The Crash Zone (The Zone Series Book 2) Page 12

“Let’s go.” He says, grabbing his keys and wallet.

  “Where are we going?” I ask him. He can’t really want to start this today, but I’m dead wrong as he hands me my bag and is ushering me out of the house.

  “I’ll meet you at your place, I’ll grab some boxes. And then later, I’ll call Lukas and he’ll bring his truck.”

  “Lukas?” I ask trying to stall.

  “He’s one of the partners, at my company, one of my best friends. You’ll like him. Come on, let’s go. We’re losing daylight here just standing around.”

  “You’re excited.” I smile walking past him.

  “It’s not every day that the soon to be mother of your child says she’ll move in with you.” He smiles as he locks the door.

  Those damn butterflies!

  Chapter 22 – Max

  I ordered a Hawaiian pizza while Tatum went through her closet. She was throwing things out left and right and I had no idea of what her process entailed. We had been going through things and packing for the past 3 hours. I had the kitchen packed up. On the boxes, I wrote what was in each box, hoping she would appreciate that. I separated the items basing them on what I already had at the house, versus what she had. I had moved onto her hallways closet which had hundreds of towels and blankets. I’ve got a good amount of both, but I know she would want to have her say in what she brought so I just took everything out and then folded it neatly in two piles.

  She emerged from her closet, looking like she was a wild woman, her hair was in a messy bun and her clothes looked wrinkled. She looked hungry too, so I was glad the pizza was on the way. I went into her kitchen pantry and opened a can of pineapples.

  Her pineapple craving was adorable. I smiled as I tossed the top and rummaged through her drawers for a fork. I turned the corner and she was standing in the hallway looking at the two piles in super hero pose.

  I handed her the pineapples and watched the shock on her face then melt into gratitude. She then forked several pieces into her mouth and mid-chew pointed with the fork to the piles with a puzzled look on her face.

  My turn to talk. “I didn’t know if you wanted to bring any of these, or just store them?”

  “I’ll bring a few of these, like these are really good towels. But the rest, we can donate to the shelter down the street.” She smiles.

  She said we. Why am I suddenly so excited that she included me in that sentence? I nodded and then got to work on bagging up what she didn’t separate.

  “Listen, we don’t have to finish this tonight. I have another two weeks Max. We can do this slowly.”

  “Nah, you sit and relax, pizza should be here any minute. I hope you don’t mind but I called over a few of my friends to help too. Lukas with the truck and Dane with Sterling. I was told you met Sterling at the BBQ, so not complete strangers going through your stuff.” I smiled.

  She looks shocked then shakes her head. “You said there would be pizza?” She smiles forking more pineapples into her mouth.

  “I hope you like Hawaiian.” I joke.

  She snorts, and immediately tries to hide her snort as the gate buzzer goes off at the same time my phone vibrates.

  “Dane and them are here. So is the pizza.” I push the buzzer button and then open the front door. The pizza delivery guy was being followed by our moving assistants. I handed the kid a few twenties, and grabbed the pizzas.

  Dane approached first and I handed him the pizzas and sodas. He went inside the apartment and next was Sterling.

  “Hey. Congrats mister.” She whispers as she hugs me.

  I fist bump with Lukas and then we all crowd into Tatum’s place.

  Sterling is talking to Tatum quietly and then they quickly hug, while us guys are in the kitchen. I choose the piece of pizza with the most pineapples and bring it to Tatum. Sterling is staring at my gesture in shock and then I smile.

  “Get your own Pizza Ster!” I grin.

  Everyone makes small talk as we eat the pizza. Sterling makes Tatum stay seated for the remainder of the time we’re in her apartment. Here and there we ask for her take on things, afterall this is her apartment.

  I instructed Lukas to pull his truck out back and while the girls are talking, ignoring our huffing and puffing, we start loading up his truck bed with her furniture.

  “Hey Tate. Your bed, there’s a bed in the room already. But I..” I begin and note that she’s blushing.

  “Can we move my bed in and the spare bed into the shed?” She asks, almost nervously.

  “Of course.” I smile and head back into the bedroom.

  Dane and I pull the bed out and immediately, I hear the girls scrambling up and getting in our way.

  “Wait, we’re moving that over today?” Tatum asks with her hands on her hips.

  “Well, yeah. We can actually get all the furniture moved out with most of the boxes. Dane brought his truck too.” I say. “Is that okay?”

  “What’s the rush?” She asks.

  “No real rush, but no reason to put this off either.” I answer simply shrugging.

  Sterling is looking back and forth between us and then she puts her hand on Tatum’s arm.

  “There’s no rush Tatum, but Max.. when he puts his mind to something, it gets done. If you’re not comfortable with it, just say it. He’ll heel.” Sterling says cutting me a glare.

  “No, it’s okay. Sorry. No heeling.” She smiles.

  “Woof.” I say as Dane and I pick the bed back up and start back out through the front door. Lukas is behind us with her dresser drawers.

  We lift the bed up and get it situated.

  “You sure about all this? You practically just met her, and you’re already moving her in?” Dane asks me wiping off some sweat with his shirt.

  “I think so. I’m just going with my gut right now. This helps me be there for her. I think that’s more what I need. She’s having my baby, the best that I can do right now is support her as well as get to know her better, how else by being roommates?”

  “What about what she needs?”

  “I guess we’ll figure that out along the way. Look she wouldn’t have told me she would move in unless she was sure.”

  Dane nods and jumps down from the truck.

  “I hope you know what you’re doing. This is new for you dude. But we’re always here for help, just next time… no moving.” Dane smiles.

  ***

  We unloaded the last of Tatum’s belongings around 8pm. Tatum and Sterling now were fixated in the living room while we brought everything in. I called Davis over to the house while we were emptying Tatum’s apartment and asked him to move the furniture in the 2nd bedroom into the shed. By the time we got home, the guys and I had the space to put things. Tatum instructed us how she wanted things to go and then we were on our own.

  Sterling joined me in the kitchen and started pulling out the stuff that I would need for my milkshake, knowing that this would be a good time to have one, without me even mentioning it. I added the can of pineapple to it, without a word.

  “So, you have your baby mama living with you now. You realize your hook-ups will be cock blocked, right?” She whispers.

  “You have no idea. Nikki came over earlier and we almost did… but nothing worked.” I whispered back.

  “Nothing worked?” She asks.

  I pointed to my crotch. “Broken, her words.”

  She laughs hard and I shake my head, moving around her and I pick out 2 glasses. I pour the milkshake into the glasses.

  “Besides, I haven’t been wanting to do the hook up thing since rehab, maybe this is me changing even more..” I said picking the glasses up, walking into the living room and handing one to Tatum. Her surprised look changed as I sat beside her.

  “Hey roomie. Thanks.” She smiles as she takes a sip.

  “So, we’ll let you guys get acquainted, or situated, or whatever. See you on Monday dude. Tatum, welcome to the house. Call us if he gets out of line, or if you need to escape.” Dane offers.

&nb
sp; “Or if you need someone to hide the body!” Lukas joins in.

  “I’m good with an ax.” Sterling quips.

  “Okay, okay, out with you all. Thanks for today. I owe you.” I say getting up and seeing them out.

  I walk back into the living room, Tatum is sitting on the couch with her feet up and under her. She looks at me and smiles.

  “So, do we have house rules?” I ask her, letting her lead.

  “I’m sure there will be, but let’s just enjoy our shakes until we come up with some.”

  “Deal.” I say sitting back down.

  “Oh! I have one. Always keep a stock of pineapple chunks in the kitchen!” She smiles.

  “I think you’ve seen the pantry, it’s safe to say that there’s an endless supply in there.” He smiles.

  “Our baby is going to be a pineapple!” She laughs.

  Our baby. I like the way that sounds.

  Chapter 23 – Tatum

  I hear a hammering coming from somewhere in the house. Doesn’t the world understand that I need my sleep? I slowly open my eyes, barely as the sun is blinding me. I was a fool last night and didn’t put down the blinds. Max and I stayed up late hanging out. We talked a little bit about my work and his work.

  I now know just a little bit more of the secretive Max Hunter. He is a partner with his buddies, Dane and Lukas in some sort of business that builds things. So he has a good job, I’m glad for that. And he’s got some great friends, who I already really like, so I’m glad for that too. His DVR is filled with comedies and crime dramas and I even saw a few recordings of a reality show that just aired recently about creating crazy creatures for Hollywood, I’ve always wanted to watch that.

  The hammering hasn’t stopped, and I’m coherent enough now to move and get out of bed. I stretch as I reach the bedroom door and open it slowly. I peer into the hallway to figure out which direction to go to. The hammering is coming from the side door, which leads out back, it’s wide open. And I stalk to the direction of all the ruckus.

  Max is standing in the backyard, shirtless, there is a sweat sheen on his body and I’m trying to divert my eyes, but they’re glued on his back muscles. He is standing over a bunch of wood and I can’t even figure out what it is. He must have sensed my presence as he turns around, hammer in hand.

  “Sorry, did I wake you?” He asks.

  “Um, yeah. Rule number two, no hammering until at least noon on the weekends.” I try to smile, but I can’t take my eyes away from his shirtless chest.

  He notices that I’m not looking him in the eyes and grins.

  “Sorry. I didn’t think I was being that loud.” He offers. “My eyes are up here Tate.”

  “What are you making?”

  “To be honest, I’m not sure. I bought this table thing and it came in a million pieces, it’s worse than IKEA.” He wipes his brow and he’s leering at me like I’m prey.

  I look down and notice that I’m wearing boxers and a tiny tank top with no bra. My tank top is showing my alert nipples and I cover myself up as I look back up to Max. He shrugs and smiles.

  “I was about to give up anyways, I’ve been trying to hammer these things for the past 45 minutes and I’m obviously not getting anywhere.” He says starting his way to me.

  “It looks like a beaver’s dam.” I laugh.

  He turns and starts laughing, looking at the scene from besides me.

  “Come on, I wanna get your input on something.” He turns and I follow him back inside.

  He takes me down the hallway and at the very end, is a closed door. I never noticed it before but now that we’re about to enter, I’m all the more interested.

  He opens the door, and he walks inside, as I linger in the doorway.

  “I didn’t know the house had 3 bedrooms.” I say looking around at everything.

  “This is my office. I’ve never really used it as such, but I was thinking, what if we use this as Peanuts room?” He finally says.

  The air has been pushed out of my lungs and tears are threatening to fall. I cross my arms over my chest and hug myself.

  “Okay.” I squeak out, and as I take a deep breath the tears have emerged. Max notices and then he’s rushing to my side. His hands are on both of my shoulders and he’s bent down to look me square in the face.

  “Hey, did I do something wrong? Are you okay, is everything okay? Shit, fuck.. I knew I should have waited.” He’s started to ramble.

  I shake my head and uncross my arms so I can wipe at the tears on my face.

  “No, no.. it’s just I wasn’t expecting this. Any of this.” I sniff waving my hand toward him.

  He pulls me against his chest and hugs me. He’s rubbing my back as I breathe in and out.

  Day one in the new place, and I’ve already cried like an idiot. I pull back and look up at him. He’s just as good looking up close as he was that night at the hotel bar when he was flirting shamelessly with me.

  “I’m sorry, I’m just emotional. Sorry. This is great Max, really great.” I sniffle as I stare into his blue eyes and study the bridge of his nose and his soft pink lips, those soft, soft lips.

  I pull out of his arms suddenly as I start to feel an ache in my stomach and my throat goes dry. Damn hormones.

  “Huh?” Max looks at me. Did I just say that out loud?

  “What?” I ask.

  “What about hormones?” He asks with a straight face.

  He’s fucking with me now.”Um, nothing. I’m going to shower, your sweat just rubbed all over me.” Damnit, why did I say it like that! I smack myself in the forehead and look at Max. He’s grinning and now looking my body up and down.

  I shuffle out of the room quickly and back into my bedroom. I quickly grab my bath towel and I rush into the hallways bathroom, hoping Max won’t be there to see me in my frantic glory. Except he’s standing in the doorway to the office… baby’s room watching me dart back and forth.

  I finish my shower and get dressed in record time. I swallow a prenatal pill and pull my long hair up into a bun and leave the confines of my bedroom. Surely, Max won’t be lingering around. But he is, he’s lingering around in the kitchen now.

  This is what life will be like now, I’ll be fat and pregnant, having inappropriate thoughts about my new roommate, who also happens to be my baby’s father. Great!

  Max notices me in the entranceway and without really looking up from the counter he starts to talk.

  “So, I thought maybe we can spend the day together. I’ll make some breakfast, then we can go to the store and get you whatever you need. And then maybe we can just hang out? If you want?” He finally looks up.

  “Um, sure. That sounds great. Thank you.” I say, relaxing a bit.

  “I thought of a rule.” He says as he turns around.

  “Okay.”

  “Rule number three is no more see through tank tops.” He smirks as I gasp.

  “My tank top wasn’t see through… was it?” I try to picture it, I’ve never really looked at it like that before, it is an old ratty tank top. Holy shit!

  “I’m not complaining. Trust me, I’m not. But I think maybe just for now, tank tops need to be not see through.” He blows out a breath as if he’s kept it in the entire time.

  “Deal.” I hide my face in my hands.

  “Hey, no need to be embarrassed. I did put a baby in you after all.”

  “Yeah, this I am well aware of. So what’s for breakfast?” I ask looking at the arrangement of veggies in front of him.

  “Omelettes and sausage. I remember you saying bacon was off the table, so we’ll have the 2nd best thing.” He smiles.

  “Sounds good, can I help with anything?” I ask, desperately wanting something to keep my hands busy so I don’t think about running them over his body.

  “Nope. This is your first meal in your new home. You sit your pretty butt down and relax. Did you take your pill today?”

  “Is that how the next 8 months will be? You reminding me to take my pill?” I sta
rted to get defensive.

  “No, not at all.” He smiles and resumes his chopping. “Please just tell me if I do anything that isn’t cool with you. This is new territory for me. I’ve never lived with a chick, aside my mom.” He admits.

  “Never? Max Hunter, engineer playboy extraordinaire?”

  He laughs and shakes his head.

  I stare at him, and watch him cut the onions next. The muscles in his arm are so corded and so sexy. I must have made some sort of noise as Max peers up at me through his eyelashes and smiles. I lick my lips and squirm in my chair.

  Who knew that making breakfast could be so sexy?

  Chapter 24 – Max

  I’m standing around the buffet table stacked with donuts and cookies with Leo. Sunday night meetings are my favorites; everyone is so relaxed as if their work weeks give them the drive to drink. Leo is talking about how insane his fiancé is driving him with wedding details and all I am thinking of is getting home and seeing Tatum.

  After all the meetings we attend together, we linger and have a donut with stale coffee while we catch up. Even though we see another twice a week, it’s good to catch up on what’s been going on. Most of the time, we don’t talk about anything other than his upcoming wedding. This time around, I can’t wait for him to finish his latest, so I can tell him that Tatum moved in finally.

  She moved in and I am trying to refrain from thinking about her as anything other than my roommate. I don’t know how this sort of thing works, I’ve never lived with a female before, I practically begged for Betsy to move in, but she liked her own space and even though she had plenty of her belongings at my house and stayed over more often than not, she still refused to make it official.

  Tatum has got a slight baby bump, it’s not too noticeable, but I swear that I saw it when she came out into the backyard wearing the tank top that was practically flashing her high-beams at me this morning.

  “You’re awfully quiet, yet you seem alright… what’s up brother?” Leo asks.

  “Tatum, she moved in yesterday.” I smile.

  “Whoa, really? I thought she hadn’t given you an answer?” Leo says.