Trailed

by Naomi Niles

  “You’ll feel better in a bit,” Sam said, rubbing his fingers against my temples.

  “Wow,” I breathed. “That feels amazing.”

  He smiled. “I do this for myself when I get headaches. It really helps, doesn’t it?”

  “It really, really does,” I sighed.

  “I’m glad you like it.”

  He seemed in no hurry to stop, and I didn’t bother asking him to. For just a few moments, I wanted to be selfish. For just a few moments, I wanted to be pampered and looked after. Because when I woke up the next morning, there would be no time left over for myself.

  “It’s late isn’t it?” I said, glancing at the clock on my bedside table.

  “Yes,” Sam nodded. “Would you like me to leave?”

  He had misunderstood my observation as a subtle way of telling him to go. But the thought was suddenly abhorrent to me. I found myself reaching out to him, grabbing the front of his shirt and pulling him closer to me.

  “No,” I said. “Please don’t go. Stay here with me.”

  He didn’t answer, but I felt him kick off his shoes and settle into place beside me. I relaxed into him, resting my head against the hard surface of his chest. I had forgotten how exceptionally wonderful it was to fall asleep against another human being. It didn’t feel like flying, exactly. It felt more like floating.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Sam

  I woke up groggily, and for a second, I genuinely had no idea where I was. It took another moment before I was conscious of the fact that there was someone lying next to me. I glanced down and saw Mia’s dark hair thrown across my chest, creating a pattern of waves there. I admired the angular beauty of her face for a moment before panic started to set in.

  I never spent the night with women, particularly not women I barely knew. My flight instinct was kicking in, and I wanted to leave before she woke up. At the same time, I was aware of the fact that I didn’t want to hurt her. I didn’t want her to think last night had been just about sex. I shook my head. Isn’t that exactly what it had been, though? I was confusing myself.

  I slowly unwound Mia’s limbs from my own and snuck out of bed, careful to make as little noise as possible. I put on my boxers and I was just pulling up my pants when Mia sighed, turned, and opened her eyes, catching me in the act. She stared at me with those brilliant green eyes for a long moment before she sat up quickly.

  “What time is it?” she asked urgently.

  “I…

  “Six-ten,” she answered herself, as she glanced at the clock on her bedside table. “Oh, it’s still early.”

  “Yeah…”

  She turned to me, and I wasn’t sure if I saw accusation in her eyes. “You’re leaving?”

  “Um… I have an early shift today,” I lied. In truth, my shift wasn’t due to start for hours. I just wanted to get out of here and clear my head as soon as possible.

  “Right,” Mia nodded. “Well, you better get going. Would you mind handing me my robe, please? It’s on the chair in the corner.”

  I pulled on my pants, fastened them quickly, and then handed her the dressing gown she had pointed out to me. She slipped it on and got out of bed, adjusting her hair as she did so.

  I could sense a slight awkwardness between us. The comfort of last night had dissipated slightly and I wondered if the alcohol had more to do with the magic I had sensed between us than anything else.

  Mia went to her bedroom door, opened it, and peeked outside. “Vanessa’s still sleeping,” she told me. “And Renni is, too.”

  I nodded, realizing that she didn’t want me to be seen as I made my way out of her house. I pulled on my t-shirt and headed out the door. She followed me quietly and opened the front door to let me out.

  “Thanks for taking care of me last night,” Mia said at the threshold.

  “It was my pleasure.” I smiled at her formally. “I guess I’ll see you around…”

  She hesitated for a moment. “Sure,” she said uncertainly.

  I wasn’t sure if she was happy to be rid of me or annoyed with the fact that I had been trying to sneak out while she had been asleep. I was aware that this was the first time ever I actually felt like a jerk for doing so.

  I got into my truck and headed straight for Peter’s house. It was early, but I knew Peter and Madison would both be up.

  Peter liked his cooking time in the morning and Madison usually woke up a little earlier than usual just to keep him company. That was true love, in my opinion – when you actually sacrificed sleep to be with your significant other. I found them both in the kitchen.

  “Hi, guys,” I said, taking a seat at the table. “I’ve got troubles.”

  Madison and Peter exchanged an amused glance. “Well, good morning to you, too,” Peter said, rolling his eyes.

  “Yeah, yeah,” I nodded, reaching for the homemade muffins on the table. “Chocolate chip?” I asked, directing my question at Madison.

  “Chocolate chip and banana,” she nodded. “I helped make them.”

  I took a bite. “Damn, these are good.”

  “So?” she asked curiously. “What’s your problem?”

  “I had sex last night.”

  Peter sat down between Madison and me and sipped his coffee. “I knew you didn’t have a problem,” he said. “You’re just here to brag.”

  I shot him a dirty look. “You don’t know the whole story.”

  “Okay,” he said. “Shock me.”

  “Her name is Mia,” I explained. “And, I spent the night with her.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “Hmm…intentionally?”

  “Well, she asked me to stay with her,” I admitted.

  “And, you actually listened?”

  “We had a good night,” I shrugged. “And… I… I don’t know… We seemed to have a connection.”

  It appeared I really had succeeded in shocking Peter because he gave Madison a curious look before turning back to me. “What was this connection based on?”

  “She was in a car accident about a week ago,” Sam said. “I was one of the fire fighters on the ground.”

  “You hit on a woman who’d just been in a car accident?” Madison asked.

  “It wasn’t like that,” I said, trying to defend myself.

  “It wasn’t?”

  “Okay, maybe it was a little like that.”

  “You are a piece of work,” Peter said, shaking his head at me.

  “Hey, she seemed to like me, too,” I said. “Her kid certainly did.”

  “She has a kid?” Madison asked.

  “Yeah,” I nodded. “Did I not mention that part?”

  “You conveniently left that part out,” Peter said.

  “She has a daughter named Renni,” I said. “She’s five and smart as a whip.”

  “So you’ve…spent time with her daughter?” Madison asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “Isn’t that sort of a big step?” she asked cautiously.

  “It’s not what it sounds like,” I rushed to clarify. “I was the one who pulled Renni out of the backseat of the car. I was with her until Mia was finished being examined. The kid was scared and upset, so I was just…distracting her. It wasn’t like Mia and I were dating and she introduced me to her daughter.”

  “Hmm,” Madison nodded, but she didn’t sound totally convinced.

  “It’s complicated,” I said.

  “It seems that way,” Peter nodded. “Let me ask you a question.”

  “Okay?”

  “What happened last night exactly?” he asked. “What made you stay with her?”

  “It was a combination of things,” I admitted. “She was slightly drunk and had a headache coming on. I drove her back home and walked her to her room. She just needed someone to…look out for her.”

  “And you stepped up,” Madison smiled.

  “Well, yeah,” I nodded. “There was no one else.”

  “Where was her kid?” Peter asked.

  “Sleeping,�
� I said. “Mia has a really close friend who looks after Renni when she’s at work.”

  “And, this friend was at the house, too?” Peter asked.

  “What are you getting at?”

  “Why didn’t you just wake the friend up and have her take care of Mia?” he asked slyly.

  I sighed and leaned back in my seat. “That would have been a dick move.”

  “Isn’t that your only move?” Peter asked. “Especially after sleeping with a woman?”

  I sighed. “I think I’m losing my touch.”

  “I for one think that’s something you should be proud of,” Madison said, patting me on the back. “Come on, Sam, did you really think you were going to be able to do this forever?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “This casual sex thing you’ve got going,” she explained. “At some point, some girl was bound to make an impression on you. And it seems you’ve finally met your match.”

  “Are you saying I have feelings for her?” I was appalled.

  “It certainly sounds that way,” she nodded with a smile.

  “I barely know her,” I said defensively.

  “I barely knew Madison,” Peter pointed out. “That didn’t stop me falling.”

  “Whoa,” I said, holding up my hands as though to shield myself from the two of them. “Hold up. I’m not ‘falling’ here.”

  “Oh, okay,” he nodded, as though he believed me. “I guess that means you aren’t going to see Mia again, huh?”

  His phrasing had the desired effect. My face crumpled slightly, and I could feel the disappointment etched there. “Umm…”

  “Umm what?” Peter asked calmly.

  I sighed. “I do want to see her again,” I admitted.

  Madison clapped her hands together excitedly. “I knew it! I knew this was bound to happen sooner or later.”

  “Personally, I was hoping for much, much later,” I sighed.

  “Please,” Peter rolled his eyes at me. “You were hoping for never.”

  “Or that,” I agreed.

  “You act as though this is a bad thing,” Madison said reproachfully.

  I shook my head. “I’m getting ahead of myself. This is not serious. I’m not in love with this woman. She’s just…a little different from the women I usually sleep with. That’s the reason she’s made more of an impression.”

  Madison and Peter exchanged a glance. “If you say so,” Peter said. Then he pushed the plate of muffins towards me. “Another muffin?” he offered.

  I took another muffin from the plate and took a big mouthful. I didn’t stop thinking about our conversation the entire way to Jackson’s Bar. Peter and Madison’s words kept echoing in my ears and it was starting to make me a little nervous. The bar was silent when I walked in, but Jackson’s car was parked outsidem so I knew he was around somewhere.

  I heard movement in the back, so I followed the sound. The door was slightly ajar, and I pushed it open and walked in to see Jackson shoving a stack of cash into a safe that had been recessed into the wall. He gave a startled jump when he noticed my presence.

  “Fuck, man!” he gasped. “You scared me.”

  I forced a smile on my face and tried not to look too closely at the safe behind him. He seemed in a hurry to cover it up and change the subject, and I didn’t want to push him into explaining himself. This was his business, after all, and if there were any mistakes to be made, they were his to make.

  “Sorry,” I said. “Thought I’d drop by and see how things looked the morning after.”

  “You’re a good man.” Jackson smiled, as he led me out of the room. “How did things go last night between you and the hot MILF?”

  “Pretty great,” I nodded.

  “Does that mean you got laid?”

  I gave him a telltale smile, and he clapped me on the back. “That’s my boy,” he crowed. “How good was she?”

  “She was fucking phenomenal,” I said.

  “Was she a screamer?” Jackson asked. “Please tell me she was a screamer.”

  This was the way all our conversations went after a conquest, it had always been part of our banter, but somehow I was suddenly aware of how crass and vulgar we both sounded. I was also starting to realize that I didn’t really enjoy talking about Mia in that way. Somehow, I felt as though she deserved privacy, along with my discretion.

  “Sam?”

  “Yeah?” I said, meeting Jackson’s gaze.

  “Well?” Jackson asked impatiently. “Was she a screamer?”

  “Umm…no,” I said, shaking my head. “No, she wasn’t.”

  “Well, you can tick off hot MILF from your list now,” Jackson said, giving me a crude wink.

  I smiled and laughed, trying to capture the flow of our old conversations. But even as Jackson goaded me into more details and fuller explanations, I was starting to see that I was putting on an act for his benefit. I was saying the typical things I usually did because that’s what Jackson expected to hear. I was not being honest, nor was I enjoying myself.

  I was saying the things I knew I would have said a week ago. But even as I repeated the same vulgar rhetoric, I saw through my weak charade and the alien feelings that were budding just beneath the surface.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Mia

  I felt the sting of my hangover, and I sighed as I closed my front door. I went into the living room where Vanessa was still sleeping soundly. I decided not to wake her and instead snuck back into my room and shut the door.

  Then I removed my robe and headed to the bathroom for a nice, long shower. My ten-minute shower ended up being twenty minutes. I leaned against the cool tile and enjoyed the heat of the water splashing against my body. I was aware of a steady throbbing between my legs, but the feeling was not unpleasant. It was a comfortable soreness I knew would ebb after a few hours.

  My thoughts kept drifting to Sam every few minutes, and I sighed at myself. I shouldn’t be encouraging this. I should have resisted him last night. But the more I thought back to the previous night, I realized Sam had barely initiated a thing. He had bought me drinks, asked me to dance, and challenged me to a game of pool. But apart from that, I had been the one making all the moves.

  I’m the one who had practically jumped on him and initiated sex. I’m the one who had asked him for a ride home. And, I was the one who had asked him to stay with me last night.

  I cringed as I thought about that moment. I should have just let him leave, but it had been so nice to feel him lying next to me. It had been nice to fall asleep with a man by my side. I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed it.

  When the tips of my fingers were good and wrinkled, I got out of the shower, wiped myself dry, and slipped on a comfortable pair of jeans and a thin blue sweater. I combed out my hair and tied it back into a knot at the back of my head. I glanced myself at the mirror. My face was slightly pale, and I looked as though I had dark circles under my eyes. I had forgotten how ravaging the effects of alcohol could be sometimes. It had been quite a while since I’d gotten drunk, too.

  When I walked out of my room, I heard voices coming from the kitchen. It seemed that both Vanessa and Renni were awake and getting breakfast ready. I walked to the kitchen to find Renni standing on a chair over the stove. She was making eggs while Vanessa was supervising over her shoulder.

  “Morning, girlies,” I greeted.

  “Mommy!” Renni said delightedly, as though she hadn’t seen me in weeks. I cringed a little as her shrill voice struck at my head.

  “Well, good morning to you,” Vanessa greeted. Her voice was unnecessarily loud, too.

  “Can we use our quiet voices today?” I asked gently as I took a seat at the table.

  “Why, Mommy?”

  “Umm… Mommy has a headache, angel,” I replied. “And loud sounds aren’t helping.”

  She looked concerned. “We’ll be quiet, then, won’t we, Aunt Vanessa?”

  “We sure will,” Vanessa nodded, but she was smiling slyly at
me. “That’s a good job you’re doing with the eggs, kiddo. Now let’s put them 0n a plate.”

  Vanessa held out a plate and Renni spilled the eggs onto it. Then she set the frying pan down, and Vanessa propped her back onto the ground. Renni headed straight towards me for a morning hug. I kissed the top of her head.

  “Slept well, darling?” I asked.

  “Uh huh,” she nodded. “I dreamt I was flying last night.”

  “Really?” I asked, with raised eyebrows. “Funny… I think I had the same dream.”

  “Mommy?” Renni said, eyeing her eggs. “Can I watch television while I eat breakfast?”

  I usually didn’t allow that, but I wanted to talk to Vanessa without Renni over hearing, so I nodded. “Just this once, okay?” I said.

  “Thank you,” she said eagerly. “I won’t turn the volume up too loud.”

  I smiled. “That’s my thoughtful girl,” I said, giving her a little wink. “Would you like some toast with your eggs?”

  “No thank you,” she replied, gathering up her plate and headed for the television.

  Vanessa sat down opposite me and pushed a steaming cup towards me. I reached for it and almost immediately, the scent of strong black coffee hit me.

  “Bless you,” I sighedtaking a sip.

  “Looks like you had a productive night,” she said with a knowing smile.

  “I wouldn’t quite describe it that way.” I smirked, taking another sip of coffee.

  “How would you describe it, then?” Vanessa asked.

  I smiled. “It was…an interesting night.”

  Vanessa glanced over at where Renni sat. She was engrossed in her cartoon and didn’t seem to be paying us the slightest bit of attention. “Come on,” Vanessa prompted. “Spill. I want to know everything.”

  “I didn’t expect to run into him last night.”

  “You’re sure he isn’t stalking you?”

  I laughed – and then instantly regretted the action. “I’m sure,” I said. “His friend owns the bar we decided to visit. And, he’s a silent partner in it apparently.”

  “Really?” she asked with interest.