Chapter 27
Twenty-Seven
Tedi
The schedule has been grueling, and I’m about done with this travel thing. I remember it being hard when Tweetie traveled and how much he didn’t want to go and craved being home. I understand it on a whole different level now.
By the time we get off the plane after the Washington game, another flight coming in well after midnight, I just want a bed and soft blankets.
I’m walking out with Tweetie, Conor, and Rowan, but I planned ahead this time and ordered a car that should be here when we walk out. This way I won’t have the temptation of inviting Tweetie into my apartment when he insists on getting me home.
“You coming with us?” Rowan asks as the sliding doors of the airport open for him.
“Fuck, it’s cold.” Conor zips up his jacket and rushes over to their SUV.
“No, I scheduled my own ride.” I lift my hand. “See you guys later.”
Rowan and Conor wave, but Tweetie stands outside their SUV as if it’s not below zero with the wind.
I walk over to the car with the license plate number pulled up on my phone. For a moment, I think Tweetie’s going to stop me and make me go with him, but the sound of a car speeding down the road draws my attention. It stops right in front of my driver’s car. What the hell?
I glance over my shoulder, and Tweetie nods at whoever the driver is and puts his bag in the back of the SUV.
Decker climbs out of an expensive-looking car and rounds the back. He goes to the driver’s side of the car I hired and digs out his wallet, passing the driver cash before rounding the back of the car. The car I reserved drives away, and Decker takes my suitcase from me.
“Why are you here?” I seethe through my teeth.
“Ask your overbearing ex,” he whispers, opening his trunk and putting my suitcase in.
My gaze lifts. Tweetie’s still standing outside the passenger door of the SUV. I try to figure out why he’s watching me, but he climbs into the SUV. I miss his gaze on me immediately.
“If you haven’t noticed, it’s fucking cold out. Get in the car,” Decker says.
I shift my attention to him holding open his passenger door. The black SUV pulls into the traffic lane and speeds off since they’re one of the only ones on the road.
Mindlessly, I walk to the car.
“By all means, take your time. I don’t need my hands to play baseball or anything.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Just get in the damn car, Tedi.” He waves as if I need directions.
“I like this bossy side of you. Don’t be afraid to show it in the bedroom,” I joke.
He gives me a saccharine grin. “No worries, honey, your seat warmer is on, and I’ve blasted the heat for you.”
“That’s so sweet. What did I do to deserve you?” I put my gloved hand over his cheek in a playful way.
“You blackmailed me, remember, sweetheart?” he says through gritted teeth.
I climb in, my ass falling into whatever low-slung sports car he’s driving. He slams the door before I can even reach for my seat belt.
Then he’s in the driver’s seat, swearing and complaining, putting his hands in front of the heating vent. “We need to talk.”
After he blows into his hands and rubs them together, he slides on his seat belt and puts the car in drive.
“This car is a little excessive, no?” I ask, looking around at the stitching and leather and the lit-up screen. Maybe I’m just used to Tweetie, who never really splurged on anything like this. I mean, he lives in a two-bedroom condo when he could easily be overlooking Lake Michigan. But that’s Tweetie, and one of the reasons I fell for him.
“Am I asking you to make the payment?”
I turn my body toward him. “Decker Davis, I’m seeing a whole new side of you.”
“This is me at one thirty in the morning, having to stay up to make sure I pick up my fake girlfriend because leaving her to be picked up by a rideshare driver is inconsiderate… let me think of what else he said.” He pulls onto the highway.
“Who?”
He glares before speeding to get in the far left lane. “Your ex.”
I grab the holy shit handle. “Tweetie?”
He groans. “I’m hoping you don’t have any other exes who are going to call me up and school me about how I’m treating you.”
I bite my lip to stop the smile from emerging. Tweetie called Decker to tell him to pick me up?
“Oh god, look at you.” He shakes his head. “You guys are, like, next-level demented with the games you play. First the guy acts like he wants to beat my ass, and now he’s telling me to pick you up at the airport, and you’re going gaga over him.”
“I am not.” I cross my arms, but in truth, I kind of am.
Decker aggressively passes another vehicle, jerking the car to the right lane, then back into the left.
“Are you trying out for Formula One or something?”
“No, I want to get home. Speaking of which, where do you live?”
I tell him what exit to get off on.
“Honestly, Tedi, this is absurd. Why are you doing this?”
I shrug. It was a really good idea at first. “You don’t get it. And I’ve hardly asked you for anything. I’m sorry about you having to come get me, but I didn’t know anything about it. Do you want me to buy you some donuts or something?”
He takes the exit toward my apartment, and his shoulders fall at the stoplight. “A glazed donut isn’t going to fix this.”
“What about one with sprinkles? You always loved the sprinkles.” I smile wide and act excited as if he’s four years old and I can bribe him.
He blows out a breath. “I have no idea how you manage to get me to agree to everything.”
“I know I’m abusing being the older sister of your best friends, but I have no choice. Like tonight, having you pick me up saved me from the temptation of Tweetie taking me home. It’s not easy not giving in where he’s concerned.” I rock my head back. “But I do feel bad about you coming to the airport, so let me buy you a donut or two.”
The light changes, and he turns left toward my apartment. “Help me understand why I’m putting myself through this?”
I stare at the city, quiet at this time of night. The homes lining the street are dark. “Have you ever been in love?”
He sighs. “Once.”
“Then maybe you get it. Tweetie and I are ‘all in’ people. We don’t do things halfway, so when we fell in love, we fell hard and fast. But we came down just as hard and fast when things ended. We know we should stay away from one another, but there’s this invisible string still tying us together that only we can feel. You’re like my buffer, forbidding him from getting too close. I know it doesn’t make sense?—”
“It makes perfect sense.” Decker pulls into the donut shop just down the road from my apartment.
“Thank you.” I cover his hand on the gearshift. “I really appreciate you doing this.”
He doesn’t say anything. “You’re buying me a hot chocolate too.”
He turns off the car and gets out, shutting the door. He waits for me at the front of his car with his hands stuffed in his pockets, and when I climb out and meet him, he falls in line with me, knocking me with his shoulder.
We don’t say anything and find a place by the window where we eat our donuts and drink hot chocolate without asking the other one any questions about our past loves, but I see it in his expression, why Decker understands—someone from his past still haunts him.