After (After 1) - Chapter 139

“I’m glad you followed me down the stairs,” I finally say after a long but pleasant silence. With my head lying on his bare chest, I can hear his rapid heartbeat slowing.

“Me, too. I wasn’t going to, but I had to. I am sorry for telling you to leave. I can be an asshole sometimes,” he says.

I lift my head up and look at him. “Sometimes?” I smile.

He lifts one of his hands off my back and pokes me on the nose with his index finger, making me giggle. “You weren’t complaining five minutes ago,” he points out.

I shake my head and lay it back down onto his clammy skin. My fingers trace the simple heart-shaped tattoo near his shoulder and I notice the goose bumps raise on his skin. It isn’t lost on me that the heart is colored in with solid black ink.

“That’s because you’re better at that stuff than you are at dating,” I tease.

“I won’t argue there.” He chuckles and moves my hair from my face. One of my favorite things that he does is when he caresses my cheek. His fingertips are rough, but they somehow feel like silk against my skin.

“What happened between you and Dan? I mean before tonight?” I ask. I probably shouldn’t, but I have to know.

“What? Who told you there was a problem between Dan and me?” He lifts my chin to look at him.

“Jace. He didn’t say what it was, though; he just said it was ‘coming for a while.’ What did he mean by that?”

“Just some bullshit thing that happened last year. It’s nothing for you to worry about. I promise,” he says, and smiles a smile that doesn’t extend to his eyes but I don’t feel like pushing it.

I’m just happy that we worked through our problem for once and that we are getting better at communicating with one another.

“You’re going to meet me after you leave Vance tomorrow, right? I don’t want anyone to take that apartment before us,” he says.

“We don’t have any furniture,” I remind him.

“It comes furnished. But we can add things or change whatever we want after we move in.”

“How much is it?” I ask. I know I don’t want to hear the answer to that. I can only imagine how expensive it is if it comes already furnished.

“Don’t worry about that; all you need to worry about is how much the cable will be.” He smiles and kisses my forehead. “So what do you say? You’re still in, right?”

“And groceries,” I point out and he frowns. “But yes, I am still in.”

“Are you going to tell your mother?”

“I don’t know. I will eventually, but I already know what she’s going to say. Maybe I should let her get used to the fact that we’re together first. We are so young and already moving in together, I don’t want to send her into a mental ward.” I let out a laugh despite the slight pain in my chest. I wish things could be simple with my mother and she could be happy for me, but I know that isn’t plausible.

“I am sorry that this is happening between the two of you. I know it’s my fault, but I’m far too selfish to remove myself from the situation.”

“It’s not your fault. She is just . . . well, she is the way she is,” I say and kiss his chest.

“You need to get to sleep, baby; you have to be up in the morning and it’s almost midnight,” he says.

“Midnight? I thought it was much later,” I say and roll off him and lie in front of him.

“Well, if you weren’t so tight, I would have lasted longer,” he says into my ear.

“Good night!” I groan in embarrassment.

He laughs and kisses the back of my neck before turning the light off.

Chapter eighty-six

The next morning, bright and early, I scramble around Hardin’s room, gathering my things to take a shower.

“I’m coming with you,” he groans, but I laugh.

“No, you’re not. You know it’s only six a.m., right? What happened to your seven-thirty rule?” I tease and grab my bag.

“I am going to walk you there.” I love his raspy morning voice.

“Walk me where? To the bathroom?” I scoff as he rolls out of bed. “I’m a big girl. I can walk myself down the hall.”

“You’re doing an amazing job at listening to me so far.” He rolls his eyes, but I see the amusement in them.

“Fine, Daddy, walk me to the bathroom,” I whine playfully. I have no intention of listening to him, but I decide to humor him for the moment.

Hardin raises his eyebrow and smirks. “Don’t call me that again, or I’ll have to take you back to bed.” He winks and I hurry out of the room before I am too tempted to stay.

He follows behind me and sits on the toilet while I shower. “You’re going to have to take my car,” he says, which utterly surprises me. “I’ll get a ride to campus to grab yours so I can go over to the apartment.”

I didn’t think about any of this last night, which further shocks me, since I usually plan everything out so well. “You’re going to let me drive your car?” I gape.

“Yeah. However, if you wreck it don’t bother coming back,” he says.

Part of me knows he is somewhat serious. But I laugh and say, “I should be worried about you wrecking mine!”

He tries to open the curtain, but I pull it closed again and hear him chuckle. “Just think, babe, after today you will be in your own shower every morning.” His voice carries over the water as I rinse the shampoo from my hair.

“I don’t think it will really hit me until we are actually there.”