“Nice friends you have, Drew. How about I take you somewhere quiet? Get some water down you?”
“You kinda sound like her, too.” His body leaned into me even more than before as he slowly began to open his eyes. When they met mine, it took a second or two for it to sink in who was actually holding him up and I had no idea what the slow smile that started to creep onto his face meant. “Oh.”
“Hi,” I said, suddenly unsure of everything. He was all muscle, and even as I bounced him into a better center of gravity, I knew I didn’t have long until we were both on the floor and rolling in the questionable puddle that was currently spreading. “I’m going to need you to stand up for me, Drew. Ineed your cooperation or this isn’t going to end well.”
“Did you fuck him?”
He was leaning off the stool at this point, and the only choice I had was to wrap my arms around his chest. My mind was such a mess, I didn’t have time to process what he’d asked.
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
Drew’s ass slid off completely, allowing him to find his feet just enough for me to make some kind of movement away from the bar. After a few sideways stumbles, I somehow managed to hold him still while I waited for him to take in a breath. His eyes fell down to mine, his chin moving closer as he tried to brush some hair over my shoulder only to miss completely.
“Did you fuck him?” he repeated slowly.
“Who?”
“Kenny. I heard you two were athing. Jus’ don’t be screwing on my time, ‘kay, Hanagan?”
I was trying to get as much forward momentum as I could, but my feet felt as though they were being drilled into the floor and my spine was becoming an accordion. Huffing out a laugh as best I could, I steered us towards his office where I knew the connecting bathroom also connected to his bedroom.
“I don’t know where you’re getting your information, but you may want to fact check. I’m not fucking, nor have I ever fucked Kenny. He’s a friend. That’s it. I drew a line in the sand and he hasn’t crossed it. Oh fuck…”
I tripped, stumbling so the both of us fell forward, his body leaning very heavily against mine and winding me as I landed against the wall next to his office with a smack. I tried hard not to cry out, but the squeak seemed to have him shuffleaway giving me enough air to breathe.
“I’m here to do a job, Drew.” The end of that sentence hung between us before I swallowed the words I knew I would regret speaking.
Trying to find his balance again, he raised both his forearms above my head and pressed them to the wall, holding himself far enough away that he wasn’t against me, but close enough for me to feel uneasy. It would only take one small slip of his hands and his face would be down on mine in a heartbeat. Drew’s eyes seemed to search mine for a lifetime before he finally whispered, “Am I a friend?”
I could feel my breathing pick up with the intensity. There was a crackle between the two of us in the very small space between our bodies and I was pretty sure he could feel it, too. “You’re too complicated to call a friend.”
My body jerked for a moment before I broke eye contact with him. I’d gone from feeling nothing to feeling everything in a matter of seconds and I wasn’t able to process any of it.
“Can we do this somewhere where the whole room isn’t pretending they aren’t watching us?”
“We can,” he whispered, slowly rocking his body from side to side as his eyes narrowed in on the movement of my mouth. “Once I know what complicated means.”
My hand slid out, feeling along the wall to where the handle of his office door was. Twisting it and pushing it out of the way, I leaned closer to him, turning so his arm was around my shoulder. I twisted my head only briefly to look back, but I should have known better. The whole room was now openly staring.
“You honestly want to do this here? Now? Drew, we can talk about anything you want, just not here. Please.”
His teeth were now resting on his bottom lip in thought as he looked down on me and made me squirm. I should have known he wouldn’t make this easy. “Nothing off limits?”
“Nothing off limits,” I repeated, my shoulder giving his ribs a nudge in the right direction.
“Then lead the way, my non-friend type person.”
I huffed out a laugh at just how literal he was, and to his credit, he was a little more helpful than he had been up to that point. Getting through the office was a breeze, and closing the door on the eyes that had been trained on us was a small blessing. It was the bathroom where we ended up running into problems. The room was an odd shape, and in order to get us both through it, it didn’t leave much space between our bodies.
By the time we got to his room, I was exhausted, and I was pretty sure he was clinging to consciousness by the skin of his teeth. I backed him up to the bed, misjudging the steps we’d taken, sending us both toppling. Drew landed with a thud on his back, while I ended up sprawled over his chest.
He was warm, and the scent that was his alone wrapped around me, along with his arms. The smell of whiskey was a given, but it had nothing on him. No matter how much I hated to admit it, it had intoxicated me since he’d given me a ride home. It clung to my shirt and skin for hours after.
“Sleep… or do you still want to interrogate me?”
“What’s option number three?” he asked quietly.
Lifting a hand and spreading my fingers over his subtle dimples, I shook my head and returned his smile. “The only other option tonight is me leaving.”
