Page 13 of Be With Me

Chapter 5

Tyler

It’d happened again.

I woke up on the couch in my apartment. Snickers was sprawled out against my chest, and I was really glad for the shared body heat as I curled around him. For a few minutes, I dozed in and out of consciousness, until the vibration of my phone woke me.

Reaching beneath my ass, I frowned at the silky black boxers I was wearing. Did I even own a pair of silky boxers? Where the fuck had these come from?

I looked down at my phone. Willow. Tapping the screen to answer the call, I found the remote and turned down the television, where reruns of Mash were playing. “Hello?”

“Tyler?”

“Yeah. Who the hell else would be answering my phone?”

She sighed loudly. “Are you at home?”

Snickers squirmed over onto his back and sprawled out so I could rub his chest and belly. “Yeah, I’m at home.”

“How’d the shoot go yesterday?”

Yesterday? I forced my brain to work. “Uh, good. It went good. I think Stefanie got the cover shot she was looking for.”

“And how did things go with the photographer?”

Ailee…fuck! I struggled out from behind the dog and sat up. Goosebumps immediately broke out all over me. God, it was fucking cold in here.

I remembered telling her how I felt, and I remembered kissing her, but that was it. Everything after that was just…gone. I didn’t even know how I’d gotten home. Apparently, I’d eaten, if the dirty dishes on the coffee table in front of me were any indication.

“Tyler?”

I scrubbed my face with one hand. “Fine. It was fine. What time did you say it was?”

“I didn’t, but it’s almost noon.”

Not that long, then. I hadn’t lost that much time. “Willow, let me let you go. I just woke up and I’ve gotta piss like a racehorse.”

“TMI, dude. T-M-I. Call me later, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Promise?”

What the hell was up with my sister? “Yeah. Yeah, I promise. I’ll call you in an hour or two when I get up and around.”

“Okay. Don’t forget.” And then she hung up the phone.

I set my phone down on the coffee table and wrapped my arms around my middle, trying to get warm. Then I tapped the screen and checked the date. It was noon the following day. Nothing worse than a hard night’s sleep. Leaning forward, my stomach clenched in pain. It felt like it was full of rocks. Jesus Christ, what the hell had I eaten?

The thing was, I had no idea. I couldn’t remember. I didn’t even remember coming home. Had I taken the bus? Called a cab? Where the fuck was my wallet?

And how had I left Ailee yesterday? Was she alright?

I grabbed my phone and looked for her number. I knew I had it. I’d saved it last year when she’d called me for my address to send me my payment. I’d just never had the balls to call her out of the blue and ask her out. I found it and hit the green phone button. My mind scrambled for what to say. How to explain what had happened. And I had no fucking idea how to do that when I didn’t know myself.

She didn’t answer, so I left her a stilted message and put the phone down. I got up, trying hard to ignore the fact that I was on the fringe of a full-blown panic attack. My heart raced and cold sweat trickled down my spine, but somehow, I found some clean clothes and got in the shower. I hung my head, letting the scalding water loosen the muscles in the back of my neck. I didn’t think about this latest blackout. Didn’t wonder anymore about how I’d gotten home, or why this was even fucking happening to begin with. I didn’t think about school, or the classes that were about to start, or if there was something really physically wrong with me or if I was just going fucking crazy.

I didn’t think about any of that shit. I let the water wash away the panic, and I took deep breaths, and concentrated on slowing my heart rate.

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