He pulled the covers up over me and went into the bathroom to clean up. I laid there, my heart still beating wildly, staring out the window at the city lights. Everything about what just happened was perfect. I could hear him walking back toward the bed, and before I could get up, he had crawled into the covers beside me. I turned over and laid my head against his stomach. He scooted down and propped a pillow under his head, putting his arm around my shoulders and pulling me close. I could hear his heart beginning to slow to a normal rhythm, and he leaned over, kissing me on the top of the head.
“What do we do now?” I looked up at him with wide eyes.
“Go with the flow,” he said, smiling.
Normally an answer like that from a guy was a bad sign, but knowing Tanner and his playboy ways, that was the equivalency of a full-on relationship proposal. I smiled and chuckled leaning my head against his shoulder. He picked up the remote and turned on a movie, settling in with me beside him. I could tell he wasn’t going to let me leave, and I was perfectly fine with that. Through all my college years, I had never spent the night in a man’s apartment before, and I was pretty sure Tanner didn’t make it a habit of having women in his. I didn’t say a word but just relaxed and watched the movie with him, feeling more comfortable than I ever had with anyone.
As the night progressed, the stress of the week crashed down on me, and I laid my head on the pillow. I was exhausted but trying to keep myself awake, not wanting to assume he wanted me to stay with him in his bed. However, as I fought to keep my eyes open, he leaned over and turned off the television, scooted down behind me, pulled me close to him, and laid down with me, closing his eyes. I held my breath for a moment, unsure of what to do, but the feeling of his warmth and comfort made me feel safe and right. So, underneath the shining of the moon, I fell asleep in Tanner’s arms, knowing love was a fickle thing. I didn’t know how exactly I felt, but I knew that everything about that moment was perfection.
Chapter 17
Tanner
The sun was shining through the windows, and I rolled over to face Ava, her sweet face sleeping soundly in the covers. She was so beautiful with her long, dark hair sprawled out above her and her fair skin highlighted by the natural rose of her cheeks. Her pouty lips were pink and looked a little chapped from the five o’clock shadow I had forgotten to shave before she came over. Everything about that moment was flawless, and I didn’t have even a second thought about having her spend the night at my place. In fact, she lit up my life in a way I couldn’t even begin to understand. I ran my fingers down her shoulders and kissed her forehead. She smiled and snuggled back into the blankets, falling back asleep.
I figured I would make us some breakfast, so I crept out of the bed and pulled on some shorts and a sweatshirt before walking out into the living room. It was still rainy and gray outside, but it didn’t dampen my mood at all. Knowing Ava was in the other room was enough comfort for me to keep my spirits high. As I stepped into the kitchen to check out what food I had in the house, the house phone rang, which was strange since the only person who called that was the security guard if I had a visitor. I picked up the line and took in a deep breath.
“Hello?”
“Mr. Johnson,” he said. “You have a visitor. A Mr. Dean Markus to see you.”
“Uh, shit,” I said. “Okay. Give me five minutes and then send him up.”
I hung up the phone and looked around the apartment, running through the living room and picking up all of Ava’s belongings. How the hell was I supposed to get Ava out of the apartment when Dean was in it. This was bad, really bad. I ran through the living room and down the hall, turning the corner and flicking the light on. I shook Ava, feeling bad for waking her but panicking.
“Ava,” I said. “Wake up.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Your father,” I said breathlessly. “He’s downstairs. They are sending him up in five minutes. I brought all your things in. I'm going to try to get rid of him as fast as possible, but you have to hide in here.”
“What the fuck is going on?”
“I don’t know,” I said, pulling on a pair of khakis and a sweater. “I don’t even know how he knew where I lived.”
“Oh, God,” she said, looking panicked.
I sat down next to her on the bed and kissed her on the lips trying to calm her down. I cradled her face in my hands and forced her to look me in the eyes. Immediately, I could feel her muscles relax.
“Don’t worry,” I whispered. “Everything will be okay. I’ll take care of this, okay?”
“Okay,” she said taking a deep breath.
We both looked up as the elevator in the hall dinged, and there was a knock on the door. My heart was racing, and I kissed her deeply one last time before walking out of the bedroom and closing the door behind me. I smoothed down my hair and did another quick look around the living room to make sure everything was cleaned up. I walked over to the door and took in a deep breath, pulling the door opening and smiling big as Dean appeared in front of me.
“Hey, man,” I said happily. “This is a nice surprise. Come on in.”
“Thanks,” he said looking worse for wear. “I’m sorry to barge in like this.”
“No, man,” I said. “You’re fine. What’s going on?”
I led him over to the couch, feeling like he had something pretty serious to talk about. At first, my heart began to race, but then I realized if he knew anything about Ava, he would not be calm like he was. Instead, he looked hurt, almost betrayed, and I could tell from his red eyes that he had not slept the night before. He sat on the couch looking around the room but not actually seeing anything. He put his elbows on his knees and hung his head down, shaking it back and forth.
“What’s going on, Dean? Is everything okay?”
“I caught Lindy fucking the pool boy last night,” he said, choking up. “I just walked in and found them together. It was fucking terrible.”
“Holy shit, man,” I said sitting down next to him. “I am so sorry. That’s fucking horseshit. After everything you’ve done for that woman, and she does this to you?”