It is now Wednesday morning, three days since the birthday dinner where she unexpectedly crossed a major line with Tristan. No part of her went into that dinner thinking anything beyond forlorn glances between the two of them would happen, and then she suddenly found herself spread open in a closet with Tristan’s face buried between her legs, and she’s been reeling ever since.
They haven’t spoken beyond a few hellos and casual check ins around the facility, seeing as both have been impossibly busy the past few days, and okay, yeah…Tessa’s been avoiding Tristan.
She has never experienced what she did in that closet with him. The night she and Tristan had sex 10 years ago was perfectand one of her best memories, but she was a virgin, and he treated her as such, which she was always thankful for. But she had spent countless nights over the years thinking about what he would be like not so slow and gentle. She got a small preview of it last night, and it was the hottest thing she ever experienced.
To say the partners she had after Tristan were lackluster would be an understatement. She compared every boyfriend to Tristan and was always thoroughly disappointed by each one of them. The only one who gave her even an ounce of spark was Joseph, and she was so starved and desperate for something real that she clung to that feeling for 6 years.
But now she had a taste of grown-up Tristan Kelly; grown-up Tristan Kelly with years of pent-up frustration, and she didn’t know how much longer she could ignore him. But she had to, because as far as she knew, he was still with Kiana.
Well, until she opened her phone and saw the main headline on Twitter.
“Kiana Marie Arrested at Tristan Kelly’s Kansas City Home For Trespassing”
“What the hell is this?” Tessa asked Leah. They were seated in the back of the airplane that was taking the team to New York for an away game against the Jets.
Leah leaned over and looked at Tessa’s phone while Tessa strained her neck towards the front of the plane, trying to get a glimpse of Tristan. Why the fuck wouldn’t he tell her this?
Because you’ve been avoiding him, asshole.
“I knew it would come to something like that,” Leah whispered with a sigh before leaning back into her seat. “That bitch is crazy.”
Tessa’s eyes scanned the article quickly, picking up on the key points of the news story. He had told her to leave, she wouldn’t, cops got called, she threw a fit and was forcibly removed.
“What kind of grown woman acts like that?” Tessa whispered out loud, although it was more of a rhetorical question for herself.
“A woman with nothing to show for herself but who she’s dating. Do you know how many times she would publicly beg Tristan to propose? She has no shame; I’m not surprised she did something like that.”
“I feel like such an asshole for not knowing that this happened,” Tessa said, and Leah cocked a confused eyebrow her way. “I just have been bothering him about my boring journalism stuff all week, I feel bad I’ve been so focused on other things while he’s going through this.”
Leah nodded, seeming to accept Tessa’s answer.
Once the plane lands and all members of the team and staff are waiting for the busses that will shuttle them to the hotel, Tessa weaves her way through the crowd of giant men, finds Tristan, and gives his wrist a gentle tug. He turns around and looks down at her, eyes immediately softening, and following her gesture to walk a few steps away from the crowd with her.
“Anything you want to tell me?” she asks, leaning in so no one else can hear their conversation.
“Like what?” he asks, shrugging his shoulders like he’s clueless.
She gives him a bored expression.
“Tristan.”
“Tessa.”
She scoffs and takes a step back from him, suddenly feeling unwanted and very vulnerable after what happened between them at the dinner.
“So that’s how you’re going to treat me, now?”
“Me?” he asks, raising his voice. She looks around and tells him to be quiet, but he doesn’t listen. “You’ve been ignoring meall week. You can barely even look at me. So that’s how you’re going to treatme, now?”
“Tristan, I…”
“Look, I get it, you didn’t want that to happen and I-”
“I don’t feel that way at all,” she interrupts him and steps closer again. “I very much wanted that, and I think that’s why I freaked out and backed away from you. I couldn’t allow myself to feel that way while you were still with…her. But apparently that might not be the truth anymore. So, I’ll ask again, anything you want to tell me?”
“There’s not much to tell that you don’t already know from the internet, I’m sure. I broke it off and kicked her out, but she refused, so I had to take an extra step. I sure as hell wasn’t going to be the one to physically remove her. Could you imaginethoseheadlines?”
“I’m glad you called for help instead of handling it yourself.”
