“Yeah,” Will agreed. “Have you decided to leave yours yet, mama’s boy?”
“What?” Ana asked, her head jerking to face me.
I leaned back in my seat, stretching my legs out, trying to bump against Ana’s, but missing. “I’ve got two job interviews, both in sports advertising. One here, and one in Colorado.”
“Colorado?” Ana asked in a high-pitched voice, probably louder than she intended since she immediately lowered it. “Which one are you leaning toward? Why Colorado?”
With each question, she leaned further and further into the table, and I had to hide my smile at her obvious distress.
“I’m not sure yet. I’ve talked about it with my parents, and of course they want me to stay here, but understand if I want to explore.”
She nodded with a stoic look on her face before blurting, “I have to use the restroom.”
Will and I bullshitted until she came back. Ana tugged off her jacket, and her upper back were left bare.
“Whoa, Ana. What happened to your back?” Will asked when she shifted and turned to rest her jacket on the back of her chair. She brushed her fingers along her skin and I saw the red scrapes in between her shoulder blades surrounded by faded yellow bruises. They were from spring break when I’d taken her on the side of the condo, pushing her hard into the wood siding.
A deep red crept into her cheeks as her eyes widened, and she started stuttering. “I . . . umm . . . I tripped in my bedroom carrying my suitcase and fell back against the edge of the door.” Her hand swung in front of her, waving away the incident, but I knew she was panicking and the redness only burned brighter on her cheeks.
My stomach sank and I felt like a dick. Guilt ate away at me for putting her in that situation. The one situation she said she was always so scared of and there we were, explaining away our pleasure. I hated knowing that she felt ashamed of having it there. She was beautiful in every way and it made me a bigger dick because it turned me on knowing it was there because of me.
“Really? It looks like a pretty big bruise.” Will furrowed his brows and scanned Ana’s flushed cheeks. “Did, uh . . . did anything happen over spring break? I know you’re dating that guy.” His eyes flicked to mine, checking my reaction. I struggled to shrug my shoulders and come off like I didn’t know anything.
“No.” Ana held up her hands and shook her head. “Nothing like that. Really it was just my fault.” Her voice wavered and each dip hit me harder than the last.
“You know you could always talk to us.” Will spoke slowly. “I know I’m just Kev’s friend, but I’m always open to help a lady.”
Ana’s mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water and I stepped in to help. “Ana is pretty clumsy.” I laughed before leveling a serious stare at her. “But she would never let a man hurt her. She’s too bad ass for that.”
“Ana’s too badass for what?” Andrew magically appeared behind us and I watched Ana’s face cringe before smoothing out.
“Nothing,” she laughed it off. “Hey, Andrew.”
“Ana’s got a bruise and I wanted to make sure she really got it from a door. Kevin was reminding us how badass Ana is and that she wouldn’t let anyone hurt her.” Will delivered his recap with a serious tone, warning Andrew.
“You got hurt? You have a bruise?” He leaned down and began scanning her body, searching for the mark. “Where?”
“It’s nothing. Seriously.” I could hear the exasperation in Ana’s voice. She was getting close to snapping. “I fell against the door and I’m fine. Now drop it.”
“Okay,” Andrew and Will said in unison.
“Like, I said: badass,” I said, trying to support her, even though I was the asshole who put her in that position.
Andrew let his eyes narrow a bit at me before turning his attention back to Ana, who stood to hug him.
Asshole.
“What are you doing here?” Ana asked.
“Just coming to get a coffee.”
“Duh.” Ana laughed and smacked her head with the palm of her hand.
“Well, I won’t keep you,” Andrew said, still scanning her in concern. “I have a meeting I have to get to. I was wondering if you wanted to get together tonight.”
I ground my teeth together and clenched my fists under the table as I watched him touch her bare arm and shift her to the side to ask her his question. I sat quietly, waiting for her answer. I couldn’t have been held responsible for my actions if she agreed to meet him after turning me down.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t think so. I’m pretty busy. Maybe another night?”
“Definitely,” Andrew answered and flicked his eyes over at me. He leaned down to press a kiss to her cheek, too close to her lips for comfort, and stepped back to walk away. “Hey, I just wanted to let you know that I had a good time this weekend. We should do it again. I know a great B&B in Indiana.”