Where Were You in the Morning?
Time Frame: Friday Evening, May 25, 2018
Location: Destin, Florida
Summary: Based on Shawn Mendes' song, "Where Were You in the Morning?"
You said, "I wanna get to know ya"
Why you gotta get my hopes up?
You said that you were staying over
But then I woke up to the cold air
How could you make me believe?
That there was something in between you and me, yeah
I look around and I don't see you
Where were you in the morning, baby?
You didn't leave your number for me
Left me without a warning, waiting
Where were you in the morning, baby?
How do you, how do you just walk away?
How do you, how do you just walk away?
"I can't believe it."
"Believe it asshole, gimme my money."
Sam stared at his friends, shaking his head as he picked up his beer bottle and finished the rest of it, chuckling at them and the mixed reactions from everybody else in the bar.
Brandon grabbed his abandoned cup before speaking, throwing the money on the table, "Admit you was scared though. Boston looked like they were about to win."
Carter snatched up the two hundred dollars, "King James always makes a comeback. No ifs, no buts, no maybes about it. Sunday, it's a wrap for them."
Reno rolled his eyes at him before he looked over at Sam, "I'm glad you came out tonight. Boys night long overdue."
"For real. I'm glad you're not sitting around your house moping."
"I was never moping around, I just buried myself back into my work per usual." Sam rolled his eyes at them, seeing the look on their faces, "Can we just not y'all, please let's just stop bringing it up."
"Nah bro, we're gonna talk about it." Carter spoke up after putting his collected money in his wallet, "Who shall not be named consumed your life for three years, we barely saw you and then going to pull some shit like that. I'm surprised you aren't seeing a shrink."
"Hell, I'm surprised you're not either."
"It wasn't meant to be. I'll just let karma take care of it." Sam told them truthfully with a smile as she lifted his second beer bottle, "That situation is someone else's problem now."
"You say that, but are you really okay?"
"I swear I'm fine, I swear. Scouts honor."
"Damn right brother. You'll get back on that saddle sooner or later..or maybe you have and just haven't told us." Brandon hit his shoulder, waggled his eyebrows, earning an eye roll from him, "What? It's time to get your…"
"And on that note." Sam stood up abruptly, causing them to throw their arms out in protest, "Goodnight." He chuckled as they threw napkins and chips at him as he left, shaking his head as he made his way out the door, the warm breeze hitting his face. He was fiddling with his keys as he headed to his car when he saw a woman leaned under the hood across the street. Scanning the backside of the woman in the short green dress that fitted her in all the right places appreciatively, he looked both ways for cars before crossing the street, coming up behind her, "Excuse me miss." He watched as she stood straight up and turned around in her nude heels, his mouth suddenly dry when he saw her face. Those eyes. He swallowed the lump in his throat, clearing it before speaking, "Need some help?"
"No, I got it." She said as she glanced at him before crossing her arms over her chest to cover the cleavage that was showing due to the very low v cut dress, "I already called a tow truck."
Sam nodded his head before taking his eyes off of her and looking underneath her hood, "Looks like your r-"
"Radiator blew out." She cut him off knowingly, moving her hair behind her ears before turning to look as well just as lightening silently struck in the sky, "It was only a matter of time."
Even though she said she was fine and had called someone, Sam didn't want to leave her out here alone for the simple fact that she was a woman and she definitely was going to catch some unwanted attention by the way she was dressed.
The woman looked down at her phone and groaned when she noticed the tow truck wouldn't be here for another hour or so, "Great. Just great."
"Its a restaurant right across the street you come wait in. Come on." Sam said as he lifted his hands in the air when she threw him a look, "I'm a good guy, I swear. I just don't want you to be out here by yourself."
The woman looked at him skeptically before jumping at the sound of the thunder and feeling the rain immediately come down afterwards, "Fine."
Sam smiled as he watched her lock her car and stand beside him as they walked crossed the street quickly to get into the restaurant. He opened the door and let her go in first, clearing his throat to grab the attention of the girl as he entered the establishment.
The hostess raised her head from her phone and eyes went wide once she saw who it was, putting her device away, "Mr. Evans."
"Bridgette, for the millionth time, just Sam. Please." He said as he watched her nod and sent her a smile, "We're going to take this window table and can you take her to the back to get her some dry clothes."
"Yes sir." She said as her eyes went to the woman questionably before giving her a smile, grabbing her hand, "Follow me."
Sam watched as she left his side and followed behind the young girl. Taking off his wet jacket, he made his way to the table and sat down. Thankfully, it was closing time, so it wasn't anyone in there but the staff.
"Look who decided to finally show his face around here after months. It's like you let the trifling situations that went on run you away from your own place."
"Please don't start."
"Bro, you know it's true." He said as he crossed his arms and looked at him, "You know she's getting married tomorrow, right?"
Sam rolled his jaw before looking away from him and out the window, "I could care less."
"You do, and I'm not saying it in an "oh, you still love her" way, because I know you don't. It's more of a pissed off way, which is understandable." He told him, deciding to change the subject, "Anyways, what brings you here this late for real?"
Sam opened his mouth to speak but stopped when he saw the woman coming back, causing his brother to turn around.
"And who do we have here?" The man let out a low whistle as she came up, dressed in now T-shirt and a pair of sweats, her wet her pulled up into a donut, her now ruined damp dress folded in her arms and heels in her hands. She was lucky that her and Bridgette was the same size shoes because she had some spare chucks in her locker, "I'm Lennox."
"Karley." She said with a half smile, shaking his outreach hand, her eyes drifting back to Sam, who was now standing up in front of the table.
"My baby brother didn't tell me he had a girlfriend."
"We're not together."
Lennox watched as they both spoke at the same time, raising a brow, "Mhm."
Sam glared at him, giving him the 'shut up before I hurt you' look, "We just met five minutes ago. Her car broke down."
"And I'm waiting for the tow truck so…"
"The kitchen is still open." Lennox commented, not wanting to hear anymore of how they met, turning around, gesturing outside, "Might want to order something because that tow truck is not getting here anytime soon."
Sure enough, Karley's phone dinged, causing her to roll her eyes and groan when she read the text message, sitting down in the chair, "Weather is very bad where they coming from, don't know when or if they'll make it."
"It's going to be like that all night. I could take you home if you want."
"I live twenty minutes away and I'm definitely not getting in a car with a stranger."
She had him there. He nodded his head understandably before leaning back his chair, seeing AJ making his way to table, "Get to know me then."
She looked at him through her lashes and ran her tongue across her teeth before she sucked in the air.
"What's up, Sam?" AJ greeted the man with a handshake before his eyes wondered to Karley, sending a smile, "Miss."
Sam watched as she gave him a nod before he turned his attention back to him, gesturing to the glass, "What you got going?"
"Lennox told me you were out here and ask me to bring you this." He held up the cup of brown liquor, which without a doubt was whiskey, and sat it in front of Sam, "I'm glad to see you are, man. I'm sorry about the last time you were here. Shit was foul."
Karley watched Sam's features turn solemn before a smile came on his face, shaking his head which caused curiosity in her mind.
"It's in the past. Let's leave it there."
"Right." He nodded before rubbing the back his neck, his eyes wondering back to the woman, "Can I get you anything?"
"Just some water, thank you."
Sam watched as he nodded before leaving, turning his attention back to the beauty in front of him, "So, what's your real name because I know for sure Karley isn't it."
She quirked a smile before giving him a challenging look, "What makes you think it's not?"
Sam smirked as he pressed the glass to his lips and took a sip, "I just know."
He's good. I'll give him that. Mercedes didn't give out her real name to anyone until she got to know them. But he wasn't entirely right about it not being her name. Karley was in fact her middle name, a name that symbolized and meant so much to her mother. She scanned him curiously and had to admit that he was cute. She wouldn't normally let strangers get this far, but it was something about him that made her interested, "I want to get to know you."
"You're trying to avoid my question."
"It's not avoiding if it's really my name." Mercedes smiled at him as she crossed her ankles, leaning back in her chair as he chuckled.
Sam watched AJ come back and give her the water, lifting his glass so he could bring him another one.
"So, this is your family's restaurant?"
"Yep, our second one. We have another location in Pensacola." He said as he stared at her, "What do you do for a living, 'Karley'."
"You can stop saying it like that and putting it in quotes, it's my name." Mercedes chuckled as she took a sip of her water, "I'm a waitress."
"Bull." Sam called out as he sat up in his seat and leaned forward, "You're not a very good liar."
"What do you do?" Mercedes ignored his accusation, crossing her arms and intertwining her fingers together.
"I'm a computer technician."
Mercedes stared at him for a moment before she laughed, "Now that's bullshit."
"Real estate attorney." Sam replied honestly as he pulled one of his cards from his pocket and gave it to her, watching as she read over it.
"Sam Evans." Now why does that name sound familiar? Mercedes wondered in her head before she lifted her eyes back to the man, "Originally from here?"
"Born and raised. How about you?"
"Tourist."
Sam's grin came back into play, "Why you being so secretive?"
Mercedes put the straw back in her mouth and sipped her water, shrugging at his question, "Don't know what you're talking about.."
"You did say you're twenty minutes away from home right? So, I'm guessing you from Fort Walton?" When he saw her smile and noticed she wasn't going to give him an answer, he smirked before looking down at his phone, "98 is closed until the morning."
Mercedes' smile slowly faded from her face, grunting as she ran her hands over her face, groaning out, "You have got to be kidding me?"
"Nope. I'm indeed not." Sam handed her his phone, watching as she took it and looked at the news, "Looks like you're stuck."
"Dammit, now I'm for sure going to have a jam packed day tomorrow." She mumbled as she let out a sigh before handing him his phone back. She sat back in the seat with a pout as she pulled out her phone to see if she could get a room for the night then she remembered she didn't have any of her cards.
"I have a guest room." Sam offered without hesitation as he moved the glass to the side.
Mercedes raised her eyes from her phone to him, "What makes you think that I'm going to go home with you?"
"Well, seeing that you just came from some type of event, I assume you thought you wasn't going to have any problem because you were going to be going straight home. Because of that, you only have cash and didn't bring any of your credit cards. And now that your car broke down, all of your money is going to go to towing tomorrow, so I highly doubt you have any money for a room. You probably can get someone to pay for it but you should save money, plus it's the start of summer break and the weekend. I'm pretty sure every hotel is booked." Sam said without missing a beat, finishing off his second glass before speaking again, "You're the first damsel in distress that I've helped out."
"Far from a damsel in distress and you have all the answers don't you?" Mercedes commented, watching as he shrugged and stood up, leaving some cash on the table. She chewed on her bottom lip before rolling her eyes, standing up as well knowing he was right, "Fine, but just so you know, if you try something, you'll regret it quickly."
"Not that type of guy." Sam stated truthfully as he held out his arm for her to go in front of him. Looking at Bridgette, "Tell Lennox I'll be back at noon to help."
"Sure will. Have a safe night, Sam."
Sam glared at her when she put emphasis on the word, causing the girl to smile before turning around and heading to the back.
The drive wasn't surprisingly awkward like they both thought it would be. It took them only ten minutes with the traffic to get to his house, which Mercedes wasn't too surprised by as she got out and closed his truck door.
"Of course you live by the beach, of course."
"Who wouldn't want to down this way?" Sam asked with a smile, watching as she rolled her eyes as they walked up the steps, "Besides…"
"Let me guess, this is your second home. You live here during the summer and your main home is a condo that's not too far away from here." Mercedes said as she stared at him with a smirk, seeing the expression on his face as she came to a stop at his front door, "You're not the only one who can read people."
Sam didn't even have a response as he opened the door, letting her go in first.
Mercedes looked around as she walked in and couldn't help but be surprised, "You have a girlfriend or wife?"
Almost. "Why?"
"Your house has a feminine touch to it." Mercedes noted as she turned around and faced him, "No man that I know house is this fully furnished and decorated neatly."
"No, but I do have four sisters and a mom, who feels the need to have a say in what my houses look like."
Mercedes laughed at that, sitting her purse down on the couch, "I know the feeling."
"Siblings?"
"Two brothers and a sister."
Sam smiled at her, realizing that she was starting to share more about herself but he wasn't going to push. He would have plenty enough time to get her to open up before the morning. He walked over to where she was and grabbed her dress and under garments, "I'll wash these."
"Aren't you a sweetie pie?"
"I try, I try." He smiled, earning a chuckle from her, "The bathroom is down that hall to your right. There's already towels, soaps, shampoos, conditioners and all that other crap you women need."
"It's not crap, it's necessities." She corrected before moving her loose hair back behind her ear, "In all seriousness, thank you for letting crash here."
"No problem. Are you hungry?"
"No, I'm okay. Besides, you look like you only can make grilled cheese." She joked playfully, watching as he brought his hands to his chest.
"I'm highly offended. Not only do I know how but I make the best grilled cheese ever. My omelets aren't that bad either."
"Hm, I'll hold you to it."
"I do have a question for you though."
"Shoot."
"Are you always so stubborn to a point where you won't let anyone help you?"
Mercedes pursed her lips before walking pass him and down the hall, "What do you think?"
Before Sam could give her an answer, she had made it to the bathroom and shut the door, causing him to laugh and yell, "Yes, a big yes."
Mercedes heard him chuckle and yell his answer, causing her to smile as she took off her clothes and got into the shower. Sighing in content as the hot water hit her skin, she went and stood under the water to let it flow through her hair. She was thankful that she had given weave a break and went back to her natural state because she would hate to have it ruin due to the rain. She thought about the day she had and didn't expect for it to turn out like it did. She definitely didn't expect to end up in a very attractive man that she barely knew house for the night. Honestly, she was glad that it did worked out the way it did.
Sam had just started washer before he came out. He went upstairs and grabbed something for her out of his drawer to wear to bed. Once he made it back down, he went to the kitchen to get him a sip of orange juice from out of the refrigerator, the alcohol in his system long gone. He was glad he wasn't a light weight. It took a lot for him to get buzzed and even drunk. He picked up the clothes and made his way to the guest room, not noticing the shower had stopped running. About two minutes later, he heard footsteps along the hardwood, prompting him to turn around. There she stood in front of him drying her hair with a towel, her body wrapped up in a white plush robe, "Feel better?"
"Much better." She smiled as she turned around and placed the towel in the hamper that was in the corner by the door.
"Don't worry, there are clean, fresh sheets and pillows on the bed." Sam commented as he watched her glance over the room before her eyes met his again, giving her his signature lopsided grin before walking up to her and holding out one of his t-shirts and a pair of boxers, "Something for you to put on."
Mercedes stared at him as a smile came onto her lips, ducking her head a bit, "Don't need them."
Sam was about to questioned her until she closed the space between them and stood up on her toes and leaned up to place her lips on his, the items in his hands now occupying the floor. He was taken by surprise but that didn't stop him from reacting to it as he brought her closer, his hands falling to the sides of her body, whispering, "You right, you don't."
Mercedes smirked against his lips before her hands went to the ends of his shirt, breaking the kiss to lift it off of him. She stood back as she bit down on her bottom lip, staring him up and down with lustful eyes.
Sam pulled her back to him, his mouth finding hers in a heated kiss, removing it then making the move to her jaw and on downward.
Mercedes giggled at the tickling sensation as she wrapped her arms around his neck, his mouth moving down her collarbone slowly with the feeling of him marking along the way.
Walking forward and causing him to hit the front of the bed, which made him sit down. She straddled his lap and leaned into the kiss before pushing him backwards on the bed until he was laying flat.
Sam stared at her for a moment, silent words being exchanged between them before he untied the robe, leaving it unopened before he kissed her.
She grabbed ahold of his belt as she sucked and tugged on his bottom lip before letting do, glancing down at him as she breathed heavily, "I never sleep with people I just met."
"That's makes two of us." He got out just as she leaned back down and captured his lips with hers again, causing him to wrap his arm around her waist and flip them over to where he was on top, feeling her nails rake down his bare back didn't phase him one bit. Their breathing labored and moans graduated loudly as the night went on. This night went from zero to one hundred real quick.
Sam groaned lowly as she sun beamed brightly in his eyes, causing him to peep them open, head pounding lightly as he sat up. He yawn as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes, looking over to the side and noticing that it was empty and made up. Getting up from his bed, he grabbed a pair of shorts and slid them on. Heading to his bathroom first to check, finding it empty, he moved out of the room and went into his living room. There was no trace of her anywhere. Not even a note. Sighing, he went back to the room room and plopped down, groaning as he stared up at the ceiling in disappointment. Dammit girl.
And I hope you had a good reason
'Cause I know you had a good time
And I'm looking up at the ceiling
And I keep wondering why
Where were you in the morning, baby?
You didn't leave your number for me
Left me without a warning, waiting
I said, where were you in the morning baby?
How do you, how do you just walk away?
How do you, how do you just walk away?
How do you, how do you just walk away?
How do you, how do you just walk away?
A/N. 2018.
