"You fucked the gartner?" Seth shouted.
Tilda couldn't help but giggle at Seth's outburst. She had hardly picked up the phone and put it to her ear before he shouted that. She had been waiting for him to call all day after she sent the text that morning.
"Hello to you too, Seth," she said.
"Tell me everything," he said. "How? When? Was he any good? Wait, did you fuck in my bed? Ew, I need to change the bed sheets."
"It was on the kitchen counter," she said.
"Even worse. I make my food there," he said.
"I wiped it clean," she chuckled.
"So," he prolonged the word. "How was it?"
"It was fucking amazing," she said.
He chuckled on his end. He wanted her to feel amazing with someone. Anyone at all. Anyone but Dean. Anyone that could help her move on somehow.
"When are you seeing him again?" He asked.
"I'm not sure I am," she answered.
"What?" He asked loudly. "No, no, no, Tilda. You need to get on this thing again. Jump on that dick so many times that it can't work without you."
"Seth!" She laughed. "It's not like that. It just sort of happened. I don't know if he wants to..."
Someone knocked on the door. She stopped talking. She felt scared for a moment. Dean might have found her somehow.
"Of course he wants to see you again. He's stupid if he doesn't," he said.
"Ssh!" She shushed him. "Someone's here."
"Who?" He asked.
"I don't know," she whispered. "Stay with me, Seth."
"I'm right here," he said.
She snuck out to the kitchen and held her breath. She peeked around the corner and saw Roman on the other side of the glass door in the other end of the kitchen.
"It's Roman," she said.
"Thank fuck," he said.
"What do you think he wants?" She asked.
"Open the door and ask him," he chuckled.
"Right, right," she chuckled too. "I'm nervous."
"It's okay. I'm right here if you need some quick advice," he said.
"I don't need any sex tips from you, mister," she said.
He chuckled again. She walked over and opened the door. Roman's smile made her feel relaxed right away.
"I realized I left earlier without getting your number or giving you mine," he said.
"That's okay. I figured you'd come back to work at some point," she said.
"I gotta work tomorrow," he said. "Are you busy?"
He pointed at the phone in her hand.
"No, she's not!" Seth shouted.
Seth hung up and Tilda chuckled at Roman.
"He hung up on me," she said.
"Remind me to thank him," he smirked. "I thought about bringing dinner but I realized that I don't know what you like, or if you got any weird allergies, or maybe you're a vegan. So I'm here to ask if you wanna go out to dinner with me. So what do you say? You, me, some good food. My treat."
"Ehm..." She said.
His smile fell a bit and he nodded.
"I understand. No harm done. I'll leave you be," he said.
"No, it's not that," she said.
She reached for him and grabbed his arm. For a moment she forgot how to breathe. If she had grabbed Dean like that, he would have responded with a slap or a punch.
"Hey, easy," he pulled her into his arms. "You're shaking, Tilda. Relax. Breathe. Focus on me. I'm right here. I got you."
"I'm so sorry," she said.
She couldn't hold back the tears. Instead of running away from her, he held on to her even tighter.
"He really did a number on you, didn't he?" He asked.
"You have no idea," she answered.
"If you ever wanna tell me, I'll listen," he said.
She nodded against his chest. She felt like she could trust him. It was just hard letting go of six years in hell and let someone new in. She broke the hug, dried her eyes, and gave him a little smile.
"I'd love to have dinner with you but I'm not ready to enter the world yet," she said.
"How about I bring dinner to you then?" He asked.
"You'd do that for me?" She asked.
"Of course," he answered. "So what do you want? Sushi? Burger? Pizza? Pasta? Or something else?"
"A veggie burger sounds nice," she said.
"See, I would have messed that up and brought you one with meat if I hadn't asked first," he chuckled. "Vegan?"
"Just vegetarian. I got a rare meat allergy. It's very painful if I eat meat," she said.
"Noted. No meat ever," he said. "I'll be back in 20-30 minutes depending on how many people are there."
"I'll be here waiting," she said.
He leaned down and kissed her before getting out in his mini van and taking off. She walked to the bathroom and cleaned her messy face. This was the second time he saw her at a low point, and he still wasn't running away. If anything, he wanted to get closer. It felt good. It felt right. She picked up her phone and called Seth back.
"Don't tell me you kicked him out," he said.
"Hello again, Seth," she chuckled. "No, he drove out to get me a burger."
"He's a keeper," he chuckled too.
"I think he might be," she said. "It's weird how the little things matter so much. Dean would never have gone out to buy me food. He would never have comforted me when I cried."
"You cried?" He asked.
"Yeah," she sighed. "And he would never have allowed me to grab him. I had to know my place and not touch him without a direct order."
He sighed on his end too. He knew she had gone through hell but he didn't know the details.
"I know you'll probably never tell me everything he put you through, but don't shut out other people because of it. Don't shut out that Roman guy. It's pretty clear he likes you, and I already know you like him too. Maybe you can open up to him about everything. And I hereby give you permission to have sex in my bed," he said.
"Seth!" She laughed.
"I gotta make sure you keep him around somehow," he laughed too. "I gotta go. Becky's ready. We're going out. She's yelling that I have to send you her love."
"Say hi back," she said. "And enjoy your evening."
"I'll bring her with me next time," he said. "Enjoy your evening too."
She hung up and waited for Roman to return. She couldn't help but smile when she heard his car come driving back 25 minutes later. She opened the door and he entered with a bag that smelled good.
"Burgers and fries," he said. "Because you deserve to be spoiled."
"You're amazing," she said.
He beamed at that comment. She smirked at him and picked up some plates. They walked to the dining table and sat down.
"You're pretty amazing too, you know," he said.
She sighed and looked at him.
"Whatever it is in your past, I can handle it," he said.
"He would never have offered to pick up food for me," she said.
"Wow, the bar is low. I already earned brownie points then," he said.
She knew it was a joke but she couldn't smile at the comment.
"The reason I started crying was because I grabbed you," she said.
"Grabbed me? You hardly touched me. If you think you hurt me, you're wrong," he said.
"No, you don't understand. I was not allowed to touch him without being ordered to. He would hit me if I had grabbed him," she said.
His smile dropped. He reached across the table and took her hand. She refused to cry again. He was a good man who didn't deserve to only see her unhappy, but he did deserve to know the truth.
"His name is Dean Ambrose. I was his slave," she said. "I was not allowed to have an opinion about anything, or to think anything other than what he told me to think. I was ordered around, beaten, locked up, and sometimes even starved. I didn't know how to get out until I remembered Seth. Seth used to be a drugdealer and I thought he might still be. I found him and contacted him. He provided me with sleeping pills so I could drug Dean and run away. I ran four days ago. It's that fresh. So if you want out now, I won't be angry. You can leave and I'll understand."
He lifted her hand and placed a kiss on it.
"I bought normal fries and sweet potato fries. I wasn't sure what you like so I got both," he said.
"Roman," she said.
"I'm not leaving. And if he ever tries to touch you again, I'll personally break all his fingers," he said.
She found her smile again and nodded at him.
"Sweet potato fries, please," she said.
"You gotta share then. They're my favorites too," he said.
"I can share," she chuckled. "Thank you for all this, Roman. It's great. You're fucking amazing."
"That's the second time you tell me that tonight," he grinned. "I like hearing that."
He took out the food and handed her the veggie burger and the sweet potato fries. She grabbed a fry and ate it with joy. As simple as this meal might be, it was perfect. She felt good being with him.
"Can I tell you something weird?" She asked.
"Of course," he answered.
"He wouldn't do what you did to me earlier," she said.
"What did I do?" He asked.
"You know," she said.
She pointed downwards and smirked.
"Oh," he smirked too. "I'll happily do it again after we've eaten. I like that type of dessert."
She blushed and giggled. He picked up his burger, took a bite, and winked at her.
"He tried avoiding it from the start. He only did it a few times. When I look back, I know it was a weird tactic of his to try and make me feel more wanted. Everytime he felt like I might break up with him, he would go all in with things like that, and then tell me how I was the only woman he had ever liked doing that too, and how he had never loved anyone but me, and blah blah blah. He said and did all the right things, and one day I realized I was caught in his web. I was in his house in another state with no friends or family. He had made me cut everyone out of my life. I was alone until one day I watched The Invisible Man and remembered Seth. Seth was my savior," she said.
He placed his burger back down and reached over to take her hand again.
"I like Seth," he said.
"Me too," she said.
"Smart move with drugging him. And they say Hollywood can't teach us anything," he said.
She laughed and he squeezed her hand.
"Ironically he was the one wanting to watch it," she said.
"And it became his downfall," he said. "I can't begin to imagine everything you've gone through, but I can promise you everything will be better now. Even if you don't want to see me anymore, you're free of him. It's okay to move forward and be happy. Don't let him live rent free inside your head. You got out, Tilda. Remember that. You got out."
It was her turn to squeeze his hand. He made it sound so simple, and it was that simple once she thought about it the right way. She got out. She was free.
"Would you like to stay the night?" She asked.
"Nothing would make me more happy," he answered. "Am I getting dessert?"
She blushed again and let out a loud laugh. He couldn't help but smile at how cute she looked and sounded.
"All the dessert you can eat, she said.