Chapter 84: Firmly

Tom sat in the back seat and let the car pull him away from the roadside.

For a long stretch, nobody spoke. The quiet was not comfortable. It only made him more aware of himself - the bare line of his chest, the thin dark underwear sitting too low on his hips, the fact that every small turn of the vehicle reminded him how little protection he had left on his body.

He kept his eyes forward, set his jaw hard, as if composure alone could make up for the state he was in.

The woman beside him had her phone in hand, but she was not really using it. Tom could feel the weight of her attention in short intervals. She would glance over, catch too much, and look away again. Not with mockery, though, Tom could notice that.

The woman was looking at him with open human curiosity and a concern she was trying not to make too obvious. The silence made that worse. If she had joked, he could have braced against it. Instead she left him alone with the embarrassment.

After several minutes, the driver spoke.

"Where to, ma’am?"

The woman blinked, pulled out of whatever thought had held her. "Right." She turned to Tom. "What’s your address?"

Tom did not answer at once. Giving the address meant finishing the journey like this; being delivered half-naked to Sienna’s gate in another woman’s car after the internet had already started circulating the roadside pictures. Pride held the words in his mouth.

The woman watched the hesitation settle, then cut through it cleanly.

"Or would you rather walk home like that?"

There was no cruelty in the question. Only certainty. Tom’s throat moved once then he gave the address.

She repeated it to the driver, and the car continued on.

The rest of the drive remained quiet, but the quiet had changed shape. Tom stayed upright and withdrawn, not inviting conversation. He was not trying to perform coldness. He simply had no usable version of politeness available while dressed like this. The woman seemed to understand that well enough. She stopped glancing as often and left him the space his silence was asking for.

When the car finally turned into Sienna’s property, Tom felt relief and exposure at the same time. He reached for the door.

"Thank you," he said.

The woman’s hand lifted slightly. "You’re not even going to ask the name of the person who helped you?"

Tom paused with the door half open. For a second he considered the easier social answer. Then he discarded it.

"I’m sorry if that sounds rude," he said. "I’m just not in the mood to introduce myself while I’m sitting here like this."

Her brows rose. A short breath of surprised amusement left her. "You don’t soften anything, do you?" Her eyes moved over his face with fresh interest. "You must be one of those people who come off badly at first meeting."

Tom looked at her, unsure whether she expected a defense.

She waited half a beat, then laughed under her breath. "That was a joke. You’re supposed to laugh, or at least pretend it was mildly funny."

Tom blinked once, caught off guard by the shift.

The woman shook her head, still faintly amused then said; "I’m Josie."

"Thank you for the ride, Josie," Tom said.

Then he stepped out of the car.

The outside air touched his bare skin immediately and forced a brief shiver through him before he locked it down. He walked toward the house without looking back, carrying the morning with him in every uncovered line of his body.

Sienna was already in the living room.

She had seen the car arrive. She had watched him step out of it. Whatever patience she had managed since seeing the online posts snapped the moment Tom came through the door in those dark, closely cut underpants, still marked by the mess of the morning. The first emotion that reached her face was not worry. It was accusation, sharp and immediate.

"So Stella wasn’t enough? You’re moving from one woman to another now?" she slammed although her voice wasn’t as rude as before.

Tom’s steps did not falter. He shook his head once, a short refusal to enter the argument, and kept walking. He had no appetite for her conclusions, not after everything the morning had brought.

Seeing that he was ignoring her, Sienna swallowed hard then she remembered what she was actually supposed to be discussing with him at this moment - business, the pictures online.

"Erm, we need to talk." She said, her voice coming out quietly. Tom didn’t stop though.

Then Sienna’s legs moved before she could stop them. She moved into his path before he could pass.

"We need to talk." She repeated.

Tom saw her too late. He walked straight into her, bare chest meeting her with a suddenness that froze both of them in place. The contact was brief and completely awkward. Sienna looked up, startled, then staggered back a step and blinked hard. A flush climbed into her face as she cleared her throat and tried to recover the line she had prepared.

"I need to talk to you," she said again, thinner this time.

Tom held her gaze. The irritation in him did not explode. It settled into something flatter and harder.

"You want to have that conversation while I’m half naked?" he asked, his gaze flickering down to his bottom part

.

Sienna’s eyes dropped before she could stop them. The reminder of exactly what he was wearing made her look away almost at once. She shook her head quickly.

"No. Go and get dressed first."

Tom shook his head in return. "I’ve had enough morning for one day. I’m going to rest." he said firmly.

Sienna swallowed. For a moment it looked like she might push anyway. Then the firmness in his voice left her with no clean route that would not turn into another fight she was no longer certain she could control.

"I’ll wait until you’re ready," she said.

Tom moved past her and continued toward his room, leaving Sienna standing in the living room with...

The image of him arriving half-naked from another woman’s car fixed firmly behind her eyes.