Chapter 28
TWENTY-EIGHT
Eric
? Family - Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors ?
Of course, even though I specifically asked them not to, my entire family is waiting for us at the airport, and I groan as I look at the signs they made.
My brother is holding one that says, WELCOME HOME FROM PRISON, ERIC in big, block letters.
Right next to him, my sister holds one that says, WE KNEW YOU DIDN’T KILL AND EAT THOSE PEOPLE.
I smile and shake my head. I’m used to their antics, but I swear to God if any of them make this weird for Tyler, I will disown them all.
Without even looking at her, I know the moment Tyler sees them, because she bursts into a fit of laughter. Laughing so hard she has tears running down her cheeks.
“Oh my god,” she says, wiping at her eyes with one hand and squeezing my arm with the other. “I love them already.”
“Tyler,” my mom says, ignoring me completely and wrapping her in a hug. “It’s so great to finally meet you. We’ve heard so much about you.” Tyler looks over my mom’s shoulder and at me.
Shit.
“You…told them about me?” she asks. I shoot my mother a look and she winks before stepping back to stand next to my dad.
“Well, I…” I say, trying to think of an excuse that wasn’t as psychotic as, Of course I told them about you. They never thought I’d love again and they’re desperate for more grandchildren. “I had to let them know you were coming.” Tyler’s face falls a bit before my sister steals her attention.
After introductions, we head to baggage claim to get our stuff before heading to the parking lot.
Conveniently, the only vehicle with room for Tyler and me is my sister’s minivan, and, conveniently, the only seats left in said minivan are in the very back on the bench seat next to my nephew, Colin, who, conveniently, decides to take up more room on his side of the seat than is necessary.
Which leaves me pressed against Tyler for the thirty minute drive to my parents’ house.
Whatever the plan is, they’re clearly all in on it, and I can’t decide if I should be happy or angry. They know Tyler and I can’t touch each other, yet here they are. Fanning the flames. Inviting temptation and testing my patience.
When we arrive at the house, I grab our bags from the back of the van and we all file inside. My mom immediately goes to the kitchen to start preparing lunch while my nieces and nephews settle into the living room to play Mario Kart.
“Come on,” I say to Tyler, nodding toward the stairs. “I’ll show you the spare rooms.”
“Oh, sorry,” my mom says, popping her head around the corner from the kitchen. “Didn’t I tell you? You need to share a room.” Tyler freezes mid-step, and I whip around and narrow my eyes at my mother.
“No,” I say through gritted teeth. “You failed to mention that important piece of information.”
She waves her hand dismissively.
“April, Dustin, and the kids are staying this week, so the other rooms are full.”
I divert my seething gaze to my sister, who smiles and shrugs.
“Bed bugs,” she says. “They’re fumigating the house. It’s a whole thing. Huge outbreak around here.”
“Uh-huh,” I say, before turning back to Tyler, who is still frozen in place on the stairs. “You can have my bedroom. I’ll sleep down here on the couch.” I tell her.
“Eric, no,” she says. “This is your house. If anyone’s sleeping on the couch, it’s me.” She tries to push past me, but my mom’s voice stops her again.
“No one is sleeping on the couch,” she says, her tone final.
“Tyler clearly doesn’t want to share a bed, and I’m not about to—”
“I don’t mind,” Ty says, cutting me off. My eyes dart to hers. She shrugs, turns, and heads up the stairs without another word.
I turn back to my mom and sister, who are looking at each other and grinning like the co-conspirators they are.
“I hate you both,” I mutter, before turning and heading up the stairs.
Tyler is waiting for me just inside the door, and I can’t explain what seeing this woman in my childhood bedroom does to me. Teenage me would have died and gone to heaven if someone as gorgeous as Tyler Norris ever walked into my bedroom, let alone slept in here.
“I’m sorry they’re being weird and extremely inappropriate,” I say, keeping my voice low. “We don’t have to do this. I’ll go to Target and get an air mattress and sleep on the floor. Or we can get hotel rooms. I—”
“Eric,” she places a hand on my arm, and I stop talking, my focus suddenly diverted to where she’s touching me. “Is sharing a bed with me going to be weird for you?” she asks, looking up at me. I shake my head. “Then it’s fine. I don’t mind. Honestly.”
She releases my arm and steps farther into the room, spinning in a slow circle, taking it all in. I lean against the wall, arms folded across my chest, watching her. She crosses the room, sits on my bed, and my dick is suddenly straining against the zipper of my jeans like I’m fifteen again.
I blame the night we met. Ever since then I’ve been unable to not get instantly hard when I see Tyler on a bed. Or a couch. Or a kitchen counter. Or the—
“So,” she says, leaning back on her elbows and tossing her hair to the side. Fuck me, that is not helping. “Is this where all the magic happened?” She wags her eyebrows, and I huff a laugh.
“Tyler, you’re the first woman I’ve ever had in this bedroom.”
Her playful gaze turns serious, and she sits up again.
“Wait, really?” I nod. “Wow,” she says, grinning.
“I’m the first girl Eric Ambrose has ever had in his bedroom.
I will be telling everyone I know this story for the rest of my life.
” She giggles and throws herself back onto the bed, arms spread wide like she’s going to make a snow angel on my comforter.
I push off the wall to approach her, ready to make a stupid comment inviting her to be the first to do other things in my bedroom, but my mom calls up from the kitchen saying lunch is ready, so instead, I offer her my hand and pull her up off the bed before heading back downstairs.
After lunch, the adults pile into the living room and kick the kids outside, forcing them to take a break from staring at screens. I sit at one end of the couch and am surprised when Tyler sits on the floor in front of me, settling in between my legs and leaning back against the couch.
“I heard someone wanted these?” mom says, stepping into the room with a stack of photo albums. I throw my head back into the couch and groan.
“Ooo me!” Tyler says, sitting up, excitedly motioning for my mom to drop them onto the coffee table in front of where she’s sitting. She picks one up, and of course, it’s one from when I was in high school.
Terrific.
“Wow,” Tyler says, covering her mouth with a hand to stifle a laugh. “You look…different.” I roll my eyes. Different would be an understatement. I was tall, lanky, covered in acne, with glasses and braces, and pale as fuck because all my free time was spent in my basement playing drums.
Tyler spends the next two hours sitting with my family, listening to stories and asking questions about me. I stick around to interject when they decide to exaggerate something or try and go off into some sort of incredibly embarrassing anecdote.
When my mom and sister excuse themselves to go back into the kitchen to start dinner, Tyler offers her help, and I watch as she rises from the floor in front of me and follows behind my sister through the living room, throwing a smile over her shoulder at me right before she turns the corner to the kitchen.
I smile and look down at my hands, spinning one of the rings on my fingers.
When I look back up, my dad and brother are staring at me with identical, knowing looks on their faces. Steve has always looked the most like our dad, but the older he gets, the more obvious it is, and in this moment, it’s like staring at the twins from The Shining.
“What?” I ask and Steve scoffs. “What?” I ask again, not bothering to hide the annoyance in my voice.
“Could you want her more?” he asks, tapping my thigh with the back of his hand. “I have a feeling this whole sharing a room thing is about to break you.”
“Yeah, thanks for that by the way,” I say, glaring at my dad, who throws his hands up in mock innocence.
“I had absolutely nothing to do with that,” he says.
“You still allowed it to happen,” I say, running a hand through my hair. “She doesn’t want this, so I would appreciate it if everyone could just fucking cool it, alright?”
“They just wanted to help,” Steve says.
“Well, knowing and then blatantly ignoring the boundaries she set isn’t helping anything.”
“You’re right, Eric,” dad says. “I’m sorry. I’ll talk to the girls tonight.”
I mutter my thanks and start twisting the ring on my finger again, worried that by the end of the day, she’s going to be ready to bolt. Get the hell out of here and as far away as humanly possible from this insane situation we’ve found ourselves in.
If I wake up in the morning to Tyler gone and a note on my dresser, I will never forgive any of them.