3

Patience gained a whole new meaning, as with every faltering step, he'd pause, laughing, before we'd start again. Though our steps were slow, and I had to use a great deal of perseverance, I finally got him into my pickup, and by the time I got him to his house, he'd passed out in the seat, emitting little snores. Reaching out, I caressed his cheek, causing him to stir a little. 

But when he didn’t rouse fully, I ran my fingers across his cheek again. “Come on, wake up Nathan, I need you to help me get you inside."

After a bunch of tugging, pulling, and outright cursing, I finally got him into the house. Now, as he sat on his bed, snoring again, I held him in a sitting position, struggling to get his shirt unbuttoned. 

When I finally freed the last button, he slit one eye open, peering at me blurrely, as he muttered, "I didn’t think you were ever coming back…I would have waited for you." 

Within seconds of the words leaving his mouth, he flopped backward on the bed, and started snoring again.  

With moisture in my eyes, I heaved a shaky breath, then began pulling off his boots and socks, setting the boots beside the bed, I stuffed the socks in the tops. From there, I let him be. Removing his jeans in his state would be damn near impossible. 

Finally, reaching down, I folded the side of the blanket he wasn't lying on, across his length. Then, gazing down at him, I pushed aside the hair that was half-covering his face. Afterward, bending forward, I kissed his forehead.  

With one final glance at his prone body, I left the room, leaving the door slightly ajar behind me, as the sound of his snores blended with my sniffles. 

For the next hour, I lay restless on the couch; wishing things could be different between us. I hadn’t wanted to leave him and go back to Oklahoma, but my mama had needed me more than he had.

~~

It was still dark outside when I sensed someone was watching me. The feeling skittered up my back and shot straight to my brain, jolting my eyes open wide. They collided with a set of dark brown ones surrounded by soft, white fur.

Emitting a soft giggle, I reached out and scratched Otis on the head, at the same time hearing a groan come from the other side of the room. Sitting up on the couch, I turned my head until I was gazing at the owner of another set of eyes, ones that were squinting against the sunlight coming in through the windows. 

"Jesus," Nathan breathed, his voice hushed as if fearing anything louder slipping past his lips would make his head fall off his shoulders. Raising his hand, he rubbed at his forehead. "God, my head hurts," he groaned.

Rising, I walked in his direction, all the while peering at him as I noted the dark stubble on his chin and jaw. His hair was still sleep-tangled, as though he'd climbed from bed and came straight to the living room. 

Eyes roaming over him, my heart began to trip in my chest, and the love nest between my legs came alive. However, I pushed aside the sensation, muttering, "Coffee, and aspirins."

When I came back out of the kitchen and into the living room, Nathan had disappeared. Thinking he might have gone back to bed, I made my way down the hall toward his room. Lightly pushing at the door, I hesitated to enter, in case he was sleeping. 

As I peered in his direction where he sat on his bed, I noted he was sitting on its edge, his head clasped in his hands. 

A small breath easing from between my lips, I took another step forward. "I've got your coffee and aspirins." 

Head lifting at the sound of my voice, he gazed at me, his face confused. "It seems I'm missing a few things. Like, uh, what happened last night, and what you're doing here?" His words emerged still in that hushed tone of earlier.

I shrugged. "I don't know what went down before you kicked my door in—" I began, but Nathan interrupted me. 

"I did what!?” he exclaimed. As his voice boomed around us, he winced before it seemed a light went on, illuminating a previously dark area within his memory. Moving fast for a man who only a few seconds earlier had been suffering from a horrendous headache, he was suddenly standing before me. Breath harsh, he gazed down at me. “Shit, I’m sorry.”

Words barely passed his lips, his phone began ringing, and grabbing it off the dresser, he gave the screen a swipe, carrying the phone to his ear. "Yeah?" 

Silence reigned on his end for several seconds, before he quizzed, "No, it’s okay. I’ll take care of it, Tami.”

If Tami's calling wasn't a big, fat neon flashing sign, I didn't know what was. Turning, I ran from the room, grabbed my purse on the way through the living room, and continued out the front door. 

As I reached my pickup, I wrenched the driver’s door open and climbed in. For two-seconds, I rested my forehead on my steering wheel, then, raising my head, I grabbed the driver’s door and slammed it shut. It would have been so easy to push Nathan back on the bed and give into what I know I wanted. 

Shaking my head, I started the engine and jerked the transmission in reverse. Afterward, tossing my arm across the back of the seat, I pushed down on the gas as I tossed a glance over my shoulder.

Immediately slamming on the brakes I felt the pickup shudder to a jarring stop, as I shouted, "You, stupid motherfucker, I almost ran over your ass.”

Nathan stood several feet behind the bed of my pickup, barefoot and shirtless. Stepping around the bed, he began making his way toward the driver's door, and hit the gas again. 

As I roared out of the drive, Nathan shouted my name, but ignoring him I kept barrelling backward. After my bumper scraped loudly in the dip at the end of the drive, I cranked the wheel, and pointed my pickup in the direction that would take me away from destroying both our lives.