Chapter Thirty-Three
Allison
I’m startled awake by the slamming of a door and shoot up into a sitting position. Bad idea. Super bad idea. The room spins and my body screams at me. I see that Ty is still next to me and lay back down.
“You heard it too?” Ty asks.
I squeeze my eyes shut. “Yeah, what was that?”
“I don’t know. I’m going to go investigate.” Ty gets out of bed, and the shift in the mattress causes me to groan, and I open my eyes to give him the evil eye. “Sorry, Allison. I’ll get you some more pain medicine when I come back.”
Ty/Grant is so cute in his sweatpants and T-shirt. You can see his muscles through the shirt, and his tousled brown hair with blonde tufts makes him look sexy. I haven’t had time to process the fact that he’s the one I’ve been flirting with for months. And that he’s here…in my bed. But I digress. There could be a murderer or psycho killer in my apartment, and I can barely move. I hope Sexy Twin Guy can fight him off. I mean, he does look strong. I slowly roll to my side, thankful the bruise is on the other one and face the door with wide eyes, trying to listen for an altercation.
“All clear, but we’re in trouble,” Ty calls.
I gingerly sit up in bed. “Why? What’s going on?”
“Hold on, I’ll be right there.”
Ty pads into my bedroom with medicine, fresh water, and…flowers.
“Where did you get those?”
“I think you had a delivery this morning, and I think it may have been Oliver.” He gestures to the flowers.
“Are you sure they aren’t from your mom?”
“No, I called her last night and told her what happened and let her know I was staying with you to watch you sleep. She wouldn’t have been mad. She would have come in and cooed all over you. I tried to call Olly to tell him what happened so he could be here for you, but he wouldn’t answer my calls. I guess we both fell asleep and I’m thinking,” he raises his brows, “he may have found us in bed together.”
“Oh no,” I gasp. “What should we do?”
“I don’t know, but I can tell you I’m pissed that he would think I would steal his girl. Although we did have a relationship before you met him.” He winks.
“Yes, but…do you plan on telling me exactly what the deal is with your name and how, out of all the trainers in California, you end up being my neighbor?” He nods.
“Allow me to formally introduce myself. I’m Tyler Grant Hudson. My family calls me Ty and my clients call me Grant. Get it? Grant-it Fitness? It worked perfectly with my middle name, so I used it. I had no idea Oliver’s Ally was my Allison. I mean, I know the name is the same, but I’ve only ever thought of you as Allison, and you are just as cute and beautiful as I thought you were. Your voice matches you perfectly.” He kneels beside me and brushes his finger along my cheek. I melt.
“That makes a lot of sense… and thank you, but I can see why Oliver would be worried about losing me to you. You’re a smooth talker. So let me be clear: I’m with Oliver and I wouldn’t cheat on him,” I confirm, backing away from his touch.
“I’m sure you wouldn’t. And I would never do that to him either. I just didn’t want our fun to end,” he relents, and I sigh.
“We can still have fun. Our relationship has meant a lot to me. But what is between me and Oliver is different, and I refuse to do anything that would risk that. Okay?” I look up at him almost teary-eyed from both the lingering ache in my body and pain in my heart.
“Okay,” he nods, “I understand. Plus, you obviously make a cute couple,” he smirks. I roll my eyes and my head sways, so I rest it back on my pillow. “Are you okay? Here, take some medicine. You might need to go to the hospital today.”
“Nothing’s broken, just extremely sore.”
“I know, I’m just worried about your head.” I groan.
“It’s fine. I was just dizzy for a second. We need to go find Oliver, and if I somehow get worse, you can both take me to the hospital. Let me get dressed and we’ll go.” I rise out of bed, and thankfully, the dizziness is gone. Like I told Ty, I’m just sore.
I pad to the bathroom and check my reflection in the mirror. I’m covered in bruises, and my hair is smooshed up the back of my head creating a bushy halo of wayward strands. I’m stricken with horror knowing that Grant saw me like this and try to brush my hair down with my fingers only to nearly jump out of my skin when they skim over the goose egg in the middle of the halo. I groan, take a deep breath, and then wash my face with cool water. Once I’ve collected myself, I walk out to find Ellen sitting on my bed waiting for me. She’s fresh-faced and dressed for the day in a trendy navy sweatshirt and jeans.
“Come here, honey. Let’s get you dressed.” She helps me out of Ty’s shirt and hands me a button-down shirt so I don’t have to pull anything over my head. Then she hands me a pair of jeans. She turns to give me some privacy. I let her know I’m done, and she turns back to me. I don’t really need her help but my sore limbs are happy for the assistance.
“Would you be okay with me putting your hair up for you? That way it can be messy and loose so we won’t have to brush over the big bump.”
“That would be great.” I close my eyes for a minute while she gently sweeps her fingers through my hair, soothing the pain as she does.
“Ty tells me you had an unexpected visitor this morning and he may have gotten the wrong idea,” she tsks and shakes her head, “What am I going to do with that boy? He’s always been jealous of his older brother.” She secures my hair and steps back.
“Thank you, Ellen. I’m glad you’re here. Do you have any words of advice?”
“Don’t give up on him. He loves you and just couldn’t bear to see you two together after the week he’s had helping me. I’m sorry the house kept him away from you. I didn’t know he was in a serious relationship until we talked after you helped me clean.”
“We had just decided to take our relationship to boyfriend-girlfriend status when he disappeared. I had no idea what to think. Then Grant, I mean Ty, showed up and everything got messy.”
“Well, now you can go clean it up. I know you two will work it out.”
“Thanks.”
“Ty! You can come back in here,” Ellen calls.
“Hey, you look great. Ready to go?”
“Yeah. Time to go shake some sense into my boyfriend.”
Ty walks me to Oliver’s apartment and the cool breeze and sunlight are already making me feel alive again. I’m so thankful that the fall wasn’t worse.