by Jen Andrews
Teagan looked into my eyes with such sincerity I felt it.
“You’re right,” she said. “Especially with the way things have gone up until yesterday. We should take our time.” She laughed. “But just so you know, I haven’t had sex since last September, so don’t make me wait too long.”
September? Holy shit. Poor girl. “September, huh?” More thoughts from previous conversations we’d had over the weekend came to me. “So you had a boyfriend until then?”
She frowned. “We broke up in January . . . his name was Gary. I lived in Denver with him for a couple years. I came home in January to find him in bed having sex with my best friend Katie. I’d been relieved from my shift early, because my patient died, and I came home to . . . that.”
Holy shit, I wanted to kill the fucker for hurting her. What she told me after that, made me want to kill him again. That prick cheated on her more than once, and with more than one woman. How could he do that to someone like her?
Then, to treat her with such disrespect about her weight, and the job she loved so much, was unconscionable to me.
“Teagan, I’m sorry that happened to you. What they did was shitty. Is this why you’ve mentioned cheating a few times this weekend?”
She nodded and looked away. Gary and Katie’s cheating had not only broken her heart but was still upsetting to her.
I gently took her chin in my hand and turned her head back to face me. “I’d never cheat on you. You know that, right? It’s not the way I was raised.”
She didn’t respond and it worried me. Did she think I would do that to her?
“I’ve seen what it’s done to people, and I would never cheat on you. Ever . . .” I hoped I was convincing her, but just in case I wasn’t I explained further, “Teagan, my grandfather cheated on my grandma every chance he got. She divorced him when she found out about it. By the time he died, he had ten children with six women. His cheating was hard on her and my mom, so they’ve always pounded it into mine, and my brothers’ heads that you don’t treat someone you love that way. I’d never do that to you, okay?”
Shit, did I tell her I loved her, in a roundabout way? Fuck, I guess I did.
She still wasn’t saying anything.
“Teagan, say something.” Had my little slip up just screwed me over?
She hugged me tightly around the neck, still not saying anything. Eventually, she let out a long sigh. “Sorry, that was a lot to take in and a lot for me to tell you. I haven’t talked about my situation much with anyone other than my family and Reese.”
An odd expression came over her face. “Speaking of Reese . . . Jeremy, he and I were roommates after Gary kicked me out. I need to let you know he only had a one-bedroom apartment, so we slept in the same bed.”
What the fuck? Slept in the same bed? “I’m sorry . . . when you say you slept in the same bed, do you mean you had sex?”
She laughed and then ran her fingers through my hair. “Reese is gay. As in, the thought of a vagina freaks him out . . . trust me.”
She had the cutest grin on her face, but I still wasn’t convinced.
“Where’s he sleeping until his apartment is ready?” I asked.
She frowned and looked away.
“Oh hell no, Teagan!” I growled as I picked her up off my lap and set her on the cushion next to me. I rose from the couch and paced the room.
She was going to let him stay in the same bed with her. Fuck that shit.
“He can stay here next week, then,” I offered, off the top of my head. “The guest room is all his, but he sure as hell isn’t sleeping with you.”
“Jeremy, calm down. He’s gay for Pete’s sake. My parents met him when they came to visit me in Denver and they don’t care if he sleeps in my room. Besides, it’s not like I knew I was going to have a boyfriend when he decided to move here,” she said, clearly exasperated. “So, I guess now is a bad time to tell you I was planning on moving in with him.”
“Please tell me you’ll have separate bedrooms when you move in with him, at least.” My stomach churned at the thought of them being roommates.
She burst out laughing, so I stopped pacing and stared down at her. “What the hell is so funny, Red?”
She laughed harder. “Are we already having our first fight?” Teagan covered her mouth to keep from laughing.
I shook my head while thinking about it. “Not if you count the three or four we’ve had since we’ve known each other.” I joined in her laughter and all the jealousy left my mind. I sat down and she crawled right back on my lap.
“Would you really let him stay here because you don’t want him sleeping in my bed?” she asked.
I turned and looked at her intently. “Hell yes. I don’t care if he’s gay or not. He’s still a man and I don’t want another guy sleeping with my girlfriend. How would you feel if the tables were turned?”
“You’re right, I’m sorry . . . I’ll change plans with him. On one condition though.”
I raised my brows waiting for her terms.
“Can I stay here, too?”
“Yes,” I said without even thinking because I wanted her to stay and wasn’t about to say no.
She tickled the crap out of me. “You and your stupid man yes’s,” she said, laughing. I tossed her off me onto the couch and pinned her down with my body.
“Be quiet, my girlfriend. I need to kiss you now,” I whispered and pressed my lips to hers.
The alarm on my cell went off at five thirty so I could get in a run with Jeremy before I had to leave for work. My eight-to-five shift this week was going to work out well for us, especially with Reese getting into town.
A few minutes after my cell alarm had gone off, the most god-awful sound blared from across the hallway in Jeremy’s room. Well, technically the guest room, since I was still using his. The noise echoed throughout the entire house. Can he not hear it?
Did he leave on his run without me and forget to shut off his alarm? If he had, I was going to kick his ass because running together was now my favorite part of the morning.
Holy crap. That horrid racket needs to stop.
I padded across the hallway, and flipped on his light. He was still sound asleep. I shut off the offending noise.
“Wake up, Sleeping Beauty.” I shook his shoulder but he gave no indication he was waking up. I pulled his covers back and shook him again . . . nothing.
“Jeremy, wake up!”
I shook him harder and he still didn’t budge. Thinking something was wrong with him, I rolled him onto his back, calling out his name again.
And then I went in to nurse mode.
With my fingers on his neck, I checked that he had a pulse and his chest rose and fell as he breathed. His color was good, there was no outward appearance of injury, and his skin was cool when I pressed the back of my hand to his forehead. I shook him again harder, and he finally groaned and stretched as if he were waking up the way he usually did.
“Jeremy, are you alright?” I asked, my voice trembling from the scare he’d given me.
“What’s wrong?” he asked sleepily without even opening his eyes.
Seriously? Did he sleep like this every night?
“Didn’t you hear your alarm going off? I heard it across the hallway. You scared me because you wouldn’t wake up.” To get my point across, I shoved his shoulder.
“Jesus, Red, is this how you’re going to wake me up every morning?”
I tried to stand, but he yanked me down onto the bed and pulled the sheet up over us. “Just ten more minutes, please.”
I giggled at his roughness and snuggled in close to his warm body. “You scared the heck out of me, Jeremy.” My heart was still pounding in my chest.
“I was sleeping, how could I have possibly scared you?”
“Your alarm was blaring and you wouldn’t wake up. I even took your pulse,” I said.
He laughed. “You really took my pulse?”
“God, you’re deaf and you sleep like the dea
d! Yes, I took your freaking pulse because you wouldn’t wake up,” I muttered against his neck.
“I’m sorry, Nurse Teagan. I didn’t mean to scare you. You should know, though, I do sleep like the dead, I always have. Once I fall asleep, I’m out cold. My dad is the same way. It takes several minutes for me to hear my alarm after it goes off, so that’s why I set it loud as hell.”
He let out a deep laugh and his chest rumbled against mine.
“Thanks for the warning.” I kissed his neck and pressed my body closer to his. There had to be a better way of waking him up each morning. I didn’t know how long I could stand to hear his crazy alarm every day.
Jeremy sat up suddenly, throwing the covers back. “Shit, I’m so sorry, I forgot you didn’t want to be on this bed.” He tried to move me off the bed.
“No, it’s fine. You said it was new, and I was being childish. I’m sorry for that.” It was just a bed. It’s not like Cammie had lived with him or anything. She’d never even been to this house. Apparently, I’m the only girlfriend who had.
“Since we’re up, let’s get our run out of the way so I can fix my boyfriend a nice breakfast before he goes off to work.”
“That sounds like a great plan.” He kissed my bare shoulder.
We got up, and once we were both ready, we headed out the door for our morning run.
“I need to stop by my house to pick up some work clothes for today. Then tonight after work, I’ll need to go home and pack more, now that I am staying for a week while Reese is here.” I smiled and gave him a playful elbow to the ribs.
Jeremy shot me a grin as we jogged down the block. “This feels really weird to be planning out our day together.”
He seemed nervous and honestly, a little clueless. Not in a bad way, but as if he really had no idea what it was like to be in a relationship. It was kind of cute.
“This is what normal couples do Jeremy,” I said with a smile. “You’re doing a great job for a rookie.”
He laughed heartily. “Aren’t normal couples supposed to exchange phone numbers too?” he asked with a sideways glance.
Crap, we’d been together since Friday, and I had never even thought about it. “You are correct, sir.”
A thought passed through my mind, and I abruptly stopped jogging. “Jeremy, I forgot I was going to see Cammie today.” He stopped running and came back to me.
“What am I supposed to tell her?” I asked. “Do I tell her we’re together and hope she leaves me alone, or do I tell her we’re only friends?”
“Honestly, I don’t know,” he replied. “I suppose you can see how it goes when you talk to her. Like I said, I’ll do whatever you want. I don’t want to lose you over this, Teagan. Not because of Cammie.” He bent his knees and slipped his arms around my waist, picking me up. “I mean it, Teagan. I want you . . . I want to be with you. I’ll go along with whatever you tell her.”
“Okay. I’ll let you know what happens as soon as I can.” Tilting my head to the side, I kissed him, slipping my tongue into his mouth, and wrapping my arms around the back of his neck.
Strong hands roamed over my butt, to my thighs, lifting my legs to lock them around his waist. Jeremy deepened the kiss, moaning against my mouth. He pulled back and rested his forehead against mine. He groaned and pulled my hips forward, blatantly drawing attention to his erection, as if I didn’t already know it was there.
I knew, and I liked it!
“You’re making it hard for me to run now,” he said.
I unlocked my legs and he set me down.
“I can take care of that for you real quick if you want to head back to the house.” I brushed the backs of my fingers over his shorts along his sizeable package.
Jeremy took a step back and closed his eyes. “Don’t make this harder on me than it already is,” he mumbled.
“You started it and you’re the one who keeps saying the word hard,” I retorted, stepping closer to him.
He put his hands out and stopped me. “I mean it, Red. You have to stop teasing me, and I’ll do the same. You need to do things your way when it comes to Cammie. Please, let me do this my way. I promise I’ll make it worth the wait.”
He chuckled and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek before he took off running.
After we stopped off at my house and picked up my work clothes for the day, I cooked our breakfast. Since Reese and I were going to be guests of Jeremy’s for a week, I decided to go grocery shopping after work so we wouldn’t be eating all of Jeremy’s food. It was the least I could do for him letting us crash at his place.
As we were getting ready to leave for the day, I picked up his cell phone and called my cell so we had each other’s numbers. I handed his phone to him and took mine out to add him to my contacts. I laughed quietly when I entered the name “Frank Sinatra” instead of his name.
I was paying homage to his gorgeous blue eyes, and how cute Nanna’s reaction had been to him. Plus, I didn’t want Cammie to realize I had his number if she happened to steal my phone. I wouldn’t put it past her, and I was positive she wasn’t smart enough to get my name joke.
Jeremy snatched the phone out of my hand and looked at the screen. “Nice.” He grinned, picked up his phone, and started typing. “Nope, that’s too long . . . hmm.” He typed something else. “Shit, that won’t work either.”
“What are you typing, my boyfriend?” I asked, trying to sneak a peek at his phone.
He jerked it away and laughed. “Hold your horses there, Red,” he said, while he typed. When he finished, he smiled and handed me his phone.
The words on the screen made me smile, because I knew he had chosen them from the Yeats poem he read to Nanna.
For my contact name, he had typed in “My Beloved.”
“Why’d you have to go and get all sweet with my name? Now the one I picked for you sounds lame.” I pouted playfully.
“Let’s get you over to your house to pick up your car.” Suddenly he pulled me into his arms and just held me. “Teagan, thanks for giving me a chance.” He kissed me gently on the lips then we left.
Jeremy drove me over to my parents’ house to drop me off. “Let me know how it goes today . . . as soon as you can so I don’t worry about you.”
I nodded and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. “Have a great day at work, dear,” I teased as I opened the door and stepped out of his car. He shook his head, told me goodbye and left. I had no time to waste so I went straight to my Neon and headed to work.
As soon as I pulled into a space at the hospital, I spotted Cammie exiting her car a few rows over from me. It’s now or never Teagan. I jogged toward her, “Cammie, can I speak with you, please?” I swear when she saw me jogging at her, I thought she was going to run. She must have had a flashback from when I jumped on her at Dub’s.
“What do you want, you crazy bitch?”
Alrighty then, I guess we’re going that route. Hmm, this could go several ways depending on my next words, so I needed to choose wisely. “Look, I wanted to talk to you about Jeremy.”
She stopped walking and spun to face me. “Me and Jeremy are perfect, thank you very much. We had an amazing weekend together.”
Clearly, she was delusional, so I’d let her live in her own world with her invisible Jeremy while I kept the real one all to myself.
“Cammie, I’m barely even friends with Jeremy, just so you know. My friends and his friends hang out sometimes so I only see him when he happens to be there.” The breath froze in my lungs as I waited for her response to my lies.
“Then why did you attack me?” she asked.
Um, because you’re bat-shit crazy!
“That had nothing to do with him. You were screwing with my job, and I found out about it. What you did to me is wrong, Cammie. You’ve got it in your head that I’m a threat to you somehow with Jeremy, and I’m not.” I took a step closer and raised my hands to show I meant no harm. Well, unless she kept messing with me. “Will you please stop what you’re doing t
o me? I haven’t done anything to you, so I’d appreciate it if you would leave me alone. I really do hope you and your Jeremy will have a happy life together.” You know, the one who doesn’t exist. “I’ll live my life with my boyfriend and won’t give this another thought, if you just . . . stop.” God, I hope I find a new job soon.
“You have a boyfriend?” she asked, being nosy. “What happened to Jared? I thought you were dating him.”
Crap . . .”I dated him briefly, but it didn’t work out,” I blurted. Think, Teagan. Think. I needed to show her proof I had a boyfriend. Reese! Jeremy, please forgive me for what I’m about to do.
“I’ve actually reconciled with my boyfriend from Denver. He’s driving here as we speak and we’re moving into an apartment together.” I lied as I’d never lied before and I hated it. I felt like I was betraying Jeremy, and he truly had become my dirty little secret. My stomach muscles involuntarily clenched at the thought.
Cammie eyed me curiously before she replied. “I’ll stop, but you need to stay the hell away from my boyfriend,” she muttered.
“Sure, not a problem.” I’d stay away from her boyfriend, but I wasn’t staying away from mine. Why did it feel like I was fifteen years old and in high school with this dumb bitch? Oh that’s right, because that’s how she’s acting.
Cammie turned and walked away from me. I checked the time on my phone. With less than five minutes before I needed to clock in, I had no time to call Jeremy. I ran to the entrance, swiped my key card, and jogged to the break room to clock in, making it right on time.
I didn’t want Jeremy to worry all morning, so once I checked my schedule for the day, I slipped into the bathroom to text him.
Our chat was interesting. No time to call you now so details will have to wait. Working in ER all day so I’ll be busy. Miss you already. Have a good day at work. Xoxoxoxxxxx
As soon as I silenced my phone and dropped it back in my pocket, it vibrated with an incoming text. I pulled my phone back out. I laughed when I saw the name on the screen. Frank Sinatra. My beautiful blue-eyed boyfriend.
