Ryder raised his hand. “That would be me. I think I said I was going to outdrink you.”
It was sort of coming back to me now. “I can’t believe the bartender let us do that,” I said. We’d been at my friend Marisol’s swanky charity event. Usually those weren’t the kinds of parties where shots were encouraged, or even served.
“Remember? I knew that one bartender and he hooked us up,” Ryder said, sipping his coffee.
Oh, right. Now I remembered. Ryder had said he’d known one of the bartenders from “way back.” I didn’t even want to know. Anyway, the guy hooked us up with some stuff they’d been keeping away from the general drinking public at the event. The murk in my brain was starting to clear.
“Where the hell was your brother when all that was going down?” Since his overdose, Lucah had been watching his younger brother like a hawk crossed with an annoying mother hen. I couldn’t totally blame him for it, though. Ryder had been in really bad shape. He was still a little thin and gaunt compared to the guy I’d first met when Rory and Lucah were moving in together. He’d stopped my heart in that hallway. I’d chalked most of the sudden intense feeling up to lust, but now I knew it was something more. Something that kind of scared the shit out of me.
“I think he and Rory were indisposed,” he said. Those two. For all their moral grandstanding, they sure snuck off to get it on in a lot of public places. And that wasn’t even counting all the times they’d gotten it on in the office where they’d first met and both worked.
“That explains it. And then I think we had the shot contest and Rory and Lucah came back, and then there was a dance contest? Or did I make that up?” I asked.
Ryder chuckled and shook his head. “Nope, that totally happened. I can’t remember who won, but I remember moonwalking into the wall.” Now I wished I remembered that.
“And then I think Rory and Lucah got distracted or something, and you said you didn’t want to go back to your crappy apartment,” I said. We were getting somewhere now.
Ryder nodded along with me. “Right, right. I think I was whining about my bed or something, and you said I could share yours.”
I gaped at him. “I did not say that.”
“Yeah, you totally did. I might have forgotten most of everything else, but I remember that. Well, I do now.” He grinned at me. Oh, this was so not funny.
“Moving on. We ended up here and then . . .”
“And then . . .”
Neither of us knew.
“Maybe we should, ah, inspect the evidence?” I suggested. “Like, look at my bed? I don’t have one of those black light things they use in nasty hotel rooms though.”
Ryder made a face. “Guess that’s as good as anything.” Pretty much. We both headed for my bedroom, the scene of the potential crime.
I pulled the covers off and looked at the sheets, and Ryder did the same.
“I don’t see anything,” I said, trying to ignore how disgusting this was. Pretty much the last thing I’d ever want to do with a guy.
“I don’t see anything either. I mean, if we were that drunk, then the chances of me making anything happen are like, fucking slim.” He had a point there. I hadn’t thought of that. Probably because I’d never experienced that phenomenon myself.
“True. That is true. I’m guessing we just ripped our clothes off and passed out.”
He nodded in agreement. “But we should, you know, probably get tested, just in case.”
Awesome. Just what I wanted. At least I didn’t have to worry about pregnancy, since I got the Depo shot every three months, and I was never, ever late.
“Yeah . . . right.”
“I mean, I used to be reckless, so who knows what I’ve got.” That was a completely sobering thought. I was always so careful about who I had sex with and always used protection.
“I’m sorry about that, for your sake,” he said, his face grim. Once upon a time, before I’d known about Ryder’s past, I’d thought about jumping into bed with him. Now I was wondering how I could have been so naïve. Lust had a lot to do with it. I blamed lust for so many bad decisions.
“I’ve fucked up a lot of things in my life, Sloane, and . . .” He didn’t seem able to finish his thought.
“Yeah, well, I’m not perfect either.”
Ryder snorted as if I’d said something hilarious. “Since neither of us remember any sex, and since there doesn’t seem to be any evidence of it, I think we can agree that the probability of sex is low,” he said.
“Agreed. But we should be safe anyway.”