Eruption (The Hunted Series Book 3) (12 page)

Tuesday

I grabbed the handle as soon as the door buzzed. Tyler had
done well for himself in New York. He had aced his first interview and landed
the job he had wanted as a business reporter. And he had already gotten a few
promotions. Him moving here after he graduated had been wonderful. I think the
time we spent apart allowed James to move on from everything that had happened
between me and Tyler. They were actually friends now. And I guess it had been
good for Tyler and me too. We still talked on the phone every now and then
while he was still in Delaware, but we weren't very close anymore. As soon as
he moved here, though, it was like we were best friends again. Our friendship
had picked up right where it had left off, minus the sexual tension.

I stepped onto the elevator and pressed the button for the
fifth floor. Transferring to NYCU had been hard. Everyone had already made
friends freshman year, which left me pretty much on my own. Luckily Mason had
started dating Bee. She was pretty much the only friend I had made in New York
besides for James' friends. And they didn't really count because I couldn't
really talk to them about anything personal, despite how inappropriate Rob was
all the time. Bee was so great because even though I hadn't known her in Delaware,
we could easily talk about home. We even knew a lot of the same people. And the
fact that our dating situations were similar made it even easier to confide in
her.

I stopped outside of Tyler's apartment. Josh had broken up
with Melissa after he graduated. He didn't even want to try to attempt a long
distance relationship. Melissa had been devastated. She started coming up and
visiting a lot more afterwards. But now I was wondering if she was more
interested in seeing Tyler than she had been in spending time with me. How long
had this really been going on? How could I have not realized it? And why were
they hiding it from me? I knew that Melissa thought Tyler was hot. She had
repeatedly talked about his abs and thought I was crazy for not jumping at the
opportunity to be with him. Had she liked him that whole time?

And Tyler hadn't dated anyone since moving to New York. At
least, not that he told me about. I felt like I could talk to Tyler about
anything. It hurt to realize that he didn't feel he could do the same with me.
It hurt even more that Melissa wouldn't tell me about their relationship. But I
had kept James a secret from both of them for a long time. Maybe I deserved to
be kept out of the loop. This whole thing was so weird. I knocked on the door.
I didn't want to force them to tell me about their relationship. But if I
didn't bring it up, I was worried they never would.

When Tyler opened the door he had a huge smile on his face.
He was still wearing a suit from work. For some reason I always expected him to
be wearing jeans and a polo like he had in class. But I was the only one that
seemed to be having a hard time transitioning into the real word. "Hey,
Penny. It's nice getting to hang out with you on a night that isn't
Friday."

Tyler and I always watched Shark Tank together on Fridays. It
was our thing. James never wanted to watch it with us. We had concluded that he
was just bitter that he hadn't been asked to be one of the sharks. And he
didn't deny it.

"I thought it would be fun for the three of us to hang
out," I said.

"Yeah." He didn't sound quite as convinced, but it
could have been my imagination. "I just have to go change. I'll be right
back."

I walked into his apartment and sat down on the couch. I
hadn't been there since Melissa had moved in. Despite the fact that she claimed
it was only temporary, her stuff was everywhere. There was only one bedroom and
the couch I was sitting on hadn't been made up with a sheet or pillow or
anything. They were definitely sleeping together.

Tyler came out, pulling a t-shirt over his head, and
collapsed beside me on the couch. He looked exactly like he did in college when
he wasn't in his work clothes. "How's the new job going?"

"It's good, I'm still getting used to..."

"Geez, what happened to your face?"

"Nothing. I'm still getting used to the dynamic at
work," I continued. "I just told all my co-workers that I was
marrying the boss." I laughed and kept my face turned away from him.

"If you aren't going to tell me, at least let me get you
some ice or something."

"No, it's fine. I can't even feel it anymore."

"I guess you've had worse."

"Please don't tell me you still feel bad about that?
That was so long ago. And it wasn't your fault."

He scratched the back of his neck. "Yeah, well..."
He let his voice trail off. "You're really not going to tell me what
happened?"

"I'd rather talk about something else. How's living with
Melissa going?" I kicked my shoes off and tucked my legs underneath of me
on the couch. I wished I had gone home and changed out of my skirt and blouse
before coming over. Maybe Melissa would let me borrow something more
comfortable to change into when she got here.

"Do you want a drink?" He stood up and walked
toward the kitchen.

I laughed. "That good?"

"I just needed a drink."

"Okay. I'll have whatever you're having."

He grabbed two beers out of the fridge and popped the tops
off before handing me one. He sat back down beside me. "No one ever told
me how hard it was to live with the opposite sex."

I laughed. "It is kind of an adjustment."

He smiled at me.

"But it's just temporary?"

"I don't know." He took a huge sip of his beer.
"It's nice not living alone, I mean."

"I thought you liked having your own place after living
in the frat house? You went on and on about it when you moved here."

He shrugged. "People change, Penny."

"I know." I hadn't realized he was lonely. It made
sense. He came home every night to an empty apartment. I don't know why I
hadn't realized it sooner. If I had made any good friends in New York that were
single, I would have tried to set them up with him.

"James' parents' place was really nice," he said.
He adjusted himself on the couch so that his back was against the armrest and
his feet were resting next to my legs.

"Yeah, I think that was the first and last time I'll
ever be invited there."

"I was kind of wondering about that. Was James' ex wife
really there? Isabella, right?"

"Yeah."

"Kind of strange to invite their son's ex to celebrate
his new relationship."

"They were trying to scare me away. And when that didn't
work they tried to pay me off."

"Seriously?" Tyler laughed. "What dicks."

I laughed. "Couldn't have said it better myself."

"And the black eye happened sometime between that night
and today. I would have remembered seeing it at the party."

I knew better than to think Tyler would drop it. And it
wasn't like Zach prying. Tyler cared about me. "Actually, it was Isabella.
She decided to confront me after his parents' bribe, and I was upset and I
called her a bitch. So she slapped me."

Tyler laughed.

"It's not funny." I pushed on his foot and he
playfully kicked my thigh back.

"It's kind of funny. James sure comes with a lot of
baggage."

"Well, he's tossed it all away. His parents aren't even
invited to the wedding anymore."

"He's okay with that?"

"I think it's what he wanted the whole time. I was just
too stubborn to see it." I bit the inside of my lip. "It was stupid,
I just really wanted them to like me."

"That's not too much to ask from your future in
laws."

"Apparently in this case it was."

"Are you sure you're okay?" His eyes had gravitated
back to my cheek.

"Honestly the clothes I'm in are more uncomfortable than
the super small bruise on my face." I moved my legs again, trying to get
comfortable on the couch.

He laughed. "I already put a pair of sweats for you in
the bathroom. I was wondering when you'd start complaining."

"You know me so well. I'll be right back." I got up
and went to the bathroom. Sure enough, there was a pair of sweatpants and one
of his University of New Castle t-shirts folded on the shelf. I quickly
changed. I loved Tyler's sweatpants. They were big and comfortable. And no
matter what I was wearing when I came over, I usually found something to
complain about so that I'd get to change into a pair. Eating popcorn in sweats
while watching Shark Tank was more accurately our thing.

It was nice to know that just because he was with Melissa
now, we could still hang out like this. I made my way back out into the living
room. "When is Melissa usually done work?" She had found a summer
internship at a law firm nearby. In the fall she'd be going to law school. She
was still waiting to hear back from where, but I was hoping it would be in the
city.

"She'll be here any minute."

I wasn't sure if it was better to ask him about it now, or
wait until they were together. I just wanted to get it over with. "Are you
and Melissa dating?" I blurted out, before I could change my mind.

He choked on his sip of beer. "No." He cleared his
throat. "I mean, why would you ask that?"

"James thought he saw something going on between you
two."

"And that bothered you?" He didn't deny it this
time. He wanted to know how I felt about it. That probably meant it was true.

I laughed. "No. I just...I want you both to be happy.
You know that."

He didn't say anything, he just took another sip of his beer.

"But you two are my best friends. I guess if you
dated...I don't know. I don't want to lose you."

"That's not really fair. You never wanted me to begin
with, Penny. You can't lose what you never had."

"I mean our friendship."

He sighed. "I don't really know what to tell you."

"The couch isn't made up. I mean, it's pretty obvious
that you guys are sleeping together."

"I don't really think we should be talking about
this."

"But we're friends."

"It's weird, Penny. You must realize that. With our
history? It's complicated to say the least."

"So, you are then?" I asked.

"This is so awkward."

"Tyler."

"I'm not going to talk about my sex life with you,
Penny."

"That's what friends do."

"Not when one of those friends used to be in love with
the other friend." He stood up. "Not when we've had sex. Not when I
compare every girl I'm with to that night we had." He shook his head.

I didn't know that. My hanging around all the time maybe
hadn't been as fun for him as it was for me.

"This is enough for me," he said. "If I can't
be with you, I decided being your friend was good enough. And you are my best
friend. But I can't talk to you about this. This is where I have to draw the
line."

"I'm sorry."

"And I'm not going to feel guilty for hooking up with
Melissa. Because I'm allowed to have a life outside of whatever this is. You
do. You get to go home to James. And at least Melissa actually likes me. Or
liked me. I don't know, it's complicated." He sat down on the couch again
and scratched the back of his neck.

He was opening up about it. I didn't want him to close off
because of our past. I didn't want to be left in the past too. "Why is it
complicated?"

"Because she thinks I'm still in love with you."

I swallowed hard. I didn't want to know the answer, but it
felt important to ask. If he was, I shouldn't be coming over here all the time.
Or at all. And I definitely shouldn't be wearing his pants. "And?"

"I don't even know anymore. I look forward to Friday
nights. I haven't really been trying to meet anyone. I've been stuck. I just
wanted something less complicated. And Melissa was easy." He coughed.
"Not like that. Sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I just already knew she
liked me. It wasn't like it was with you. It wasn't this instant attraction.
But, I don't know, our relationship slowly changed into something more. I like
having someone to come home to."

"I get that."

He sighed. "I'm friends with James. I wouldn't do
anything to mess that up after it took so long for him to be cool with us hanging
out. Besides, it's not like how it used to be between us. I still love you, but
I'm not in love with you. Melissa doesn't seem to understand the
difference."

"Well I do."

"Yeah, that's how you always felt about me." He
laughed and looked back up at me.

"Are you in love with her?"

"I don't know. I mean..." he looked uncomfortable.
"Honestly, it was just casual hookups. But it was a lot of them. And when
she said she was moving here, I offered my place."

"So she wants it to be more than casual?"

"I thought so at first."

"Well, what do you want?"

He laughed. "I'm not good at relationships."

I didn't say anything. His response didn't really answer my
question. And usually if I stayed silent, he always confessed what he was
hiding. Before this, I didn't think we had many secrets from each other at all.

"It doesn't really matter now. She found an apartment.
She's moving out at the end of the month."

"That's plenty of time to change her mind."

"I think I should have never slept with your best
friend. What the hell was I thinking?"

"I think it's great. Two of my best friends getting
together? What could be better than that?" Even as I said it, I knew it
wasn't true. Two of my best friends getting together meant that I could
possibly lose both of them. They wouldn't need me anymore.

He finished his beer and put it down on the coffee table.
"Yeah, except..."

The front door opening cut him off. Melissa walked in with a
huge smile on her face. But as soon as she saw me, it instantly vanished.
"Hey, guys. What are you two doing?"