I lean forward and place my feet on the bottom of the pool. “Is your family still in the area?”
He pinches his lips. “No.”
I roll my eyes and step back. “Wow, okay. Sorry I forgot you don’t actually know how to have a conversation that doesn’t center around sex.”
He looks down at the water and then back at me. “There’s just nothing to tell.”
I throw my hands up. “Hey, it’s fine. If you want to be all secretive about your family, that’s fine. We aren’t friends. You don’t have to tell me anything.”
He smirks back at me. “Do you always start out with such deep conversations?”
I laugh harder. “Oh, I’m sorry. This must be out of your territory. What do you usually talk about with girls once you bring them home?”
He raises an eyebrow at me. “We don’t.”
I laugh. “What? Like you just meet a girl at the bar, and then you are completely silent in the car until you get to your place where you immediately get down to business?”
Sawyer rolls his eyes at me. “Please.” Then he smirks. “They usually don’t make it past the car in the parking lot of the bar.”
“You’re disgusting.” I laugh.
He looks at me surprised. “Hey, look who’s talking. I seem to recall you trying to hook up with many different guys in Mexico. All while leaving poor Todd in the dust.”
“All those guys knew what they were getting into. I somehow doubt the girls you push on the curb from your car were expecting to get shafted so quickly. Especially with the way you’ve been collecting stalkers that are probably going to murder me when they find out we were never together.” I smirk back at him.
He laughs. “Oh please. Don’t kid yourself into thinking these guys don’t want to be with you. It’s just too bad they don’t know you have abandonment issues from your mommy so you’ll never settle down with any of them.”
I gasp. “Wow. For someone who doesn’t like to have deep conversations, you sure took that somewhere personal.”
“I’m sorry. Is it that you can dish but you can’t take it back?” He snaps back. “In fact, I think you might be a little bit of an asshole.”
I don’t know why, but I get a huge smile on my face. He takes a step closer. “You think that’s funny?”
I actually laugh. “Hearing you say I make you feel that way just brings immense joy to my heart.”
His voice deepens, sounding more stern. “I have a no asshole policy.”
I grin back. “It’s too bad you’re just a joint manager then. I don’t have to follow your policies.”
His face gets more serious. “No Blake, you don’t have to follow anyone’s policies because you have no one to look out for but yourself.”
I lean my head back, my voice coming out angrier than before. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
He closes the distance between us and leans against the pool wall next to me. “It means you act like I’m the asshole when you aren’t really close with anyone. Not Erin, definitely not Todd. The only person you care enough about to defend is your dad, but I don’t even know if that’s for his sake or because you just want a reason to hate me so you can keep me away too.”
I’m stunned speechless. Not only because I’m shocked Sawyer could have such a deep conversation, but also because he’s not wrong.
I wring my hands together in the water not knowing what to say. I finally settle on the truth. “People can’t hurt you if you don’t let them in.” I whisper as I look down at the water.
Sawyer reaches forward and wipes a stream of water dripping down my face. “You know that’s not true Blake.” He whispers back.
Why, of all people, does Sawyer have to be the one to talk to me about this? It’s like I can physically feel my heart opening up to him. I need to squash that before it gets any worse. The problem is he’s the only one who has ever truly tried to understand me. Nobody else ever bothers to get that far. Sawyer doesn’t mean it though. This is all still just part of his game.
I give him a half smile. “It’s getting late. I’m going to go to bed.”
I walk up the pool steps and wrap a towel around myself. I turn to walk back inside, but Sawyer’s voice stops me before I make it all the way in.
“You won’t need to steal a room key if you find yourself trying to sneak into my room tonight. I’ll leave the door unlocked.” He practically purrs.