The songs for this chapter are:

Red - Taylor Swift

Kiss me- Ed Sheeran

Edge of Desire- John Mayer

Hardin's POV.

"Hardin!" Tessa squeals and literally runs across the room, her socks slide against the hardwood floor and I nearly have a god damned heart attack. One of her knees hits the floor but she collects herself f before hurling into my arms.

This is sure as hell not the reaction I had expected from her.

I thought I would be granted with an uncomfortable "hello," and a smile that didn't meet her eyes, but I was proven wrong. Very wrong. She tightens her arms around my neck and I bury my head into her hair. The sweet scent of her shampoo fills my senses and I'm momentarily overwhelmed by her presence, warm and welcoming, in my arms.

"Hi," I finally say and she glances up at me.

"You're freezing," she remarks. Her hands move to my cheeks, instantly heating them.

"It's freezing rain out there, it's worse back home.. my home, I mean." I correct myself. Her eyes quickly dart to the floor before looking back up at me.

"What are you doing here?" She whispers to me, trying her best to shield her question from our company.

"I called Christian on the way up." I inform Kimberly, she continues to glare at me, a smirk playing on her painted lips.

"Couldn't stay away, could you?" She mouths to me behind Tessa's back. Kimberly is the biggest ball-buster around, I'm not sure how Christian puts up with her, willingly at that.

"You can stay in the room across from Tessa's, she can show you." Kimberly says aloud.

Instead of responding to her, I detached myself from Tessa and Kimberly quietly disappears from the foyer, leaving us alone.

"I'm sorry!" Tessa stutters immediately while looking around the room. "I don't know why I did that, it's just nice to see a familiar face." She blushes.

I didn't let her go because I don't want to hold her, she just took it that way.

"It's good to see you too." I tell her, trying to free her of her embarrassment.

"I slipped on the floor," she flushes again and I bite down on the inside of my cheek, trying my best not to laugh at her.

"Yeah, I saw that." I can't help the small chuckle that escapes from me and she shakes her head, laughing at herself.

"Are you really staying?" She asks.

"Yes, if that's okay with you?" Her eyes are bright and a lighter shade of gray than usual. Her hair is down, slightly wavy and un-styled. Not a trace of makeup litters her complexion and she looks absolutely fucking perfect. The amount of hours that I spent picturing her face in front of me did not  prepare me for this moment when I am finally able to look at her again. My mind cannot possibly catch all of her, all the details, the freckle just below her neckline, the curve of her lips, it's fucking impossible.

Her t-shirt is loose on her body and those hideous fluffy cloud pants cover her legs. She keeps adjusting her shirt, tugging it down, playing with the collar, she's the only girl who I've ever seen wear these ugly ass clothes to bed but somehow she looks so damn sexy. Her t-shirt is white and her bra is black.. she's wearing that black lace bra. I wonder if she is aware that I can see right through her shirt..

"What changed your mind? Where is the rest of your stuff?" Tessa asks as she leads me down the hallway. "Everyone else's rooms are upstairs." She adds, unaware of my perverted thoughts.

"This is all I brought, it's only one night." I tell her and she stops in front of me.

"You're only staying one night?" She asks me, her eyes search my face.

"Yeah, what did you think? That I was moving here?"

Of course she did. She always has too much faith in me.

"No," she looks away from me. "I don't know, I thought a little longer."

And now this is where it gets awkward, I knew it would.

"Here's the room." She opens the door for me but I don't step inside.

"Your room is just across the hall?" My voice breaks and I sound like a damned fool.

"Yeah," she mutters, looking down at her intertwined fingers.

"Cool." I dumbly remark. "You're sure it's okay that I'm here right?"

"Yes, of course. You know I missed you."

The excitement on her face when I stepped through the door has seemed to vanish as the reality of my previous actions looms over our heads. I will never forget the way she ran to me, literally, there was such emotion on her face, so much longing, and I felt it too, more than she did. I've been insane without seeing her.

"Yeah, but the last time that we saw one another in that apartment I was basically kicking you out." I watch her face change as my words remind her of that night. I can literally see the fucking wall raising between us as she gives me a fake smile.

"I don't know why I brought that up," I wipe my wrist against my forehead and follow her eyes across the hallway to another room, her room.

"You can put your stuff in here," she takes the bag from me and  unzips it. I watch as she pulls the wadded up t-shirts and boxers out of the bag and scrunches her nose.

"Are these clean?" She asks me and I shake my head.

"The boxers are."

"I'll wash these." She holds the bag at arms length. "I don't even want to know what the apartment looks like." The corners of her mouth lift into a smug smile.

"Good thing you won't ever see it again then," I tease her. Her smile fades.

What a shitty joke, what the fuck is wrong with me?  "I didn't mean it that way," I quickly try to recover from my poor choice of words.

"It's fine. Relax, okay? It's only me, Hardin." Her voice is gentle.

"I know." I take a deep breath and continue, "It just feels like it's been so fucking long and we are in that weird middle, half relationship shit that we are really shitty at being in, and we haven't seen each other and I've just missed you and I hope you missed me too." I let out the breath after speaking way too fast.

She smiles, "I did."

"You did what?" I press for the exact words.

"I missed you, I told you that every day."

"I know," I step closer to her, "I just wanted to hear it." I reach out and tuck her hair behind her ears using both hands and she leans into me.

"When did you come?" A small voice interrupts us and Tessa jumps away from me.

Great. Just fucking great.

Smith is standing in the doorway of Tessa's new bedroom. "Just got here." I reply, hoping that he will leave the room so I can continue what almost was started moments ago.

"Why?" He asks and enters the room.

"I came to see her," I point to Tessa who is now more than five feet away from me, pulling my clothes back out and gathering them in her arms.

"Oh," he quietly replies, staring down at his feet.

"Do you not want me here?" I question the child.

"I don't mind," he shrugs and I smile at him

"Good, because I wouldn't have left if you did."

"I know." Smith smiles back and leaves Tessa and I alone. Thank fucking God.

"He likes you." Tessa tells me.

"He's okay." I shrug and she laughs.

"You like him too." She accuses.

"No, I don't. He's okay, I said."

"Sure," she rolls her eyes. She's right, I do sort of like him. More than any other five year old that I've ever met at least. "I'm watching him tonight while Kim and Christian go to a club opening."

"Why aren't you going along?"

"I don't know, I just didn't want to."

"Hm," I pinch my lips between my fingers to hide my smile from her. I'm thrilled that she didn't want to go out and I'm hoping that she had planned on spending her evening talking to me on the phone.

"You can go if you'd like, you don't have to stay in with me."

"I didn't drive all this way to go out to some shitty club without you. You don't want me to stay with you?"

Her eyes meet mine and she gathers my clothes in her hands again, "Yes, of course I want you to stay."

"Good, because I wouldn't have left if you didn't." I joke, she doesn't smile the way Smith did, she just rolls her eyes. "Where are you going?" I ask when I notice her inching toward the door.

"To do your laundry." Tessa informs me. Some things never change, and I hope that stay that way.

Tessa's POV.

My thoughts are racing, confused, and excited, while I start the washing machine. Hardin came here, to Seattle and I didn't have to ask, or beg him. He came on his own accord. Even if it's only one night it means so much to me and I hope that it can be a step in the right direction for us. I'm still so conflicted when it comes to our relationship, we always have so many problems, so many pointless fights. We are such different people but right now, now that he's here with me, I want to nothing more than to try this friendship, long distance, half relationship, and see where we can go from here.

"I knew he would show up," When I turn around Kimberly is leaning against the threshold in the laundry room.

"I didn't." I tell her.

"You had to know he would. I have never seen a couple like the two of you."

"We aren't exactly a couple," I sigh.

"You ran into his arms like something out of a movie, he's been here for less than fifteen minutes and you're already doing his laundry." She nods to the machine.

"His clothes are filthy." I ignore the first part of her remark.

"You two just can't stay away from one another, it's really something to watch you two. I do wish you were coming out tonight so you could get dressed up and show him what he's missing." She winks and leaves me alone in the laundry room. 

I wish I would have had some sort of warning of his arrive so I could have at least put on a pair of jeans.

She's right about Hardin and I not being able to stay away from one another. It has always been that way since the day I met him. Even when I tried to convince myself that I didn't want to see him, I couldn't ignore the fluttering inside me every time I ran into him.

Hardin always seemed to appear wherever I was, granted I did go to his fraternity house every chance I could. I hated it there but I knew if I went there I would see him. I didn't admit it then, barely even to myself, that I longed for his company, even when he was being cruel to me. The memories feel so ancient and almost dream-like as I recall the way he would stare at me during class, then roll his eyes when I would say hello to him.

Footsteps move across the ceiling above me, bringing me back to reality and I hurry down the hallway to the guest room that has been designated as Hardin's for the night. The room is empty, Hardin's empty bag is still on the bed but he's no where to be found. I walk across the hall and find him standing over the desk in my room. His finger tips  are tracing over the top of my creative writing notebook.

"What are you doing in here?" I ask him.

"I just wanted to see where you're.. living now. I wanted to see your room."

"Oh," I notice the way his brows pull together when he calls it "my room".

"Is this for a class?" He asks, holding up the black leather notebook.

"It's for creative writing," I nod at him. "Did you read it?" I can't help but feel a little nervous that he may have. I've only completed one assignment so far but like everything else in my life, it ended up relating to Hardin.

"A little."

"It's just an assignment, we were asked to do a free-style essay as the first assignment and-" I fumble to explain myself.

"It's good, really good." He praises and places the book back onto the desk for a moment before picking it back up and opening it to the first page. "Who I am," he begins to read the first line.

"Please don't." I beg.

"Since when are you shy about academics?" He questions me.

"I'm not, it's just.. that piece is personal. I'm not even sure if I want to turn it in."

"I read your religion journal." He says and my heart stops.

"What?" I pray that I heard him wrong.

"I read it. You left it at the apartment and I found it."

I stand in silence while he stares at me from across the room.

"Every entry was about me." He adds.

"I know, I didn't mean for it to be that way but every time I started writing.." I'm embarrassed and caught completely off guard by his confession. The idea of Hardin finding that journal and reading it  never crossed my mind, not a single time, but now that he has I can't help but feel vulnerable and exposed.

Hardin's POV.

"I have read it at least ten times." I admit.

"You have?" Her wide eyes don't meet mine and her lips part.

"Don't be ashamed, it's only me, remember?" I smile at her and she steps closer to me.

"I know but I probably sounded so pathetic," I press my fingers against her lips to silence her.

"No, you didn't."

"I," she tries to speak behind my fingers, I press them harder.

"Are you done yet?" I grin at her and she nods. Slowly, I remove my fingers from her lips and her tongue darts out to wet them, I can't help but stare.

"I have to kiss you," I whisper, our faces mere inches apart. Her eyes look into mine and she swallows loudly before licking her lips again.

"Okay," she whispers back to me.

Just before our lips can connect, a knock sounds at the bedroom door.

"Tessa?" Kimberly's high pitched voice calls through the half opened door.

"Get rid of her," I whisper to Tessa and she backs away from me.

First the kid, now her. We may as well invite Vance to join as well.

"We are leaving in a few minutes." Kimberly informs us.

Good for you, now get the fuck out of here...

"Okay, I'll be right out." Tessa responds and my irritation grows.

"I shouldn't have even fucking.." I begin.

When Tessa looks over at me I stop myself from finishing my rude remark. It wasn't true anyway, nothing could keep me from wanting to be here right now.

"I have to go out there now, if you want to stay in here you can."

"No, I want to be wherever you are." I tell her and she smiles.

Fuck, I want to kiss her. I've missed her so much and she says she has missed me too, why doesn't she just.. her hands wrap around the collar of my black t-shirt and she presses her lips against mine. I feel as if someone has plugged me into an electrical outlet, every fiber of me igniting and buzzing. Her tongue gently enters my mouth, pressing and caressing, and I wrap my hands around the width of her hips.

I move my feet across the floor, bringing her with me, until my feet hit the footboard of the bed. I lay back and she falls gently on top of me. Wrapping her body into my arms, I turn us over so her body is under mine. I can feel her pulse hammering under my lips as they slide down her neckline and back up to the sweet spot just under her ear. Gasps and quiet moans are brought to my ears, I begin slow, torturing movements, grinding my hips against hers, pressing her further into the mattress. Tessa's fingers move to touch the heated skin under my t-shirt and her nails rake down my back. As I bring her earlobe between my lips, the image of Zed thrusting into her flashes through my mind and I'm on my feet within seconds.

"What's wrong?" She asks. Her lips are deep pink and swollen from my gentle assault.

"I-it's, it's nothing. We should.. uhm, go out there." I frantically respond.

"Hardin," she presses.

"Tessa, let it go. It's nothing."

Oh you know, just that I dreamt of Zed fucking you into our mattress and now I can't stop picturing it.

"Okay." She lifts herself from the bed and wipes her hands against the soft material of her pajamas.

I close my eyes for a moment, trying to rid my mind of the disgusting images. If Zed interrupts another second of my time with Tessa, I will break every bone in his god damned body.

(Thank you so much for 31 million reads on After 3!! You guys reading makes me so happy and it means so much to me! I hope everyone's week has been great so far!! Please don't forget to vote! xo)