Page 5 of Roommate Wars
He shrugged. “Nothing. Your sister would want me to help if I could. She already said you refused to move in with her.”
And living with Jack would be downstairs from her, where she could burrow all up in my business. “This is a terrible idea.”
“Do you have a better one?” His look was pure challenge.
I didn’t, and he knew it.
“It’s only a month,” he said again. “It’ll fly by before you know it.” Something must have caught his eye because he flinched.
I glanced at where he was looking. “Oh, that’s just Jack, my roach.”
His jaw shifted. “You named a cockroach after me?”
“You have a problem with that?”
Two more roaches scurried across the permanently sticky hardwood. “Fuck!” he said, moving farther away. “Maybe the rest of the people in this building should move out too.”
I glanced at my nails, unbothered. “I checked. My apartment is the worst. The others don’t have—” I waved in the direction of the black-mold wall. “There’s a leak somewhere in this unit, so it’s just special.”
He ran stiff fingers through his hair. “Are you coming or not?”
It was clearly making him nervous standing in my apartment. I must have a high tolerance for filth and critters after living with Mom for so long. Still, I hesitated. This wouldn’t be living with my sister or mom, but I’d still be mooching off another human being.
He sighed. “If this is about that night, can’t you just forget about it?”
My eyes widened. “Can you?”
He looked off, not meeting my gaze. “Course I can. I’m a man.”
I wasn’t sure I believed him, but if that were true, it bothered me. Even if forgetting was what I wanted, that night was burned into my brain, and I didn’t like that he could so casually forget.
“It’s already forgotten,” I said, and prayed the lie didn’t show on my face.
“Good.” He looked down my body. “Because you’re not my type. Don’t worry about anything happening.”
Again,ouch. Yet, somehow, his words reassured me. He didn’t want to go there, and I didn’t either. I wasn’t in the right mindset for a relationship, and something told me being in one with Jack would be a maelstrom. This was a business transaction, nothing more.
No matter what I’d told myself over the last week to stay put and not go running back to Mom’s, Iwasdesperate to find something safer. If Jack’s place was a temporary stopover, would that be so bad?
He looked around. “Leave your stuff. It’s probably got mold spores. We’ll figure out what to do with it later. For now, we’ll get you new clothes, or you can borrow from your sister.”
“I’m not taking a single thing from my sister.” Sophia had worked her ass off, and this year was her time to focus on herself.
His mouth flattened. “Then you can wear one of my T-shirts. Happy?”
Not at all. His shirts smelled like him, and if memory served, he smelled amazing.
Everything about Jack was what had me scurrying down the fire escape the morning after we’d slept together. I’d felt protected and cherished in his arms—something I’d never experienced before. And that had been terrifying.
Jack scratched the back of his neck like he had the creepy-crawlies. “So what’s it going to be? Are you coming?”
“I don’t cook. You’ll have to deal with whatever I make. And it’s three nights a week, not five.” I hated cooking.
He nodded. “That works.”
This was a stupid idea I’d probably regret. “Fine. I’m coming.”
ChapterThree
