Songs for this chapter are:

Night Changes- One Direction

Assassin- John Mayer

What Do You Mean- Justin Bieber

....

"He's just upset," I turn to Tessa to explain. "His feelings are hurt that you asked me to go instead of him. I think he really wanted to be there for you, that's all." I open the drawer on my desk and search for my car keys. My drawers are a mess. Markers, staples, a stack of homework to grade... no keys.

Addy's report card is on top and I can't help but smile looking at my six-year-old's first grade report card. Perfect A's across the board, except one B, in her Social Studies class, the very same class that I happen to teach. She's like her mother, using her smile to wrap me around her finger, but when she doesn't do her homework, or rushes through it to play with Shopkins, I can't let it slide. If she wasn't my favorite little girl in the world, she would have a C.

            Tessa is standing at the side of my desk. The classroom looks like a war zone. Following my lesson plan, we planned trips for my students to learn how to tell directions. We made little steering wheels and I make a mental note to bring Jed, our janitor, a coffee in the morning to apologize for the glue stuck to the desks.

            Tessa places her hands on her swollen stomach. It's outgrown her body, my nephew will be here any day. Her blond hair is lighter from the summer sun and all their trips to the lake with Tessa's family. We met them out in Tessa's hometown twice this summer and took the girls up to the lake.  Tessa's mom's husband is a pretty cool guy and the girls loved hearing his silly stories around the fire each night we camped.

When I say camped, I mean my family camped and the Scott's stayed in a luxury RV. They invited us, but we wanted to go camping. A little time in nature is good for the soul. Well, the Gibson soul at least.

            "He drives me crazy when he does this. There's no sense behind it," Tessa huffs and sits down behind my desk and swivels the chair to face me. "This is our second child and he has a signing tonight. His publisher scheduled it months ago and this was the doctor's only appointment for the next two weeks and I have to find out the sex of the baby before my shower," she takes a deep breath and rotates the chair again.

"Do you want to explain to your wife why she has to cancel my baby shower? Because I sure wouldn't." Tessa shoots me a pointed glare and I stare at the picture frame on my desk.

            My beautiful wife on our first family vacation. Her hair a mess around her head and her arms lifting our two-year-old into the air. Addy was so small then. The smile on her face is filled with pure joy. As innocent as she looks in this picture, I know better than to have her cancel Tessa's baby shower, because of me. Or Hardin. Well, it would be pretty convenient for this to be Hardin's fault.

However, I would still be guilty by association. It usually goes that way in our square. To be fair, when Tessa came home with tequila on her breath, before her pregnancy of course, my wife was usually behind it.

            I open the last drawer and turn to Tessa. "I understand what you're saying. I'm not saying it was okay for him to leave in the middle of his own book signing, but I get why he did it. If my wife was finding out the sex of our baby, you better believe I would trek across thousand villages to get there."

            Tessa laughs, turning my chair in a slow circle. My classroom is empty, school has been out for twenty minutes, and I still can't find my keys. Today's my day to pick Addy up from her girl's group and her mom will be on set all night. She's been working late every night this week, coming home with sore feet and a headache. I worry about her, but I know she knows what she's doing.

            "I guess you're right," Tessa stops the chair and leans forward to inspect my cluttered desk. I bet her fingers are itching to organize the messy papers, pens, empty staple boxes.

            When I laugh, she looks up at me and rolls her eyes. She reaches her hand out and grabs the newest George R.R Martin book from my desk. I waited years to finally have this book, I almost gave up hope that it would ever release. I thought it would never come since the show has been over for a while now. Tessa holds the heavy book in her hand and I try not to think about that show. That was a rough time in my life and my chest still aches at the thought of it.

"Are these what you're looking for?" My keys, with a flower shaped keychain are dangling from her fingertips. Addy made me the keychain when she spent the weekend with her grandma. My mom tries to steal my daughter as often as she can, Abby and Addy are pretty close in name and age, so Addy loves going to Washington to visit her grandparents.

"Just make sure he writes his publicist an apology e-mail for running out with a full bookstore waiting for him to sign their books," I advise Tessa the best that I can and grab the keys from her and my book from the desk and rush toward the door. My gray pants are stained with coffee, I pull a tissue out of my pocket and wipe it across my pants. Nope, not working.

            Tessa shouts past me, thanking me for the advice and I make my way to my car.

....

NOW.

            When I get into the hallway, a string of curse words fly into the air. The voice is too low to recognize at first, but I have an idea of who it could be. If Hardin is breaking things in my living room, his ass is going right back where he came from. It takes my brain a few seconds to process what's happening. My grandma's table is knocked over, one leg broken and the vase from the top of it is on the floor, broken into glass shards around the stranger's feet. Hardin is kneeling down with his arm wrapped around a stranger's neck and a small pool of blood at the corner of his mouth.

            The man's face is red, a thick trail of blood flows down his face and has stained his mouth. The blood surely adds to the drama of this whole thing. When I pay close attention, he's small framed, and probably pissing himself because he thinks Hardin's going to kill him.

            I stop a few feet in front of them. What the hell is going on? Who is this guy? I search his face again. He looks a little familiar, but where do I know him from?

            "If you don't plan to kill him, you should let go," I caution Hardin. Going to jail would definitely throw a wrench into his weekend.

            He looks down at his new friend and back up to me. "Fine," he says and pulls his arms away from the man. Gasping, the stranger falls over onto his side and cups his hands around the front of his neck.

            "What's going on?" I grill Hardin. Whatever it is, happened really, really fast. In the last minute at most.

            Hardin stands up and puts his boot over the man's hand on the ground. "Don't move," he says to the man on the ground. He's holding his nose with one hand and his other is on the floor, open palmed.

            "When I got here, he had his ear pressed against your front door. I don't know what the fuck he was listening for. He was probably going to try to break in or some shit. I would know," Hardin doesn't take his eyes off of the intruder. 

            The man tries to sit up and Hardin crushes his hand under his boot. "I said not to fucking move," Hardin raises his hand and causally pushes his hair back over his forehead, completely ignoring the shouts of the man on the floor in front of him as he steps on his hand.

            "What were you doing here?" I ask the guy. Hardin pulls his phone out of his pocket. I assume he's calling the police. I feel like I'm inside of a movie. "If he calls the police, you're going straight to jail."

            The man moves his arm when Hardin takes a step away. He grips his hand and lifts himself to his knees. Hardin approaches him and the man promises not to move. Hardin glares at him and the man rests his back against my wall. He looks more and more familiar, the more I look at him.

            "I was looking for my friend's apartment," the voice of the potential robber is weak. "That's all."

            I don't know if I believe him. My apartment did get broken into a few weeks ago, so I can't be too sure. When my eyes register his black coat, his dark eyes, and gray jacket, a memory pricks at my brain. I've seen him before in the hallway here, that's it.

            "I think he's telling the truth. I've seen him here before," I tell Hardin. The man stands up and Hardin puts his phone back into his pocket.

            My bedroom door opens and Nora walks into the living room wearing a pair of my briefs and one of my white undershirts. Her dark nipples are showing through the shirt. I look at Hardin and the random guy looking at her and my chest flares.

            "You can go back in my room," I tell her. I hope she listens. I hate the two of them looking at her so exposed. My briefs are tight on the top of her thighs and if she turns around, I may pick her up and carry her back to my room.

            "What the hell?" She looks at Hardin, then at the other man. "Cliff?" She says, her eyes hardening suspiciously. "What the hell are you doing here?" She says, not looking at me.

            "You know him?" I ask, looking between the two of them.

            "She knows him?" Hardin asks me, knowing that I have no idea what the hell is going on here.

            Nora's eyes dart to me but she doesn't respond.

            "I was looking for my friend's place. He just moved into the building," the man Nora called Cliff, says.

            Nora stares at him for a few seconds and I watch them exchange communication without any words. Who the hell is this guy?

             "He's leaving, it's fine." Nora says, pointing toward the door. She's so calm and casual about knowing the guy who Hardin bloodied. Now that I know Nora knows him, it's hard to ignore the coincidence.

            Clint rubs his neck and stands in the doorway. He doesn't say another word before disappearing into the hallway. Hardin turns to Nora and raises his hands.

            "You just let him leave? You didn't find out why the fuck he was here in the first place!" His voice is loud.        

            Nora walks further into the living room, her eyes on Hardin. "Yes, I did. You heard his reason for being here." She rests her hands on her hips and I consider walking up and pulling the hem of my briefs down a little, just to cover a little more of her luscious body from the two sets of eyes on her.

We just had a scene from a Fast and Furious movie go down in the living room and I can only focus on the curve of Nora's thighs. I need help.

            "He was lying!" Hardin shouts. Nora moves closer to him.

            "First off, don't yell at me again. And second, you don't know that he was lying. You don't know him," she says through her teeth, challenging him.

            Hardin tilts his head back, "Oh, that's right. You do. How about you explain that little gem?"

            "Guys," I walk between them. "Hardin, he's gone. Nora, go to my room." I feel like a dad with two temper fueled children. Nora turns around and opens her mouth. Before she speaks, she closes it and turns to walks past me and down the hallway. I expected a fight from at least one of them.

            "You better make her tell you who the fuck he is," Hardin demands.         

            And here we go...

            "Shut up and get the broom," I tell him, pointing to the closet next to the entrance to the kitchen. "I will ask her. Clean that glass up."

            Hardin glares at me. "I mean it. This isn't just about you. Tessa lives here and if anything happens to her-"

The oven beeps from the kitchen and I remember Nora's cupcakes. I had completely forgotten about them. Has it only been twenty minutes since we went into my room?

            Hardin doesn't follow me into the kitchen. I grab an oven mitt and pull the pan of cakes from the oven. They smell delicious and are perfectly browned at the top. My mouth waters and I rest them on top of the stove and go back into the living room with Hardin.

So many questions are running through my mind. Is the intruder Nora's last boyfriend who she refuses to talk about? I wouldn't know because she doesn't share anything with me. Did he break into my apartment before? What would he have done if no one was home or if Hardin didn't show up when he did?

I need to get the mess their brawl made cleaned up so I can get back to my room and talk to Nora. Hardin's sweeping without a complaint and I grab one side of my late grandma's table and lift it upright. I'm going to have to fix this before my mom comes to visit again. She will be heartbroken if she sees it broken like this.

            "I know." I tell him. I'm going to find out who he is and if Nora really believes that he was just looking for his friend.

            Hardin gripes at me while sweeping the rest of broken glass into the dust pan. Just before I open my bedroom door, his voice trails down my hallway. "Don't tell Tessa about this. There's enough going on."

            I let him assume my silence means that I'm agreeing with him and step into my bedroom. Nora is sitting on my bed, still wearing my clothes. I push my back against the door and wait for it to click shut. To be safe, I lock the door behind me and stride toward her. Her phone is in her hand and when she looks at me, her eyes stare into mine but they don't connect. She's withdrawn already.

            I keep my voice timid when I speak. "You know we have to talk about who that guy is." Nora looks down and shifts her body, pulling her legs beneath her body.

            "Do we?"

            I'm not letting her shoot this down. "Yes. We do."

            I walk over the bed, sit down next to her, and listen for sounds from the living room. It's quiet. Hardin either left, or is being nosy, listening to our conversation from the hall, just like this Cliff guy.

            "Is he your ex-boyfriend?" I ask her. Her body jerks at my question and she shakes her head.

            "No. No, he's not."

            I scoot closer to her and take her hands in mine. "Then who is he? This isn't a small thing, Nora," I gently squeeze her hands. "The guy was listening at my door. Do you know him well enough to believe that this is all a big misunderstanding? Truly?" I ask her. I look into her eyes and wordlessly beg her for the truth.

I would like to believe that the last hour we spent together has taken us to a new level of trust. I need her to trust me enough to be honest with me about this. The voice in my head is shouting doubt at her, but my mouth stays silent.

            "Yes." Is all she says.

            I scratch my hand over the stubble on my chin and she stands up from my bed. "Where are you going?" I ask her. She reaches the door before she responds to my question.

            "I'm going to go grab my work clothes and come back. I have to work early in the morning."

            I move off of my bed, but I stay across the room from her. "I'll come with you." I offer her. Nora shakes her head.

            "I'll come back. I promise. I'll be back and I'll stay the night with you. In your bed," her voice is shaky, uncertain. She walks closer to me and reaches for my hands. I pull her into me.

            "I will come back," Nora presses her lips to mine. I kiss her back, wrapping my arms around her back as she melts into me.

            I stay quiet and her tongue feels so good on mine. I love the way she kisses me, slowly and thoroughly. Full of cautious passion and her fingers bury themselves in the fabric of my t-shirt.

After a few seconds, she pulls away from my embrace. "I'll be back in a little while," she kisses my cheek. "I'll hurry." Her words sound so certain and I feel as if I'm in a trance.

            I nod and drop my arms to my side. "Your clothes are in the kitchen," I remind her. Heat fills my cheeks and she pulls her bottom lip between her teeth.

            "I'll change in the bathroom," Nora eyes me. "You don't like these on me?" A gleam of mischief is sparkling in her eyes.

            "I like them a little too much," I confess. I've never said anything so true.

            "I'll come back to you," she promises and it sounds awfully ominous.

            When she walks out of my room, I lay back on my bed and close my eyes. What the hell did I get myself into with this woman?

(I'm updating again tomorrow! I've had the best few days and I can't wait to share more with you guys <3 <3 Don't forget to vote if you like the chapter :) I'm traveling next week, to Panama and then to The Philippines! I can't waitttttttttttttttt. Check my social media for info on where I will be :) xo )