Page 16 of Daddy Vibes (The Anti-Bachelorette 2)

Alaric laughs. “I live here, remember?”

Eric rolls his eyes. “Not for the past couple weeks you haven’t.”

Alaric just smirks. “Sorry roomie. Maybe you should have left a sock on the door or something.”

Eric stands up. “You told me to bring someone home. You should have expected someone to be here.”

Alaric and Emory both laugh. “Oh please, we all knew you weren’t going to bring anyone home.”

Then all eyes turn to me, and he adds on. “Unless that someone was your beloved Angela.”

Now I stand. “This is getting weird. Maybe I should go.”

Emory pipes up. “Come sleepover at my house! We can leave the boys here.”

Eric glares at her and then back at Alaric. “Take Emory back to her place, and keep her in bed the whole night like the good friend you are.”

We all laugh, and Alaric throws his hands up. “Hey, we just stopped by for some snacks.”

Eric quickly walks to the pantry in the kitchen and hands him some chips, popcorn, and candy, and then he pushes at his back until he is at the door. “Goodnight. Don’t come back.”

Emory laughs and waves at me as she follows him out. Eric locks the door behind them and turns back to me. “Now where were we?”

???

I wake up the next morning with Eric’s arms wrapped around me. His chest is pressed up to my back. I sigh as I cuddle up to him. I know this can’t happen again. I already like him too much. If I keep sleeping with him, I’ll get too attached. He’s already made it clear we could never be together for real.

I try to squirm out of his hold, but it seems to wake him. He instead increases his hold and pulls me back against him again. “Don’t go.” He whispers into my ear. I sigh and turn toward him. “It’s tomorrow now. We had our night. Things have to go back to the way they were before now.”

He groans and pulls me closer. “It doesn’t count as tomorrow until you get out of bed.” He jokes.

I smile up at him. “You know you can’t just keep me here in your bed forever.”

He leans down and kisses my forehead. “A man can dream can’t he?”

I smile at him and give him one last kiss on his lips. Then I pull away. “This can’t happen again.” I say the words after my back is turned to him because I know I wouldn’t have been able to say it to his face. “Angela…” His hand reaches out and runs down my arm.

I stand and throw on my jeans from last night and grab one of his hoodies and slip into it. I’m keeping this. It smells like him. I know I’ll spend more than one night cozied up in this shirt. I turn back and face him, but am surprised by his sad eyes. “Can we talk about this?”

I cross my arms across my chest and sit on the end of his bed. “Sure. What do you want to talk about?”

He runs his hand through his hair while he thinks of what to say. I reach out and place my hand on his. “Look, let’s not make this harder than it has to be. We both agreed to just sex and then we move on. We’re good.” I pause and breathe out a harsh breath. “That’s what I’m known for anyway right? Just shag and done. Typical Angela.” I’m not exactly sure where that came from or why I said it, but I regret the words immediately. I don’t want him to think I’m upset about this even if I am.

His eyes narrow at me. “What the fuck Angela. You know that wasn’t what this was.” His voice is angry. I just stand and shrug. “It doesn’t matter what it was. It’s done now. I gotta go.” I turn and start walking out the door.

He hops out of bed and grabs his underwear from the floor and throws them on and chases after me. He reaches out and grabs my arm. “Of course it matters! You matter to me. I care about you!” He shouts.

I turn and look at him and shout right back. “That doesn’t change anything!”

He just stares back at me looking back and forth between my eyes like I’ll hold the answers for him. I give him a half smile. “It’s okay Eric. We had fun. I don’t regret it.” Then I turn and walk out before he can stop me again.

---