Beta

Savannah snuck back into Tyler’s apartment well after 2 am after finishing up at the bar with Alex and Shea, hearing all of Shea’s honeymoon stories. She was tipsy, having had more than her limit of Jack and Diet Cokes. But sharing stories called for an exception to the rule.
She tried to be stealthy, but her keys fell to the floor when she tried to place them on the countertop just inside the door. She thought for sure she had woken Tyler up, but no lights turned on in his bedroom.

She dropped her bag on the couch and half-stumbled her way to the bedroom. She saw him sleeping, flat on his back, one arm outstretched onto her side of the bed. She loved his king bed, but somehow, he always ended up over on her side, whether she was in it or not.

She climbed into the bed, crawling on her hands and knees and hoisting her leg over his body so she was straddling him. That woke him up. His eyes shot open as his hands automatically went to her hips. He smiled up at her. “Best wake up call ever,” he told her. She grinded her hips against his. “How was your evening?” he asked her, amusement in his voice. It was pretty clear that he could tell she was a little tipsy.

“Good,” she smiled down at him. “It was good to see my sister. I’m happy to be home now, though.”

“Home?” he smiled at her.“A home,” she shrugged, not giving him the satisfaction of calling it her home yet. “Your place is closer than mine, and I didn’t want to Uber back to my place,” she claimed.

His thumb circled on her hip bone. “You could have called me and I would have picked you up,” he told her.

She shrugged again. “I made it here just fine. I shared an Uber halfway here. Dropped Alex off of Jamie’s. See, I could have just stayed there for the night.”

“I like you much better here,” he told her, flipping her onto her back, causing her to yelp in surprise. “Just how drunk are you?” he inquired, looking down at her face.

“Not drunk enough that I don’t want sex,” she replied. He smiled at the answer as he kissed her neck and growled next to her ear. “Mmm,” she hummed, letting him take control for the night. Sometimes it was just better to let him be the alpha and her to reap the benefits.

***

The photoshoot was getting ready to start. Tyler hadn’t wanted to get out of bed, especially after Savannah had surprised him with a little morning head. She hadn’t been joking when she told him she’d make him remember that he had a girlfriend at home before he got naked in front of a set full of people. He had rushed to shower and get to the set after the sex and had been there all morning, having people all around him, getting him ready to be photographed. For something that didn’t require any clothes, there sure was a lot to prepare still.

Alex had arrived a while before that, ensuring that her sets were all ready, along with any of the props she intended to use for the day. Tyler walked up to her, wearing just a pair of shorts. “So I see your boyfriend here, but where’s my girl?” he asked her, standing just behind her as he looked out onto the set.

Alex turned her head towards him. “Hmm?” she said, only having half heard him.

“Savannah. Have you seen her?” he asked directly.

That got Alex’s attention. “Oh, no I haven’t,” she said, suddenly realizing she hadn’t seen her best friend yet that morning. “I just assumed she came in with you,” she added.

Tyler shook his head. “Nope. Left super early this morning. Texted me saying she had to go in and see Dominic quick and that she’d meet me here,” he told her. He had gotten out of the shower to find the apartment empty and a text from Savannah. He had wondered why she hadn’t just come into the bathroom and told him while he was in the shower, but then again, he probably would have brought her into the shower with him and she wouldn’t have gotten out of there.

“Have you called her?”

Tyler frowned. “Of course,” he said. They were just a few minutes away from the shoot, and she hadn’t even texted him to say she was on her way. “You think I wouldn’t have already tried that?” he questioned with a roll of his eyes.

“Hey, don’t get all mad at me! I’m just asking,” Alex defended herself. “Maybe their meeting just ran long. Maybe they figured something out with this Bartholomew case,” she suggested. Tyler knew Alex was thinking the same thing as him, worrying that something bad had happened to Savannah. He hated that he worried about her so much. Savannah hated it, too. But, Tyler couldn’t help it. He was constantly worried about her, knowing she was likely to go after criminals on her own just because she thought she could.

Someone on the set announced that they were ready to get started, and Tyler looked over at Alex. “Guess that’s us,” he told her.

“Don’t worry about Van,” Alex told him, though it was pretty obvious she was concerned herself. “Just get this photo shoot over with.”

“You make it seem like you’re not excited to see me naked,” Tyler teased with a wink. “Boyfriend better watch out, you’ll see what better men look like.”

Alex eyed him. “Pretty sure Jamie is superior to you,” she told him. Tyler couldn’t tell if she was joking or not, but he let the comment slide. He could continue to jokingly flirt with her, but he knew that wouldn’t end well for him, especially with Jamie standing just a few feet away.

Tyler walked behind Alex to the set and dropped the shorts he was wearing. Most people would have been uncomfortable standing there without clothes on, getting their picture taken. But, Tyler didn’t mind. Not even when it was his girlfriend’s best friend that was doing the photography.

Alex had him do a few different shots before taking a break to get the next set ready. It was then that Tyler really got a chance to think. He threw his shorts back on as he walked over to a chair. He looked around, realizing Savannah still wasn’t there. Jamie walked over to him. “Where’s Savannah?” he asked the question Tyler was already silently wondering to himself.

Tyler shook his head. “I don’t know,” he said lowly as he grabbed his phone to see if she sent him a text or had called him. He didn’t have a missed phone call or text from her. He frowned. “She went into work this morning,” he told Jamie.

“Maybe she’s hanging out with Liam,” Jamie ribbed.

Tyler glared at him. “I don’t know where she’s at,” he muttered.

A few minutes later, Alex came over to get Tyler for the next shot. “You ready, hot shot?” she asked him.

He nodded his head, following her over to the next set. He had just undressed once again when a loud commotion came from the back corner by the door. Both Tyler and Alex spun around to see what was going on. Suddenly, a disheveled Savannah appeared as she pushed and elbowed her way through the security guards and workers.

“Van!?” Alex called out while Tyler stayed in place really observing her appearance. He put his shorts back on, not taking his eyes off of her. Her clothes were a mess and her sleeve was torn on one side. She had blood on her pants and her hair was in a messy short pony tail with half of it falling out and onto her face. “Sorry I’m late,” she shrugged, not addressing how she looked. Tyler walked closer to her and could see several scrapes all over her body and a bruise forming on her right cheek.

“What happened?” Alex questioned, looking her up and down.

“Well Bartholomew is back behind bars,” she said with a soft laugh, an uncomfortable one. Alex was wide eyed asking her more questions but Tyler’s eyes were on Savannah. “I’m not in the hospital,” she joked with a smile.

Tyler frowned at her. He was relieved, of course, but anger was also boiling up, and it was that emotion that he couldn’t control. She had gone in to catch Bartholomew on her own after being told not to. When was she ever going to learn. He shook his head. “I can’t do this anymore, Savannah,” he told her, no joking in his voice.

“What are you talking about?” she asked while everyone on set looked on.

He pulled Savannah to the side, hoping for any kind of privacy. “This. Jesus, Savannah. You barge in an hour after the shoot started, covered with blood,” he made an up and down motion with his hand for emphasis. She may not be in the hospital right now, but Tyler thought she really needed to get checked out by a doctor. She was beat up, and he didn’t even want to think how her head was doing when she hadn’t fully recovered from her concussion from the last time she’d gone after Bartholomew. While he was worried about her, he still had anger bubbling in his veins. He was sick of her putting herself in danger. She could do her job in a safer manner, but she chose not to. And that was something Tyler was never going to understand. And he didn’t even care to try to understand at this point. “I...I just can’t do this anymore. Worry about you. Worry if you’re going to come back dead or not. Day in and day out.”

“Tyler, this is part of my job. And it wasn’t even my fault this time,” she argued.

He cut her off. “It’s never your fault, Savannah. It’s always your job. But you choose to make your job riskier than it has to be,” he stated. He glanced around to see everyone’s eyes on them. “This isn’t the place for this,” he muttered.

“Well we can finish it later,” Savannah said, clearly annoyed to be having this conversation at all.

“No it’s finished. I’m finished.”

She stared at him with a dumbfounded expression on her face. “That’s it?” she questioned.

“Yeah that’s it. We’re done, Savannah. I’m not even giving you an ultimatum between me and your job. I know what you’d choose because you always choose it. So I’m making it easier. I’m breaking up with you, Savannah,” he stated before spinning around, dropping his shorts and heading back to the set, leaving a shocked and confused Savannah standing there by herself.

Notes

I thought I uploaded this chapter yesterday, but apparently it didn't go through. Sorry about the delay in updates!!