Page 73 of Necessary Roughness
“Well, Iknewwhat you were doing, and it kept me awake.”
I groaned and tossed the pan down into the sink, making a racket. “Morgan, we’re going to be living together until next May. So you need to understand that this isn’t just your apartment. It’s mine, too, just as much as yours. I’ve been polite about the guest spreadsheet, but I’m under no obligation to tell you who comes and goes, orwhen.It’s also not my responsibility to babysit what you think about at night. So unless you want the next two semesters to be a huge pain in the ass, I suggest you start treating me like yourroommate, and not like your tenant.”
Morgan lifted her chin, muttered, “You’re being childish,” and then hurried back into her room.
“Right,” I said under my breath. “I’m the childish one.”
But it didn’t matter. Not even Morgan could ruin my mood today.
30
Roman
I liked sleeping in my recliner. Some of the best sleep I’d ever gotten came from falling asleep with a Physics textbook in my lap, my eyelids dragged down by invisible weights. I never planned to sleep there—it just sort of happened sometimes.
But today, I chose the recliner for another reason.
That reason manifested around 4:15 in the morning. The moment I heard the familiar scratch of a key on the front door deadbolt, my eyes sprung open.
Logan quietly opened the door, slipped inside, and closed it behind him.
“Morning,” I said.
Logan practically jumped out of his shoes. “Holy shit! You scared the piss out of me.”
One of the benefits of being a big guy was that I didn’t need to talk a lot. My physical presence, combined with silence, often coaxed information out of people without any interrogation on my part. It worked on strangers, but it also worked on friends.
“I, uh, went for a walk,” Logan said, scratching the back of his neck. “Couldn’t sleep. Worried about the game.”
I stared at him.
“You know I was out all night, don’t you?” he said, shoulders slumping.
“The offensive coordinator came by last night,” I said. “Wanted to chat about one of the routes.”
Logan’s entire body went tight like a wire. “Ohfuck.”
“I told him you popped a melatonin and passed out,” I explained. “He left an updated playbook for you to read. It’s on the table.”
Logan sighed. “Thanks for covering for me, bro.”
“Anytime.” I paused. “Actually, you know what?Notanytime. I don’t want to cover for you again while you’re out all night with your fuck-toy. Don’t make this a regular occurrence.”
“It’s not like that,” he said, flipping through the playbook on the table. “I was stressed. I couldn’t sleep. Fifteen minutes with her was better than any melatonin. Slept like a fucking corpse.”
“Don’t care,” I replied. “We have a curfew for a reason.”
“I’ve never seen you care before,” Logan said, switching from guilt to anger. “We’ve snuck out plenty of times when we were younger.”
“This is different.”
“Is it? The only difference I can tell is that you sound jealous.”
That pierced me like a dagger between the ribs. “Jealous?”
“You’re jealous that we can have as much sex as we want, whenever we want it,” Logan spat at me. “I’ve known you since freshman year, Roman. You can’t cover it up with anger. You’re jealous.”
Hearing him say it made me realize it was true. At leastpartlytrue. But even though linebacker was a defensive position, I was best when I was attacking—whether on the football field or off. “Here’s the thing. I don’t think it’s just a physical relationship.”
