Page 15

15

TASHA

M y ringing phone jerked me awake. With a pounding head, I blindly flopped my arm out to grab my phone. It took a moment to find it and bring it up to my ear, my eyes still closed.

“Yes,” I croaked after barely swiping the screen to answer it.

“Morning!” Josie’s voice chirped through the speaker.

“No.” She was too happy in the mornings. Even in university, she was up and ready for her eight a.m. classes at the crack of dawn. I was fine getting up early, but it was best if no one talked to me for a good fifteen to twenty minutes.

“Ready for some breakfast?” At the mention of food, my stomach gurgled and my head throbbed. I definitely drank way too much last night. I answered her with a groan, which just made her laugh.

“I know, but you need something to eat, and it’s almost eleven. Come down and meet us at the little diner in the hotel.”

“Do I have to?”

“Yes. Everyone will be here in a minute, so get your ass up.” The thought of getting up was not appealing. “The sooner you get here, the sooner we can sit on the beach until we leave.”

Josie knew my weak spot. Relaxing by the water before we had to go sounded pretty damn good right then. Especially with a long ass flight ahead of us.

“Fine. I’ll be down in a bit.”

Dropping my phone on the bed, I stretched, still wishing I could lay in bed longer. Forcing myself to get up, I was glad my head didn’t spin. Nothing was worse than getting dizzy while hungover.

Padding over to the bathroom, I briefly remember putting PJ’s on last night but the rest was a bit of a blur. A quick glance in the mirror showed the huge T-shirt I had on was inside out. Yep, definitely put this on drunk. I cringed seeing my smudged eyeliner and what looked like lipstick around my lips. Great.

Feeling beyond disgusting, I took a quick shower since I didn’t take one the night before. Knowing the others were waiting for me, I washed quicker than I would have liked, forgoing cleaning my hair. I could have spent another thirty minutes under the warm water. Not in the mood to get dressed up, I threw my hair into a high ponytail and slipped on a sundress. If we were going to go sit by the beach, I’d come back and change anyway. Not bothering with makeup, I grabbed my shoes and purse before leaving my room.

I must have looked pretty bad because the couple with two little kids in the elevator sent me some questionable looks. Almost like they’ve never seen a hungover person before. It took everything I had not to say something, but thankfully the elevator stopped at the lobby and I was able to high tail it out of there.

It wasn’t hard to find the table with my friends at the hotel restaurant. I was the last one to show up, and judging by the looks of Mila and Lydia, I wasn’t the only one who was hungover. I couldn’t even remember when I got back to the hotel or how.

“Hey, sleeping beauty.” Josie grinned up at me as I slid into a chair across from her and Wyatt. I briefly registered that Trevor was on one side of me and Landon on the other. The sight of coffee in front of me instantly taking over everything else.

I gave a little nod to the others as I poured some sugar and cream into my coffee before taking a big sip. I heard a chuckle from beside me as I sat there, a coffee cup cradled in my hand, looking like death warmed over.

“You okay?” Trevor whispered next to me. Taking another huge gulp, I nodded. Once I downed about half the cup, I started to feel better. The caffeine worked its way through my bloodstream.

“Ready to order?” The waitress appeared at the end of the table. I had a feeling they put off ordering for me.

While everyone told her what they wanted, I quickly scanned the menu. Everything made my stomach stir with nausea but I knew I had to eat something. “I’ll just have a bowl of fruit and some toast.” I told the waitress before she left.

“Seems like everyone had fun last night,” Bryton remarked, a wide grin on his face. Next to him, Mila looked worse than I did. She was leaning against his shoulder and looked half asleep.

“It was amazing,” Josie answered, then continued talking about how much fun the vacation had been.

As I refilled my coffee, I felt Trevor lean in close to my side.

“How did you sleep?”

“Good. Everything’s a bit of a blur though.” He chuckled at my words. “Do you know how I got to my room?”

“I brought you back.” At his words, I suddenly remembered walking back to the hotel with him. A nagging voice kept telling me I did something stupid and embarrassing, but I couldn’t remember for the life of me what that could have been.

“I didn’t… I didn’t do anything bad, did I?” For the first time since sitting down, I looked at Trevor. At the sight of him, a memory flashed across my mind of the two of us at the club. We were dancing, and he whispered something to me.

Tasha, remember!

“Depends what your definition of bad is.” The look on Trevor’s face did nothing to ease my worry.

The longer I stared at Trevor, the more I was able to put the pieces of last night back together. I recalled dancing with Johnno, getting jealous of the girl touching Trevor, and then him appearing behind me, his words once again flashing through my mind.

I cringed at the memory of trying to dance in the middle of the street. And then I remembered what happened in my room last night. What Trevor said to me.

Because when I take you, I want you completely sober.

I could tell Trevor knew exactly what I was thinking as the corner of his lip tilted up. Oh God. Oh God . I threw myself at him last night. My drunk self invited him to spend the night, and he had to gently let me down.

Humiliation washed over me. What the fuck were you thinking, Tasha?! I looked down into my coffee mug, unable to hold Trevor’s gaze. I winced as I remembered pushing my shirt up my legs in an attempt to be sexy.

I was so embarrassed. Of all people, I had to throw myself at Trevor. Trevor—the same person I had finally gotten to a good place with.

“Tasha—” Trevor started to say but the waitress came with our food, interrupting him .

I silently thanked her for her timing. I could feel Trevor staring as I kept my eyes on my food. For some reason, it wasn’t just humiliation that made it hard to look at him. It was the way I felt about him and how those feelings came rushing back to the surface.

Feelings that had been steadily growing the last few days. I wanted to ignore the way my stomach fluttered whenever I was around him. But it was hard to push away when he made sure to keep an eye on me just like he promised. And the way our bodies molded together in an almost perfect way on that dance floor….

While I may have been a bit drunk, I knew I didn’t imagine the way my body heated up at his touch. Hell, just a simple look from him was enough for me to feel tingly all over.

In the light of the day, it was hard to ignore the rush of feelings I was now experiencing. I knew Trevor was being a gentleman by not accepting my advances last night while intoxicated, but it didn’t lessen the sting of the rejection. Especially now that I was 100 percent coherent.

My overthinking self started to spiral. Last night, these feelings, being hungover— it was all too much. So, I did what I did best. I shoved it all down and ignored it. Ignored Trevor.

For the rest of breakfast, I kept my attention on eating or talking to the others. Whenever I noticed Trevor try to start a conversation with me, I would insert myself in another.

I knew it was rude, and I was probably overreacting, but right then, I couldn’t deal with it all. Everything I felt for Trevor was now being drudged back up in full force. All the walls I put up, all the little lies I told myself, were quickly vanishing. I wanted him. Wanted him when I shouldn’t have.

Liking Trevor should have been off-limits. With Josie and Wyatt being engaged, if we were to get together and it ended badly, it would make the whole friend dynamic weird. Cause who’s to say this would end up as more than just sleeping together? Trevor didn’t seem like the type to want more than that.

On top of that, I had my own issues that he shouldn’t have to deal with. My parents. Trust issues—thanks to past boyfriends that cheated and used me to get close to said parents. Sometimes, I could be too much. Too hard to love.

With the self-deprecating thoughts swirling in my head, I couldn’t help but think it was best I kept my distance from Trevor altogether.

By the time we boarded the first plane to get home, I was beyond exhausted. Lying around on the beach helped my hangover but didn’t stop my mind from going a million miles a minute. Now that I was fully aware of my feelings for Trevor, it was ten times harder to ignore him.

Probably should have been an adult and just talked to him. Anything other than ignore him. But I tended to dissociate when I became overwhelmed. The rest of the flights back home I either slept or read my book.

When we landed hours later, I was more than ready to get home. I was grateful Josie planned the trip to where we had two days to recover from the time change before heading back to work. I needed sleep and time alone to figure things out. Time to figure out if what I felt was only because we were on vacation or not. If I even wanted to be more than a friend to Trevor.

It was well after two in the morning by the time we got to baggage claim. Thankfully, no one was there since it was so late, and we didn’t have to worry about fans recognizing the guys.

Spotting my bag, I reached to grab it only for a different hand to beat me to it. I knew that tattooed arm.

“Here you go.” Trevor’s voice was thick with fatigue as he placed my heavy bag in front of me. Tilting my head back, I met his gaze. Day old stubble covered his face, my hand itching to reach out and touch it.

“Thanks,” I said softly, our fingers brushing as I grabbed the handle. The way his eyes roamed my face made me want to grab him and kiss him. I almost did until I heard Josie behind me.

“We’re going to head out.” Sending me a tired smile, Josie pulled me into a tight hug. “I’ll text you in the morning.”

“Be careful getting home.” Giving Wyatt a smile of my own, I stepped back, watching the newly engaged couple walk hand in hand toward the doors leading outside.

“Do you want me to take a cab with you?” Trevor asked behind me. As much as I wanted to say yes, I knew I shouldn’t.

“That’s okay.”

“Really, I don’t mind.” Trevor tried again.

I shook my head. I wasn’t sure what I would have done if the two of us were stuck in an Uber together.

“Trevor, you’re exhausted and you live fifteen minutes from my place. Go home and get some sleep.” I could tell he wasn’t happy about what I said, but he took a step back. “I’ll see you later.”

“Tasha, wait.” I hesitated for a second before turning around. Trevor stood there, an unreadable expression on his face as he held out something in a white plastic bag. “Here.”

My curiosity won out as I took the bag from him. Reaching in, I felt something fuzzy, the sight of what it was making my eyes widen. I pulled out a stuffed animal in the form of a green turtle. The same stuffed turtle I was eyeing at the gift store a few days ago.

My throat closed and my eyes pricked with tears. He bought me a stuffed turtle.

“I… I…” I didn’t know what to say. Pressure clogged my throat as I struggled to come up with words. I really needed to get out of there before I did something stupid. “Goodnight,” I said like a complete idiot, turning on my heel and strutting away.

I felt Trevor’s eyes on me as I walked. I held the stuffed turtle to my chest as I headed for the exit to the airport, every step making me feel like I just made a huge mistake.

By the time the Uber parked in front of my building, I wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed. Maybe it wasn’t the smartest idea to vacation somewhere in a different time zone. After paying the driver, I dragged my suitcase through the doors, waving to the doorman, and into the elevator.

Looking at my phone, I found myself clicking through my photos. I flipped through ones of us at the club, at the beach, and selfies with the girls until I landed on one I forgot I took.

A picture of Trevor when we went hiking to the secluded waterfall. We had stopped for a second to catch our breath—okay, my breath—and I brought my phone up to see if we had a signal. I remember Trevor standing there, joking about something when I ended up snapping a quick picture before he noticed.

Afterward, we got too busy with the hike and the proposal that I forgot to look at it. Thankful that I was alone in the elevator, I zoomed in, staring at Trevor’s face. God, he really was hot. With his brown hair curled at the back of his neck, those bright green eyes focused on me. It truly should have been a crime that he was so good looking.

I was so busy staring at the photo that I almost missed the elevator doors opening to my floor. Pocketing my cell, I headed for my apartment. It was still dark outside when I entered my bedroom, rolling my suitcase off to the side. I’d deal with that tomorrow after I got some much needed sleep.

With a quick wash of my face and a change of clothes, I was ready to fall into bed and snooze until the late afternoon. Plugging my phone in, my eyes lingered on the stuffed turtle I placed on my nightstand. The thought of Trevor going out of his way to get it for me was enough to bring tears to my eyes.

I lied there staring at the turtle until I fell asleep with only one thing on my mind.

Trevor.