Page 81 of Counting On You

Chapter Twenty

Kaiden

Three thingsI’ve learned about my new roommate the past few days:

She’s hot.

I have to fuck her.

She’s going to be the death of my cock. I know it with the certainty some people know that it’s going to rain, which brings me back to point number two: I have to fuck her and get her out of my system.

Ever since meeting her, I can’t seem to stop thinking about fucking her. But just thinking about it is no longer enough. At night, I’m lying awake, knowing full well that my honorable commitment of not fucking her when I had the chance will keep coming back to haunt me.

I know I could get her drunk again, wind her up by talking about Bruce, and then let that asshole boyfriend of hers do the rest of the work. But there’s one tiny problem.

I do like her.

I really like her.

Maybe a bit more than I should.

When I set up the 365-day, non-stop sex calendar, I had one rule:

Not to fuck someone I care about.

I never wanted to let a woman get close to me, and yet I’ve encouraged Vicky to tell me so much about her life that I feel like I know her.

I’ve told her secrets about myself. And now she knows me.

We’ve gotten close without even having sex.

Vicky Sullivan is a strange girl with even stranger manners and the strangest mind. She’s like a caterpillar, both fragile and beautiful to look at.

She’s sitting opposite me, her face turned to me as we’ve been listening to the stories around us. She’s next in line.

I’m holding my breath, waiting for her words to spill out; for the transformation to come through, knowing that it doesn’t take much for her to wrap herself in a cocoon and bounce hard with fragile wings against the hard shell that is her reality.

But she remains evasive. Almost indifferent.

Her arms are crossed over her chest, her face absent. Her whole posture screams ‘I don’t care what you think of me,’ except she hasn’t even uttered her boyfriend’s name.

“Vicky, how would you feel if—” Mary, our counselor, lowers her gaze quickly to search through her notes, “—Bruce were dating someone other than you?”

The entire group’s staring at Vicky, giving her their full attention. It’s Vicky’s third group meeting, and my ninth.

“I wouldn’t be happy, I guess.” There’s no expression on her face; she isn’t even blinking. She’s reached the stage that’s called defeat, maybe even acceptance.

“Despite him getting a restraining order against you?” Mary asks carefully.

“It wasn’t him,” Vicky says defensively. “It was his ex together with his mom. He would never do that to me.”

I set my jaw. Acceptance, my ass. She’s just being stubborn while getting nowhere.

“Never?” I ask, raising my brows. Everyone turns to look at me. The glances are reproachful. This isn’t my battle to fight. I’m only supposed to listen, not throw my two cents out there. It’s the first time I have spoken today, but damn, I’ll make it count.

“No, Kade. He would never,” she says, giving me the kind of look that screams ‘shut the hell up.’ “He loves me.”

“You sure?”

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