Nick looked over at Ryan still sleeping beside him after he’d hung up with Cindy. He stared at the phone for a minute before just putting it aside with a sigh. He was not l booking forward to dealing with his sister, and was, in fact, wondering if he should say anything at all about it. Grumpily, he laid back down and tried to get reasonably comfortable again in an effort to get back to sleep, being less grumpy about his sister, and more so about the phone interrupting a good dream. If that wasn’t bad enough, he was beginning to feel a little guilty about it, too.
He’d been back at his apartment, practicing his songwriting when a knock sounded at the door. When he went to answer it, there stood Alyssa, in all her gorgeous glory, wearing a pair of denim shorts and a Van Halen tee, as fit as ever. She had a canvas duffle bag with her, as well as a large wheeled suitcase, one hand on the pull-out handle.
“Alyssa?” he remembered saying, surprised. She had smiled, letting go of her bags to wrap her arms around him in a big hug.
“Can I come inside?” she had asked. He’d nodded, and helped her bring her things inside while Chase inspected the new person for any problems, and deemed her a good girl before getting in his pets.
He couldn’t remember everything that had been said, but he did remember that the reason she had showed up to his place was that she has decided not to continue her soldier career, and was now in veteran status. She had no family to go to, having gone no contact with them long ago for basically just being horrible people, and when she had to figure out where to go, she got a ticket to Vegas to see him.
He remembered agreeing to let her stay with him as long as she needed a place — even debated getting a place with a yard, so Chase would have room to run around, seeing as his lease was almost up. From there he recalled spending time catching up, catching a flick…and then things got more involved and hands-on…then incredibly steamy. The phone had rung mid-steamy sequence, so he’d awoken a little frustrated, and now couldn’t get back to sleep.
The guilt stemmed from the fact he was dreaming about Alyssa when Ryan was lying right next to him, and they’d only a couple of days prior agreed to try again. What if he did run into Alyssa again? He didn’t know what would happen then or how he would handle things.
With a grunt, he rolled over, his back to Ryan but facing the front of the rent, reaching out to pet Chase in an effort to settle his mind before, eventually, getting back to sleep.
