Page 23 of Loud Hot Roomie
Technically, that’s a lie, and we both know it. His father, Owen, has a hand in everything Rhett or his siblings Addison and Cason, do. So, if his dad tells him to jump, he does it.
“How’re the sibs?”
He grunts and shrugs. “Addison is still dramatic. Cason is a brat.”
At least he has siblings. I always wanted a brother or a sister, but alas, I was an only child.
“Thanks for agreeing to hang with me,” I say as I speed out of his neighborhood. “I needed this.”
It’s true. I need some normalcy. Everything in my life is so out of sorts. Getting to hang with Rhett feels good for me.
“I’m shocked as shit your parents haven’t begged you to come back home,” he says as he fiddles with the air vent. “You’re a momma’s boy.”
Maybe when I was younger. But, as I got older and let my freak flag fly, my mom wasn’t exactly supportive. I’ve been on my own for years.
“Even if they wanted me back, I wouldn’t go,” I say with a one-shouldered shrug. “I like living on my own.”
“Not technically on your own,” Rhett retorts. “I still don’t know why you got a roommate. We both know you have money and could’ve gotten an apartment by yourself.”
“I’ve spent my whole life by myself. Wasn’t looking to keep on doing that.”
“You were supposed to wait until we graduated college,” he grumbles. “Then we could have gotten a place together.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I say even though I don’t believe that.
Rhett will find some hot rich girl to marry by then and I’d have stayed in hell for nothing. I’m meant to be out of my parents’ house.
I drive us to our favorite coffee shop. It’s near where we went to school, which is also by Rhett’s house. No one from the side of town I live at now ever comes here. Java Jinx is bougie as fuck. No extra pumps of anything without adding on an extra buck or two. But, they have cool seating and chill vibes. We’ve been coming here since we’re able to drive ourselves. It’s our place.
One of the usual workers, Natalie, sees us and waves. We never change what we order. She’ll have it on the screen and already started before we make it to the cash register which is nice. Once we have our iced coffees, we sit on a sofa near the window. A man in a business suit taps away on a laptop, completely focused on his work, and will no doubt be able to tune out our yapping.
After we shoot the shit for a few minutes, I let out a ragged sigh and pin my friend with an intense stare. “I’m having boy problems.”
Rhett’s been there for me since kindergarten. He was there when I started figuring out I was gay. In fact, it was because of him I got my first boner in front of other people. I’d slept over with a few of our friends in the seventh grade. Rhett, at the time, clueless to my strange feelings, had mooned us to be funny. I caught sight of his dick and just…yeah. It was awful and humiliating. Luckily, he was the only one who noticed. Later, he confronted me about it, and then helped me realize I liked guys. He never judged me or was weird about it. I was accepted from the start.
“Don’t tell me you’re fucking your roommate.”
I groan and rub my palm over my face. The guy on the computer nearby doesn’t even flinch.
“We’re not fucking,” I grumble. “That’s the problem.”
It’s annoying how he knows me so well. If there’s someone I shouldn’t be attracted to or date, I am attracted to them and do want to date them. It’s amazing I never wanted to sleep with my best friend, but thankfully, I never have.
“Is he straight?” He sips on his drink and cocks his head to the side to study me. “Oh no. This isn’t one of those situations where you think you can turn him bisexual is it?”
Unfortunately, I’ve tried and failed on many occasions.
“I think he’s at least bi-curious,” I say with a crooked grin. “But for real, the guy gets hard as fuck around me.”
The businessman cuts his icy blue eyes over to me, sweeps his gaze over my body and then back to my lips, and winks before going back to his work. Typically, that would send a thrill shooting through me and I’d hit on the guy. Not today. Right now, I want to sort out my feelings for Derek.
“So you want him and that’s obvious by the way you’re whining,” Rhett says unhelpfully. “He wants you because he physically reacts around you. What’s the issue?”
Rhett is always straightforward and never has time for mind games. He’ll be a great attorney one day.
“It’s me, I think,” I confess. “Or, maybe it’s him. Ugh, I don’t know.”
Frowning, I chug down my drink as I try to make sense of my thoughts.
