Tear Down These Walls (19 page)

“That wasn’t sarcastic or anything,” Trent laughs.

She gives him a look. “Really, do you want to get up at 6 a.m. on the
weekend?”

Chuckling, he says, “Sometimes I wake up that early.”

“Work?”

“Yeah, work,” he replies quickly. “But, you won’t have to go to a
computer lab.”

“Why?” Teagan asks. She takes a bite of her lo mein. “Mmmmm, this is
good!”

“It’s from this little place by the office,” Trent states. “Eat up; I
will be right back.”

Teagan chews slowly as he gets up and walks away. She leans over and
looks down the hallway. Trent disappears around the corner and then comes
walking back into the kitchen. He hands her a purple and black computer bag.
“What’s this?” Teagan mumbles between chews.

“Open it up and look,” Trent instructs as he sits back down.

As she raises an eyebrow, Teagan unzips the bag, and looks in it. “This
your lap top?  Are you letting me use it?”

“No, it’s
your
lap top.”

Snorting, Teagan says, “One, my laptop was destroyed, and two, it wasn’t
this nice.”

“No, that’s your laptop. I’m giving you one,” Trent states
matter-of-factly.

“Bull,” Teagan snaps. “I am not taking a computer from you.”

“Even if it has all your writing on it?” Trent calmly inquires without
looking up at her.

“What?” Teagan whispers.

“Scott is our tech guy. He saved everything on your hard drive. It is now
on that computer.”

Dumbfounded, Teagan stares at him. “You saved my writing?”

“I suspect so. Everything from your hard drive is on there,” Trent
retorts, pointing to the computer.

Without a moment of hesitation, Teagan sets the bag down and jumps over
to Trent.  She sits on his lap, wraps her arms around his neck and gives
him a death grip hug. Trent grunts as Teagan whispers, “Thank you.”

He rubs her back and replies, “You’re welcome.”

“You have no, no, NO idea what this means to me.”

“Must mean a lot because you are sitting on my lap with no underwear on,”
Trent chuckles, looking down where their bodies are touching, mere inches from
indecency.

“OH MY GOD!” Teagan yells, standing up, flattening the shirt over her
body.

“There was fabric between us,” Trent states with a huge smile.

Pointing behind her, Teagan says, “I think my pants should be dry by now.
I’m going to put those on.”  

“Are you sure?” Trent says, eyeing her up and down. “I like this look,
makes a man happy.”

“You know it,” Teagan quips, cocking her hip to the side. “I’m still
going to put my pants on.” She turns and walks away.

“Bummer,” she hears Trent laugh. Teagan shakes her head and goes to grab
her clothes. Her shirt and bra are still damp, but her jeans and underwear are
dry. She slides them on under Trent’s shirt. When she walks back out there,
Trent smiles. “Couldn’t give up my shirt?”

“My top isn’t dry yet,” Teagan replies. “Plus, this is really
comfortable.”

“I tend to think so. It was a gift.”

Teagan smirks and sits down. “Well, you should definitely thank whomever
gave it to you.”

“I have.” Trent points to her plate. “Eat up.”

“Don’t worry, I will; this is delicious,” Teagan murmurs as she takes a
bite.

They eat quietly, though every time Teagan looks up, Trent is staring at
her. Finally, she bursts out laughing, “What!?”

“Nothing, I am just trying to make you uncomfortable,” Trent chuckles.

“Thanks,” Teagan snorts. She picks up a fortune cookie and chucks it at
him. Trent snags it midair without even looking. “Wow,” Teagan exhales.

“I’m quick,” Trent declares, tossing the cookie back at her. “So, it will
take something really fast to catch me off guard.”

“Obviously,” Teagan mutters. She opens the fortune cookie and reads,
“What you have been looking for may be right in front of you.” Teagan tenses up
but finally laughs.  “Fortune cookies are so stupid.”

Trent clears his throat, “Yeah, I had one once that told me I was going
to have a bad day tomorrow.”

“Really?” Teagan gasps. “That’s weird and
mean
.”

“You know what they say about fortune cookies,” Trent states, grabbing
one of his own. “You are supposed to add ‘in bed’ at the end of the fortune.”

“What I have been looking for is sitting in front of me in bed?” Teagan
snorts. “Yeah, okay.”

“No, it should be what you having been looking for in bed may be right in
front of you,” Trent murmurs, giving her a look. His eyes are back to being warm,
and Teagan flushes a bit at the heat from his gaze, not missing the suggestive
nature of his comment.

Teagan shoots a look back. “Shut up, Trent. What does your fortune cookie
say?”

“New opportunities may arise. Do not let them pass by.”

Bursting out laughing, Teagan exclaims, “You can’t let opportunities pass
you by IN BED. Oh my god.”

“Anyway,” Trent chuckles, shaking his head. “Are you finished?”

“Yeah, I’m stuffed,” Teagan retorts, patting her stomach.

“I am glad that you eat. I hate it when girls don’t eat because they
think it impresses guys.”

Scoffing, Teagan rolls her eyes. “I’m not that type of girl. I
am
the type of girl to take the leftovers back to my apartment because my poor
college ass can’t afford to eat out a lot.”

“That is more than fine,” Trent replies. “I think we can go over there
now.”

She stands up and starts to clear the dishes. “I’m so afraid to go home.”

“I will be there to help,” Trent states. “It won’t be so bad.”

“Yeah,” Teagan exhales quietly.

A half an hour later, they are driving over to her apartment. Teagan has
her shirt in a bag, and she is clenching it, twisting the plastic between her
fingers. “You need to relax,” Trent declares in a soft tone. “This will all be
all right.”

“That’s easy to say,” Teagan mumbles, looking out the window.

When they pull up front, they see a guy working on the front door. “I
called your landlord and ripped him a new one. They are fixing the lock.”

“That’s good,” Teagan replies glumly. She opens the door and gets out of
the truck.

Trent walks around to her, and they walk to the building. The handyman
lets them in the door. Teagan looks up the stairs, not wanting to go up and
face the music. Finally, she takes the first step. “It’s going to be okay,”
Trent reassures her.

“Whatever you say,” Teagan snaps slightly. “Sorry, I’m just scared.”

They get to her door, and Trent reaches into his pocket. He holds out a
key ring.  There are two silver keys on it. “There are all new locks on
the door.”

“Thanks,” Teagan says, taking them from him. She puts the key in and
opens the door. “God,” she starts. “You can still smell the spray paint.” She
flicks on the light. Her hands quickly come up to her mouth, and she gasps.

“It’s not spray paint that you smell,” Trent murmurs into her ear.

“What happened!?” Teagan yells. She steps into her apartment and looks at
it in awe.   Everything is fixed. The walls are newly painted. The
furniture has been replaced. The whole apartment is clean. Teagan turns to
Trent. “What did you do!?”

“I told you I would help,” he smiles and raises his eyebrows.

“This isn’t helping Trent!” She exclaims. “This is insane!” Teagan turns
around in a circle, holding her head. “Trent, this is new furniture! I can’t
afford this.”

Shaking his head, Trent says, “It’s not new. It’s furniture we had after
we remodeled the office. It was sitting in a storage unit.”

“I can’t accept this!” Teagan stammers.

“Everything has been replaced.” Trent strolls over to the kitchen and
opens up the cabinets. “The small stuff is the only thing I purchased - dishes,
cups, so on and so forth. Check this out.” With a smile, he pulls out one of
the mugs. “You are free advertising for TPS.” The mug is black with TPS written
in bold white letters. “So now if your friends need security, they can look at
your mugs and be like, hey!”

Teagan laughs. “Because my friends need body guards.”

“You never know,” Trent smirks, as he puts it back. “Those are for
strategic advertisement.”

“I don’t even know what to say,” Teagan whispers, running her fingers
through her hair. “I’m speechless.”

“You can say thank you,” Trent says simply. “There is nothing else to
say.”

“Thank you isn’t enough.”

He shrugs his shoulders. “It is for me.”

Teagan walks over to him and places her hands on his chest. “Trent, I
will repay you somehow.”

“You can cook me dinner sometime,” he replies softly.

“Or like a hundred dinners,” Teagan snorts back. She looks up into his
eyes, and they stand there for a second. Finally, Teagan wraps her arms around
him and hugs fiercely.  “You’re incredible.”

“I wouldn’t say that.” He wraps his arms around her and kisses the top of
her head.

They stand there for a moment in a quiet embrace. Teagan savors it. It
has been a long time since she has felt safe enough to touch a guy in such a
manner. Finally, she pulls away. “Well, I don’t even know what to do. There is
nothing to do! Looking up at Trent, Teagan shakes her head. “I have to repay
you. I can’t take all this, and I definitely can’t take a computer!”

“The computer you can have because TPS doesn’t need it anymore. We
upgrade every year,” Trent counters.

“Isn’t that an abuse of your company’s funds? I can pay something.”

“No,” he laughs. “We didn’t need any of this stuff anymore. We would have
donated it anyway.”

Raising an eyebrow, Teagan says, “Really? You donate these things?”

“Yup,” Trent replies. “Most of it anyway.”

“See, I should pay you!” Teagan exclaims.

Trent chuckles. “No, I refuse to take your money.”

“I will think of something to do for you,” Teagan sighs. “You just wait
and see.”

“I’ll wait in suspense,” Trent teases. “As for the dishes and such, Jess
picked them out. So, if you don’t like them, she has receipts.”

“Jess?” Teagan questions

“My cousin, the receptionist,” Trent replies. “She said this was the best
assignment I had given her so far.”

Teagan shakes her head. “How did you get this all done today?”

“I started last night when you passed out. I paid some of my team members
to come over here and do this. They had no assignments today.”

“Well, I want to throw a thank you party for them,” Teagan declares
seriously. “I can cook and host a party like no one’s business.”

“That is fraternizing with clients,” Trent sighs.

Rolling her eyes, Teagan says, “I haven’t paid you for anything, so I’m
not a client.”

“True, and I did pay them out of pocket,” Trent chuckles. “Fine, you can
have them all over for a thank you party.”

She is about to say something when her phone rings. She looks down and
groans, “It’s Isaac.”

“What’s wrong with Isaac?” Trent inquires.

“He likes me,” Teagan exhales. “Hold on a second.” She answers the phone
and presses it on speaker. “Hello?”

“Hey, how late are you going to be up?” Isaac asks.

Teagan looks at the clock. It’s 7:45. “Probably for a few more hours,
why?”

“I didn’t want to call at midnight if you were going to be sleeping.”

“I have class in the morning,” Teagan replies, completely confused. “Why
would you call me so late?”

He pauses and says, “Dude, Teagan, it’s your birthday tomorrow.”

“Holy crap it is!” Teagan exclaims. “With everything going on lately, I
totally forgot!”

“Are we not going out anymore?” Isaac asks. “I thought we were doing
dinner and then going dancing.”

“We are, we are,” Teagan laughs. “I just totally spaced. I will call
Victoria. She probably has everything set up.”

“I believe that she does,” Isaac assures her. “So, I think it’s you,
Emily, Victoria, me and Michael, unless there are more people that you want to
invite.” The tone in Isaac’s voice is hesitant.

As her eyes drift up to Trent, Teagan smiles. “Can you hold on a second
Isaac?”

“Sure.”

She presses mute and says, “Will you come out for my birthday tomorrow?”

“You want me to go out to the bar with a bunch of college kids?” Trent
laughs.

“I may need your protection,” Teagan murmurs, batting her eyelashes.

“Protection from what?” Trent inquires, crossing his arms.

“The big bad things that go bump in the night,” Teagan answers.

He smiles, “I am saving you from the boogie man?”

“Yes,” Teagan replies. “And I am a little nervous because someone is
obviously angry with me. Why else would they spray paint ‘bitch’ on three of my
walls?”

Trent nods his head, “True, and yes, I would like to go out for your
birthday.”

“Sweet!” She unmutes the phone. “We will have one more person going out.”

“May I ask who?” Isaac retorts, with slight irritation in his voice.

“Trent,” Teagan states. “He is my own super hero. He completely fixed my
apartment. I don’t have to do anything. Isn’t that awesome!?”

“Sure is,” Isaac sighs, his voice trailing off. “I was planning to help,
but I guess that isn’t needed now.”

Shaking her head in exasperation, Teagan says, “The offer is
appreciated.”

“That’s good to know.”

“I have to go now, and yes, I will be asleep at midnight, but the thought
was sweet.”

“I’m going to try and give you an awesome birthday!” Isaac cheers.

“Thanks,” Teagan says. “I’ll see you tomorrow then, okay?”

“Yup, have a good night.”

“You too.” With that Teagan hangs up. She looks at Trent. “You better
wear something nice tomorrow because we are dressing up.”

A smile spreads across Trent’s face. “I can handle that….I think.”

“You looked pretty dapper the first day we really met,” Teagan smiles. “I
say, go for that.”

“I have to wear that every day,” Trent groans. “But if I must.”