Chapter 11

Lauren

When I opened my eyes, I saw a bit of light coming in through the curtain. I slid out of bed as quietly as I could. When I stood up, my body ached. My arms were sore, my legs felt wobbly, and I swear it felt like he was still inside of me. I quickly got dressed, grabbed his shirt that I'd worn, and looked down at him while he slept. He was seriously the sexiest sight to see. I couldn't believe the relaxed man in the bed was the same man that had me begging to be fucked the night before. For a second, I thought about tying him to the bed and having my way with him. Then I felt the soreness between my legs and knew that I needed to go.

I grabbed a piece of paper from his counter and wrote a quick note. I didn't want him to think I was running from him. Was I running from him, I wondered? Of course not. I needed to get home. I wasn't supposed to be gone all night. Grandma didn't care, but I hadn't told Jackson I wasn't going to be home. I didn't like leaving without telling him exactly when I'd be back. I think that was more for me than it was for him. I left the note on the counter where I knew he'd see it right away.

Lance,

I had to leave early so I could get back home. I didn't want Jillian to see me here in the morning. I'm not sure her mother would approve of that. Thank you for agreeing to a truce. Good luck! You're going to need it.

Lauren

I grabbed everything I'd brought, along with his shirt, and left.

I thought about Lance and his family the entire drive home. They were something else. I was still so shocked that his father was the old, retired ballplayer. Then there was Scott and James. None of them were like I thought they would be. If I would have guessed, I would have thought that they were cocky and thought they were better than everyone else. That wasn't the case at all. The cocky part was spot on, but they didn't act different or special. Scott had even made the comment himself that they weren't. There were so many of them, and they loved each other deeply. I wasn't used to that. I had my grandma and was so damn glad that she'd never bailed on me. Even when I'd done something to make her think less of me, she didn't. Instead, she supported me the whole way.

Lances' parents popped into my mind. They loved each other so much. After all those years, they were still so deeply in love. I wanted that for myself one day. Would I ever have it? Was my mom right? If she was, I'd still have my son. He was worth giving up anything for. I couldn't help the sad feeling at never having that special love Lucy and Lance's dad had though. Seeing Lance's reaction when I asked him if he had a child made me think that my mom could be right. I loved my son with all my heart, why couldn't someone else love him too? When I had him, I was in a rough spot in my life. Was it really that bad? As sad as the thought of not being loved made me feel, knowing that I was going to hug my boy made me happy.

I needed to get home and get to work. I needed to do it for Jackson.

When I parked my car outside of my grandma's house, I saw the light on my phone blinking. I turned it on and couldn't believe what I saw.

Lance: Text me when you get home.

I quickly typed back.

Me: I'm home.

There was an instant reply.

Lance: Enjoy the shirt. Yep, I noticed. I'm not so sure about your hacking skills though. You didn't even delete the call from my log. Good luck, Eagle. You're going to need it. :-)

I couldn't help but laugh. Then I looked over at his shirt and shook my head. I grabbed all my stuff and headed in to get a hug from the two people I loved most.

The next month flew right by. I didn't mess with Lance at all, but I missed it. He hadn't said anything to me, which I expected. It was me that had the weird obsession with fucking with him. Surprisingly, I was actually able to concentrate. I hadn't sat around wondering how well he was doing. We were both in the same boat, so I knew I had just as good of a chance at finishing as he did.

I'd been sitting at my desk every single day trying anything and everything I could think of. Each day ran into the next. I'd be with Jackson all day except for a couple of hours that grandma would spend time with him. Then I'd work at night. I wasn't sleeping much, but I was fine with that.

Then it happened, I was sitting there and had just tried something that I honestly never thought would work. When it did, I jumped up from my chair. Then I sat back down to double and even triple check my work. I'd done it. I'd finally gotten through.

When I looked over at the clock, I was so excited. It was three in the morning. The first person I thought of was Lance. It wasn't what you're thinking. I didn't want to rub it in or brag. I just wanted to call him. I wanted to share it with him. He was the only one that would even begin to understand what I'd done. My grandma would say “Good job, Lauren,” but she wouldn't get it. She wouldn't see what a huge accomplishment it truly was. Only Lance would.

“Fuck it,” I said, as I grabbed my phone and hit call on his name.