Sworn to Be His ( The Archer Family 3)

"Ew." He grimaced.

"You're the one who asked. No, he was never with me. I barely ever got up the guts to talk to him."

"That is clear to all of us."

Jade frowned. "Do you want to hear this or not?"

"Fine, fine. You're right. Continue."

"The only time I got to talk to him was in debate club. He used to be able to argue like nobody you've ever seen. I'm telling you." She sighed and when Derrick raised his eyebrows, she tried to pull herself together again.

"Anyway," she went on, "everyone wanted to date him. He was sort of a big deal, but he had this...reputation."

"You like bad boys? Is that why you're a cop? Do you have some fantasy of pulling someone over and—"

"No, nothing like that. Now interrupt me again and I'll punish you."

Derrick closed his mouth and folded his hands on the table in front of him.

"He had a reputation for o

nly dating girls he couldn't have. He had, like, this thing about him. I think he liked the pressure of it, dating other guys’ girls. Anyway, I think that's why half the girls in the school wanted to date him. For the suspense of it."

"He only dated other men's women? Isn't that sort of...what a scumbag does?"

Jade shook her head. "It wasn't like that. You know how high school is. Besides, I'm sure he doesn't do that anymore."

"Okay, so if you're interested in this guy, why don't you just ask him out?" Derrick asked.

She paused. There was no easy way to explain it without sounding like an idiot or worse, a pathetic idiot. But then, this was Derrick and if anybody was going to understand, he would.

"Have you ever been around someone in your life where you just know they don't really see you that way?" She asked.

He considered her for a minute, then said, "I'm trying to be supportive, but to be honest I have to say no."

She shook her head. Not that she was surprised. She's seen the way women looked at Derrick—no, not looked. Ogled. Like he was a juicy, rippled piece of meat and they hadn't eaten in months. Of course, the women he tended to date also looked like they were used to not eating.

"Well, when you look like a normal person with more than 3 percent body fat, sometimes people put you in what's called the 'friend zone.'"

"No such thing as the friend zone. It's in your head." He tapped his temple with one finger, knowingly. Like he was some kind of Jedi master of hooking up. Which, thinking again of the line of girls she'd seen him with, might also have been the case.

Nevertheless, she rolled her eyes. Okay, how would she explain this to Johnny Depp? She tried again, "Well, regardless, sometimes people don't see me as a, you know..." She searched for the words, then mumbled "sexual being." As quickly and quietly as she could.

"People don't see you as a semblance beaming?" He raised his eyebrows.

"No, not that. They don't look at me and think, wow, I'd really love to give her a bit of the old...hokey pokey."

Derrick's eyebrows inched so high up on his forehead that they almost disappeared behind his shaggy black bangs. "It might have something to do with the fact that you call it that."

"Only in front of you. You don't count."

Derrick laughed. "Gee, thanks."

"You know what I mean." The heat in her cheeks scorched hotter and she pressed a hand to one to cool it down.

"I do." He took a drink and raked her over with something that looked curiously like appraisal.

"Well?" She asked when he stayed silent.