Chapter 18 Major
The pain in my back and the heaviness in my chest had me tossing and turning the whole night.
I fucked up by pulling away from Tumy. The disappointment on her face haunted me the entire night.
I should have just talked to her and told her how I felt, but I didn’t know how.
I hadn’t had feelings for anyone in a while, and it low-key scared me.
I felt the same heaviness when I woke up on the couch.
I heard Tumy come out of the bedroom and felt when she watched me for a few seconds.
I played sleep because I didn’t want to face her.
I was sure she felt some type of way about me not going into the room with her, because I damn sure did.
I missed the warmth and smell of her soft ass body against mine.
I missed talking to her until we fell asleep.
I missed waking up to her pretty ass face.
Hell, I even missed her morning breath. It was crazy to feel that way when she was just down the hall.
I never imagined I could fall so deep in a matter of days, but Tumy embedded herself in my veins. Shit wouldn’t be the same once we separated. The feeling of not being able to see or talk to her again made my chest tight. Something had to give.
When we ran into each other in the hallway, she could barely look at me. She spoke and got away from me fast as hell like I had the cooties. The shit fucked with me all morning.
I watched her from the window as she took pictures in the back of the cabin. I wanted to go out there and join her, but I knew if she chose to talk to me again, I had to come correct.
She even resorted to eating oatmeal or something to avoid being in the kitchen for too long.
Now I knew what Tamia sang about when she said it was a stranger in her house, because that was what I felt like.
Tumy and I were back to being strangers.
That didn’t sit right with me. Not after I tasted and felt her multiple times.
Not after we shared childhood stories and future goals.
Not when I couldn’t stop thinking about her.
Not after I fucked with her cat. I fed that thing, even though at first I didn’t want any parts of it.
The little guy was cool. He sat with me while I watched her outside.
During the night, he sat with me when I chastised myself for fucking up a good thing.
Tumy was the first good thing I’d experienced in a long time. Her smile was bright like the sun after a rainstorm. She made me feel warm inside. She made me want to love her. It would be hard not to.
I thought about saying something to her when she came back in the house, but she moved so quickly and closed the bedroom door like she didn’t want to be bothered. She even locked Sparrow in there with her, so I guessed he wasn’t fucking with me either. He probably knew I’d hurt his mom’s feelings.
Since the snow melted, I wanted to go out and hunt, since that was the reason why I was at the cabin in the first place.
I couldn’t, though, because I had a feeling that if I went anywhere, Tumy would try to leave while I wasn’t in the house.
I couldn’t let her leave without knowing my feelings for her.
I was on the couch watching television when she emerged again from the room. My heart dropped to my feet when I saw her with her luggage.
I stood and put my hands in my pockets. Tumy paused when she spotted me. The rims of her eyes were wet with unshed tears, and it broke me knowing I was the cause.
I moved to close the space between us. She looked skeptical when I moved my hand and lifted her chin.
“Can we talk?” I stared into her eyes. She hesitated like she wanted to say no. “Please?” I was desperate to at least clear the air before we parted ways.
“That’s fine.” Her voice came out in a whisper, but I heard her clearly.
I grabbed her hand and led her over to the couch. Sparrow came over and curled up on her lap once she sat down. Her head was down as she slowly rubbed his head. She agreed to talk, but apparently, she didn’t want to look at me.
“First, I’d like to apologize for my actions.
I shouldn’t have shut you out the way I did.
You did nothing wrong for me to treat you like that.
No bullshit, I got scared of the feelings I developed for you in a matter of days.
That wasn’t the way to go about things.” Her head popped up, and she looked me in the eyes.
A single tear slipped down her cheek. I used my thumb to wipe it away.
“I missed you last night. I thought since we were going our separate ways that I should distance myself to make things easier, but it made shit even harder. I couldn’t let you go home not knowing what I feel for you.
I can’t say that I love you yet, but I fell for you, Tumy.
No matter what happens once we separate, you will always have a place right here.
” I pointed to my chest where my heart was.
“You really hurt my feelings last night, Major. But, at the same time, I understand. I fell for you, too, even after you tried to kill me.”
“I didn’t try to kill you.”
She giggled, then grabbed my hands. For a few seconds, we stared at each other.
“These last few days were some of the best days I had in a long time. For a second, I thought maybe you had someone back home, and I was just something to do. I came to terms with the fact that whatever we shared wasn’t going to go anywhere outside of this cabin.
I don’t regret any of it either. Where do we go from here? ”
“Can you stay another day or two?”
“Yeah, I think I can.”
I leaned forward and kissed her lips.
“Good. Since the snow let up, I want to take you on an official date. If we have time, maybe we can do a little hunting. That’s if you want to.”
She chewed on her bottom lip and hummed. Our hands were still intertwined.
“We’ll have to see about hunting, but I would like to go on a date with you.”
“It’s still early enough; we can do something today if you want.”
There was a restaurant at the end of the hill that had good food, so I figured we could have dinner there, then see where the rest of the night took us.
“That works. Let me change into something else.”
I pulled her closer and kissed her again. I used my tongue to part her lips, and she welcomed me in. The kiss lasted for a minute or so before we pulled apart.
“I’ll be waiting for you.” I pecked her lips, then helped her up.
My chest felt lighter as I watched her walk toward the back of the cabin. I still didn’t know what the future held for us, but at least she knew how I felt about her. The best thing was that she felt the same way. Someway, somehow, we would see each other again. That was a fact I was sure of.