Page 62 of Power Play

“Did your family already leave?” I asked as I lowered myself.

“Yeah.” He took a large bite and smiled. “I can’t believe you remembered my favorite.”

“Pepperoni and black olive isn’t that hard.”

He shrugged and took another bite.

“I wanted to thank them for all their help before they left.” I took a small bite of my ham and peppers slice, trying to keep my eyes above his neck. Would it have killed him to put a shirt on?

“You already did.”

“I don’t just mean saying thank you. I wanted to take them to dinner or get them a gift or something.”

“You don’t need to do anything like that. They were happy to see you again. That was more than enough.”

My shoulders dropped as I leaned back. “It was good to see them too. I never thought I would again.”

He lowered his slice. “That’s my fault.”

“Please, let’s not do that. We’ve moved past what happened. No more blame.” I needed that just as much as he did. If we ever had a hope of moving on, even as friends, we had to let things go.

He sighed and nodded. “I really do appreciate that you’ve forgiven me enough to let me into your life,” his eyes softened, “in any capacity.”

“What does that mean?” I asked before I thought it through.

“If we’re neighbors, I’m okay with that.” He held up his pizza. “More than okay with it, if that’s all we are. But if you want to be friends, I’d like that too.”

Friends? I don’t think we’d ever been just that. When we met in high school the attraction had been pretty instant for both of us. We didn’t waste time in the friend zone before admitting how we felt about each other.

“Can we be friends?”

“I hope so.” He sounded sincere.

“Me too.” There was a voice in the back of my mind telling me it couldn’t happen. This gray area wouldn’t last long. Jason and I could never be just friends. There was too much already between us. Feelings and experiences, both good and bad. How did we ignore that?

“I thought you would be relaxing and celebrating having your own apartment.” He took a bite and waited for me to react.

Would he tease me? Would he understand?

“I was lonely.”

He dropped his eyes. “It’s like that for the first few months. It probably took at least four months to get used to the quiet and not try to fill it. At first, I always had the TV on or music, anything to keep me from realizing I was alone.”

“But you did get used to it?”

He nodded. “Yeah, it’s not so bad anymore. Some of the guys live together because they don’t like being alone, but I’ve come to appreciate having a quiet place to come home to after traveling. Being with them all the time and then living with one of them would be too much.”

“I get that.” I focused on my plate. I just needed to adjust. Wasn’t that what I told myself earlier? Why did it suddenly click when he told me?

“But if you ever feel lonely, you’re always welcome here.”

I chuckled. “I’m sure your girlfriend would appreciate that.”

His lip twitched. “I don’t have a girlfriend anymore so you don’t have to worry about that.”

That shouldn’t matter to me. I shouldn’t care. I definitely shouldn’t be excited about him breaking up with the vampire. “I’m so sorry.”

“I’m not.” He smiled. “We were never serious and I actually asked her for space the week before she decided to tell the team she was my girlfriend.” He shook his head. “She stole my mom’s number from my phone and called to introduce herself and plan a dinner.”