Wright with Benefits

She mulled it over, trying to find a way to get out of riding in my truck with me. It was a sign of her desperation that she was even thinking about it. We hadn’t been alone this long in years.

“Fine,” she said, crossing her arms and facing forward.

Fine. Huh. I hadn’t expected that to work.

Well, I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. I wanted Annie Donoghue in my truck. Wasn’t going to lie—I wanted a lot more than that. I always had with her. If only I wasn’t so fucking terrible at relationships. Then I might have been able to see where everything went wrong three years ago. I might have been able to pick us up out of the pieces of it all. But that sure as hell wasn’t my specialty. The only thing I’d ever been good at in relationships was ruining them.

If I had a chance to make up for it, I’d take it. And just hope I didn’t fuck it all up again.

4

Annie

Fine.

I’d just said fine.

Here I was, in Jordan’s truck, with two ten-minute drives in front of us. Jordan and I had been circling each other for years. It was impossible not to be around him when I was best friends with his cousin, my brother worked with him, and we existed in the same circle in this small West Texas town. Still, I’d managed to keep my distance.

It wasn’t like what he’d done was so egregious. I’d had worse done to me by other assholes. Much worse if I was honest. I just hadn’t expected it from Jordan, and that made everything so much harder.

I couldn’t keep my typical vivacious, extroverted personality in his presence. Which was why my arms were crossed and I looked determinably out the window as we pulled away.

“Where is this place again?” he asked.

“Just go north on 27, like you’re going to the airport.”

He nodded and took the exit for the interstate. The silence stretched interminably. His hand drifted to the radio as if he was going to switch it on before pulling back. I’d never been good at quiet. I liked to fill space, but I couldn’t fill this one. I was too defeated from this brutal day to even consider it.

“So, what’s this party about?” he asked, finally breaking.

“You know, I really don’t want to talk about anything.”

Jordan clenched the steering wheel. “I’m doing you a huge fucking favor, Annie. You could maybe seem a little grateful.”

I whipped my head to look at him. “Grateful? Are you fucking serious right now?”

“I’m just saying. I had an important meeting that I ditched for you, and I didn’t have to do that. Sulking and staring out the window and then jumping down my throat really doesn’t help anything.”

“Oh, excuse me, Prince Charming. Allow me to fawn all over you,” I growled. “So sorry about your date.”

“Date?” he asked with wide eyes.

I snorted. “And you didn’t even notice. Wow. Same old Jordan.”

“Sophia and I are not dating.”

“You might be the most oblivious guy on the planet. Did you not see the way she fell all over herself when you showed up? Or are you just used to that from the rest of the female population?”

He gritted his teeth. “I know she’s into me, but we’re not dating. I don’t even know why you’re getting upset about this. It’s not like you want to date me.”

“You’re fucking right about that.”

“Annie—”

“No,” I said, cutting him off. “I don’t want to have this conversation.”

We’d had this conversation before. Jordan and I’d had a one-night stand. One of the best nights of my life. He’d told me he was leaving, going back to Vancouver. He hadn’t mentioned that he was moving here. Which meant, of course, that he hadn’t wanted me to know. Fine by me. If that were where it’d ended, I’d have just shrugged it off, and we wouldn’t have this distrust between us.

But it hadn’t ended there. He’d brought his girlfriend to Jensen and Emery’s wedding a month later, and it had all gone downhill from there. I still didn’t even like to think about that wedding.

Somehow, the best night of my life had been tainted by one of the most humiliating. I’d been vulnerable with Jordan, and now, I knew better than.

“One day, we’re going to have to get past this,” Jordan said softly.

I tipped my head back and closed my eyes. The worst part was that he was right. One day, I would have to get past this. It wasn’t like we were suddenly going to be in a different circle of friends. He was a Wright. And I’d known Sutton Wright my entire life. I was on a rec soccer team with his brother, Julian. None of this was going away or getting easier.