to figure out his limits.

   We’d decided on the Luna Lounge, a hip rock club on the lower east side. A college friend of mine tended bar there on the weekends, so I’d been to the place a bunch of times before. But that was the first time I’d brought my Jersey crew along.

   The boys grabbed their beers and commandeered a spot a few paces away from where Lisa and I were sitting. The place was packed, but we’d gotten lucky when we managed to grab a couple stools at the bar. Which was a good thing for Lisa, because she’d started to feel the pregnancy by then.