“Huh?” the kid asks.
With my free hand, I hold up four fingers to him.
“Seriously?” he says.
“I don’t know what she’s talking about,” I tease, giving Tessa a wink. “She’s obviously very intoxicated. What do you say we take you on home now?”
“Okay,” Tessa thankfully agrees with a sigh. “Lola is probably wondering where I am.”
“You got a roommate?” I ask in confusion.
“Lola’s her black Lab,” the prospect explains since Tessa is suddenly very interested in slurping up the last of her drink.
“Oh, right. Guard dog. I forgot she had three of them,” I joke.
Now how do I get her home since I’m on my bike?
“How did she get here?” I ask him.
“Lucas and I drove her,” he says, gesturing between himself and the other kid, who finally steps up and joins us.
“In the club’s van?” I whisper in disbelief, hoping Tessa won’t hear the v-word.
“God no! Roman sold that a long time ago,” the other boy – Jake I think Tessa said his name was – replies. “We’ve got a red Suburban to drive around for club shit.”
“Good, that’s good,” I say in relief.
“We know more about her than you think,” Lucas chimes in defensively.
“Not as much as you wished,” I remark.
“I want ice cream,” Tessa suddenly turns to us and declares. “We should go get ice cream!”
“There’s some Neapolitan in your freezer, remember?” Jake tells her, making me realize they do know a lot about her and probably buy her groceries.
“Oh yeah!” Tessa replies excitedly. “What are we waiting for? There’s enough for all four of us.”
“Two of us,” I amend. “The patchless puppies have to stay outside. Now let’s go,” I say, standing up and taking Tessa’s hand.
“Not Lola. She sleeps at the foot of the bed.”
“Fine, she can stay inside, but the other two pups can stick to their tent,” I reply as I guide her to the door, nodding goodbye at the Kings still hanging out.
“Roman said no one can touch her,” Lucas whispers from behind us. “But she lets you?”
“Looks like you still have a lot to learn,” I tell him.
Chapter Twenty
Tessa
* * *
I roll over in bed, pulling the extra pillow closer and wetting my dry lips after the strangest dream. At least it wasn’t an old nightmare, but it was almost as shitty.
I dreamed about Verek, that I was talking to him – giving him hell actually, but then he said all kinds of sweet things that made me melt even if it was unbelievable. For instance, dream Verek said he hasn’t been sleeping around while avoiding me for half a year.
Sensing that I’m awake, Lola whines and jumps off the foot of the bed, then goes over and scratches on the bedroom door I keep shut and locked.
“It’s only…4:00 a.m.,” I sit up and whisper to her when I squint at the clock beside the bed. “Go back to sleep.”
It’s unusual for her to need to go out in the middle of the night. She can usually hold it until Charlotte or I wake up the next morning.
Wait a second. I glance over and find the other half of my bed empty. Charlotte…is not here.
Yesterday she married Roman, and now they’re on their honeymoon. I must have drunk way too much at their reception.
It’s all coming back to me in little pieces now, though.
Maybe I forgot to take Lola out when I came home and passed out. I’m just glad I was able to sleep so deeply knowing I’m alone for the first time in six months.
“Poor thing,” I say a little louder since I no longer have to be concerned about waking up Charlotte.
Throwing the covers back, I get out of bed in my long-sleeve, blue-and-black flannel pajamas and shove my feet into the slippers I keep by the bed.
Lola whines again as I start for the door.
“Hold your horses, girl. I’m going as fast I can,” I say when I open the bedroom door and she darts out.
Instead of heading to the apartment door to go outside, though, she goes over to the sofa and sits down beside it, resting her chin on the cushion.
No, not the cushion but on the leg of the man lying on the cushions.
Verek.
I’m not sure what he’s doing in here or when he got here, but he’s so beautiful and perfect sound asleep on my blue sofa.
Without thought, I kneel down beside the sofa with Lola. My hand reaches out to caress his scruffy cheek. Part of me wants to slap him for going MIA for so long while the other wants to kiss him because I missed him so much.
For whatever reason, he’s here, in my apartment, sleeping on my sofa, probably because he knew I’d be nervous about being alone by myself with Charlotte gone. Does she know he’s here? Is he here out of obligation or because he wants to be? It’s always hard for me to figure out why someone as amazing as Verek would want anything to do with someone as broken as me. That’s the reason I assume I hadn’t heard from him in months – he had moved on to a girl a night again.
When Lola leans over and licks his bare foot that’s hanging off the sofa, Verek finally stirs and his eyes blink open. Unlike how I would react to someone staring at me while I sleep, he doesn’t fly off the sofa in surprise. He just blinks a few more times and says, “Oh, hey. You okay?”
“Yes.”
“Sorry I passed out so hard. That ten-hour drive was no joke. What time is it?”
“You drove the entire ten hours today?” I say in disbelief. “On your motorcycle?”
“Yeah, after I worked last night.”
“You worked? Worked where?” I ask.
“Club in Miami,” he answers and then nods to Lola as he peels the blanket back to reveal he’s only wearing a tiny pair of pink cotton shorts. “The dog need to go out? I can take her for you. It’s cold out.”
“I’m…not sure. Wait. Are you wearing my shorts?”
“Uh-huh. Remember, you thought it would be funny to see me in them, and I needed to put on something clean after my shower. My clothes are in the dryer.”
“Hold on. You took a shower? Here?”
“Yes. Why? That a problem?” he asks, looking at me in confusion. “You said you didn’t mind. In fact, you even offered to give me a hand that I reluctantly declined because you were drunk. Exactly how drunk were you if you don’t remember those conversations?”
“Actually, I can’t believe I had any conversation with you I’m so pissed you up and left without a word for over six months!”
“Great,” Verek says, scrubbing his hands over his face. “We’ve got to go through this again? I thought you were over that!”
“Are you trying to pull a fast one on me? There’s no way in hell I was over it.”
“Drunk you was definitely over it. You invited me to sleep in your bed in front of half the club and then begged to shower with me.”
“I did not!”
“You did.”
“So, how did you convince me to forgive you? Even drunk I wouldn’t have just forgotten how angry I am!”