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.

"Much," I responded as evenly as possible. I didn't want to make it seem like I felt any differently after that little ordeal, but it was hard to keep my face from giving me away.

"I put your clothes in the washer." he said, picking up the remote to turn on the television.

"Thanks for everything."

He smiled at me and then pointed behind him in the direction of the kitchen. "I have soda, juice, and cookies in the kitchen."

"Okay..." I trailed off, wondering about his random thought.

"That's what they usually give me when I go donate blood," he teased with a snort. "I wouldn't want you to pass out from blood loss."

"Tristan?"

"Yes?"

"Shut up."

Chapter 24

I was slowly aware of three things:

One, I could not feel my hand.

Two, I was unusually warm.

Three, I was not on my bed.

Very slowly, I slipped from dream state into consciousness, but my brain was running, trying to remember the details that led up to my three realizations. I slept in the same position every night; I was one of those heavy sleepers that hardly moved and right then, my body was positioned in a way that normally didn’t sleep in. Also, this unfamiliar clean scent lingered in my nostrils. The last thing I remembered was lying on Tristan's couch with my legs tucked underneath me while watching a movie and laughing my ass off. Tristan had the entire movie memorized, which only added to the fun.

I couldn't remember anything after about halfway through it.

"You chose the last one, so now we get to watch what I want," he exclaimed, already on his feet and heading to the shelves filled with DVDs.