Page 48 of After the Storm

After the weirdest interaction I’ve had with my mom since she gave me the sex talk, we go up to my bedroom. I walk over to the bed taking off my sweatpants leaving me in just my boxers. As I’m about to get in the bed I realize Audra is just standing there, awkwardly.

“What’s up, pretty girl?” I ask, walking over to her. She uses her hands to gesture to her clothes.

“All I have on is a wet bathing suit and a wet t-shirt. I can’t get in your bed like this.” She laughs. She isn’t wrong; I’d really prefer she not get in my bed in her wet bathing suit. In fact, I wouldn’t mind her getting in with nothing on.

“Take it off then,” I say, smirking. She swats at my arm.

“Can I have clothes, please?” she asks with a little bit of attitude. I nod, walking over to my dresser and pulling out one of my t-shirts. As soon as I hand it to her, she pulls my wet t-shirt over her head and unties the bathing suit top she’s got on, letting it drop to the floor. I just saw her like this an hour or two ago, and I still feel like my brain is short-circuiting. She pulls the bathing suit bottoms off leaving her with nothing on. All while I watch. The hottest part of it is that she sees me watching, and it doesn’t make her stop. She pulls the new t-shirt over her head and crawls into my bed. If you told me a year ago that Audra Hart would be in my bed wearing my t-shirt with no panties, I would have called you afucking liar.Then I would have gone to bed and prayed it would come true.

No more prayers needed, she’s really in my bed wearing nothing but my t-shirt and I’m really lucky enough to sleep next to her while she is. It doesn’t last long though before I have her out of the shirt again and moaning in my ear.

Chapter19

Audra

“So areyou going to tell me what the deal is with you and Roman?” Ravyn asks. She has her serious face on. It’s almost intimidating enough to convince me to spill everything. Then I consider how Ares would feel if everyone knew before him, and for that reason, I don’t.

“There’s nothing to tell that you don’t already know. We’ve been hanging out, he kissed me, I freaked, and now we’re back to being just friends.” I shrug her off but the words taste sour in my mouth. I don’t know what feels worse. Lying to Ravyn or downplaying what I have with Roman. Both feel dead wrong and I feel half sick over it.

“Sure, if that’s the story you want to stick with,” she says with an unimpressed laugh.

“It’s not a story, Ray. We’re just friends,” I groan, doubling down on my lie.

“You might be able to convince Ares, but you know I’m too smart for this,” she counters. She’s right, I know she is. I know she isn’t asking because she has some hunch. She’s asking because she knows. Still, confirming what she thinks she knows would make Ares the one out of the loop.

I’m not ready for anyone to know yet. I need to know this is right first. The only thing worse than beingsowrong about my last relationship would be getting it wrong twice, back to back. It’s stupid of me to even be doing this, I should be healing first before I even think about any of this. Instead, I’m high off of kisses in the ocean and letting myself free fall.

“There’s nothing to convince. It’s just the truth.” All she gives as a response is a low disinterested hum. I know after what happened the last thing I should be doing is hiding things from my best friends. I know it isn’t right. But neither is telling everyone about something before I even know what there is to tell. There’s no right answer.

“I should probably get going,” I say, gesturing to the door.

“Audi, you don’t have to leave,” she says. Her face softens, I can tell she feels bad.

“No, it’s okay. I needed to get going anyway,” I assure her. It isn’t true though. The truth is, I can’t sit with the guilt of hiding it from her and I can’t sit with the judgment either. We say our goodbyes and even share an uncomfortable hug before I walk out the door.

As I walk out to my car, I notice there’s a red truck, one like Tyler’s, in the driveway next door. Adrenaline spikes in my veins but I take deep breaths and remind myself there are a million red trucks in South Carolina.Just because there is a red truck doesn’t mean he’s watching you.Except, I wouldn’t know because hehasbeen watching me.

With shaking hands, I open up the door to my car and climb in. I consider pulling out my phone and calling someone or running back into Ravyn’s house but it’s just a red truck. I start the car and pull out of the driveway onto the road. As I reach the end of the street, the red truck pulls out of the driveway and turns in the same direction, following a couple of car lengths behind me.Shit. Shit. Shit.

It could still be a coincidence, right?

I turn onto the main road going toward my house and the red truck turns too. My heart sinks in my chest and leaves a burning sensation behind it. I reach for my phone and my hands shake so heavily, I almost can’t hold on to it. I dial Roman’s phone number and set the phone down, leaving it on speaker. After a couple of rings he finally picks up the phone.

“Hey, Auds. Have fun at Ravyn’s?” he asks. The sound of his voice is enough comfort to let me fully fall apart. I let out a loud cry before speaking.

“I think someone is following me,” I choke out.

“What? Who’s following you?”

“I… I don’t know.” I suck in a harsh breath. “I think it might be Tyler. I just don’t know. It’s the same truck that he has but I can’t see.”

“Where are you?” he barks out. I can hear him grab his keys in the background.

“I’m on Turtle Crossing Boulevard. By the shop.”

“Go to the shop. Beck is there. I’ll meet you there.”

“Please don’t hang up,” I cry into the phone.

---