Page 98 of Love, Luck & Clusterf*ck

I had the sudden urge to tell him what I did to Jillian. I didn’t want that secret between us. Maybe if he knew just how much I could react at times without thinking, he wouldn’t be so quick to open his home to me.

“Get an extra large,” he yelled. “Sausage and black olives on half, whatever you want on the other. There’s cash in the drawer by the stove. Use that.”

I didn’t expect him to pay, but it wouldn’t do much good arguing about it. I placed the order, then sat back on the couch waiting for the delivery guy.

“I have a confession,” I said. He raised an eyebrow. “I can be a little impulsive sometimes. Do and say things without thinking them through first.” He started laughing. “What’s so funny?”

“That’syour confession? I was expecting to hear something I didn’t know.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “I didn’t finish.”

He curbed it down to a smile and waved his hand. “Then by all means.”

“Remember that Sunday night you asked me to meet you at Wengo’s, but I couldn’t because I was watching Emily?” He nodded. “Well, I finished early and decided to stop by and say hi.” I’d leave out the in-between stuff for the time being.

“You did? What time? Maybe I’d already left.”

“No, you were there.” He gave me a strange look. “I saw a blonde woman kissing you, and I thought she was your date.”

He tilted his head like he was trying to figure it out. “I didn’t kiss any woman that night.”

“It was Jillian, but I didn’t know that at the time. Not until I met her at her house.” I looked away. “And when she kissed you, uh, it was just on the cheek, but I overreacted.”

“Overreacted.”

“Yes, I’m getting to that.” I took a deep breath and glanced over. He wasn’t doing very well hiding his smirk. “You walked away to the bathroom or something, and then she headed over to me and… I did something really childish. I took her drink out of her hand and threw it at her. Then I stormed out. We never even spoke to each other.”

“You….” He busted out laughing. “What?” His laugh got deeper and he slapped his leg. “Oh man. She told me someone knocked her hand and that’s why she was wearing a vodka club.”

“I guess technically that was true. I’m sure I knocked her hand sometime in the process.”

“Why didn’t she say anything?” He wiped his face. Why was this so funny?

“She said there was no point. You have a pretty understanding sister. We talked about it and she’s not even upset.”

He just shook his head and stared at me. “So, why didyoutell me?”

“I felt bad about it. You need to know the kind of person you’re inviting into your home.”

“I already know, Perry.” He drained the rest of his bottle. “But what I don’t know is why seeing another woman kissing me brought out that reaction in you.”

My face grew hot. For whatever reason, I hadn’t anticipated explaining that part. “I already told you. I can be impulsive.”

I considered telling him what I did to Dre’s truck to prove that point, but one, I couldn’t even remember what happened, and two, I didn’t want to completely freak him out.

“And I’d just gotten into that fight with Christa right before, so I already wasn’t in the right frame of mind.”

“And that’s it?”

“Pretty much.” Except for the jealousy part, which I was not going to admit. “I do dumb things sometimes, although I’m trying to get better. You should’ve seen me in high school. My parents always encouraged me to be spontaneous, but they probably didn’t expect the wild child they’d created. Not that I’d ever blame them for me being a fuckup. They were great parents.”

He reached over and touched my face.Holy fuck, I’ve been zapped.“Do not ever say you’re a fuckup, Perry.”

The way his eyes bored into mine. Was it another one of those ‘sharing a moment’ things? It scared the shit out of me.

“Well, I’ve done a lot of fucked-up things. I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up. Until recently, I just hopped around everywhere. I didn’t even go to college.”

“So?”

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