Just saying the words, it makes me feel almost dirty. I don’t know why. I have never done anything wrong, never cheated or been with anyone but Louis and Joey. But admitting that Joey required I be on birth control so he didn’t have to use a condom from the age of fourteen, it feels—wrong.
“Okay, baby,” he breathes. “Yeah, so we’re good?”
I nod, biting the corner of my lip. “Yeah.”
He leans forward, his lips brushing mine. “Good, because you’re the only one that I want and I liked what we did a fuck’ve a lot, baby.”
“Only one that you want?” I whisper against his lips.
He nips my bottom lip with his teeth. “Only you, Tulip. I came back for this, for you. What we have, it needs to be explored.”
LOUIS
Tulip doesn’t respond to my words, my declaration of wanting her and only her. Instead, her phone alarm sounds again and I loosen my hold on her so that she can scramble off of the bed and go in search of her device.
I watch her move around her small apartment, fucking mesmerized by every single fluid move that she makes. That is, until she disappears into the bathroom. I take that moment to climb out of bed.
Tugging on my boxer briefs, I make my way into the kitchen to see if I can make her something to eat before she goes to work.
Opening up her fridge, I freeze at the sight in front of me. Empty. Completely fucking empty, save for half a bottle of ketchup and what looks to be a box of baking soda.
I hear her footsteps down the hall, then they stop. Lifting my head from the fridge, I turn and look toward her. Tulip’s lips are parted and her eyes are wide. She looks like an adorable shocked pixie.
“I haven’t been to the store, haven’t had time,” she mumbles.
Nodding, I slowly straighten my back and close the refrigerator door. I ignore the fact that she works at the fucking grocery store. My eyes scan her and I take her in again, but I focus on the changes in her body. She’s not just slimmer, she’s downright skinny. Her face is sunken in, her eyes have dark-rimmed bruises beneath them. She looks exhausted.
“I’m taking you to breakfast,” I announce. She opens her mouth to argue with me, but I only shake my head. “It won’t take long. I’m sure you need to get to work, but you need to eat something and I’ll be damned if I let you go to work hungry while I’m right here.”
Tulip’s eyes narrow and I watch as she adorably crosses her arms over her chest. “I don’t need your charity. I haven’t had a chance to go to the store to stock up. I’ve been eating. I buy food at work,” she snaps.
I almost laugh in her face, because it’s obvious as fuck that she’s absolutely not buying food at work, but I don’t call her on her bullshit. Instead, I nod my head a couple of times like I’m really buying her shit.
“Let me feed my woman,” I murmur, closing the distance between us.
I decide to use a different approach and as soon as my hands wrap around her hips, she melts against me, proving that I’ve made the right decision.
“Louis,” she breathes.
Shaking my head, I dip my chin and touch my mouth to hers. “Baby, let me feed you.”
“Your woman?” she asks.
With a grunt, I slide my tongue along her full bottom lip before I slip it inside and taste her sweet fucking mouth. Breaking the kiss, I lift my head and look down at her. “Yeah. My fucking woman. Now, let me put some pants on so that I can feed you, then take you to work.”
“I can drive myself—”
Holding up my hand, I cut her off in the middle of her fucked up sentence. “I’ll take you and I’ll pick you up. Gives me something to look forward to,” I say with a grin.
Her brows knit together and she watches me for a moment, licking her lips before she takes a step back. I release my hold on her hips and wait to see what she’s going to say or do next. Something flashes across her face, but I don’t know what it means. I can’t read her quite that well, yet.
“Okay, but I need to leave, in like, five minutes,” she says.
Nodding my head, I hurry past her and into the bedroom. I quickly put my clothes from yesterday back on, deciding to shower when I get home. Honestly, I kind of want her scent on my skin, enveloping me for as long as possible.
Once I have some clothes on, I shove my keys and phone into my pocket as I head back out to the living room area. Tulip is standing in the middle of the room, her gaze focused on a big empty space in the middle of the room. I assume it’s where the sofa used to sit.
“Tullie?” I ask.
Slowly, she turns her gaze toward me. She’s got wetness swimming in her eyes and my feet carry me toward her. My arms automatically wrap around her to comfort her as I pull her against my chest.
Lifting one of my hands, I cup the back of her head, tangling my fingers in her soft hair. “Talk to me,” I gently demand.
“He never called me his woman. Not once. And here you are, day one and you’ve said it more than once.”
Touching my lips to the top of her head, I close my eyes and inhale a deep breath. “Because you were never meant to be his, Tullie. Mine. You’ve always been meant just for me,” I mumble.
Chapter Eight
LOUIS
I watch her walk into the grocery store. She’s wearing a pair of once tight jeans that hang loosely now on her hips and a grocery store branded polo shirt tucked in. On her feet, she’s got on a cute as fuck pair of white tennis shoes. Her hair is in a high ponytail and she’s never looked better.
My phone rings in my pocket and I dig it out just as the automatic doors close behind her and she disappears.
“Yeah?”
“You gonna tell me what happened last night? You straight-up disappeared on me,” Ford’s voice asks.
Shifting my truck into reverse, I back out of my parking spot, then shift it into drive and make my way toward home.
“Tried to talk to Tulip, but she wasn’t havin’ it. She did agree to meet me after she got off of work, so I waited in the parking lot for her,” I explain.
Ford chuckles. “Like a true fucking stalker.”
“We talked,” I say.
“Y’all good now?”
Nodding as if he can see me, I clear my throat before I answer him. “Yeah, I think we are. I can’t really tell with her.”
“She’s probably just gun shy. That Joey is a fucking douche,” he murmurs.
“Yeah, she told me a bit about him,” I admit through gritted teeth.
There’s a moment of silence and then Ford speaks. “So basically, now I’m the only single one of the group. Good fucking times,” he snorts.
“What about Laurie, that friend of Hutton’s?”
He grunts but doesn’t speak right away. “She’s knocked up by one of the members of Beaumont’s band. We had a thing, but neither of us tried for seconds.”
“Because?”
“She made it very clear that I was too rough for her.”
I hiss, hating that for Ford and for Laurie. It’s no fun when you think you hit it off with someone only to find out that you’re not compatible in bed together. I won’t lie, one of the reasons I like Tulip so fucking much is because of just that, in bed we’re on fucking fire.