Page 28 of Betrayal & New Beginnings

We pulled into the parking lot behind our building.Ishut off the engine and turned toward her to get her full attention.

“I am very confident our building is secure, but he knows where you work now, and we live above it,”Istarted to say. “Ialready touched base withVinceandArcherabout adding some more cameras to the property, but until they can add those,I’mgoing to camp out on your couch.”

“Wade, you’re not sleeping on my couch,” she started to say, butIcut her off.

“I would do the same for my sister or anyone of my friends’ sisters too,”Itried to justify so she didn’t thinkIwas trying to stay over for nefarious reasons. “Moreimportantly, ifIwas overseas and either of my sisters had a stalker,Iwould want one of my friends to watch over my sisters too.Jackisn’t here to stay with you, soIwill.”

“Wade,Iwasn’t fighting you on staying in the apartment,” she said calmly. “Asmuch asIhate to admit it, becauseIwant to be a stronger person,Iam a little freaked out how he was able to find me, especially sinceIdidn’t know the pub, security company, and the apartment were all in one building beforeIcame here.”

“Okay then, it’s settled.I’llwalk up with you first, butI’llgo over and get a few things from my apartment in a little bit,”Isaid asIturned to open my car door and exit, but she put her hand on my arm to stop me, andIfelt a shock run up my entire arm.Ina good way.Toogood.

“Wade,Iwasn’t fighting you on staying in the apartment,” she explained quickly and with a smile. “ButIbarely fit on that couch, and you are bigger thanIam.Youtake the bed, andI’llsleep on the couch.”

She pulled her hand off my arm, andIinstantly wanted her to put it right back.Whileshe made a good point, there was no chanceIwasn’tstaying with her, soIfigured my best course of action was to just get her back up to the apartment and get the details squared away later.

“We’ll figure it out, but you’re not staying alone tonight,”Itold her. “Let’shead inside before it gets too hot sitting in this car.”

We made our way upstairs, andIkept my eye on our surroundings the entire time.Wewent into her apartment to drop off the leftovers.Shewanted to take a shower, soIleft to go to my place to grab a few things and shower myself.Ialso needed to send some more detailed messages toVinceandArcherand get a game plan together for how to deal with this jackass if he showed up, becauseIhad a feeling now that he knew she was here, it was only a matter of time before he made his presence known.

11

WADE

It was after six o’clock beforeIfinally made it back over toEllie’splace.Sheopened the door with slightly wet hair and wearing anArmyT-shirt and loose cotton shorts.

God, she looked good.Iwas pretty sure the shirt was her brothers, butIstill felt a pang of jealousy that it wasn’t my shirt she was wearing, putting my scent on her.

“You want to come in or just stand there?” she asked, smirking.

Crap.Sheclearly knewIwas staring at her.Iwalked in and set my overnight bag on the floor by the door.

“I was just re-heating the food and was planning to watch a movie,” she said, walking back toward the small kitchen. “Isthat okay with you?Ifnot,Ican just watch a movie in the bedroom if you want to stay out here and do something else.”

“Dinner and a movie sounds good,”Itold her.Thoughas soon asIsaid it,Iregretted it.NotbecauseIdidn’t want to eat, but because spending time with her in close proximity would test my will power.

I walked over to the couch, the one we would be sharing while watching a movie and the oneIwould be sleeping on tonight.Thesame oneIhelpedJackput together fromIKEA.Thatwas the biggest pain in the ass.Ifelt like all thoseLEGOsIplayed with during my childhood should have better prepared me for buildingIKEAfurniture, but alas, thisL-shaped couch took two grown men almost two hours to put together.

I figured ifIangled myself just the right way,Icould probably get most of my body on this to sleep tonight.Igrabbed twoTVtrays thatJackhad in the corner and set them up in front of the couch, separating them as much asIcould so we didn’t have to sit right next to each other.

“I don’t have much to offer to drink, butIhave water, iced tea, andDr.Pepper,” she said as she turned and said from the kitchen.

“Water is fine, thanks,”Itold her, not needing the caffeine to keep me awake tonight sinceIwould likely be restless enough on that couch.

I got up and walked to the kitchen, so she didn’t have to carry everything in herself.Webrought the food back and tried to figure out what movie to watch before settling on an action movie from a few years ago.

We’d chosen one of theBournemovies, thoughIcouldn’t remember which one becauseIwas trying to focus on my food and not her.Iwas on the chaise part of the couch, and she was in the opposite corner with her legs tucked up on her side.Hertoes were only inches from me, andIwas very focused on not letting them get closer.

After the movie, we carried the dishes into the kitchen.Whileshe put everything away,Ichose to use the restroom to get ready for bed.NormallyIslept in just boxers, or at least shirtless, butIknew that likely wasn’t my best option here, soIkept my gym shorts andT-shirt on.

After brushing my teeth,Icame out to the living room to see her bent over, moving things around in the refrigerator.Herperfect ass was nicely on display.Istared at it for a moment, wondering what it would feel like in my hands.Shestood back up and turned to me just asImoved my eyes to her face.Shestared at me for a moment.Ihoped my face didn’t give away thatIhad just been looking at her ass.

“Ellie,I’mnot sleeping in your bed,”Iinsisted.Shestarted to protest, butIcut her off. “Idoubt anything will happen, but hypothetically, if someone were to break in through the front door, the couch is closer.I’mnot putting you there.I’mon the couch.Yousleep in the bed.”

“Okay,” she sighed. “I’mgoing to go change too and thenI’llgrab some blankets and a pillow for you.”

As she walked back to her room,Igrabbed a glass of water from the kitchen and my laptop soIcould try to get a few things done forArcherso we could go ahead and hireDiegoMartin.

A few minutes later,Elliecame out in a little pink nightgown with a pillow and blanket.Thatnightgown was not a sexy material.Infact, it looked like it was very old cotton and was a bit loose on her, but there was no hiding her nipples peeking through the fabric.Andjust like that, my dick is hard, likeIam a teenage boy who’d never seen a girl’s boobs before.

---