Breakaway

Chapter 15 - Breakaway

ERIC

Instead of going off to find his room once we got to the hotel in Phoenix, Soupy followed me and Dana up to her room.

He had been accepting of the fact that she and I were kissing, holding hands, and maybe a little more as long as we were in Portland, but he didn't seem to be sold on the idea of Dana being in a room that connected to mine. It didn't matter that he knew we'd already spent an entire road trip with that setup and she'd been just fine. Better than fine, actually.

For whatever reason, this was different in his mind.

I couldn't really blame him for thinking that way. The truth was, there was something different about being on the road with connecting rooms. We could go into our rooms and shut the door, and we didn't have to worry about Soupy or Babs walking in on us. That made it more special, somehow. It definitely gave us more freedom to explore whatever area of touch she wanted to explore.

I unlocked Dana's door and let her go in ahead of me. Soupy followed. He left his bag near the door and headed straight for a chair near the window. He kicked his feet up onto the ottoman in front of him and made himself right at home.

This wasn't how I'd envisioned the night going.

I lifted Dana's suitcase onto the luggage rack, trying to busy myself with mindless things like that so I didn't lose control with Soupy. Things had changed between us since Dana showed up in Portland. He was still my best friend, had been for most of my life, but it was different now. It might always be different, even after Dana left me.

Dana wasn't as tactful as I was trying to be, though. She sat down on the foot of the bed and turned to her brother. "I'm tired. It was a long flight. You need to go."

I stole a glance over at him, still trying to make myself busy with Dana's stuff. I knew she'd need her meds before bed, and the pepper spray and flashlight, so I started digging through the outer pockets of her bag to find them.

He scowled and pointed across at me. "He needs to go, too, then."

"No, he doesn't."

I found the pill organizer with Dana's meds and pulled it out, but the flashlight and pepper spray weren't in the same pocket so I kept looking.

In the next pocket, what my hand landed on was definitely not her pepper spray. Or her flashlight. Holy shit.

Soupy made a strangled sound.

I could concur with that sentiment, considering what was in my hand and all the places it made my mind go.

"Dana—"

She cut him off. "Unless you want to sit here and watch while he gets to second base, you'd better get off your ass and leave."

Now I was the one who felt like I was being strangled. I couldn't look at Soupy. I couldn't look at Dana, either, without potentially doing just what she'd threatened her brother with.

A minute later, he got up and left, cursing under his breath as he walked past me.

Dana followed him to the door and locked it behind him. She stayed there for a minute that felt like an eternity to me.

"Were you serious about me getting to second base tonight?" I tried to sound casual about it, but my voice cracked on the words. The last couple of nights, we'd mainly just kissed. I didn't want to push her. But God, I wanted to touch her again. "Or was that just to get Soupy to leave?"

"I wanted him to leave."

"Yeah. I figured." That felt like a kick in the balls.

She came over to me and picked up the pill organizer I'd set on the armoire beside me, turning it over in her hands. "I wanted him to leave because I hoped you'd want to try again."