Page 16 of Unfinished

Unknown: The guy who slept in your bed.

I saved the contact as Liam before responding.

Me: There are a few guys who have slept in my bed. Can you be more specific?

We started getting ready, leaving my hair wavy, I pulled it up into a high ponytail. Ashley was staying with me this summer since her parents downsized drastically last year and moved to San Diego. Honestly, it was better she stayed here because we’d be hanging out a lot and that drive would have been brutal. She was a lot more social than I was and while she tried to include me in everything, I was much happier sitting at home binging Netflix.

I began filling her in on everything that happened since last night and she was in absolute awe over it all.

“I wouldn’t have pegged him to be such a romantic,” Ashley remarked.

“Neither would I. My god Ashley, it seriously feels like I’ve known him forever. I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t want a summer fling and this can’t last past that.”

“Why not?”

“Because I can’t do a long-distance relationship throughout the rest of college, it’s not feasible.”

“I guess, maybe take it a day at a time. If you think you are getting too close you step away from it,” Ashley shrugged, but a twinge of concern filled her expression.

Our school year was jam-packed with classes and work. We rarely had time to go out last year. How the hell would I be able to juggle all of it plus a relationship? Especially a new relationship with a man whose life was so different from mine. My phone dinged.

Liam: How many men have slept in your bed recently?

Me: 69

Liam: Nice.

Chapter 6

Liam

“So… what are your plans for Hannah?” Bas inquired, as he drove us back to my parents’ house.

“I’m going to convince her to be my girlfriend.”

“Are you giving up the New York plans?” Bas looked at me with concern.

“She told me last night she and Ashley are planning on moving to New York after she gets her masters.”

Bas breathed a sigh of relief. My cousins and I were all extremely close, we were each other's best friends. If one of us stayed here in California, it would break the entire dynamic and the plans we had for the future.

“Your mom is going to be pissed.” Bas was right, my mom was going to flip when she found out about Hannah.

“I don’t really care what she thinks.”

We pulled up to my parents’ house and we walked in through the front door. My mom wouldn't have anything nice to say about Hannah. For the time being, I’d keep Hannah a secret, to protect her from my mom’s meddling.

I paused at the stairs and saw my mom sitting with my ex-girlfriend, Brittany, in the sitting room. Brittany turned in her chair to look at me. Her honey blonde hair was pinned up in a twist and her blue eyes were looking at me wide and pleading. Just what I needed, my ex and my mother hanging out. I ignored them and climbed the stairs to my room. Bas followed me.

“What the fuck is Brittany doing here?” Bas whispered to me once we were in my room.

“Don’t know, don’t care.”

My mom wanted me home this summer so she could try to convince me to date one of the girls here in California. She wanted me to live here after I graduated and work at the San Diego office. I wanted to live in NYC and my mom hated that. Most of our family wanted to go back to NYC. She won’t even visit NYC, which was exactly why I wanted to live there.

Dressed in charcoal board shorts and a white tank, I slipped into some black flip flops and grabbed a gym bag. I threw in some extra clothes in case Hannah let me spend the night. I would toss the bag in the trunk of my car to not freak her out. I didn't want her thinking I expected to stay the night, only that I was prepared in case I did.

“Let’s go,” I commanded. Bas followed me out of my room and I locked it. We jogged down the stairs, and as I was about to go out the front door, my mother spoke up.

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