Breaking Free (Tom Holland) Book Two

BFB2 Chapter 7

"Tom are you almost ready?" I called across the condo. Tessa and I sat on the couch waiting. We had been about to go outside for a jog when Tom had gotten a phone call. After hearing who it was he had disappeared to our room and closed the door. I wasn't even sure if he could hear me. But I still kept yelling at him. Tessa would nudge her leash and looking at me every few minutes. All I could do was apologize and put all the blame on her father. After what felt like ages the door to the bedroom opened and Tom emerged. He did not look happy.

"Sorry about that. Are you ready to go?" he asked. He ran a hand through his hair. His eyebrows were furrowed and the frown on his face was deep. Something was definitely wrong.

"Not until you tell me what's wrong," I replied.

Tom sighed. He refused to meet my gaze. Instead he reached for Tessa's leash. "It's nothing. Let's go."

"Thomas Stanley Holland if you don't tell me what's wrong right now I swear to you you'll regret it."

Tom paused. He then turned to me with one eyebrow raised. The corner of his mouth turned up playfully as he said, "Oh really? And how will I regret it?"

He began stepping closer and closer to me. I took a step back. The back of my knee hit the couch causing me to fall backwards. A twinkle flashed across Tom's eyes as he took that opportunity to pin me down on the couch. I squirmed under him. "Get off!" I laughed as I hit him lightly on the chest. Tessa came over and began barking and jumping around excitedly.

Tom planted a kiss on my cheek before climbing off. "I'm alright. I promise. So let's put all of this behind us and go on our jog. Shall we?" he said.

I frowned. Part of me wanted to keep pushing and figure out what was wrong. But the other part of me knew that it was best to just let things go and move on. I took his hand and allowed him to pull me up off of the couch. "Alright fine. I'll squash it for now. But I'm not happy about it."

The breeze was refreshing as we jogged through the neighborhood. Tessa was having the time of her life. She kept running ahead and falling behind at random intervals. She would wind herself around our legs with her leash constantly. Tom and I got into a good pattern of recognizing when she was trying to kill us and untangled ourselves before it got too bad.

We ran until we reached a park. I spotted a bench and we decided to take a break. I took a long drink from my water bottle. Tessa politely asked for a drink by laying her head on my knee. I couldn't say no.

"What did you think of the chapter last night?" Tom asked. He was standing next to the bench stretching. His chest played peek-a-boo through his tank top sleeves every now and again. It was hard to keep my eyes fixed on his face.

"I liked it. It just made me mad when she decided to forgive her friend. If that had happened to me I would never forgive them."

"But he wasn't in the right headspace. Clearly he had a lot of things going on which led to that happening."

I shook my head. "That very well may be but he still caused her physical harm. No matter how much you like someone you should never do that."

"I can't disagree with that. Do you think they can still be friends?"

"With the way the book seems to be going I think it's a possibility but like I said I wouldn't do it."

Tom sat down next to me. "This book club was one of the best ideas I've ever had."

"That's nice. Except it was my idea."

"No it was not! I suggested it!"

"After I had already planted the idea in your head weeks before."

Tom opened his mouth to reply but was cut off but my phone ringing. Confused, I pulled my phone out of my pocket. It hadn't rung much since I had left due to me not knowing many people around me. My home being halfway across the world in a different time zone didn't help either. A picture of my sister was displayed on my phone screen. I answered the call and was greeted by her smiling face.

"Vanessa!" Valerie cried. The room she was in was dimly lit. I could barely make out the crib in the background but it was clear that Chelsea was not in it.

"Valerie!" I exclaimed, "Why are you calling me?"

Valerie looked offended. "Are you trying to tell me you didn't want to hear from your dear twin sister?" she demanded.

"No that's not it. It's just really late over there right?"

"It is but Chelsea won't sleep so here I am. How are you doing?"

"I'm fine. Let me see my niece."

"Okay hold on."

There was a lot of shuffling on my screen. Then Chelsea made her appearance. She stared straight at the camera for a bit. Then she let out a big toothless smile.

"Aw, she recognizes you," Tom cooed.

I beamed proudly. "Of course she does. I'm the best aunt in the world."

Tom and my sister both rolled their eyes at me. I chose to ignore them.

"How is it being over there? Is your accent changing?"

"I don't think that's how that works," I laughed.

"That's definitely how that works," Tom said while effortlessly switching his accent to an American one. It was jarring. I had grown so used to his British accent and hearing it go away made me sad.

"We're doing pretty well over here. Tessa wants to say hi," I told Valerie. I held the phone so that Tessa was on camera.

"Look Chelsea a doggy!" Valerie exclaimed. Chelsea laughed and flailed her arms in the air.

"How's Uncle Travis doing?" I wondered.

Valerie cackled. "He's living his best life. He left for a cruise two days ago and I haven't heard from him since."

"Wasn't he supposed to be helping you?"

"He was but Jason and Charlie have been over here quite a bit. We've both been on a wedding planning spree."

"Are you sure you don't want to just have a double wedding? It'll save so much money."

"Money isn't an issue," Valerie laughed. "And I want my wedding day all to myself. You know how selfish I am."

"Geez, everyone close to you is getting married," Tom remarked.

"Yeah they are! Tom you've got to step up your game!" Valerie replied.

I held my hand up and shook my head. "Stop. No. Don't listen to her. I am more than fine with waiting. Besides, not everyone is getting married. Zac isn't." Valerie was silent. Tom was silent. I grew worried. "You guys...?"

"Well, it was nice catching up with you guys! I'll talk to you later!" Valerie cried before abruptly ending the call.

I turned my stone cold gaze towards Tom. "Is there something you'd like to tell me?" I growled.

Tom let out a small whimper. "Maybe."