Tristan, who was still sitting on the couch, leaned back against the cushion and burst into laughter. "Please tell me you peed your pants," he gasped.
Chapter 23
I wanted to die a quick death.
"Do you have a bathroom downstairs?" I asked him in a voice laced with dread and panic, fucking horrified that I started my period two days early.
He nodded and pointed to where the stairs were at, still laughing. If he were Josh, I'd kick him in the leg and then run but since he wasn't, I settled for speed-walking in the direction he pointed. My shorts and panties were on the floor the instant the door closed, and sure enough, all I could see was red. Everywhere. It looked like I'd slaughtered a small animal in my underwear.Shit!I used the bathroom and cleaned myself off as best as I could, when I heard a knock on the door.
"Kat? I can go buy you some panties and tampons from Target if you want," he said, quietly and evenly.
I wanted to die again. I wanted to die not because the situation was embarrassing, but because he'd just offered to go buy me undies and tampons. Josh would have done the same, but only after he rolled his eyes and huffed to make it seem like it was a big inconvenience. Then, he'd probably buy me extra large pads that looked more like diapers than anything, just to spite me.
"I have undies in the glove compartment of my car and a pad in my purse. Can you get it for me, please? My car keys are in my purse."
"Okay, I'll be right back," he said in the same voice.
I grabbed my underwear and shoved them under the tap in the sink to rinse them off, but when I picked them up, I noticed there was a stain on my shorts, too.Jesus. I grunted in frustration, standing there in Tristan's half-bath with no bottoms on. This wasn't exactly the way I'd envisioned myself having my panties off in his house, but this was my luck. I shouldn't have been surprised.
There was another knock on the bathroom door a few minutes later. Tristan's soft voice spoke up from the other side of the door. "I have your stuff. Do you need anything else?" There wasn't a remote sense of laughter in his tone, which made me feel a little better but casting a look at my soaked underwear and stained shorts, I knew there wasn't any way for me to get out of the bathroom with my dignity intact.
"I stained my shorts," I muttered, my face flaming red in embarrassment.
I swear he snorted but then it was silent. "Just come upstairs, shower, and I'll let you borrow some shorts or something."
My shorts were back on an instant later and my wet undies stowed in my pocket, when I opened the door very slowly to see Tristan leaning against the opposite wall biting his lip. He wanted to laugh, I knew he was fighting the urge. His eyes were wide and the sides of his mouth were pulled up, but he just looked at me. "Thanks, Tristan."
"Don't worry about it, it happens," he said, but his voice broke at the last syllable, and he snorted. "I'm sorry!" He pinched the bridge of his nose to stop the noise before making his way up the stairs. I was glad he'd gone up first and on his own, because there was no way in hell I would've let him walk behind me with the gigantic stain on my clothes. It was bad enough he was holding my emergency underwear in his hands; they were yellow cotton things with more stains on them than a motel room's sheets, but I didn't want to make it worse by flaunting my period disaster.
Making my way through his bedroom, I found him in his bathroom. He was messing with the taps to the shower a few moments later, while I crowded against the wall to keep my ass from view. Green eyes peered over at me from their spot across the room, but they looked a little too amused. "Are you going to get naked, or what?"
"Excuse me?" I let out what sounded like a hysterical giggle.Did he just...?
"Take a shower, I'm sure you have... some stickiness going on down there," Tristan tried to say with a straight face, but the corners of his mouth lifted up a little.
"I will, when you get out the bathroom," I was sure my voice was higher than normal, I could feel it. Was he seriously telling me to get naked in front of him? No way.
He left the stall door open and folded his arms across his chest. "Kat, you don't have anything I haven't seen a million times before."
His words cut me. Oh my God. They cut me, but they were true even if I hadn't seen proof of it yet. I knew he was only speaking the truth. I was stuck trying to understand what he was telling me. Who in the hell tries to see another person naked with so much nonchalance? I couldn't help but stare at him, stare at those lines of muscle that outlined his forearms, stare at the sharp jawline with a bit of dark scruff. It was his words that drove me to nod at him like a lunatic.
Fuck it.
Zoey, Nikki, and Josh had all seen me naked. It wasn’t like I had anything not to be proud of.
I peeled off my t-shirt to reveal the plain beige bra underneath, my eyes staying locked on Tristan's throat. I didn't have the balls to look him in the eye while I did this. A huge part of me couldn't even comprehend what I was actually doing until I was walking toward the stall, right next to where he stood, and then I was undoing the clasp on the back of my bra. It was strange that I blushed for the dumbest things, but my body seemed to be on my side because there wasn't a hint of red or pink anywhere on me. I was perpendicular to him, facing the shower stall while he leaned against the wall but this time, I looked at him over my shoulder.
"You haven't seen anything of mine before, Mag," I said calmly, flicking the clasp on my bra and slowly pulling one strap over my shoulder and arm, while the beige material bunched in front of my chest.
He didn't say anything, but I could see his eyes flickering from my face, to my throat, and then to the side of my chest; back and forth, back and forth, while I pulled the last strap over my arm and dropped the bra to the floor. My heart was pounding so fast in my chest it felt like it was going to explode out of its cage of bones with a vengeance. I didn't know the first thing about trying to be sexy, but I felt empowered by Zoey's speech earlier. I valued myself and nothing could change that. She'd be shitting her pants in excitement that I was being so bold, but ultimately, I don't think she'd be surprised. I had balls— I just didn't use them very often.
I smirked at Tristan's silence before shoving my shorts down my legs while also thanking the Holy Spirit that I decided to shave earlier. I hoped I didn't have a big red smudge on my ass. He stood still as a statue. I didn't think he was even breathing, but I stepped into the shower regardless ad closed the door behind me. By the angle I'd been in before, I knew all he got was a look at was me from the side, and now he only had a plain view of my ass, back, and legs. I pushed out any self-conscious thoughts from my head. In less than two minutes, I'd lathered up my lower body with the bar of soap he had in the shower, the scent I'd become familiar with was clean and simple, and rinsed off.
When I opened the door to the stall, I realized that Tristan wasn't in the bathroom anymore, but there was a towel hanging off the rack and the underwear and shorts I'd left on the floor were now missing. My clean period panties were sitting on the vanity sink along with a pad and what looked to be an old pair of boxers. Once dressed with his boxers grazing my knees, I made my way downstairs to find him sitting on the couch with his feet propped up on the coffee table and his arms folded behind his head.
He gave me a lazy smile and looked me over. It confused me. I wasn't expecting him to do anything after seeing me buck naked, but by the look on his face, it was like nothing happened.
"Better?" he asked me when I walked over to sit on the other end of the couch.
