Rescued

Chapter 4: On the Loose

*** Harley's POV ***

I couldn't sleep. I hated that she thought I was with Madison. Hell I had been with Madison but not in a committed thing. Although that probably wasn't any better.

Madison was a trainwreck in every way and that phone call solidified it. She apparently went out and got stupid drunk. It took me close to twenty minutes to convince her that I couldn't come get her because I was several hours away. She thought I was lying.

Then she started spouting off about how she was going to call Joshua, our boss, and tell him about us. She didn't know this but Joshua already knew. He warned me to shut it down, which I did, but if she started running her mouth drunkenly who the hell knew what impression she might give him. So then it was another ten minutes talking her off that cliff.

She rounded out the drunk dial by getting weepy and telling me that I was the only guy to ever treat her right. I sighed because I didn't feel like I had treated her well at all. That told me a lot about the types of guys she must have been getting along with. When we hung up, I texted one of the gals I knew who worked at the bar she was at and asked her to make sure she made it home safely. She texted right back to say that she was with a group and didn't seem all that tore up based on appearances as she was presently hanging off some other guy's arm. I rolled my eyes and realized then just how long I had been on the phone.

Charlotte was passed out in the driver's seat when I entered the van. I creeped on her for a second, admiring her easy beauty. She was cute when I met her, but she had matured into an exquisite woman. I knew we had a long day ahead of us so I stopped gawking and shook her gently.

She moaned and it was like a direct line to my dick. I tore my eyes away and mumbled about feeling guilty about her setting up the mattress without me. She said she would have set up my sleeping bag too but she wasn't sure if I wanted to stay in the van. I had to control my face because like hell was I going to choose a skeevy motel over sleeping next to her. I turned the question around.

"Oh yeah definitely. As long as you're good with it?"

She gave me an unimpressed look and muttered something under her breath. I busied myself in laying out my sleeping bag. She then sighed and said begrudgingly. "Sure. Everything okay?"

An opportunity to explain! "Oh yeah. Just a drunk dial of sorts." I peeled off my hoodie. Despite the cool weather outside the van, I always ran hot at night and the tension between the two of us was making me run even hotter than usual. I started undoing my belt and thought maybe I should check in about sleeping in my boxers.

She was quiet in response and I braved a look at her. I was startled by her expression. She was turned on and damn if that didn't make me instantly hard. But she turned away, seemingly embarrassed about being caught.

I wanted her then and I was pretty sure the feeling was mutual, but I needed to be sure of something first. "How does your significant other feel about you sleeping with different people in the back of a van every two weeks?"

She was slipping off her shoes when she flicked her eyes to me. There was something behind her eyes that I couldn't quite make sense of. She then shrugged. It seemed to be a nervous mannerism of hers. "I don't have time for relationships." Then she launched into logistics, signaling that she was done with this conversation. But I wasn't.

"Yeah of course." I acknowledged what she said about locking up if I left the van. But then I challenged her outlook. "I can appreciate the seeming lack of time, but that's not a sustainable situation."