Chapter 16 #2
Sounds of relief filled my head, trying to quiet the headache already occupying it while the pills made haste with their work to eliminate it.
That solved one issue. Van wasn’t going anywhere.
A small smile widened my lips, but I must have taken too long to respond.
Because the next thing I knew, I was watching doubt cloud Van’s beautiful eyes.
“Not unless you want me to leave, that is.”
“Oh god, no.” I sat my coffee down on the bedside table so that I could clasp both of my hands over his. “Van, I don’t regret last night either. And I agree with you, that it was incredible and that it complicates things. But I don’t want you to go. I was more worried that you would want to go.”
“Not a chance.” He shook his head.
“So we agree.” I beamed, but my face twisted with the darkness of the unknown. “Then…where does that leave us moving forward?”
Van repeated the action of shaking his head, not able to grasp at the words he wanted just yet.
I couldn’t blame him. I’d never done anything like this before, crossing the line with a co-worker.
And I’d definitely never had a security guard before him, so this was all completely new territory for me.
All I knew was that last night was one of the greatest sexual highlights of my life and that I didn’t want Van to stop working for me because of it.
Brow furrowing, Van tried to reset his features by closing his eyes, taking a beat and a breath, and opening them again until we were back staring at each other. “Well, first, I feel like there’s something important that I should tell you.”
He opened his mouth to get on with the matter he was so anxious to tell me when I heard the distinct ringing of my phone. The problem was, it didn’t sound as close as it should have.
“Have you seen my phone?” I asked Van, but he tilted his head negatively.
I hopped off the bed and started looking around the room.
Underneath the bed was nothing but signs that the room needed another cleaning session and the dresser provided absolutely nothing but the slight grease stains from the bag of food Van had bought.
I whipped my head toward Van when the ringing started to sound clear and less muffled, seeing that he had found it and was holding it up.
Priyanka was calling.
“It was under the couch.”
Crossing the room, I walked over and forgot about just how drunk we must have been last night, and how horny, for my phone to have ended up underneath the fucking couch, and pressed the phone to my ear after accepting the call.
“Priyanka, good morning.” I said as evenly as I could. The last thing I wanted was for Priyanka to be able to tell that I was hungover via the phone. She’d done it before, so I had to make sure I was on my game.
“Um, hello? Where the hell are you?” She sounded absolutely pissed, but was trying to wane it down for my sake. “I talked to Cherry and she said you’re not at rehearsal?”
I completely bulldozed by the fact that Cherry, my tour choreographer, had called Priyanka instead of me and ripped the phone from my ear to glance at my phone.
Not only did I have four missed calls and several texts from Cherry, but Priyanka had called ten times already herself.
But that wasn’t the horrifying part that kept blaring in my brain.
It was the fact that it was almost ten in the morning.
As in I was hours late for tour rehearsal.
“Fuck,” I muttered, placing my phone back against my ear. “Priyanka, I am so sorry. I’ll call Cherry and tell her I’m on the way.”
I clicked off the call and stared at Van. We had to fucking go.
“What’s wrong?” His curiosity was cute and all, but the need for speeding across town was running rampant through me, so I couldn’t fully focus on how attractive he was right now.
“First new rule? We need to get you up to speed on my schedule as much as Priyanka is.”
Van’s curiosity bloomed. “Why?”
“Because I was supposed to be at tour rehearsal hours ago, Van.” I laughed nervously, looking around the room for anything that I was missing. When I didn’t see anything but my shoes, I pounced over to them so I could pry them on, quickly. “We need to go.”
“Shit.” Van ran a hand through his hair. “And you’re sure we have to go now? I really need to tell you something.”
“It’s going to have to wait.” I told him as he ran to the bed and gathered up the food we hadn’t eaten and stored it safely away in the bag. At least we could eat the food on the way so it wouldn’t go to waste. “I can’t miss these last four days of rehearsal before opening the tour.”
“Right, I’ll get a car to meet us downstairs.”
“Thank you so much.”
I couldn’t believe I had blanked on tour like that. As much as I wanted to blame Van and his masculine wiles, I couldn’t. Last night had been too good to me. Not just the sex, but the ability to let loose, throw back a few drinks, and just talk had been great for my spirit.
No, I refused to blame Van for my lateness or my forgetfulness. Instead, I went with the culprit that usually bore the weight of my excuses.
Like always, I’d blame the vodka.