Page 86 of Dominate Me

She tried slamming the door on my face, but I caught it before it closed. Her reflexes were slow, and I pushed myself into her small entryway, barely enough room for both of us to stand in front of the stairway leading to the second floor.

“Well come on in, then.” She waved her arm in the air, her other hand clamped around the neck of a wine bottle. She pulled it to her mouth, drank, then asked, “What do you want?”

“Was going to ask if you’re okay, but I’m seeing that you’re not.”

“I’m drunk, Jensen, not popping pills. If that’s all you needed to know, I’ll be okay.”

She looked like she wouldn’t be. My gaze flickered toward her door. I could leave. She’d given me the okay. But then I’d never know for sure.

I took a step toward her, forcing her into her small but sweetly decorated living room. There was a deep purple couch with a chaise lounge part at the end and as I stepped into the room, I steered her around the furniture, toward a chair.

“Haley told me about Meredith.”

“Yeah.” She lifted the bottle. “That’s what this is for. You ever think you know someone and then realize it was all a lie?”

I flinched and she caught it, even in her drunkenness. “Yeah...I suppose you do. I pretty much screwed you over, didn’t I? Did you come over just to play knight in shining armor?”

Her words were slurred, the hope in her voice was clear. I leaned against the corner of the wall that would take me into the kitchen and kept my distance.

“I was worried, Courtney. Haley said you were destroyed and I...I had to make sure.”

“I’m better than I was, Jensen.” She took another drink, wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and then stared at the bottle like she didn’t know what it was. She leaned forward and set it on the table before relaxing back in her chair. “You don’t have to worry about me, I promise. This isn’t a plea for help. I’ve been getting that for years now. This is me being pissed off and sad that my best friend is a lying whore.”

Her realization of Meredith wasn’t entirely wrong.

Still, I was worried.

“If you need someone to talk to—”

“It won’t be you.” She lay back in the chair, closed her eyes, and pulled in a deep breath. “I appreciate what you’re doing here, Jensen, I really do. But we’ve been over for years and you already know my issues go far past anything you could have done.” Slowly, one eye peeled open. “I like your new girl...Haley?”

At my nod, she smiled.

“Yeah. She seems nice. Pretty, too. Go be happy, Jensen. I’ll be fine.”

Worry ate at me. Courtney had always been fine. She was okay and she was good and she was fine, but she was never happy or great or full of joy.

She forced both eyes open. Her head lolled to the side and she smiled lazily. “Honest. I appreciate what you’re doing, that you’re trying to come to my rescue, but I don’t need it. I need to finish this wine, take some ibuprofen and sleep off my hangover. Then I need to figure out how to find new friends.”

I laughed at her smile, shaking my head. “I’ll get the meds.”

I walked around a small bar and into her kitchen.

“Above the microwave,” she called out.

In the years we’d spent together, we never spent a night at Courtney’s place. We played at the club and went to my penthouse. The only times I was inside this place was when I picked her up. I didn’t know where she kept her glasses. I didn’t know if her bedroom was messy, or cluttered but clean like Haley’s, or perfectly fixed. Did she make her bed in the mornings? Haley didn’t. She claimed to have too much to do to worry about wrinkled sheets.

It struck me as I found the medicine and dug through cabinets searching for a clean glass.

I’d had years with Courtney. I’d only had weeks with Haley.

Yet I’d already opened myself up to her far more than I’d done for anyone else.

She was an open book, with the exception of earlier tonight. She gave me everything, open and willing, not hiding a thing.

I’d been the one holding back, even while I tried not to, and the first time she’d tried to talk to me, I’d shut her down.

That wasn’t how you treated someone you were falling in love with.

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