𝐌𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐌𝐚𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬

19 | Acclimating to New Environments

Y/N

Fuck, Tom's new apartment was a shock to the senses when he allowed me to pick up his keys from Haz and Robyn's house. Side note, Robyn's belly is really big now, she's due in a few weeks. The comparison between our- I mean, his old house and this new penthouse was drastic. It was modern, it was pristinely styled and it was perfectly Tom.

His old house, as beautiful and regal as it was, felt a little old school. It was a lot of stone and marble. Like how you'd imagine a mafia house would be like in the old Hollywood movies. The land it was on was expansive and stunning look at, but this apartment was much more to his style.

Honestly, it belongs in some magazine about fancy ass houses or something. Or win awards maybe. It's just, incredible.

I'd gotten the keys a few weeks ago, making sure that after the interior decorators had finished the rebuild and moving furniture in, that everything was to standard. Of course, once I found out that Tom was soon to be getting released, I had been busy moving his clothing and few personal belongings from storage into the penthouse.

I put up a few photos from his old house, bought the specific hair products and bought the same shower products he liked. I bought an extended amount of alcohol for him to put in the wine cellar, as well as ordering multiple vintage wines.

You can't have a wine cellar that stays empty.

I wanted him to come home to something that felt just a little bit familiar to him. Jen and I had pulled so many strings over the past five months, that I was exhausted, but I still wanted his departure from prison to be a smooth as possible. I'd barely done any work with Priya and she was starting to cotton onto the fact I was disengaged and unreliable as of late.

We had gotten Tom a conditional bail that he would be released to house arrest on the terms that he would give up information to the government. Similar to what I had done for his father. If the mafia found out about this however, Tom would be killed.

The shower, let me just say, is fucking divine. It's one of those large 'rain' showers that completely cover you with its water streams and feels like a bloody massage at the same time. Honestly, this penthouse is a fucking dream come true, he's going to love it.

I turned the shampoo and conditioner bottles to face the front after I had used them, squeezing the water out of my hair as the water hit the front of my body. I was bruised pretty heavily down my side, but it was completely hidden when I was clothed. My arm was sore when I lifted it, and I was almost certain I had fractured some sort of bone in my arm or elbow or shoulder or god fucking knows where.

I think this was the last time I had to subject myself to this sort of pain. At least, subject myself to it willingly. I dried off in the shower with a soft new towel, stepping out onto the heated tiled floor and wrapping my hair up into a second towel. I hadn't showered or anything in Tom's new house before, I'd only let myself in when I needed to let in the removalists.

But after today, I was fucking drained of all energy.

I smoothed out the covers of his bed, making sure whenever he would arrive home, that everything was perfect for him. I holding the towel around my body, I crouched down to rummage through my backpack I'd thrown on the floor. I pulled out the Polaroid camera and checked the amount of photos I had left in the film pack, before grabbing the photo I had taken earlier today to put in the bedside table drawer for Tom to see later.

I heard the front door unlock, swiftly taking the gun from under the bed frame and cocking it; one of many weapons that were equipped in this apartment.

"So uh, this is my place... Do you need to do any inspections or anything?" I heard Tom said quietly.

I put the gun away, hearing Tom's voice and smiling to myself that he was home before dinner. I assumed he would have stayed at a halfway house after being released from jail and arrived in the morning.

"That's not necessary Mr. Holland, we just need to calibrate the ankle monitor to this address. As long as you're not breaking any laws, you're free to live life within the designated radius of your home," a second man explained calmly.

Holding the towel around my body I stepped out slowly and waved at the two men in the foyer; excited to see Tom out of prison, embarrassed that I was caught being in his house as he got home and even more embraced being naked in front of his new parole officer.

"This is my uh... This is Y/N," Tom said chuckling.

"I'm Tom's girlfriend..." I said putting my arm out to shake the officers hand.

"Girlfriend, yeah," Tom repeated, smiling to himself at the fact we had apparently resumed our relationship again.

Honestly, I had no clue where we stood. I know that he loves me. I know that I love him. But are we dating again? Apparently now we are. And I like that.

"That's about my job done. Just remember, any questions you have just call or text me. I'll leave you to it," the parole officer said before escorting himself out of the apartment.

Tom was wearing a pair of black pants and a standard black t-shirt. They didn't fit him very well, the shirt was quite large and the pants were baggy.They weren't his of course, the jail had ordered them for him prior to his release. He looked so plain and... Not expensive.

Tom turned to me with a surprised look on his face, obviously shocked to be inside his wildly stunning new apartment, but also that I was here too. I wanted to sprint over and jump on him, completely smothering him with kisses and never ever let go.

It was like I had become whipped all over again.

"I um, I was just sweaty so I showered before I went home. Sorry," I said laughing.

"No, no, don't apologise. I was actually going to call you and ask if you wanted to stay over tonight. I kind of uh, don't want to spend my first night alone. I'd rather be around someone for a little while," Tom said timidly. I nodded.

Jail had definitely changed him, no matter how long or short his stay was.

"Wanna give me a tour of my place? You've been here more than I have," he joked, putting his arms out for me to hug him.

"Can we start with the walk-in closet so I can borrow a shirt to sleep in?" I asked, running over to hug him, the towel falling to the floor as I threw my arms around his shoulders.

"Or you can just sleep in this," Tom chuckled, squeezing my bare ass and slapping it playfully.

"Careful Holland, not too fast. You need to acclimate to daily life again. Sex too early could cause a dependancy," I chuckled.

"Okay fine, how about this? You show me around, I have a much needed shower to wash the gross fucking jail smell off me and finally relax for once, then we can make out on the couch for a bit and order actual food for dinner," he compromised.

"Deal."