Page 6 of Loving Taylor

Despite everything she was still my mother and it was the reason I looked after her but for my own sanity and well-being I kept her at a distance. I usually visited her once a month and spoke on the phone with her once a week. Anything more than that I couldn't allow.

The soft murmur beside me pulled my mind back to the beautiful girl sharing my bed.

I let my eyes glide over her fine features while I remembered the softness of her hands in mine. I swallowed when I dropped my gaze to her lips.

Like I had promised her, if she still felt the same way in the morning I would give her a night to remember—as long as she agreed to my rules. Only one night and nothing more.

The next morning I began to surface. Remembering the girl from the night before, my hand searched the space beside me. It was empty and the sheets were cold. She was gone. I opened my eyes and confirmed what I already figured out.

Still struggling to wake up, I rubbed my eyes and yawned. Where was she? She'd been so out of it last night I had expected to wake up with her still sound asleep beside me. Had she gone downstairs to get some food?

I got out of bed and pulled on my jeans. I yawned again as I descended the stairs, listening for any sound that confirmed she was still in the house.

"Morning." The familiar sound of Slater eating a bowl of cereal from the sofa stopped me.

"Hey," I said. I didn't see Taylor but she could still be in the kitchen. My eyes went to the doorway of the kitchen.

"You looking for something?" Slater said, watching me.

I wasn't comfortable admitting to my best friend that a girl had slept over in my bed and nothing had happened.

"Or someone?" he concluded.

"Did she leave?" I asked, knowing he already knew about Taylor.

He nodded as he spooned another mouthful into his mouth.

I hadn't expected that. It was the first time a girl had left before I had woken up. Most girls stayed as long as they could.

"She left first thing this morning. She tried to sneak out."

I nodded, still trying to figure out why she had snuck out like that. I dropped down in the chair across from Slater.

"She didn't want to tell me her name." He was still grinning.

"Really?" I looked at him and he nodded.

"Why are you looking so confused?"

"Usually I have to shove them out the door," I murmured, still trying to figure out the blue-eyed girl who had left me feeling disjointed.

"She looked quite mortified when I caught her trying to leave," he reminisced with a smile.

There was no sneaking in or out with Slater around. He was usually awake, and when he couldn't sleep he usually spent time on his laptop or watching TV.

His statement wasn't making me feel any better. Was I that bad that she had snuck out so she wouldn't be associated with me? That was a first. Usually girls couldn't wait to boast about bedding me. I didn't like the feeling of inadequacy her actions made me feel.

Was she embarrassed that she'd been so drunk? I began to think back to the night before. She had looked pretty sober when I had left to go to the kitchen during the party. I hadn't been there long and when I had found her again she had been so out of it. I frowned. I had an uncomfortable feeling that maybe someone had given her something.

"You okay?" Slater asked, watching my thought process across my face.

"Yeah," I said. I wasn't ready to analyze Taylor and how she made me feel. I didn't want to look closer for fear of where it could lead.

But what if someone had planned to do something to her? The thoughts that followed only angered me.

I left Slater to go back upstairs. While I showered I debated all the reasons to track her down to check on her and all the reasons to keep as far away from her as physically possible. Even though the reasons to keep my distance outweighed the reasons to locate her, I found myself downstairs asking if he had ever seen her around before.

"Nope," he answered. "But I could probably find out."