Page 23 of Nightmare

Summer stops dead in her tracks, pointing her long fingernail at me, “If you buzz him up here, I’m going to throw up.”

I cock an eyebrow at her, letting out a tiny laugh. Feeling impulsive, I press the unlock button and wiggle my eyebrows at my best friend.

Summer lets out a squeal and throws her arms up in the air before stomping back to our bedroom, screaming something about how she hates me.

I wait for the elevator to arrive, leaning against the armchair in the entry room, wondering why this dude has tracked me down; and how. I’m sure my speedy exit and lack of handing out my phone number was beneficial for both of us, no one has ever gotten pissed that I don’t expect a fucking relationship out of them.

The elevator dings, the doors slide open, and there he is. In all his dark, broody, tattooed glory. His dark hair is messy on top of his head, like he’s been running his fingers through it, and his dimpled smile makes all the blood in my body fall to my feet.

His black t-shirt is hugging his chest in a way that makes my entire body tingle, and he’s wearing a pair of black jeans that I’m sure could cause me to collapse on sight if I saw his ass in them.

“Travis.” I greet him, “Stalking me again?” I lift an eyebrow as he walks through the elevator doors towards me. He lets out a laugh and runs his hands over his face before stopping in front of me, crossing his arms over his insanely gorgeous chest.

“You dipped out last night before I could get your phone number, so I had to resort to drastic measures.” He gives a shrug then walks around the room, planting his ass on the sofa like he owns the place.

As for me, I can’t feel my face. I don’t know what the fuck it is about this guy but holy shit, I want to sacrifice myself to Satan to spend more time with him. And that is exactly why I left last night. I’m not in the business of catching feelings.

I laugh and follow him to the sofa, “Please, make yourself comfortable.” I motion my hands towards the sofa and he brushes me off with a wave of his hand.

“Do you and Summer feel like coming to a party tonight?” His dimples poke at his cheeks as he smiles up at me. He grabs my hand and yanks me down onto the sofa next to him and tucks a strand of my hair behind my ear.

“You somehow found my address, showed up at my place, and think I would want to hang out with you again?” I ask after my ass hits the cushion.

“Hmm…” He rubs at the stubble on his jaw and looks at me over his dark eyelashes, “That was kinda creepy of me, huh?” He cocks his head, smiling at me. My stomach hits my ass.

“Oh, just a little.” I laugh, “Want to ease my mind a little bit?”

He shrugs, “I have a cop friend, he did me a favor.”

“Wow,” I say, “That is a huge invasion of privacy.”

He laughs, “Yeah, well, I like you.” I roll my eyes and he reaches towards me to brush his fingers over my knuckles, “So, party tonight?”

“Why?” I ask, pulling my hand from his touch and resting it on my lap.

He snorts, “My friends want to spend more time with Summer, and I happen to enjoy your company.”

I cross my leg over the other, leaning my head down on the back of the sofa to look over at him. “We were actually going to have a girls night in. But maybe we could hang out another night?”

He laughs, running his hand up my forearm to my bicep and starts doing little circles with his finger as he cracks a smile. “If that’s you blowing me off again, I’m not going to be very happy.”

Goosebumps threaten to pop up on my skin from his touch, and I try to steady my breathing so he doesn’t see how much he’s affecting me. Every ounce of me wants to jump up and down and accept his invitation, but I can’t. I just can’t let myself. So, like the coward I really am, I resort to dragging my best friend into my pile of lies.

I roll my eyes at him and shake off his hand before standing up, “Let me see if Summer wants to.”

He cracks a smile, standing up next to me and the panic alarms go off in my head. Because it’s my plan to fill Summer in on this blow off before she comes out here and declines his invitation.

“Oh, you stay here, I’ll just go get her.”

He gives me a coy smile and his eyes turn to slits, like he knows exactly what I’m trying to pull. He shakes his head, “Oh no, I’ll come with you.”

He waves his hands out in front of himself to tell me to lead the way and I let out a laugh.

We walk to the bedroom, where Summer is sprawled out on the bed surrounded by the purchases we made today. She’s pulling everything out of the bags, displaying them very neatly like a retail serial killer on a bender.

She sees us walk in the door and cuts her gaze to Travis before leaping up on her feet, “Here to murder us?”

Travis barks out a laugh as he leans against the door frame, squinting his eyes at Summer, “I wanted to know if you two would like to come to a party tonight.”

---