“You know that I really always loved you, Tulip. I had a shit way of showing it, but that was more because I wasn’t happy with myself, nothing I ever did to you I did because of you. It really was all me.”
His words. They cause my entire body to tremble. Tears fill my eyes and I lift my hand, wrapping my fingers around his wrist to hold him there for a moment. If this version of Joey had come to me a year ago, I would have welcomed him back with open arms, but it’s just too late.
“You’re going to be a wonderful man, Joey. Just keep doing exactly what you’re doing. In only days, I see a huge difference in you. Imagine what changes you’ll make in a year, two, five,” I murmur.
His lips turn back up into that goofy lopsided grin and he shakes his head. “Yeah. Go on now, your man looks like he’s about to rip my goddamn head off.” He chuckles.
Looking over my shoulder, I notice that Louis’ truck is parked in the parking lot, but he’s leaning against the side, his arms crossed over his chest with a pair of mirrored sunglasses on. Though those sunglasses are pointed directly at us and it feels as though his eyes have lasers and he’s trying to burn holes into both of our bodies.
“Be well, Joey,” I whisper, not taking my eyes off of Louis as I pull on the truck door handle and push it open.
“Tulip,” Joey calls out.
Standing next to the truck, I shift my gaze back to meet his. “Yeah?”
“If he hurts you, I’ll kill him myself,” he snaps.
I don’t respond with anything other than a smile as I close the pickup truck door. Turning to Louis, my feet slowly carry me toward him. I stop directly in front of him and tip my head back with a shaky smile.
He doesn’t even look down at me, instead he reaches out, wrapping his hand around my wrist before he stands up straight. Then, wordlessly, he tugs me behind him toward my apartment door.
His feet move so quickly that I have a hard time keeping up with him and am forced to jog beside him in fear of him dragging me behind him on the ground.
LOUIS
Jealousy coils in my stomach at the sight of Tulip sitting next to Joey in a busted ass single cab truck. I don’t know what she’s doing with him, but I’m fucking pissed right the hell off. I was twenty minutes late to pick her up at work and she’s already sneaking off back to him?
What the absolute fuck?
“You’re hurting me,” she whimpers as soon as we walk into her small apartment.
Immediately my hand leaves her wrist and I place it on my hip instead. With my other hand, I reach for my glasses and rip them off of my face before I stare down into her watering but still gorgeous eyes.
“You fuckin’ him?” I demand.
She gasps. “Excuse me?”
“I mean, maybe it’s because you know you won’t be getting any dick from me for a couple months, I don’t know, but you looked awfully fucking friendly down there,” I snap.
Tulip shakes her head a couple of times, her blonde hair flying around her shoulders. I want to bury my hand in that hair, tilt her head to the side and remind her just exactly who the fuck I am and where she fucking belongs.
“You were late, I started to walk home when you hadn’t responded to my calls or texts. Joey just happened to see me on the side of the road and offered to give me a ride. Nothing happened, nothing will ever happen, but the fact that I have to remind you of that kind of pisses me off, Louis.”
I blink, unused to the way she’s speaking to me. Her face is red, her eyes watery, and her body is trembling with what I assume is anger. She takes a step forward and lifts her balled up fists before she slams them down against my chest.
“Tulip,” I rasp.
She shakes her head, tears beginning to fall from her eyes. “Don’t,” she croaks. “We’ve only been apart since this morning, and I’ve been at work all day, but it didn’t take long for you to assume I was falling in bed with Joey. Just walk away from me, you asshole.”
Lifting my hands, I wrap my fingers around her wrists and tug her body ever closer to me, grunting when she slams against my chest. “Never, Tulip. You’re mine,” I breathe.
“I know I’m yours. But I don’t think you realize how devoted I am to you. There’s nobody else, Louis. There never will be, either. You broke my heart by accusing me of that, accusing me of being like Joey, of cheating.”
Lowering my head, I touch my mouth to hers. “I shouldn’t have said that, I was just pissed off.”
“It wasn’t nice,” she grates against my mouth.
Tracing her lips with my tongue, I can’t deny that her salty tears taste fantastic and although I wish she weren’t crying, it’s sexy as shit. Sliding my tongue inside of her mouth, I release one of her wrists and tangle my fingers in the back of her hair as I kiss her.
Her stiff body relaxes and melts toward me and it’s then that I know that I’ve gained her forgiveness for my heated accusation. I don’t really think that she fucked Joey. I know better than that, it just looked bad and my anger got the best of me.
Breaking the kiss, I nibble on her bottom lip before I pull my face away from hers and look down into her pretty blue eyes. Tugging gently on her hair, I smile down at her.
“I’m sorry I was late, baby,” I mutter. “Got distracted while I was working out and I was trying to get to you. I ignored my phone, I shouldn’t have.”
“No, you shouldn’t have,” she sighs. “Since you’re going to be busy, I’m going to take my own car to and from work again.”
Lowering my head, I run my nose alongside hers. “Sounds like a good idea, as long as you come to and from my place every day,” he breathes.
“Every day? But I live closer to the store than you do,” she exhales, her body trembling for a different reason this time.
I hum, enjoying the reaction her body has to me. I fucking love that she gets so turned on by me, even the simple closeness we’re sharing, completely clothed, I know that if I put my hand down her jeans, she’d be soaked for me.
Lifting my head, I look down into her face and realize that I need to make a serious commitment to her, not just for my own personal sanity, but to prove to her that I’m in this one hundred percent.
She deserves to know where she stands with me, especially since my schedule is about to get downright insane.
“Move in with me,” I blurt.
She blinks as her lips part in awe. Tugging her even closer to me, I grin down at her. “Move in with me, baby,” I coo.
She shakes her head. “It’s only been a couple of weeks,” she breathes.
“Yeah, but I’ve been thinking about you for months. Thinking about how you taste, smell, and feel. Been dreaming of you, Tullie. Live with me. Save your rent money for your future, whatever you decide to do with it. Just fall asleep next to me and wake up right there, too. Every fucking day.”
Licking her lips, I watch as the wheels no doubt turn in her head. Her gaze shifts to the side before she brings it back to me. “Okay.” She nods.
“Yeah?”
Her mouth turns up into a grin. “Yeah,” she says again through her smile. “Oh my God, are we crazy?” she asks.