Temptation

Chapter Twenty-Two

The following morning, Alice woke up and grimaced as she rubbed her eyes. Her head felt like static as she sat up on the bed. She then remembered Tom had slept over and she turned to face him finding him wide awake, propped up on his elbow.

"Good morning." He said softly.

"Good morning." She replied.

"How are you feeling?"

"Like shit."

Tom chuckled lightly as he sat up on the bed, wrapping his arm around her waist.

"I have to leave." He said.

"Why?"

"I'm moving into my apartment, remember?"

"Oh, yeah! Right." She said dejectedly.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't want to stay here. I don't want Pierre yelling at me because I got involved with you or Esther possibly showing up and yelling at me too." Alice explained.

"How about this? Once I'm moved in and get all my stuff in the apartment, I'll pick you up after your show. Can you survive the day without me?" Tom suggested.

Alice thought for a moment before nodding her head and Tom grinned, placing a kiss on her cheek.

"I'll see you after the show." He said, getting out of the bed.

He put on his suit jacket and gathered his things before stepping out of the bedroom. Once outside, he spotted Pierre and Cory eating their breakfast at the table.

"Good morning." Tom greeted them quietly.

"Good morning." Cory waved.

Pierre quickly swatted Cory's shoulder, glaring at him.

"What?" Cory scoffed, furrowing his brow.

Tom nodded his head and left the apartment. Before he drove to Diane's house, he stopped by his mother's to gather the rest of his things as well as wishing her goodbye.

"Thank you for letting me stay with you, mum."

"You don't have to thank me. You're my son and I love you. I'd do anything for you." She told him.

Tom smiled brightly and embraced his mother, kissing her head.

"Once I'm all settled in, I'll have you over for a nice dinner."

"I'll keep you to it." Diana smirked.

Tom got his things in his car along with some boxes Diana got for him. When he got to Diane's house, the moving truck he had ordered in advance showed up as well. He got to the front door and hesitated before ringing the bell. Diane answered the door and let Tom inside. As he stepped into the hallway, he noticed several boxes packed and labelled.

"I took the liberty of taking care of some of your things. I figured you probably don't want to spend too much time here." Diane told him.

"Thank you. I appreciate that." Tom replied.

The movers helped load the truck with the boxes and other miscellaneous furniture items. Towards the earlier afternoon, Tom did a sweep of the house ensuring that he got everything he needed. When it was all said and done, he got into his car and drove, with the truck following behind him, to the apartment. There, he helped the men in the truck move all his belongings up to his apartment. Tom looked over the sea of boxes and furniture and knew he had a lot of work to do. He set up some areas of the apartment, made a list of all the things he needed to buy in terms of kitchen appliances, electronics, sofa, and bedframe, as well as food. He took himself food shopping and filled up his fridge and cabinets with it and then went on the hunt of furniture stores trying to find the best fit for his apartment. He measured out the living room and bedroom and made his order. As he checked his bank account, he knew he would have to wait a long time before he'd make any other extravagant purchase.