Page 21 of Claiming His Prize

“Would you grovel?” Allison asked, actually looking for his opinion for the first time since she’d arrived at the apartment.Of course, she hadn’t needed to ask him before because he had offered it freely.

Turning around, Roger slung his arm along the back of the couch and gave his girlfriend a dazzling grin.

“For Diana? Absolutely. But I’m a different kind of guy.For Todd, giving an apologyislike groveling.” He gave Allison a pointed look, one obviously meant to remind her there was a reason she’d dumped him and ended up with Todd. “And you should remember that.”

She made a face at him, and he grinned again before turning back around and going back to pretending to ignore them. Diana squeezed her hand, regaining her attention.

“So, what are you going to do?” Diana asked.

That was the big question.After talking with Diana and Roger—and calming down a bit—Allison had to acknowledge Todd had some good reasons for his actions. On the other hand, she also had some good reasons for being mad.Yet, even though she was still upset, she was starting to wish she was talking to him, not her friends.Silly to miss him after only a few hours, but she’d gotten used to having him as her rock to lean on, and even though he was the cause of her current state, she wanted her usual rock.

“I guess I’m going to go home and talk it out with Todd.”

Diana nodded, smiling. “I think that’s a good idea.”

“The hallmark of a good relationship is being able to handle adversity,” said the peanut gallery. Allison couldn’t help but roll her eyes and be glad Roger couldn’t see her smiling. Although she definitely wasn’t interested in him in any kind of way other than friendship, she had to admit he had become a lot more interesting since she broke up with him, and he started dating Diana. A change in character similar to the one she had gone through after meeting Todd, perhaps. He was definitely a lot more amusing, now he wasn’t so focused on being polite and gallant all the time—a lot more annoying, too.

“Thanks for talking with me... both of you,” she said, giving Diana a hug.She gave Roger a hug on her way out of the door. Some of what he’d saidhadhelped her, even if she hadn’t been looking for advice from him.Getting a guy’s perspective had been nice, although she was annoyed with him for encouraging Todd to talk to her parents. At least it showed her Todd wasn’t the only idiot male in the world, who thought it was a good idea.

* * *

When she got home, Todd wasn’t there.She wandered around the house, looking for him, even going so far as to knock on the door to the playroom. The urge to go inside was more overwhelming than it had ever been before.

Was she subconsciously looking for some kind of punishment? Or maybe just some kind of release?There was no denying, sometimes their rougher sexual activities ended cathartic, and she’d had some pretty big emotional ups and downs over the past twenty-four hours, especially now. She was getting nervous about having walked out on him this morning rather than staying and listening to his side of things.

Granted, she’d been pretty angry, but now, she was feeling bad about her complete lack of communication.

Then again, part of what she was angry about was his lack of communication.

Except if he’d told her he wanted to talk to her parents before asking her to marry him, he wouldn’t have been able to surprise her...

Gah.

There was just no way to avoid going around in circles, which is why she wanted him here. It only took her about twenty minutes of impatient waiting before she decided to text him.

Hey... I’m sorry I left so abruptly this morning. I’m home now, and I’d like to talk when you get home.

Jiggling her phone around in her hand, she decided to watch some TV to pass the time.Maybe calling him would have been a better idea since she would have gotten a response immediately, but if they’d started talking, she probably would have started the conversation about this morning and wanted to do that in person.

Talking out deep issues over the phone seemed like a poor substitute for face to face when they actually lived together. It would be one thing if they were a long-distance relationship, but as it was…

Yech. Even in her head, she was babbling. Being on the outs with Todd was extremely uncomfortable. Fortunately, he didn’t make her wait long before texting back.

I’ll be home soon.

She made a face at her phone before dropping it on the couch next to her. Soon... what defined soon? It could be anywhere from one minute to thirty, maybe more. Although Todd was pretty good about being on time for things, so hopefully, he wouldn’t make her wait long. There really wasn’t anything on television to garner her interest. Saturday afternoons were not exactly prime viewing hours. Ooooh...Law and Order: SVUmarathon!She and Diana used to call itLaw and Order: FUS, as in Fucked-Up Shit, which it was, but it was also a damn good show. Since she hadn’t seen the current episode, she had a chance of being sucked in, so the time didn’t go by so slowly.

Actually, she was so deeply involved in the mystery of finding out who killed the little girl, by the time Todd got home fifteen minutes later, she didn’t run to meet him. Well, that was partly due to her own pride since she didn’t want him to think he was immediately forgiven. It didn’t take him long to find her, put his hands on her shoulders from behind, and lean down to kiss her left temple.

“FUS?”

“Well, I had to do something while I waited for you to get home,” she said, a hint of banter in her voice to let him know she wasn’t truly angry anymore. “And I hadn’t seen this one.”

“Ah,” he said as he came around the side of the couch, sitting down and sliding his arm around her shoulders. “Hence the lack of interest in my return.”

She made a little huffing sound, not quite an answer.She wasn’t disinterested in the fact he was back... but now he was here, she still wasn’t quite sure what she wanted to say to him… or him to her. And it really was a good show.Part of her wanted to stand her ground and make him ‘pay’ for going behind her back, but the truth was, she liked cuddling with him and wanted to snuggle into his warmth. So, she did, deciding pride wasn’t worth giving up cuddling.

Todd curved his arm around her, tucking her in even closer, and rested his chin on top of her head. Whether or not she was angry at him, she liked being in that little nook. She appreciated he didn’t want to get back into the argument, the second he got home.

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