Waking up in a bed instead of the bathroom floor was the first confusing part of this morning. The second was that a shirtless Tate was curled up at the end of my bed on that long couch like thing. I sit up and see that he is shivering. My room is already freezing so it must be terrible for him since he had given me his shirt last night...
Oh god no. I have made sure over the years not to have to explain my nightmares to anyone. It has been fairly easy since I only ever lived with my mom and step father and didn't have friends. But now if I stay with Tate he is most likely going to hear these more often than not, and that is going to lead to questions and him wanting to figure me out and that cannot happen.
Quickly I grab my clothes from the night before and go to the bathroom to quickly get dressed. Once I am I quietly leave the room making sure not to wake Tate. I easily make it out of the room and head to the stairs so I can walk back to the inn. I don't want to be here when Tate wakes up and starts asking me things. I am almost at the stairs when I hear the sound of a door shut and turn to see Tate standing outside the door with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face.
"You sneaking out?" He asks as he starts walking towards me. I shake my head not knowing how to respond to the question or how he has a great body and I am actually enjoying starring at it. I look up to see a small smirk on his face since he caught me looking at his bare top half. "I was um just going down to get breakfast." I mumble.
"It is 4 in the morning. No one is up." He says making me look at him confused. I guess in my rush to try and leave I forgot to check what time it is or even if it is light outside. Instead of replying to Tate I just slowly walk back to my room and shut the door only to have it opened again by Tate. "I am staying in here with you tonight." He says as he hands me the slip and his shirt again to go change into.
"Tate I just had a simple nightmare. I will be fine." I say as I walk into the bathroom and put on only his shirt this time since it covers more than the slip there in no point to really wear it. When I walk back I see he must have grabbed himself a blanket since he is now wrapped in one at the thing at the end of my bed again.
When he looks up at me I can see his face tighten and he sucks in a deep breath. I just ignore it and head back into the bed. I know I won't be able to leave unnoticed right now with Tate since he is like a hound dog so I will just have to wait for a better opportunity. Once I lay back in bed I quickly fall back asleep and sleep the rest of the night without a nightmare.
The next time I wake up I can see a little light escaping from behind the blinds. I get up and notice Tate has left and feel a little disappointed he wasn't here when I woke, I quickly shake it off knowing nothing good will come from thinking or feeling that. Once I am up and dressed I head down stairs only to run into the girl from yesterday Hanna. She looks up at me and gives me a fearful look before running off before I could even apologize for running into her.
Confused I just head into the hall that leads to kitchen to find Nana and tell her goodbye. I know I only talked with her for a little while yesterday and have well only known her for a day but I feel like she just deserves one. She is such a nice lady and maybe I will be able to come and visit her sometimes, when Tate isn't around since it is now avoid Tate as much as possible time.
When I walk into the kitchen instead of seeing Nana I am shocked to see Tate cooking something and even has an apron on. I stand still for a moment confused to why a man of his size and power is bending over a counter top making what looks like blueberry pancakes.
"Uh, should I leave?" I ask not knowing if I am allowed in here or not. I guess Tate must have not noticed me coming into the kitchen because at the sound of my voice the pancake he was trying to flip goes to high and lands on the top of his head when it comes back down. I let out an uncontrollable fit of laughter as I watch the uncooked side of the pancakes have the batter slowly slide down his face.
Surprisingly he doesn't even seem upset about it he is just looking at me and smiling to himself as I continue on laughing. "I am sorry I disturbed you.' I say with a smile still on my face once my laughing has died down. He still has the pancake on the top of his head when he goes to brush his hair back causing it to get covered in pancake batter and blueberries.
"It is fine." He says grabbing a hand towel and trying to get the pancake batter off his hand. "I was going to come and get you soon anyway. As you can see I tried making us breakfast." He says motioning to the mess all around him. "Would you like some help?" I ask him since he seems clueless. "Yeah, I kind would." He sounds oddly nervous for a guy who usually always seems to have everything together. Maybe it is the fact he pretty much destroyed the kitchen or something else.
Tate goes to the sink and cleans his hands and hair while I clean up the mess of batter on the floor and counter before making another batch of it. Once he is all cleaned he starts making eggs and I let him be hoping a grown man like himself can do this simple task. I quickly finish the pancakes and stack them all on a plate while He puts the eggs onto two separate plates.
We make our plates and get ourselves a drink before taking a seat at the bar and eating. "So thanks for helping me with the mess and breakfast." He says in between bites of food. "It was my pleasure." I say smiling as he scarfs down the food like an animal. 'Also I wanted to talk about last night." He says and my smile instantly disappears. "I know we have only known each other for a short time and I don't want to pressure you about whatever the nightmare was about, I just want you to know that I am here for you if you need to talk." I look at him kind of shocked he said that.
He seems like the kind of man who wants answers right away and would push me till I told him. "Thank you it means a lot you aren't forcing answering out of me." I tell him as we continue to eat and make small talk. When we both are almost done with breakfast I remember I still need to ask him about how far away from town we are.
"So I was wondering how far your house is from town?" I ask him. "About 10 miles maybe a little more." He says. I know I defiantly will not be walking that especially since it is getting colder out as we get closer to December. "I need to get my stuff from the inn and my car. Would you mind driving me to town?" I ask as I unconsciously rub the tattoo I have on my wrist. I always do it and forgot I do whenever I get nervous about asking someone something or just nervous in general. It's kind of like a soothing thing I have.
I look and see he notices but doesn't say anything about. "Yeah, I need to go into town for business anyway. It will be no problem taking you." He says while standing up and taking mine and his dishes to the sink. "I will be leaving in about an hour so if you need to go do something, I suggest doing it now." He says before giving me a smile and heading out of the kitchen to somewhere else in his massive house.
