Chapter 3

Angela stayed with Steve in the Long Beach house for the rest of the weekend. When she got home Sunday night, she found Thomas on the couch watching a football game and in a somber mood.

“Hey, how was your weekend,” she said, sitting down next to him.

He shrugged. “Nothing exciting. How was yours?”

“It was fun. Steve and I spent some time at the beach…”

“Where they didn’t have cell phone service?”

“Excuse me?”

“You couldn’t send a quick text that said, “Hey, I’m not coming home for a couple of days?”

“First of all, I’m a grown woman, so I shouldn’t really have to report to you or anyone else if or when I’m coming home. Second of all, I’ve only been gone since yesterday morning.”

“It just would have been polite,” he said, not willing to let it go. “I was worried about you.”

With a sigh she said, “Thomas, who did you hang out with before I got here?”

He shrugged again. “I have a few guys I hang out with sometimes…and Kim and I used to do things together, why?”

“Because I’m just afraid you’re too dependent on me for company. I can’t always be here.”

He rolled his eyes. “I’m not asking you to always be here…just be courteous if you’re going to live here.”

“Okay, fair enough. But, I’m only going to be living here for three more weeks.”

He sat straight up and the look on his face almost frightened her. “What are you talking about? You’re not moving in with him are you?”

“With Steve? No…not now anyways.” They hadn’t talked about it at all, but Thomas was kind of pissing her off. “I got an apartment, at least for the next year. I’m sub-letting Donna’s place.”

“Donna? The chick from payroll at work?”

“Yes.”

“Why Angela? That’s an extra hour in the morning you’ll have to leave for work because of traffic, you don’t have a car…”

“I need my own space,” she interrupted him. “We’ve gone over and over this. Steve is going to help me get a car through one of the guys his business deals with…”

Thomas jumped up off the couch and began to pace. “I just don’t understand what I did?” he said. Angela had been expecting a scene with him, but she still wasn’t prepared for how angry he was. It was bizarre to her. Friends are supposed to want their friend’s to do better. She was finally healing. Why wasn’t he happy about that?

“You didn’t do anything, Thomas. I appreciate the hell out of everything you’ve done for me. But this is the next logical step. I can finally sleep at night. I can finally make it through a day without crying. You have so much to do with that, thank you.”

He dragged a hand through his hair. He looked so agitated that she wasn’t sure what to do. “Angela, you can’t leave me,” he said. “I need you.”

“Thomas, honey…Are you having feelings for me?” she wanted to keep denying it. That would be so much easier. But she just couldn’t any longer.

“I’ve always had feelings for you,” he said. “You’re my best friend. I love you.”

“I mean…feelings, Thomas, like more than friends.”

“I know what your mean. Don’t be ridiculous. Blake was my best friend.”

“I don’t think I’m being ridiculous…you’ve been acting really strange. Can’t you see how I’d worry?”

He was silent for a while and then he finally said, “Maybe having you here has helped me deal with losing Blake. I miss him.”

“Oh Thomas, I miss him too. I miss him like an amputated limb. It’s a constant ache…but it’s dulled as time goes by. I’ve finally accepted that but it doesn’t mean I love him any less. Life goes on and I have two choices…I can die too, or I can live. I choose to live and I wish you would too. I wish you would go out and have fun. You’re such a wonderful, handsome man…”

“You don’t have to say all of that,” he said.

“I’m not just saying anything, Thomas, it’s true. You used to be one of the most confident men I knew. Since I’ve been here I haven’t seen you go out on a single date. Why is that, Thomas?”

“I date,” he said. She waited, but he didn’t expound on it.

She let out a breath she’d been holding throughout the entire conversation and said, “Okay, well, you know how I feel and I know how you feel. I’m moving out in two weeks. I appreciate you and I love you as my friend and I hope that we can still be friends.”

He looked at her with a deep sadness in his eyes and said, “Of course, Ang. We will always be friends. How about we have a drink…to toast to your new place?” The way he changed from one mood to another so quickly lately really upset her more than anything else he did.

“I think I’d like to just take a hot bath and turn in early tonight. I have a big day at work tomorrow.” He looked angry again but he said, “Okay then, sleep well.”

“Thanks,” she said, “You too.”

He was still standing in the middle of the living room. When she stood up to go to her room, he suddenly grabbed her into a hug. It startled her and she stiffened up. He pulled back and said, “I’m not allowed to hug you any longer?”

She sighed again, “Oh Thomas, please stop being so touchy. You startled me, that’s all.”

He gave her a curt nod and she headed down the hall. She could feel his eyes on her the entire time.

**

Thomas waited until he heard the bathwater and then he got into position. He sat down in the back of his closet and pressed his eye to the small hole he’d drilled there. On the bathroom side, it was through a portion of grout in the edge of one of the tiles. He’d spent a long time checking it out from that side to make sure that it wasn’t obvious. He’d even taped a photo of an eye over it and checked to make sure it still didn’t show through. It was perfect and he had a perfectly unobstructed view of the tub…and Angela.

He watched as she poured her bath salts into the tub and then she began to undress. She slipped her blouse off over her head and draped it over the wicker hamper then she reached back and unhooked her bra. He watched in ecstasy as her full breasts spilled out. Her nipples were hard and his fingers itched to touch them. He reached down and touched himself through his jeans as he watched her unbutton and unzip hers. She began sliding them down over her hips and he let out a little moan. She suddenly stopped what she was doing and looked around. Shit! He sat silently, not even breathing until she seemed to decide that she was just hearing things. She returned to the act of sliding her jeans off over her perfect ass and down across her creamy thighs. He kept in the moan that he was dying to let out and unbuttoned and unzipped his own pants. She stepped out of hers and tossed them into the hamper. Then she bent over with her ass facing the hole. He almost couldn’t take it as he stroked himself and imagined sticking his cock inside of her. She wrapped her long hair around her hand and then pulled it up into a messy bun, securing it with an elastic band.

He had to bury his face in a blanket that was lying on the floor of the closet. He was so tempted to bust in there and take her right now. He knew though that no matter how much she would enjoy that…she would pretend to be offended and maybe even accuse him of the dirty “R’ word. So, he contented himself with watching.

She went over to the tub and dipped a foot inside. Satisfied that it was the right temperature, she pulled the other leg over and with both feet in now; she lowered herself into what he imagined to be warm, fragrant water. He stroked himself slowly as he watched her wash herself and shave her legs…he imagined she was getting herself ready for him…and in a way, she was. Thomas was prepared for her refusing alcohol but knew she faithfully always had her favorite nighttime drink before bed, Chamomile tea. His “hook-up” wouldn’t have any GHB for a few days so he had brought him a vial of a medication known as “Versed.” Versed was a drug used for sedation and other uses. Angela was going to be wide awake tonight when he fucked her…but she wasn’t going to remember a thing.