Erica's POV

The day my boyfriend made the announcement that changed my life forever began much like any other. I had fallen asleep on the sofa the night before, working on an illustration for work and was woken by my German Shepherd, Baxter sniffing at my feet.

I sat up slowly and stretched out the cramps in my neck and back before rubbing Baxter's furry head. His tail wagged excitedly as I stood up and he raced past me toward the kitchen, probably hoping for a treat.

Yawning I stumbled to the kitchen and was surprised to see Ayden, my boyfriend of six months standing over the stove making breakfast. Baxter too appeared surprised since he stopped in the doorway and looked between me and Ayden. When Ayden glared at him, Baxter growled.

It wasn't unusual for Baxter to growl at him since they had never gotten along and Baxter had bitten Ayden more than once. Today however he seemed to sense a tension in the air and high tailed it out of the room. I stared after Baxter and sighed, I would have to slip him a treat before I left for work to make it up to him.

Turning my attention back to Ayden I looked around and my jaw dropped. Bacon, pancakes, and eggs? Ayden never cooked and he was making all of that?

What was going on?

I'll admit that the first thing that crossed my mind was that he was going to propose, but then I shook my head. No our relationship wasn't at that point yet.

It was Monday morning, not my birthday. I eyed him; no it wasn't his birthday either. So what was this?

As I walked toward him I realized that he was trying to butter me up for something. Ayden didn't turn when I hugged him from behind, and maybe it was just my imagination, but he seemed to stiffen under my arms.

"Hi Erica," he said softly and patted my arm before slipping out of my embrace and walking toward the refrigerator.

"Hey babe." I said stifling another yawn. "So what's the big news?" I asked pulling out one of the chairs and sitting at the table.

For a minute it was quiet and I thought that maybe Ayden had forgotten the message he had left on my mobile yesterday. I watched the muscles in his back shift under his skin as he rummaged through the fridge and when he still remained silent I frowned.

I knew instinctively that I wouldn't like what he said next.

"Oh um…" he trailed off and then I heard him mumble something under his breath before he picked up a plate.

"I'm sorry?" I said as he turned around. Ayden cringed and reached up to push his shaggy brown hair out of his face before looking at me with his soulful hazel eyes.

"Tony is moving in with us," he said and quickly handed me the plate of pancakes and bacon.

I don't remember if my fingers closed around the plate but the next thing I knew there were pieces of bacon and broken plate mere inches from my toes. Then Baxter, the little vacuum that he was, was there inhaling the bacon.

"I-I think I heard you wrong. Did you say Tony is moving in with us? As in Anthony Maldonado? That Tony?"

Ayden sighed and turned back to the stove, setting down the spatula before responding.

"You heard me, Erica."

"Why didn't you talk to me about this Ayden? You know that Tony hates me, this isn't going to turn out well." I whispered hating how badly my voice was cracking.

It was like Ayden had conveniently forgotten how much his best friend hated me.

Removed...