Page 68 of Claiming What's Mine

So what did he want? What was the point of all this romance now?

Obviously, I was alright with a little quickie—friends with benefits action, but that was it. I didn't want a relationship, I didn't need to have another person to worry about.

“What?” he asked.

“What?”

“You're thinking, I can tell you're thinking. What's running through your head right now?” Sipping his wine, he set the glass down and relaxed back in his chair.

“Nothing, I'm just—”

Jayden cut me off, his lips thinning as he spoke. “Don't lie, Blue, I know you.”

“It's Betty.”

“It's Blue to me, you'll always be Blue to me.”

Swirling my cup, I watched the deep red liquid as it danced in the glass. Peering up at him under hooded lids, I arched a brow. “What are you doing, Jay? What is the point of all this?”

“What are you talking about? We have history, Blue, a really long history. I wanted to do something nice for you.”

“I haven't heard from you since the day you left, so why bother now?”

“Look,” he said, reaching his hand across the table and taking mine. “I thought I was over you, but after the other night, I realized I was wrong.”

What is going on?

It was hard for me to understand where this was coming from. We weren't the same people anymore.

Our lives had ventured down different paths, and no matter how many times Jayden had crossed my mind, I didn't call him, and he never called me.

You're the one who broke it off, not him. Why would he ever call you?

I had to let him go, I had to.

Pulling my hand back quickly, I grasped my glass with both hands, and stared into the wine. “I don't know what to say, Jayden.” Running the pad of my thumb up and down the smooth surface, I smeared the drops of condensation. “Ten years is a long time, a lot changes, we're basically strangers.”

“Did it feel like I was a stranger when I touched you the other night? How about when I fucked you against the wall? Did I feel like a stranger then?” Stroking his jaw, Jayden relaxed deeper into his chair. “Because I know sliding my cock into your body felt like home.”

Swallowing hard, I peered across the table. “That was just sex, you were vulnerable, yo—”

Jayden let out an exaggerated laugh into the sky as he tipped his head back. His laugh echoed around us.

“Vulnerable. . . I wasn't vulnerable, Blue. If that was true, then what happened would have been a mistake, and I don't make mistakes.”

We both sat quietly, staring across the table at each other. I didn't know what to say to him about any of it. We had sex, but that was it, that was all it would ever be. It wasn't the start of something, it wasn't me confessing some hidden love.

Sex didn't have to be emotional, with hidden agendas, and buried feelings. Sex could just be sex, and that's what happened between us.

Was it just sex? Or am I just trying to convince myself of that?

“Jay—” A light off the road caught his attention, so I stopped talking.

“Nice, hope you're hungry.” Standing, Jayden chuckled to himself and shook his head as he started for the road. “Vulnerable,” he said to himself with a huge smile on his face.

I could see his shadow as it moved through the tall grass, pushing the thin strands out of his way. At the road, Jayden met someone else at the front of the car. The headlights shone against his face, highlighting his strong jaw and sharp cheekbones.

His skin had always been a little rougher than most of the guys I knew. While we were younger, the guys in school had baby smooth skin, with a perfect complexion and perfect smile.

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