It was a whole new level for me.
Moving around the couch, I started for the stairs, but a moan slipped through the darkness prompting me to turn the light back on. I looked down at her as she groaned and wiggled in her sleep. She looked as though she was having a nightmare. I leaned down to wake her, but just before I touched her, she spoke.
“You’re nothing like him,” she muttered. “You could never be him.”
I pulled back, my eyes moving her face as she gradually calmed down and began to settle into the couch.
Him?
Was she seeing someone?
In a relationship she failed to tell me about?
The room went dark once again when I flipped the switch. I went to my room, but instead of sleeping, I lay there for over an hour thinking about how much it would suck to find out Shannon was involved with someone else. I’m not sure why it would suck since I wasn’t even thinking about a relationship, but for some reason, the thought of her being with anyone else made me feel a little sick to my stomach.
I WOKE THE NEXT MORNING BEFORE SHE DID, and when I went into the living room, she was still sleeping soundly on the couch. She’d tossed the blanket on the floor, and her shirt was askew, showing me a bit of her lacy bra.
My dick was already hard with morning wood, but seeing a glimpse of her bra was making my dick throb. I’d never been aroused by so little in all my life.
Still, even in my aroused state I couldn’t help but wonder who he was. Obviously, he meant something to her if she was dreaming about him. I’d gone to bed the night before feeling a bit hurt, which, of course, made me angry. I slept for shit, wondering what her deal was.
I’d never felt the strange sickness rolling around in my stomach before, so I wasn’t sure if I could pinpoint it exactly, but I imagined it felt a bit like jealousy would.
That was impossible, though. I’d never been jealous of anyone or anything in my entire life.
She stirred.
Her scarlet hair falling over her face. Using a finger, I slid the strands away from her eyes. When I did, they popped open, her green orbs staring back at me in shock. She jerked, sucking in a breath.
I’d scared her.
“Whoa,” I said, holding up my hands. “It’s me.”
She blinked the sleep away, and her head turned as she took in my place.
“What time is thit?” she slurred, her swollen tongue really making an impact.
“It’s just after six.”
“Why in God’s name are you up this early?” She squinted at me with evil eyes.
“I don’t sleep well.”
I was always up with the sun. Sleeping had never been an option for me, but it had been much worse the night before.
She covered her mouth and flinched in pain.
“Hurts like hell today, huh?”
She nodded, not wanting to talk. I didn’t blame her. I hadn’t had my tongue pierced since high school. It was something high school kids did a lot, but I remember it hurting worse on the second day. In some ways, Shannon was doing things way later in life. I was in high school piercing things, and she was an adult.
“I guess that’s what you get,” I said.
It wasn’t until after the words came out I realized how snappy I sounded. Her face crinkled at my tone, and I ran my fingers through my hair aggravated with myself.
“I mean, sticking a needle through any part of your body isn’t supposed to feel good.” I tried to explain.
I was fucking this up even worse. Quickly, I changed the subject.
“Are you hungry?’ I asked, knowing she wouldn’t be up for eating.
She shook her head.
“More ice?”
She nodded. “Yeth, pleath.”
She and him and the fucking ice were going to be the death of me.
Shannon used the bathroom, washing her mouth out with mouthwash as the piercer had said, and while she was taking care of her business, I waited patiently, trying to pretend like questions weren’t burning my tongue. I didn’t have any right to ask, but I wanted to know if she was seeing someone. I needed to know if someone else was touching her.
Thankfully, she came out of the bathroom with a tiny smile on her face and saved me from embarrassing myself.
I didn’t bother with breakfast since I wasn’t much for eating in the morning, and I knew she would never be able to handle eating on the second day, but once we were out of the house, I stopped by Starbucks where I got a hot coffee for me and a caramel Frappuccino for her.
“So how did you sleep last night?” I asked over my steaming cup.
She slid her straw in and out of her cup, sloshing through the ice.
“Eh.” She shrugged.
“Not good then?”
I was fishing for answers to questions I had too much pride to ask, but she wasn’t giving me anything.
She reached up, tying her hair into a knot and exposing the creamy skin of her graceful neck. I closed my eyes, imagining another man licking the softness there, and I couldn’t stand it anymore.
“Are you seeing someone?” The question flew from my lips.
She paused, her luscious lips wrapped around her straw. Her brow popped up, and she snorted.
“What kind of question is that?”
“A perfectly logical one.”
She chuckled. “What makes you think I’m seeing someone? Do I seem like the kind of woman who goes out with another man if I were in a relationship?
“No. It’s just … last night you were talking in your sleep about a guy, and I just assumed …” I stopped, taking another sip from my hot coffee.
I was trying hard not to sound like a jealous creep, but I knew I was failing miserably at it.
Her face paled when I mentioned her talking in her sleep, but just as quickly the color crept back into cheeks, she looked away.
“There’s no one,” she said with finality.
“Because if there is, you can just—”
“Matthew,” she said, cutting me off. “There’s no one.”
I nodded, accepting what she was saying and letting it go since I felt like a total ass.
An hour later, I dropped her off at her car. She had a thing about me going to her apartment. I tried not to think it was because she had a guy living there with her and Lilly, but I would be lying if I said it didn’t cross my mind. More than likely, it was because she didn’t want another run-in with me and Devin. I had told her I was over that entire situation, but I understood.
I got out and walked her to her car. She pulled out her keys and then turned to face me with a smile. She wasn’t done up. She still looked sleepy, and her hair was piled on top of her head with a band she found in the bottom of her purse, but she looked amazing. Better than she had ever looked before.
Seeing her drowsy with sleep and bed hair made me wonder what she would look like after a night of sex.
Soon.
Soon, I would know the answer to that question.
My lips ached to kiss her, but I didn’t want to hurt her. Instead, I leaned in and gave her a soft peck on the mouth.
“I’ll text you,” I said, pushing a strand of loose hair behind her ear.