I gaped at him. “Because I want him to see how happy we are.” Although right now, the idea of strangling him sounded pretty damn appealing. “But I’m starting to rethink that.”
I saw his lips twitch as he fought not to smile and pointed at him.
“I swear to God, if you laugh…” I let the threat hang in the air, unspoken.
He smoothed his face into a serious expression, but his eyes were bright with amusement. He glanced away at my dirty look. He didn’t move fast enough, however, and I caught the grin he tried to hide.
“That’s it!” I turned on my heel and started toward the door. “For that one, I’m making dinner tonight.”
Teagan froze for a moment and stared at me in shocked surprise. Next thing, he’d bolted up from the chair and raced toward me. With a shriek, I sprinted for the door in an attempt to escape before he reached me. Unfortunately for me, Teagan was much quicker. Before I could get through the door, he had me swung up, around, and dropped onto the bed. I sat up and pushed my hair out of my face to see him standing at the foot of the bed. He had his arms crossed and a stern look on his face.
“What?” I asked innocently, already knowing what was coming.
He pointed at me with a grin. “That was an unnecessary threat, young lady.” He then started crawling up the bed toward me. “It’s cruel and unusual punishment.”
I busted out laughing and lay back on the bed as he moved up over me and looped my arms around his neck. Still giggling, I pulled him down for a kiss, enjoying the way everything about him fit everything about me.
After several long minutes of extremely hot kisses, Teagan pulled back and smiled down at me. I blinked up at him, dazed and not quite sure what year it was. “Still need to rethink that happiness thing, baby?” he asked, smug and sure of himself. The problem was, he had reason to be, the little asshole.
I gave him a light slap on his arm. “Whatever.”
He leaned down and rubbed his nose along mine, then gave me a soft, quick kiss. “You know we’re happy,” he murmured. “Or, at least, I know we’re happy.”
At those words it felt like my heart skipped several beats before it started to pound with a heavy rhythm. My face broke out into what had to be a goofy grin and I threaded my fingers into his hair. “Yeah, we’re happy,” I agreed. “I’m sorry I tried to guilt trip you.”
He shook his head and let out a wry chuckle. “Just don’t joke about cooking again, okay?”
I nodded. “Deal.” I glanced over at the clock on his nightstand and frowned. “What time did you need to leave? It sounded like you have a busy day.”
“Yeah,” he said with a sigh. “I’m supposed to meet my project partners in thirty minutes. I need to start getting ready.” He dropped a kiss on my lips before he pushed himself up and off of me. “What time is Caldwell supposed to be here?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know, around four. We’re just going to watch the movie, work on the translations some, and then he’s going to leave.” I perked up when a thought occurred to me. “Do you think Conn will be home by then?”
“I don’t know, babe,” he answered as he tossed his study materials into his bag. “Maybe? I think he said something about hanging out over at Troy’s tonight, though.”
I groaned. Don’t get me wrong; I really liked Troy and his fiancée, Cassia. They were the first ones besides Penny to give their seal of approval on Teagan and me being together. The problem, however, was whenever Connor went over to their place, he usually didn’t come home that night. Troy was a bartender at the club where Teagan worked, so he kept a well-stocked liquor supply.
“Aislinn, I’m sure if you ask, he’ll stay here with you,” he reassured me.
“You think so?” I asked eagerly.
He nodded as he shouldered his book bag and grabbed his lacrosse gear. “Yeah, I’m sure. Just give him a call.” He reached and grabbed his cell phone and wallet and put them in his pockets. “Besides, he probably won’t want his little sister left alone with Caldwell.”
He did a quick catalog of everything before he stepped over to the bed. I got up onto my knees, kneeling in front of him. He leaned down and gave me a lingering kiss before he straightened and smiled at me. “I love you,” he said, his voice rough. “Sleep here tonight, please?”
“All right.” I pointed to the door. “I love you too. Now, get going,” I ordered.
With a grin, he gave me one last kiss before he pivoted and strode from the room. I flopped back down into the bed and slung an arm over my eyes, exhausted. I hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before. I blushed at the memories dancing through my mind. It had been worth every moment of lost sleep.
I was just about to doze off when I felt something wet on my other hand. I jerked my arm down and looked over to find pitiful golden brown eyes staring at me. I said it before, and I’d say it again. Zver was a master at puppy dog eyes. I closed my eyes again while options were considered and tossed, one by one, trying to ignore his soft whining. There was truly only one choice at that point.
My ass had to get up and walk the damn dog.
I was going to kill Teagan.
***
I sat down on the couch with the two bowls of popcorn and frowned at the tension evident between the two men in the room.
I glanced between my brother and Ryan and saw they were in the midst of a stare down. Jesus! What the hell had I missed in the four minutes it took to make the popcorn? I cleared my throat in an attempt to get their attention. When that didn’t work, I decided to be blunt.
“So, what’s up with the testosterone display?”
Connor shot me at look that spoke volumes loud and clear. I had to swallow a laugh. I’d known my brother didn’t care for the football player. However, it seemed something had triggered all of Connor’s big brother instincts. It was highly amusing.
Surprisingly, it was Ryan who broke the staring contest. “I figured Aldridge’d be here too,” he said with a derisive tone. “Where is he?”
“He had some stuff to take care of,” I responded as I reached to grab the DVD remote.
“Stuff to take care of, huh?” he repeated. “Would that stuff have to do with his kid?”
I choked on the sip of the soda I’d just taken at the bluntness of the question.
“What the fuck?” Connor exploded. “How? What? I don’t…” he spluttered.
Ryan held up his hands. “Chill, dude. I haven’t said anything to anyone.” He then pointed both index fingers at my brother. “But you need to be more careful, bro.”
Connor frowned. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“Because,” Ryan drawled, “I found out from you.”
“Bullshit!”
“Uh, no,” Ryan corrected. “I overheard you on the phone. You’re not exactly subtle or quiet.”
Connor glared at him, but didn’t say anything. It wasn’t like he could really defend himself in the present situation. My brother had what I called ‘cell phone voice,’ meaning he felt the need to stop just short of yelling into a cell phone. He was convinced the person on the other end couldn’t hear him otherwise. I’d told him repeatedly he was so loud that people in Canada could hear him without a phone.
This unfortunately proved my point.
“But, hey,” Ryan continued, “I haven’t told anyone, and I won’t. It not my business to share, you know?”
Connor studied him, debating whether he was being honest or not. He finally sighed and scrubbed his hands over his face as he nodded. “Okay, man. I appreciate you not saying anything. Teeg isn’t ready for everyone to know yet.”
Ryan nodded and then looked at me. “How are you doing with all of this?”
“She’s fine. They’re fine,” Connor answered, defiant.
I turned and glared at him. “I’m capable of answering for myself, you know?” I looked back at Ryan. “I’m good. We met his daughter last night. I think it went pretty well.” I settled back into the couch and gestured at
the TV. “But we’re supposed to be working on our assignment, so let’s get busy.”
Ryan reached over and took the bowl of popcorn I handed to him. As he sat back, Connor dove into the bowl that sat between us. I looked over just in time to see my brother shovel an entire handful of popcorn into his mouth. I grimaced as he continued to eat like that, stuffing it in until his cheeks puffed out.
“What?” he asked, mouth full of food.
I jerked back from him, half convinced food was going to end up all over me. “Jesus, Conn. What the hell? Mom raised you better than that.”
He grinned and blew me a kiss. “Mom tried, you mean.” In went another heaping handful of popcorn.
I shook my head in disgust. “How the hell do you get any girl to give you the time of day when you eat like that?”
He shot me an evil grin. “It ain’t my popcorn eating skills they’re interested in, sis,” he informed me with a wink.
Oh, God. “Ew! Gross. TMI.” I was pretty sure I was going to be ill at that point.
Ryan started laughing. “You two sound like me and my sister.”
“I guess being an asshole is a universal big brother thing,” I muttered.
Ryan chuckled. “It’s our job.”
“Whatever.” I pointed the remote at the DVD player and pressed play. “Let’s just watch the damn movie.” The male laughter did not help the situation, nor did it improve my mood. Luckily, this wasn’t an assignment that our semester grade hinged on.
***
“That movie,” Connor said as he closed the refrigerator door, “sucked.” He turned to face me with a juice in his hand. “Don’t ever ask me to do that again.”
“Mm…” I hummed in response, my mind on other things. Teagan had come home in a foul mood the night before. It seemed that while he was at work, Lauren had shown up and proceeded to introduce herself as his girlfriend. As in, his current girlfriend. As in, I was gonna throat punch a bitch.
“Ash, is everything okay?”
I pulled myself from my thoughts to see Connor staring at me in concern. I shook myself and forced a smile. “I’m fine. Just tired.” I ran a hand through my hair, frowning as my fingers encountered snarl after snarl. “And that movie did not suck.”
“Aislinn,” he replied patiently as if he were speaking to a five-year-old, “it wasn’t even in English.”
I raised an eyebrow. “That would be because it was for my Russian class, doofus.”
He started to respond when we heard Teagan coming down the stairs, yelling.
“I don’t give a shit! There’s no reason why you should have done that. What the fuck were you trying to accomplish?”
I was now eavesdropping like a mother. A glance at Connor showed him doing to the same. I got up and quietly moved to the door in an attempt to hear more and almost peed my pants when I heard him start shouting again from directly on the other side of the door.
“Let’s get something straight right now,” he growled. “There is no ‘us.’ There hasn’t been an ‘us’ since high school. The only reason we are associating now is because of my daughter. Are we clear on this?” He was silent for a moment and I strained to hear anything. Then he snorted. “Leave her out of this. Aislinn is none of your concern. I’ll talk to you later.”
With that, he stormed into the kitchen, coming to a sudden stop when he saw Connor and me standing there. He took one look at me and opened his arms. I didn’t hesitate, and all but jumped into them. He buried his face in my neck and his arms wrapped tight around me. There was an unusual tenseness to him that I didn’t like. I didn’t like how Lauren was affecting him.
Despite being held in an embrace that did nothing but show me how much he loved me, I felt cold. There it was again, that impending sense of disaster. And underneath it all, the chilling suspicion that things wouldn’t turn out as planned haunted me. I tightened my arms around Teagan in fear—fear of the coming days.
Chapter Twelve
“Dammit, Aislinn, I don’t know, okay?”
I pulled the phone away and glared at it in confusion. Over the past three weeks, Teagan’s attitude had turned to shit. Right now he was doing a fair impression of said shit. For the past few days, any little thing set him off. He’d snapped at me more times than I could count, and I was getting tired of it.
“You know what?” I snarled. “I’m getting—” I stopped myself and bit my lip to hold back to the words. Words that would do nothing but escalate things.
“What?” he demanded.
“Nothing,” I responded, feeling defeated.
“No. You had something to say, so say it.”
“It wasn’t anything important, Teagan,” I ground out, annoyed. “Look, I need to go. I’ll talk to you later. I love you.”
“Fine.”
My jaw dropped open in shock when I suddenly heard the distinct silence of a disconnected call. My hand trembled and almost dropped the phone as my mind processed the fact that Teagan had just hung up on me. What the hell? I blinked back the tears pricking the backs of my eyes, and my nose began to sting. I struggled to hang on to my anger, but it was hard. Especially when something else dawned on me.
He hadn’t said he loved me.
Hurt and anger were at war as the dominant emotion churning in my gut. I pushed backward to lean against the headboard and tilted my head back with a sigh. The phone dropped from my hand to land on the bed with a soft bounce as I raised it to pinch the bridge of my nose. I was emotionally exhausted from the constant ride on Teagan’s bipolar rollercoaster.
The worst part was I’d only called to see if we were going to have dinner together the following day. That was all. I knew there was the possibility he’d have plans with Corinne. That was why I had a backup option of eating in the student center. But my effort of trying to be considerate and supportive was rewarded by his implication I was demanding all of his attention.
To the contrary, I’d made him cancel several plans with me so he could see Corinne.
The longer I sat alone with my thoughts, the more I stewed. That was never a good thing. Throwing a hissy fit usually followed, and that would accomplish nothing. I scrubbed my face with both hands and let out another sigh. It was obvious I was on my own tonight. I considered calling Annie to see if she wanted to join me tonight, but decided against it. I couldn’t remember if it was a tutor night, and I really just wanted to be alone.
I refused to pay attention to the little voice trying to convince me I’d better get used to being alone. It was an asshole, that voice. It needed to shut the hell up. A big problem was the voice was starting to sound like Penny, and since she was MIA, I was forced to deal with all of my drama on my own.
I got up off the bed, put on my shoes, and grabbed my things. Food was a necessity, so the snack bar on the campus would be my destination. From there, I’d play it by ear. Maybe call Cassia or someone. I positively would not sit around feeling sorry for myself.
I dug out my keys and headed down the stairs, pausing on the bottom step when a sound from the living room caught my attention. A dejected looking Zver sat in the middle of the room. Guilt swept over me. The strife and stress between Teagan and me lately had resulted in the huge ball of fur not getting as much attention as usual. Seeing my keys in hand, Zver flopped down and laid his massive head on his paws with a sad sigh.
I felt like shit.
“We’ve neglected you, haven’t we, boy?”
He responded with a squinty blink and a soft whine.
I shrugged off my bag and my purse and walked over to him. Kneeling down beside the animal, I reached out and sank my hand into the thick, dark ruff around his neck. With a happy groan, Zver rolled onto his side so I had easy access to his belly. The dog sure loved his belly rubs.
I spent the next little while showing Zver some love and telling him everything that had been going on. Truth be told, the hound was an excellent listener. If he weren’t a dog, I’d have sworn he understood every word I spoke to him, i
f the sympathetic licks were any indication. Surprisingly, I felt a lot better after I poured my heart out to him.
I wasn’t sure what that said about me.
The growling of my stomach reminded me that I’d been on my way to get something to eat. I gave Zver a final pat then stood with a sigh. Despite the soft whine, he didn’t follow me to the door, and that made me feel a little better. It meant he’d been reassured somewhat of his place in his humans’ lives.
I got in the car after locking the front door and sat in the silence. The conversation with Teagan played over in my mind, and all the anger and hurt resurfaced. I really hadn’t deserved that attitude directed at me. However, I was trying to put myself in his shoes and understand what he was going through. Note that I said I was trying, not that I was having much luck. Mostly, I was just pissed off.
I started the car and headed to the campus. It looked like the snack bar would get my business two nights in a row. The drive went quickly, and soon I pulled into a spot near the campus grease pit. I grabbed my things and got out, groaning at the humidity. It seemed like it could be the dead of winter and there’d still be ninety percent humidity.
Taking care to lock the door, I headed to the snack bar. By this point, my stomach felt like it was trying to eat itself, and the smells escaping the building were mouthwatering. I opened the door and immediately the raucous sounds of a crowd greeted me. Perfect, the one night I wanted to be alone, the place was packed.
I debated leaving, but my stomach protested in such a loud manner it bordered on embarrassing. Not seeing another option, I took a deep breath, straightened my shoulders, and walked in. Only to come to a dead stop at what greeted me. This was so not what I needed right now. I’d managed to avoid this very thing. God, would anything go right with the day?
Sitting with several other members of the football team and a couple of cheerleaders was Ryan.
Once again, the thought of leaving crossed my mind. But the hunger won out and I cautiously eased through the crowd along the wall to the counter. I placed and paid for my order and then waited impatiently for them to serve it. Noisy laughter came from behind along with shouts back and forth between the booths that Ryan and the others occupied. I fought the urge to turn around and see what was going on.
Decisive Moments (In Time Series Book 2) Page 11