Hold Me Down

chapter 45

The sound of knocking on my door wakes me up. My abrupt jolt wakes up Will too.

"Tessa! Nate's here!" My aunt's voice rings out.

Will swears from beside me. He looks at me and breaks out into a smirk. "Good morning baby."

"Good morning," I give him the smallest of smiles. I hear voices leaking in from under the door. I scramble for my clothes, which have been carelessly discarded from the night before. We get dressed and fix our hair before stepping out of my room.

My aunt's eyes widen at the sight of Will. "I didn't know your boss was staying over."

"I-"

"Good morning, Ms. Gray," Will gives her his most charming smile and extends a hand out to her. She shakes it while giggling.

I exhale in relief. At least she didn't ask any questions.

I turn my attention to my brother, who's standing just behind my aunt.

"Nate!" I run up to him and give him a big hug.

"I see you've worked things out with Will," he chuckles in my ear.

"Yeah," I laugh as I pull away. "Did you propose to Jessamine yet? What'd she say?"

"I did last night. She said yes," Nate grins widely. I clap my hands, exclaiming my congratulations.

"Tell me how it went in detail!" I urge him.

He brushes me off. "First, what are you two?" He points at Will and I.

"Well-"

"I'm Tessa's boyfriend," Will steps up to shake Nate's hand. "And you must be Nathaniel."

Boyfriend? I give Will a questioning look. His lips quirk up at the corners when he momentarily makes eye contact with me. Just go with it, he seems to say.

"Do you have anything planned for you and Tessa?" Will asks my aunt. I look at him, puzzled.

"No, I don't," she shakes her head.

"I was wondering if I could take your niece out for the day. She'll be back in the city by tomorrow morning."

I scrunch my eyebrows. "I came to New York to spend time with my aunt." I wasn't going to lose sight of the fact that I came to New York to get away from Will, not spend time with him.

"I was just about to go to pilates classes with Jocelyn," Aunt Harriet says. "You could come with us, but you hate exercise."

"I can come with you-"

"Tessa, the class is full of middle aged women. You won't enjoy it. Go out with your boyfriend."

"And you hate exercise," Will cocks an eyebrow at me.

"I'll learn pilates," I protest. "It doesn't sound all that bad."

"You've got to do exercises while everyone watches you from the front of the class, would you like to do that?"

I shudder at the thought but still persist. "No, but-"

"It's settled then! Come along, Tessa." Will grabs my wrist and leads me out the door to his car.

"Where are we going?" I demand. "Take me back!"

Will rolls his eyes. "Do you want to go back?"

"Yes." No.

"You're lying. Let's go. Get in the car."

I huff and get into the passenger seat. "You can at least tell me where we're going."