Page 7 of Beautifully Undone

“I was. Am. I don’t want my soc—”

“Wait,” I interrupted. “Listen, I know I don’t have any right to tell you who you can date. It’s just that, Mel, this guy, you need to understand…he’s…”

“Nice to me,” she supplied before I had a chance to finished.Notwhat I had intended to say.

“I get that. I’m sure he’s very nice.”

“Then what’s your problem?”

“I meant…I’m sure he’s very nice to all the women he screws. He’s got a reputation for sleeping around with every woman he brings to the club. And I worry that might be all he wants from you, too.” In fact, I was positive that was all he wanted.

“I can take care of myself. I’m a big girl, I don’t need you to worry about me.”

“Mel, those other women are so much more…” Her eyebrows lifted. I needed to be careful here. “Those other women are looking for sex. You can tell by the way they dress, dripping with sensuality.”

“Maybe I am, too.”

Nowmyeyebrows shot up. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“What? You don’t think I’m sexy?”

“I never said that.” Melody Stevens had not only grown up to be sexy, but smokin’ hot. “But if sex is what you’re looking for, why would you pick him?”

She shrugged. Now I really wanted to pummel the asshole.

“Ash, I don’t want to argue about my social life with you. We’ve never tried to control each other before.”

I ran a hand over my tired face, trying to make some sense of what she really wanted. I didn’t think we were talking about her “social” life anymore. Was she really planning to have Alex fucking Clayton be her first lay? “I’m not trying to control you. I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I promise, I won’t get hurt.”

“You don’t know anything about sex, Mel.”

Her eyes grew huge and she looked like she wanted to hit me as I realized what I’d just said.

“How the fuck would you know? she asked.

I shook my head. “I’m sorry. I meant to say…you’re not as experienced as those other women.”

“Too late. You already said it. I may not have had sex before, but I know what to do.”

“The guy’s a man whore, Melody.”

“Good, then maybe he’ll teach me something. And you know what, Asher? If he does, then I’ll be able to tell you all the stuff you don’t know about sex.”

I started to laugh and caught myself. She didn’t know anything about my sexual experiences with women. Having her think I didn’t know anything stung a little bit, but I’d never told her about any of the women I’d been with. I’d never thought it was something she wanted or needed to know. But I wasn’t going to go there. Sure, she knew I dated, knew I’d had sex, or guessed. It just wasn’t something we ever discussed.

Just then, her phone sang out a silly Taylor Swift song. Something about trouble. I had to laugh. Yeah, trouble was brewing. She looked at the screen. “It’s Teddy,” she said, a smile forming as she put the phone to her ear and began talking. Her brother Ted had moved to Phoenix after he graduated from Arizona State. He worked in some large real estate investment firm there now. He’d received a great recommendation from one of his professors for the position.

“You’re here? In the city?” Her eyes shot to mine and a broad smile graced her face. “Yeah, we can be there in twenty minutes.” She rolled her eyes at me. “Ash just needs to put some clothes on his scrawny body.” She chuckled and turned back to the window again. Ted must have said something insultingly humorous about me, as well because her chuckle turned into a cute little giggle that could melt the heart of any male between the ages of two and ninety. I got the hint and started to pull on my jeans. It seemed we were going out. As exhausted as I was, the prospect of seeing Ted filled me with renewed energy. He was the big brother I never had. Not that I ever wanted either of my real half-brothers in my life. They were in another universe. Non-existent to me most of the time.

“Come on, Ash, shake a leg. Teddy’s in town,” she squealed like a thirteen-year-old. She worshiped her big brother. I wasn’t jealous about that. I sort of felt the same way about Ted. He’d always been the brother mine never were. I had to remind myself that it wasn’t really their fault, though. They most likely didn’t even know about me.

Maybe Teddy could talk some sense into his little sister? Though I doubted the subject of having sex with Alex Clayton would ever come up.

---