“Sorry,” he says again.
“Do you have Tessa’s cell number?” I ask him.
“Yes, sir.”
“Then fucking use it! Call or text before you knock on her goddamn door again. Understand?”
“Yes, sir,” he replies again.
While I was busy chewing him out, I hadn’t paid enough attention to Tessa. When I look over at her again, I realize she looks frozen in place.
“You don’t have to see him,” I assure her.
“Charlotte asked him to come this week,” Lucas blurts out. “She thought you could use the company while she was gone.”
Goddammit! When Roman and his wife are back, we’re all going to have a talk about them deciding what they think is best for Tessa, without asking Tessa.
“What do you want to do here, sweetheart?” I ask her calmly, despite the chaos going on inside my head. The man she loved – loves – and was planning to spend the rest of her life with is right outside! Fuck! “It’s your decision.”
“I-I don’t know,” she replies, wrapping her arms around her waist, spatula and all. “What do you think I should do?”
Great. How did I become the one who has to make this decision?
My first instinct is to send the guy packing. But just a few hours ago, Tessa admitted to me that she still loves him and that the only reason she’s been pushing him away is because she doesn’t think they can be together after what happened to her. If she absolutely, without a doubt, didn’t want to see him, her answer would’ve been a quick no. Instead, she’s hesitating like she’s just…nervous about the reunion after so much time has passed.
If I care about Tessa, which I do, then I should only want her to be happy with whoever she chooses to be with. It’s not my place to push away her chance of being with the man she loves because she doesn’t think he can handle the woman she is now.
What if, in a few months or years, Tessa regrets not giving him another chance at a normal life? She may not be ready for that now, but one day she will be. I know she’s strong enough to move past the pain those four men caused her. Which is why I rub my forehead and reluctantly say, “Maybe…maybe you should give him a chance.”
Tessa gasps, as if that’s not the answer she wanted to hear. Then she says, “A chance for what?”
“I don’t know! To hear what he has to say, to let him get to know the woman you’ve become. He could surprise you.”
“I-I don’t know,” she says when she finally unfreezes enough to go sit on the sofa, right where we were going at it last night hot and heavy. Lola is on her heels, placing her head in her lap. I’m not even sure if Tessa realizes she’s absently petting the dog’s head when she whispers, “I’ve been such a bitch to him. Why would he still want to see me?”
“You haven’t been a bitch,” I assure her. “You’ve just been doing what you thought was best.” She gives a small nod, so I continue on with what I hope could come from this meeting. “If nothing else, you can finally talk to him face-to-face and tell him to give up on you once and for all.”
Tessa jumps to her feet. “You’re right. He’s come all this way, and I haven’t given him the decency of speaking to him face-to-face since everything happened. I think I owe him that much. Let him in and give me a few minutes to freshen up,” she says before she hurries off to the bedroom.
Lucas starts to open the door, but I put my hand over it to close it again, then bend down, right next to his face. “If you or your friend ever let anyone, male, female, young, or old, Roman approved or not, inside this building without asking her first, yourselves included, I will beat the shit out of both of you until you can only eat meals through a straw. Is that clear?”
Swallowing audibly, he says, “Yes, sir.”
I open the door for him to leave and tell the man, “Come on in. Tessa will be out in a moment.”
“Great, thanks,” he says in relief as he steps inside the apartment. I close and lock the door behind him. “I’m Paul.” He holds out his palm for me to shake.
“Verek,” I say before dropping his hand and crossing my arms over my bare chest.
“Nice place,” he says as he glances around the room.
“It is,” I agree.
Meeting my gaze head-on with his jaw clenched, he asks, “Were you really here…all night?”
“Yes.”
“Oh,” he mutters, looking deflated by my answer. “Charlotte didn’t mention…ah, how, um, how long have you and Tessa been together?”
“We’re not really together,” I answer honestly, which in turn deflates me. “I hadn’t seen her in months before yesterday. I figured she wouldn’t want to be alone with Charlotte gone and in a new apartment.”
“Right,” he agrees with a relieved exhalation. I made it sound like nothing happened between me and Tessa last night, even though that’s the furthest thing from the truth. “Charlotte thought it would be good for Tessa if I came and stayed with her this week. She thought it had been long enough for me to try and see her again.”
“Hold on. Did you say stay with her? As in sleep in this apartment?” I ask in shock.
“Ah, yeah, that was the plan, although Tessa would have the final say of course.”
“Of course,” I grit out through my clenched teeth.
Will she want him to stay? The man she hasn’t seen or talked to in months? Hell, I didn’t even ask her if she wanted me here, so that doesn’t make me much better than Paul or Charlotte for making plans without asking Tessa.
“Can I give you some advice?” I ask him quietly.
“Sure?”
“Don’t get your hopes up, buddy. Tessa’s…different now.”
“I understand that, and I don’t care” is his response. “I’ve spent the last eight months waiting for her to give me a chance to be here for her, to help her get through everything. I’ve been seeing a counselor who specializes in these sorts of…attacks, trying to figure out what Tessa needs from me. I had to do something. Anything! It’s like everything in my life was going great until someone decided to hit the pause button…” He trails off because we both know who hit that button.
“Well, I can’t go into details, but I can say that those assholes won’t be ruining anyone else’s life.”
“They won’t?” he asks in surprise. “Did the police catch them?”
“No, the police didn’t catch them. They’re not in prison, they’re in the ground.”
“Oh,” he replies, his perfect, rich-boy-next-door face looking a little paler. “That’s probably best.”
“It is.”
At least that’s one thing we can agree on.
Finally, after changing clothes and doing something to make her hair look super curly, Tessa comes out of the backroom with Lola quietly walking ahead of her.
“Hello, Paul,” she says, coming to a stop about three feet away from us.
“Wow,” the man remarks with a sad smile. “Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes? I’ve missed you so much.” He takes a step closer to her with his arms raised like he’s about to hug her, and before I can make a move to stop him, Lola does so by jumping in front of Tessa and growling. The normally sweet, calm dog even bares her sharp teeth at him in warning. “Whoa!” he smartly takes a step backward.