After You (Because of You 2)

“Haven’t discussed the fourth yet,” Derek says, his tone chilly, like her voice annoys him. I remember that tone. He used to use it on me when he wanted to make me feel small.

“I just wondered,” she says. “It was so much fun last year. Me and Cassie really had fun playing together, so I was hoping you guys would come again. Oh, and you too, Nikki, if you’re still around,” she says to me.

Leaning back against Derek’s arm, I can’t help laughing. “Calm down, Mallory,” I tell her. “We’re not married; you still have a chance.”

Her face flushes.

“No, you don’t,” Derek snaps, his tone completely devoid of patience.

She flushes more. “You don’t have to be an asshole,” she tells him.

Leveling a cold look her way, he says, “I do. I have to eat, I have to drink, I have to fuck, and I have to be an asshole. That’s the complete breakdown of my needs.”

Mallory rolls her eyes in disgust and walks away.

She’ll be back. Curling close to Derek and sipping my margarita, I tell him, “I don’t like her.”

“Didn’t expect you would. Didn’t know she’d be here.”

I wrinkle up my nose with displeasure. Him not wanting her here is basically verification they have a history. Not knowing he’d been single for four damn years, I was only prepared for Kayla. Now I’m wondering how many other random women out there have been with Derek.

“Did you sleep with her?”

“Oh, shit, would you look at that?” Ryan says, sounding startled. “My beer’s empty. You gentlemen wanna go get beers with me?”

Derek sighs, watching them all flee.

“Why do you have to be such a ho?” I ask him.

Cracking a smile, he says, “I am not a ho. I didn’t sleep with Mallory. She has a thing for me, but it is not reciprocated.”

“Yes, I can see that. Is there some reason she thinks she has a chance with you, even though you’re blatantly mean to her?”

“One night we both had too much to drink and we made out a little. It was nothing.”

“She doesn’t seem to agree with you. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if somewhere in her bedroom there is a wedding binder with your name doodled all over it. And what’s with her knowing Cassidy? You said you didn’t bring girls around Cassidy.”

“I don’t,” he says, lazily running his fingers up and down my arm. “She’s friends with Pam, so she hangs around. She sees all the kids. She’s just paying more attention to Cassie today because she wants to drive you crazy.”

“It’s working. I’m going to shove her into the pool next time she mean mugs me,” I inform him.

Nodding his approval, he says, “You should. Let me know it’s happening so I can watch. Just call out ‘Derek’ no matter what

’s going on. I’ll turn to look and I’ll get to see. It’ll be great.”

“I hate that you make it so impossible to like other girls. Why do you always have to do this? It’s Kayla all over again.”

“This is not Kayla all over again,” he tells me. “It’s some girl with a crush. I can’t help that.”

“You could have not made out with her,” I inform him. “That probably would have been a big help.”

Nodding in acknowledgement, he says, “Okay, you got me there. I was lonely.”

Even though I still vaguely want to knee him in the balls, the idea of him lonely softens me up. Sighing, I take another sip of my margarita, then grab the back of his neck and pull him in for a kiss.

“You taste like strawberry,” he murmurs against my mouth.

“Margarita kisses,” I tell him.