Home For The Holidays

I’m not one hundred percent sure what else that viper said to make him walk away from his family, but knowing Tessa and the way she operates, I can only imagine. Still, like dad said, Tom had been raised with more sense than what he’s portraying now, and I can’t imagine what could’ve been said to make him act the way he has been, especially towards his girls. I’m almost certain he thinks that they’re not his, but how could that be?

Dad and I exchanged small talk for a hot minute before I made my escape and headed upstairs. It was almost time for Jared’s call, and I wanted to be alone in the warm comfort of my room when I hear his voice. I still get giddy at the sound of his voice still have butterflies just from the thought of him. I wonder how long before they disappear, even as I hope they never do.

No sooner had I hit the bed than my mind traveled back in time once more. I guess it’s because things are coming to a head that my head is so filled with thoughts and memories of the last few months. Sometimes it feels as if only days had passed until I look at all we’ve done together in the time we’ve known each other.

After our first lunch, where I got a first-hand taste of what I’d be missing if I said no to his presumptuous proposal, I headed back to the dorm, not quite steady on my feet. His kisses were another kind of hell in the sense that I missed them as soon as he was out of my sight, something else my body didn’t seem to like.

When he’d put me in the back of his chauffeur-driven luxury SUV hours later, I was still in a daze. I’d had a hell of a time remembering why it was that I’d gone to him in the first place. I did recall, though, that in-between kisses, he’d reassured me that he’d be glad to help.

By the time I entered my dorm room, I was almost back to normal and realizing I’d gotten nothing done because I’d been too busy swallowing his tongue. There was a lot to unpack from that one meeting, and me, being in my first blush of love, had been way out of my element. I couldn’t talk to anyone about him, one of the things we’d agreed on while he had me sitting on his lap, which by the way, I still am not sure what that thing is in his pants no matter what he says.

I did warn him that it might not be safe to keep his pet snake in there, to which he’d laughed and squeezed the life out of me. I got the sense that he sees me as some sort of comic relief as much as he laughs at the things I say and do. At least we’d graduated from him giving me odd looks.

I’d barely slept a wink that first night, still mulling over the decision I made and whether or not it was the right thing to do. I’d said as much to Jared right before I left, and his answer should probably have sent me running hard in the opposite direction but somehow, the more assholish his words, the more drawn to him I seem to be.

His answer when I questioned whether or not it was smart to get involved with him was that since he’d gotten a taste of me, the choice was no longer up to me. In fact, his very words were, and I quote, ‘you don’t have to worry about that any longer. If it makes you feel better, just tell yourself that I took the decision out of your hands. Since you’re too young and afraid to handle a grown-up relationship, I’ll just take the reins.’

I’d messed up and let slip that those were the two things bothering me. Of course, every argument I had had been knocked back until I just gave in, not like he gave me any choice. The next day after my last class of the day, I got a text telling me that his car will be waiting for me. To test his knowledge, I sent one back saying I had another class, to which he sent me my entire schedule back with a terse, ‘don’t make me have to come get you.’

And that, as they say, is that. That was the beginning of the best three and a half months of my life. A time that seemed to fly by as pleasure-filled as it was. By the end of our first week together, I was saying silent prayers of gratitude for the fact that I’d held out, that I’d saved myself even though I had no idea who or what I was saving myself for.