Page 151 of Built to Fall
“We all cast our vote and laid it on your dresser!”
I have no idea what they’re talking about, but I have a good feeling it’s something to do with what she’s wearing—all the girls coming together to decide. Still, that seems odd given how casual Lina’s outfits tend to be.
Now, I’m left alone in the living room with Lina’s three roommates.
Meredith is the first to speak. “We’re not going to threaten you.”
Kara looks at her strangely. “We’re not?”
“No!” Eden slaps her on the shoulder. “He already knows what we’ll do to him if he fucks up.”
I can’t help but narrow my eyes toward Meredith. “Why did Braxton never get this treatment?”Technically,the two of them aren’t even back together yet.
“That was different,” Meredith says, her voice laced with annoyance.
“And he brings us ice cream,” Eden adds.
I snort. “Of-fucking-course he does.”
Then Lina comes back out of her bedroom, dressed in a Yale crewneck and leggings. The crewneck looks like she’s cut the neckline herself, big enough to hang off one of her shoulders.
“We’re leaving,” she says, eyeing the three of them.
“We one hundred percentwillbe talking about this tomorrow,” Kara tells her, pointing a demanding finger her way. “Be prepared.”
Lina smiles, waving to the three of them as she walks back out toward the entryway. I follow her, and as I do, I hear Meredith mutter, “Glad to see the panties worked.”
I swear Lina almost stops dead in her tracks. I see the millisecond where her entire body pauses, but she fights it. Probably because she’s hoping I didn’t hear and doesn’t want to draw attention to it.
“I heard that,” I whisper in her ear once we’re at the front door. “And I would like the details.”
“There may have been a committee of roommates who came together to decide what underwear would be best when I went over to your apartment the other night,” she whispers back as she shoves her tote more firmly onto her shoulder. “It was a whole thing. There may or may not have been a vote.”
I blink at her—stunned for a second—then laugh. “A vote? Like, an actual vote?”
“There were ballots,” she deadpans sarcastically, eyes gleaming. “It’s quite a serious election. We’ve all done it for one another.”
It only solidifies the friendship Lina has with her roommates, a bond where nothing is too small to make an event out of. It’s weird and wild and makes total sense when you understand how their friendship works.
They love each other in the way houses hold rooms all painted in different colors—it’s purposefully mismatched, and somehow it makes sense. The chaos is what makes it a home, in the same way the girls’ differences make them a complete unit.
“So, was there a vote for what you’re wearing tonight?”
She nods. “That’s what the girls were talking about when they said they left it on my dresser.”
Yeah, I figured that.
I lean in, still grinning. “And what exactly won?”
She glances up at me through her lashes, feigning nonchalance. “Red lace. Moderate risk, high reward.”
I groan, dragging a hand through my hair to distract myself from the way my dick pulses as we step out into the snowy air. “Jesus. I really wish I didn’t know that. Now I’m going to be thinking about it all night.”
She bumps her shoulder into mine. “No one’s stopping you from doing more than thinking about it.”
“Oh really?” I raise a brow at her as she quickens her pace.
I follow after her, pulling her backward by the strap of her overnight bag, halting her before we get to the door.
