Learning To Love Again (Book #1 In The Learning To Love Again Series

by Jessica Danielle

  Micheal woke up during the night, back aching from the position that he laid throughout the night. Half awake, he got up to get a drink of water, squinting in the darkness as he sighed. Walking toward Willow’s bedroom and slipping into bed next to her, seeking her out even in his half-awake state. Going to sleep next to her peacefully.

  Chapter Twelve

  Willow looked around at her surroundings. White walls were around her as she walked down the halls, hearing her heels clicking against the hard flooring. Feeling as if she were lost, looking down every path, trying to figure out where she was.

  Until she smacked right into someone. She looked up at who she ran into, her 5’3 stature not that far off from the person, which was Eric, shoving his dirty blonde hair away from his face.

  “Good, we’ve been looking everywhere for you, Willow,” he said, as he hugged her closely. And she saw Tommy not far off, his 6’2 height making him seem taller compared to Eric’s 5’6.

  “Don’t be so dramatic, Eric. Sorry Willow, you know how he gets sometimes,” Tommy said in a knowing way.

  “Come on, he’s been trying to find you too,” Tommy added, as Willow went to follow Tommy with Eric staying close to Willow’s side they walked through the maze of white walls. As she looked at them, she noticed they weren’t plain white walls at all but covered with pieces of artwork, everywhere.

  “Are we in a gallery?” she questioned as Tommy looked back at her like she was crazy.

  “Yes, for Micheal’s opening. After he met with fans, well we couldn’t find you,” Tommy explained, as he rounded a corner and Willow saw Micheal talking to what looked like a gallery employee, concern in his voice as he talked quickly.

  Until his eyes landed on her. And seeing her, wiped the concern from his face, relief replacing it as he took her in his arms, then pulled back.

  “Crap, I’m sorry, I forgot I was wearing coveralls,” Micheal said as he moved her away from him, as he moved his black hair that moved in his eyeline, obscuring his view. Pulling back however, there were paint splotches that now covered the shirt that she was wearing.

  “It’s ok. Casualty of the business I know,” She replied, noticing that Tommy and Eric were backing away in her peripheral vision.

  “What are you two doing?” she asked, as she felt Micheal smile against her neck before he kissed it.

  “Oh, you know, we just don’t want to be around for well, you know last time,” Eric said as he backed away further from the pair, one of his hands rubbing the back of his neck.

  “Last time? What was last time?” she questioned, not understanding as Micheal chuckled.

  “Last time, at an opening we didn’t make it to the hotel room,” Micheal whispered in her ear.

  “No, no, I know what you are telling her. You were dry humping, like teenagers outside the hotel room. I couldn’t look at you two for a week without remembering. My brain is scarred for life and I don’t want another scar, so we are just going to leave,” Eric said, pushing Tommy back, as Tommy laughed at his friend’s reaction.

  “I told you, he’s overdramatic. See you both at the hotel later,” Tommy said as he followed Eric towards the back of the Museum, leaving the two of them alone.

  “He is overdramatic,” Willow commented, as she felt Micheal’s lips on her neck.

  “Like an overgrown child, but he has good intentions,” he commented as he pulled away from her.

  “He is right though, I need to change out of this before anything else happens,” Micheal said, taking her hand and leading her through the maze of pathways, until he stopped at a back door, opening it and flipping on a light, revealing the staff room for the museum workers, lockers littered the room. Willow watched as he went to one of them, pulling out a change of clothes that he must’ve stashed there before the gallery showing.

  Suddenly Willow was spun around facing away from Micheal and faced a mirror as she stared at their shared reflections. Her eyes closing at the sensation of him moving her hair to one side, and his lips on her exposed neck.

  “I missed you,”

  “I thought you wanted to get out of those?” She questioned as he nipped at her neck.

  “Want to help me take them off?” he asked, pulling her closer to him. And Willow realized the coveralls left little to the imagination. Feeling him grind against her.

  “And then we can have a little fun of our own here,” he whispered.

  “Now I’m understanding what Eric was talking about earlier,” Willow said as she tried to not laugh, picturing the horrified look on Eric’s face.

  “Well, we couldn’t exactly make it in the room at all, but it’s not my fault that I can't help myself with you,” Micheal said as he wrapped his arm around Willow’s waist.

  “You know I love you, Willow,” he whispered, as Willow’s vision slowly faded away. Along with the sensation of Micheal holding onto her, as she tried to hold his arm against her. To stay. And then it was just darkness.

  Willow was lying comfortably in bed, moving slightly in her sleep. And then she was awake, thinking back to her dream.

  How was that a dream? It felt so real.

  Willow laid on her side, panting as her brain focused on the dream, replaying it in her head. Her thoughts on how it felt and feeling her pulse race.

  Great, now I'm horny that’s just great.

  She moved to roll over and felt something next to her move with her as she did so. She turned to look behind her and saw that Micheal was lying next to her in bed, with his arm and leg wrapped around her waist that kept him close to her.

  Her immediate reaction was shock because when she went to sleep last night, she certainly didn’t go to sleep with him in her bed. He had been sleeping on the couch. Her eyes took in his sleeping face. Some of his dark hair covered his face. Then her eyes traveled down, realizing that what she probably felt in her dreams was him, grinding on her in her sleep.

  Before she could do anything else, he moved in his sleep, groaning as she moved his hair out of his face. He looked up at her through the hazy of sleep in his eyes, staring right at her. Shock written all over his face. He untangled himself from her, moving as far as he could away from her in the bed.

  “What is going on? Why am I here? How did I get here?” He asked confused, sounding almost as if he was asking himself those questions and not Willow.

  “I must’ve gotten up at night and thought I was home. I’m sorry. Fuck, I’m sorry, you understand I wouldn’t–” He said as he went to get up out of the bed, noticing that he was only wearing boxers, as Willow’s eyes traveled down as he went to cover his lower half with a pillow.

  Willow smiled as she noticed a slight pink tinge come across his face.

  “I understand. I know you wouldn’t come in here if it wasn't mutual. I’m good. Are you well?” she asked sitting more up in the bed, as Micheal cleared his throat, watching as relief and a bit of sadness washed over his face looking at her.

  “You had someone in your life that you trusted and betrayed that trust. You don’t have to brush this off. I know what I did was wrong and I’m sorry.” he said as he went to leave the room, leaving Willow sitting up in her bed confused.

  She quickly tried to untangle herself from the sheets, following him into the living room. He was already putting on his pants and buttoning them. The shirt quickly put on after that.

  “Why are you leaving? I said it was fine. We are both fine. I didn’t mind you, lying next to me while I was dreaming. It was very interesting,” she mentioned, as she watched as his brows furrowed together at that.

  “You were dreaming about me?” he asked, as a slight smile danced across his face. With Willow’s face heating at his reaction.

  “Yes, and little ahem Micheal made an appearance as well,” she mentioned gesturing around his waist area. He broke out in laughter, which led to the two of them laughing as she replayed the dream in her head.

  “I’m sorry, the first time I think I can say that I've grinded on someone i
n their sleep. Honestly, the only reason besides thinking that I was at home would lead me to you. I guess it would be my subconscious needing to make sure you were ok. Since well the last time you were in this apartment, it didn’t end well,” Micheal admitted, rubbing the back of his neck as he cleared his throat, and looked at her.

  “When I heard the call, it scared the crap out of me. I came here as quick as I could with Larry. He told me repeatedly that he would handle the situation. But I couldn't simply just wait in the car to see what would happen. It took everything in me to not go after that bastard,” Micheal admitted, as Willow saw darkness creep in his eyes at his explanation.

  At that moment, Amanda opened the door, a bag slung around her shoulder with a smile on her face. Like she was expecting to walk in on something between Willow and Micheal. The smile dropped immediately from her face was telling enough for Willow to know that that was Amanda’s angle.

  “Hey, morning,” she said, as she closed the door behind her.

  “Good morning, hope you slept well,” Micheal replied, as Amanda deposited her bag by the entrance and walked into the kitchen.

  “Good, without Willow for the past week waking me up constantly and last night with being in the other apartment, well I’ve started getting used to not having to wake up so much,” Amanda said as there were sounds of cabinets being opened in the kitchen. The smell of ground coffee filled the air a second later.

  “You know I heard that, right?” Willow asked rhetorically, as she walked into the kitchen to grab a coffee cup for herself, Amanda, and Micheal. Tapping her fingers against the counter, waiting for the coffee to brew, Willow felt Amanda’s eyes boring into the back of her head.

  Willow turned to look at Amanda and saw that she was looking at her expectantly.

  “What happened last night?” Amanda whispered, Willow smiled slightly, ignoring the question and opting to fill the three cups full of coffee. Filling hers with some creamer and a bit of sugar, she watched as her friend filled the coffee with creamer and 5 packets of sugar to disguise the fact that what she was drinking was in fact coffee.

  With a shake of her head, Willow took the other coffee cup and walked into the living room, noticing that Micheal was grabbing for his shoes.

  “Here’s some coffee, I don’t know what you like, but everything is out on the counter in the kitchen,” she said. Micheal took the coffee cup and walked into the kitchen as Amanda was still stirring up her concoction that was barely coffee at this point.

  Amanda’s back stiffened as he entered the kitchen while he poured some creamer and added a bit of sugar into his cup.

  “Don’t worry, nothing happened last night. Just slept off the booze. I wouldn’t do anything to Willow. She’s a friendly person and from the impression that I got from my son, that adores her; I sure as hell will not let that Andrew guy come back. I like her, I do, I can see something with her. But I want to make sure that I am ready for another relationship, and I want to wait until she is ready to get back into one. So, if you need anything, here is my number, call whenever.” Micheal whispered, as he grabbed a stray piece of paper and wrote a collection of numbers, and slid it to her, before taking a sip of his coffee.

  “Thank you. For helping with the Andrew situation. And with Willow, taking care of her this past week and everything.. She seems to really like you. I hope we get to see more of you around here.” Amanda said in a whispered reply, and turned to face Willow with a big smile on her face.

  “What?” Willow asked as Amanda shook her head. Glancing back at Micheal, as they shared a look that Willow didn’t understand.

  Micheal took a quick glance at his watch and Willow could swear his eyes grew like twice their normal size.

  “Crap, I have to go. I’m going to be late for a meeting with my agent. But thanks for the food and the booze last night. I can check quickly with the super when the locks are going to get changed on the apartment, and Willow, I’ll see you at Evan’s school Monday.” Micheal listed off, before slipping his shoes on quickly, grabbing his leather jacket and sunglasses. Leaving the apartment in a rush.

  Willow and Amanda just looked at the door to the apartment kind of in shock at how quickly he left.

  “Well, I have to say, Willow, I like this one. And he has money, like buckets of money.” Amanda said approvingly, as Willow smiled at her friend.

  “You realize that it is not just about the money he has? He’s also a nice person. But he’s just a friend, and I’m a substitute at his son’s school. Nothing is going to happen.” Willow says, shaking her head in disbelief at her friend’s words.

  “Well, look at it like this then. What good friend would take you home to rest your ankle when you barely know them. Then get their bodyguard to come after your abusive boyfriend. When he finds out that said boyfriend got out of jail, ends up staying the night at your apartment to make sure that you are safe? I mean yeah, some friends, maybe. Possibly boyfriend material, ding baby!” Amanda said as Willow laughed.

  “Ok, well let me tell you about this morning then, because that is going to blow your mind,” Willow says, sitting down on the couch. Amanda sits next to her, setting her coffee cup on the little table as she faces Willow.

  “Do I need snacks? I think I’m going to need snacks for this,” Amanda said, as Willow laughed. Amanda walks to the kitchen to grab random bags of snack food, before coming back to sit next to Willow.

  “Well after you left, I went to go to sleep, and I realized I forgot to go clean the dishes, I went to walk out and there was Micheal undressing, and I was just in the doorway totally drooling all over myself like an idiot.” Willow explains, retelling the events of last night and telling her friend about the dream that she had, with implications of what happened when she woke up.

  And as Willow was retelling this story to her best friend, all she could think about was what Amanda had been telling her.

  Micheal was more than a friend.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Willow jolted out of her sleep in her bed from the sounds of banging on her door followed by shouting.

  “Willow open up!” the person shouted, with it only taking Willow a second to register the voice that was on the other side of the door, Andrew.

  She didn’t know how he got into the apartment building, but he did.

  Suddenly the doorknob moved unsteadily from side to side. As if it was lurching forward from the motion on the other side of the door. Leaving Willow questioning if she should stay in her room or go to the door. Finding herself standing in front of the apartment door that was being pounded on.

  Willow felt lightheaded as she tried to take in a breath but found it felt hard to breathe at the thought of Andrew being on the other side of the door, trying to get in. She covered her mouth, to cover up her voice as tears streamed down her face.

  He can’t get in, he just can’t. There are too many locks on the door.

  Just as quickly as the pounding on the door started, it stopped. And after a minute, Willow dared to move to the door and look into the peephole to see if he was still outside the apartment.

  Seeing Andrew outside the door wasn’t what rattled her. It was him staring directly into the peephole, almost looking through her. And then there were his eyes. The gray eyes that had been warm towards her at the beginning of the relationship looked bugged out like he was crazy. And looking directly at her in the peephole, at her, as if he was looking into her soul through the peephole.

  Then her eyes went to what was in his hands that she couldn’t quite make out because of the fisheye effect the peephole gave.

  Willow moved back, away from the door with a gasp, as the knob rattled again in fear for her life because she realized what he held in his hand.

  A hunting knife, that was big and had a serrated edge to the end of it. That looked like it could do some serious damage.

  Willow woke with a gasp, feeling like flames were engulfing her, moving the blanket from her body. Her eyes go to the front do
or of the apartment, almost waiting for the doorknob to jiggle and turning like it did in the nightmare.

  She sat up in bed, just waiting for the events of the dream to take hold, but after a few minutes, she realized complete and utter silence surrounded her. And that she was in the apartment, alone.

  She sighed, feeling the cool air from the fan touch her sweaty skin. Getting up from the bed, she slowly walked towards the front door to triple-check the locks and daring herself to look through the peephole just to make sure she wasn’t dreaming anymore.

  Upon not seeing Andrew or anyone outside the apartment, she went to get something to drink from the fridge.

  Amanda was working the night shift restocking inventory at the local grocery store. Willow knew that the sound of the locks slamming against the door would wake her. That wasn’t the problem that worried her. Or what her subconscious seemed to be worried about at all. Considering the nightmare that she had just woken up from.

  After getting a glass of water, she took a shaky breath. Walked back into her bedroom and grabbed for her phone, scrolling through the contacts aimlessly. Willow felt the tears well up in her eyes at the nightmare that felt so real. Her finger stopped at Amanda’s number, hovering over it, thinking about whether she should call her friend at this hour. She shrugged it off and was about to click her phone off when she saw Micheal’s contact info was also in her phone.

  Her finger hovered over the name and clicked on it and she bit at her lip in thought over calling him.

  It was just a nightmare should I really be calling him over this? Even if the nightmare had been fueled by a genuine fear?

  Without a second thought, Willow clicked on his cell number, listening to the dial tone. And wondering if he would even answer at such a late hour. She looked over at her clock, which read the time as 11:30 pm, as she grimaced, listening to the ringing.