Grabbing her pillow, I took a deep breath of her scent—a mixture of rain and something all her own.
I lay there for several minutes, pining for a girl I could never have.
Pathetic, Caleb.
I reached for my phone and scrolled down to the number of one of my co-workers, a waitress named Simone. She was older, in her late twenties, and had made it clear to me one night after my shift that she was interested. I told her I wasn’t looking to get involved with anyone while I was here in the States, and she’d insisted that getting involved was not something she wanted, either. Basically, she wanted to fuck me, and she’d invited me over to her place. At the time, I’d shrugged off her proposition, making some sort of joke, although I knew she’d been dead serious. She’d then taken it upon herself to enter her number into my phone. Until this very moment, I hadn’t considered using it.
I texted her.Caleb: Wondering if you’re free tonight.She responded almost immediately, a few seconds later.Simone: What a surprise. And for you, yes.Caleb: Are you home?Simone: Yup. Wanna come by?Though it didn’t feel right, I typed the words anyway.Caleb: Yes. Text me your address.CHAPTER SEVENTEEN* * *TEAGANI was relieved to be home. Jacob had taken me out for sushi and a movie—not the creepy, desolate kind I normally enjoyed, but the mass-marketable, packed-theater kind. It was a nice evening, but I felt nothing more than friendship for Jacob. That was likely the reason I’d agreed to go out with him. As Kai had pointed out, that was my MO. He was safe and didn’t require any emotional work—or sexual work, for that matter.
I just wanted so badly to get Caleb out of my head. The sooner I did that, the better. So I had to make an effort to put myself out there. It didn’t feel natural, but I tried. Still, I couldn’t stop thinking about Caleb. Maybe he needed to be gone for that to happen. I hated the fact that going out with Jacob had only made me more focused on Caleb. I was well on my way to being crushed when he left to go back to England.
Kicking off my shoes, I lay down on my bed and curled into my pillow. My heartbeat accelerated when I realized I was breathing in his scent, strong and masculine. So Caleb.
Wait.
Caleb?
Caleb had been in my bed?
I’d just changed my sheets the night before. So there was no way this was residual from one of our study sessions. Hugging the pillow tighter, I continued to bury my nose in it, overwhelmed by longing—and confusion. What was he doing in my bed? Had he come down here to look for me?
I reached for my phone and texted him.Teagan: Are you home?Several minutes passed, and there was no response. I decided to go upstairs to see if he was in his room.
Maura was in the living room, watching one of her shows on Bravo.
She caught me before I had a chance to go upstairs. “Hey! How was your date?”
I stopped just short of the first step. “How did you know I was on a date?”
She lowered the volume on the TV. “I guess I didn’t. I just took Shelley’s word for it. She mentioned seeing you get into a car with a guy.”
I sighed. “His name is Jacob. He works at the aquarium with me. We just went for sushi and a movie. It was okay. Nothing to write home about.” I glanced up at the stairs and then back at her. “Have you seen Caleb?”
“He’s not here. I saw him leave a while ago.”
My heart sank. “Did he say where he was going?”
“No. He sort of rushed out of here, actually.”
“Damn,” I muttered.
A look of concern crossed her face. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah. I just needed to ask him something.”
She paused a moment. “You should know that Caleb was at the dinner table when Shelley announced you were out with a guy. I wasn’t sure if you’d been keeping that from him intentionally or not. He didn’t seem to know.”
Shit.
It wasn’t that I’d planned to lie to Caleb if he’d asked me where I went tonight. I’d simply chosen not to advertise it. I knew I would’ve been jealous if the roles were reversed.
I wished Maura goodnight and returned to my room.
Still no response from Caleb, and I suspected he must be out with a girl. That gave me an upset stomach.
A little while later, I checked my phone again. An hour had now passed since I’d texted him. It was unlike him not to respond at all. I was desperate to know where he was, to ask him why he’d been in my bed, but sending him another text would have been pushy. I knew I didn’t owe him an explanation for my whereabouts. But we normally told each other our plans if one of us wasn’t going to be home at night.