AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What time is it?” I asked.
“After nine, but Asa went to the field house for early morning workouts,” Brady replied.
“Great,” I muttered.
Riley walked back into the room with a cup of coffee and a pill in her hand. “Take this and drink the coffee. Then go home and shower because you stink. Once you’re recovered, you need to go find Tallulah. I am over this ridiculous standoff you two are doing. I know what happened, and it’s not what you think. Get over there and talk to her forallof our sakes.”
I took the aspirin and popped it in my mouth, then washed it down with the coffee. Glancing up at Riley, I saw she had her hands on her hips and was glaring down at me. “She’s not gonna want to see me after last night.”
Riley rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. You were drunk. She knows that. She will want to see sober Nash. Now get yourself together.”
Brady sat down in the chair across from me, and Riley walked out of the room. I finished my coffee in silence. I wasn’t sure what all I’d said last night, but I did remember getting up in her face and smelling her like a damn crazed man. She’d smelled like Tallulah. God, I’d missed her.
“How bad was I?” I asked Brady.
He shrugged. “Other than the fact you tried to eat herup, not bad at all. She let you get close and didn’t move, so that says something. I’m not sure what the hell you were whispering in her ear, but she wasn’t pushing you away.”
“She ran out of here,” I reminded him.
He laughed. “Yeah, she did. You yelled at West like a jealous crazed idiot and scared the shit out of her.”
“Fuck,” I muttered again, then set my cup down and stood up. “I need to go. Where’s my keys?”
Brady nodded toward the door. “On the key rack,” he said.
I folded up the cover that had been thrown over me and then walked to get my keys. “Thanks for letting me crash,” I told him.
Brady smirked. “I don’t think I had an option. You passed out.”
Shaking my head, I left Brady’s. I had to get something in my stomach, and Riley was right: I stunk.
Asa wasn’t home when I pulled into the drive, and I was glad. Talking hurt my head. Listening hurt my head. Hell, breathing hurt my head. The hot shower, however, did give me some relief—or the pain medicine Riley had given me had started to work.
Once I no longer smelled of whiskey and smoke, I made myself some cheese toast. Food helped improve myhangover as well. Riley was right, I needed to go talk to Tallulah. Problem was I didn’t know where to fucking start. It had been thirteen months, twenty-one days, and seven hours since I had walked out of her office in Chicago. Seeing her last night didn’t count because my memories were blurry at best.
If after all that time she still consumed my thoughts, didn’t that mean something? I had to give her a chance to tell me why I’d walked in on her kissing that stupid fucker. I needed to know if she’d been with him this year. Had they dated? Had she been seeing someone? Could I handle it if she had been?
“Damn,” I growled, standing up and slamming my palm down on the table. Just thinking about it twisted me up inside so tightly I couldn’t take a deep breath.
My doorbell rang, interrupting my breakdown, and my head snapped up to glare at the door as if it had offended me. I wasn’t in the mood for another pep talk from one of my friends. Couldn’t they leave me alone for five minutes to think? I had too much to deal with right now, and they weren’t making it any better.
Stalking to the door, I jerked it open, ready to send away whoever had decided to stop by and butt into my life, when my eyes locked on Tallulah’s. All my anger vanished, and I stood there staring at her. She had come to me.I wasn’t sure that was a good thing. It was me who should have gone to apologize to her. What if she was here to tell me good-bye?
“Feeling okay?” she asked with a sympathetic half smile.
I shrugged and ran my hand through my hair before stepping back. “Better than I deserve,” I admitted. “Come in.”
She looked hesitant at first, but she walked inside and the scent of vanilla wafted past me. I had to fist my hands to keep from reaching out and grabbing her.
“You got a new sofa and a new truck,” she said, looking at the gray leather sofa.
“New bed, too,” I replied.
She forced a smile and glanced back at me. “That’s unlike you,” she said. “Buying new stuff like that.”
“I almost had the shower torn out and replaced,” I admitted.
Her eyebrows shot up. “Why? This house isn’t that old.”
