Page 20 of Archer
“Cheated on me,” I said. “About ten times. Behind my back. With different friends of ours.” Gulping back the rest of my drink, I sighed. “Broke my heart, that girl. Last girl I ever loved.”
“That was forever ago, though,” she said. “Why don’t you try again?”
“Like I said, because I don’t want to.” I shrugged. “I’ve got the Rebels, my home, my bike, money… I’m fine with this.”
“You don’t get lonely?”
I tried to answer quickly, but my mouth gaped open and shut a couple times before I said. “Not really.”
“Not really?”
“No,” I said. “What about you? You’re grilling me about my love life, you tell me about yours.”
She sighed. “Well, I hope to marry someone who likes to read and write. Ideally out in the country somewhere, and I’ve never really liked this desert heat…”
“No, I don’t mean you dream of being with,” I said. “Tell me about your last breakup or something.”
“Well, I never met anyone,” she said. “How would I have had a boyfriend?”
“Oh, holy fuck.” That hadn’t even crossed my mind. This girl had literallynoexperience. “Hang on… Rose, I don’t mean to be blunt, but are you a virgin?”
Immediately, her cheeks flushed red and she pulled her blue eyes from mine to her beverage in her hands. “No.”
“Come on,” I teased. “You’re totally a virgin.”
“Shut up,” she said, growing a light shade of crimson.
“Rose, holy shit, you need to get out there and experience life, my god.” I shook my head in complete disbelief. How could someone as stunning as Rose be a virgin? It was ludicrous. “Trust me, just get out there and do it. It’s the fucking best.”
“All right, can we talk about something else, please?”
“Twenty-one and never had sex, what kind of life is worth living without it? God, I was sixteen when I lost mine…”
The sofa moved beside me, and I looked to my right to see Rose walking away from me. “Hey, where are you going?”
“Bed,” she said in a cold tone that was much different from the fun, chipper tone she just had.
My stomach dropped and I mentally wedged my own foot in my mouth, realizing I had offended her. “Hang on, wait. I was kidding, Rose.”
She pivoted on her toes to face me with a wild, fiery look in her drunken eyes. “You think you’re better than me just because you’ve had sex.”
“What? No! That’s not what I’m saying.” I could tell the words didn’t even register in her mind before she was already shouting again.
“You think that you’re better than me because I choose to not throw my body out to anyone who’s willing?” she said. “I get that yes, I’m a little sheltered, but at least I have standards.”
“I have standards too,” I shot back, but she shook her head to shut down my debate.
“Thanks for humiliating me, Archer,” she said, turned on her heel, and marched to her room. When she slammed the door shut, my motorcycle painting rattled against the wall.
Sitting up straight, I leaned to grab the rum and poured it into the glass, sipping on it straight. “Way to go, Archer.”
Chapter Ten
Rose
Sunlight beamed through the window directly onto my eyelids the next morning, making me peel them open. Peeking through the slit, the blinding rays gouged my pupils, making me hiss and roll over. Away from the window, I opened my eyes to read the red letters on the alarm clock.
“It’s only seven?” I asked, wondering why I’d woken up so early. Inside my head, my brain throbbed against my skull. Every single pulse I could feel, and I wrapped my pillow over the head, hoping the added pressure would help. “What is happening?”
