Tori POV
The sun peeks into the room through the crack in the blinds and lands on my face. I must remember to fix those things; this is annoying. My alarm clock goes off, and I shift my eyes to stare at it. It read 7:01. I held the button one number too long and was too lazy to change it. Oh well. My radio comes on and plays a loud, crazy rock tune to wake my mind and get me out of bed. Slowly, I roll over, smack the snooze button, and drop my arm on the end table. It is too early to get up. It's my day off, and here I am, awake. Even better, I have a splitting headache.
Groaning, I threw the covers off and pushed myself to sit. I checked my phone for the daily weather and saw I had a text message. Sighing, I scrolled to open it and saw it was from Tammy. I couldn't help but wonder what she wanted to discuss. It was unusual for her to send a serious text like this.
'Can we talk sometime today? Maybe after your lunch with your dad? By the way, tell him hi.'
I thought about that for a second before replying. Usually, she's a morning person who says happy and cheery words to me, but this is serious.
'Everything okay? You and Eric, okay?' Not a moment later, she replies.
'Yes, we are good. I need to talk.'
'Okay. Would you like to join us for lunch?
'No, it is okay. You need to spend time with Dad. Call me when you're free.
'Will do.' I drop my phone on the end table, stand up, and stretch out my achy muscles. I walk into the bathroom, brush my teeth, shower, and apply my moisturizer. I checked my bruised cheek from last night's altercation and saw that the swelling had decreased quite a bit due to my healing abilities. It is a pale yellow with a slight blue cast at the center. It is still a bit sensitive to the touch, but it is healing well. It could have been much worse if not for Victor. Her thoughts drifted back to last night and to what Victor had done for her. Why did he step in to fight Jonas? Did they know each other? Victor does not even know me; why would he do that? The mystery of Victor's actions lingered in my mind, deepening the confusion.
When I am done, I walk to my dresser and pull out my undergarments and a soft, flowy pink cold-shoulder shirt. In the closet, I choose a pair of dark blue skinny jeans and black ankle boots.
Once I was done dressing, I headed downstairs and into the kitchen. I flip on the radio and listen to the local news station. Not much happens here, as the news is filled with animal stories and birthdays for local centenarians. Well, good for them. That is what happens when you take care of yourself. Smiling, I pulled out eggs, bacon, and some refrigerated biscuits. I bake the biscuits and drop eggs into the pan with the bacon. Once done, I plate them up and wait for the biscuits to finish. The radio plays a favorite tune, and I sing along as I pull the pan from the oven and set it on the counter to cool.
I hear my phone ding and walk over to pick it up. I see a text from an unknown number.
'How is your body today?' I stare at the message, racking my brain to figure out who it is.
"What the hell?" I question aloud. "Who the hell is this?" Immediately, I copied and pasted the text and the number, then sent them to Tammy.
'Who the hell is this?' I hit send and waited for her reply. I saw the three dots circling, and then another ding came through.
'Oh, my goodness, who would send this?' I said, ' I am going to show it to Eric. ' I put the phone down and returned to my pan of biscuits to plate them and pull the butter from the fridge. Another ding came through, and I checked it.
'Tori, this is Eric. I'm so sorry, but that's Victor checking in on you. He is not good with texting, conversations with women, or any conversation, for that matter. It's okay; that's his number; you can answer him if you want. I read the message and felt my insides tighten up. Is Victor texting me? I am squealing on the inside right now.
'Ok, wow. I might have to work on that. I will answer if it is him.' I sent the laughing face emoji.
'Yeah, I agree. It is all good. It is him.' I give him a thumbs-up and return to Victor's message.
I decided to play with him a bit. 'You wanna know how my body is feeling right now?' I see the dots turning, then fading away. They turn again and then go away again. Poor guy has no idea how to answer that. I giggle at myself and then send another text.
'Why don't you see for yourself?' I ended the message with a wink emoji and put my phone down to finish breakfast.
There is a knock at the door as I sit down to start eating my eggs and biscuits. I look up and listen. Oh my, he didn't just take it seriously; he took it very seriously! Slowly, I stand and head for the door. I look through the peephole and find a giant of a man standing there. Holy shit! It is him! I unlock the door and swing it open. He stands there, staring at me. I see his eyes roam up and down before landing on my face.
"Here's the part where you say good morning, and then I answer back." He shifts a little on his feet and looks down. His eyes creep up to look at me.
"Good morning, Tori," he says, standing there.
"Good morning, Victor." I give him a playful smile. "How's your body today?" He flinches a little but does not look away. I giggled at myself and pulled the door open wider.
"Well, come on in; don't just stand there." He bows slightly and then proceeds into the house. I shut and locked the door and headed back to the kitchen. I heard his heavy footsteps, so I knew he was following me.
"You hungry? I was getting ready to sit for breakfast." I pull out a clean pan and some eggs and bacon and begin cooking them. "Have a seat." He sits in the chair beside my plate and places his hands on the counter. A moment later, I plate the eggs and bacon, grab a few biscuits, and put them in front of him. He never answered my question, but I wouldn't sit there and eat with him watching; that would be rude.
I take a seat next to him and push the butter towards him. I smile and nod for him to eat, and he looks at his plate, grabs a biscuit, and then eats it.
"My body is just fine, thank you." I grin as I grab a piece of bacon and chew on it. I see his mouth pulling into a grin, and he nods.
"Yes, I see that. I'm glad you're okay." I glance at him, and even sitting down, he towers over me, so I have to tilt my head to look up at him. His brown hair falls to his shoulders, and his black t-shirt does nothing to hide the muscular body beneath. I paused momentarily before returning to my food and taking a bite. I hear a slight chuckle, and my face goes red, so I grab another mug, pour some coffee, and place it next to his plate.
"Thank you." He grabs the mug and takes a gulp.
We continue to eat in silence, occasionally sneaking glances at each other. When we finish, I take his plate and mine and place them in the dishwasher. I go back to my seat and turn to face him.
"Thank you; that was very good." He also turned to face me, and we stared at each other. I could tell he was getting antsy, so I broke the silence.
There are better ways to ask how I'm doing. Asking about my body is just...."
"... weird, I know. I am sorry about that. I should have started with my name.
You could have asked, 'How are you?' "Instead, I grinned slightly to let him know I was not angry or uncomfortable. He smiled and nodded his head.
"Yes, I suppose so. But we, God-like creatures, do not text much, so..." He gives a cheeky smile, and I go red. Holy shit! Eric must have told him what I said last night!
"Oh my God! I cannot believe he told you that!" I lowered my head to the counter and hid my face with my hands. This time, I heard him laugh aloud.
"Hey, it is okay. I am quite flattered you think so." I shake my head and groan. "No need to feel embarrassed." He places his hand on my shoulder, and I feel a warm energy passing into me. I jerk my head up and look at him. I get lost in the deep blue eyes that stare back at me. I have seen them before, but cannot quite place them. There is a shadow of a smile lingering on his lips as I feel myself getting warm and tingly. I drop my eyes and fiddle with my fingers.
"Tori.... "I keep my face down and clasp my hands together. "... what are you thinking?"
"Why did you help me last night?" I am unsure if I want to know, so I keep my head down and await his answer. I heard a slight intake of breath and a sigh. His hand moves from my shoulder to my chin, gently lifting it to meet his eyes. I blinked at him and gazed into his eyes. Tilting my head, I caught a slight feeling of recognition in them. He had a small smile on his lips as he stared back. Unknowingly, I leaned into his touch without breaking eye contact. He slid his hand to my face and rubbed my cheek.
I'm glad to see that your bruises are healing. I am sorry that I couldn't stop him in time. He brought his fingers up to gently rub my cheek, which had a hint of yellow and blue from the slap I received last night.
"It was not your fault. I am glad you were there. It could have been a lot worse. I closed my eyes as I savored the sensation of his fingers softly caressing my cheek. Leaning into his touch, I opened my eyes and saw Victor's eyes fade to black for a moment, then return to their beautiful blue.
"Tori... "he started, but my phone beeped, indicating a message was coming through. We held each other's eyes before he dropped his hand and stepped back. Victor dropped his gaze, coughed slightly, and glanced at my phone.
"You should answer that. I have intruded on you long enough." He gave a small smile and turned towards the front door.
"Victor?" I called before he shut the door. He turned to look at me. "Thank you for checking on me." I smiled shyly and clasped my fingers nervously in front of me.
He nodded with a mischievous grin and a wink and closed the door behind him.
I stood there, staring at the closed door momentarily, as I heard his truck roar to life and then drive away. With a soft sigh, I looked back at my phone and picked it up to read the message.
'Hey, sweetie, sorry I cannot make lunch today. Rain check?'
'Sure, no problem. Are you okay?'
I am good. Not feeling well. Going in to see Doc MacDonald.'
'Dad!'
'I'm good. Just to be safe.'
'Okay. Stay in touch.'
'Will do, love you.'
'Love you too.' Placing my phone on the counter, I sighed heavily and returned to the kitchen to clean the breakfast pans.
Once I finished with the breakfast dishes, I grabbed my phone and sent a quick text to Tammy.
'Hey, Dad had to cancel. I'll be home all day if you'd like to come over and talk. I waited for a response, but none came, so I set my phone down and headed to my bedroom to retrieve the laundry basket and start a load.
After starting the wash, I began my weekly routine of cleaning the bathrooms, dusting the rooms, and mopping the floors. About two hours later, I noticed it was lunchtime, so I returned to the kitchen to make a sandwich. Grabbing an iced tea and my plate, I sat at my counter and picked up my phone.
'Is Dad ok? I will be there soon.'
'Yeah, ' he said he's ok, I'll see you soon.'
About half an hour later, the doorbell rang.
"Coming!" I yelled as I skipped down the stairs. Opening the door, I saw Tammy and Eric standing on the porch.
"Hey, guys! You could have just walked in," I greeted them as I opened the door wider. As Eric stepped in, I noticed him nonchalantly sniffing the air and looking at me with an amused smirk.
"What?" I asked. Eric just shook his head and walked into the kitchen, where he started sniffing again. Turning slowly, he gave me a knowing look, and I rolled my eyes in response.
"Tori?" I looked at my friend, standing with her arms crossed and raised eyebrows. "You wanna tell me something?" Tammy stood there, tapping her foot in fake annoyance.
"Not really." I turned my back and walked into the living room.
"Tori!" I huffed and dropped onto the couch.
"I had company for breakfast." Tammy looked at me momentarily before her eyes widened as she realized who it was.
"No!" I grinned widely and nodded. Giggling, Tammy ran to her, jumped on the couch, and grabbed her arm. "Did you ask him over?"
"Not exactly; remember what I sent you that he texted? I got cheeky and told him, " Why don't you come find out?" Tammy's jaw dropped as I giggled and covered my face with my hands.
"And he came over?" Eric asked, stepping into the room.
"He did!" I shouted, and Tammy squealed like a crazed fangirl.
"Wow, I am impressed. Totally not a Victor thing to do," Eric chuckled as he sat beside Tammy.
"He didn't stay long, but I made him breakfast, and we enjoyed each other's company." It was pretty comfortable. I enjoyed it," I answered with a dreamy smile. Tammy squealed again as Eric wrapped his arms around her.
"Hey, should I be worried?" He said, pushing his nose into her neck and sniffing her.
"No, baby, I am all yours. That does not mean I cannot window shop." She gave him a flirty smile. Eric gave a slight growl and hugged her tighter.
I sat watching the loving interaction between the two with a sad smile as I thought about my own life. My longing for a significant other, whether a mate or a human relationship, was still something I wanted and hoped for.
"So, tell me, what did you want to discuss?" I brought the attention back to the here and now, and Tammy sat upright and cleared her throat.
"Well, I was thinking...." Tammy turned slightly and glanced at Eric, who nodded in response. "... You're going to accept that job from Dr. MacDonald, aren't you?" Tammy sat nodding as if answering the question for me.
"Probably, why?" I asked suspiciously.
"Well, I think you should take it."
"Okay. Again, why?" I squinted my eyes at the two.
"Because.... I am coming with you!" My jaw dropped, and Tammy clapped excitedly.
