Total pages in book: 139
Estimated words: 130380 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 652(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130380 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 652(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
Giana and Riley both had shopping bags on their arms, and they tossed them onto the bay window cushion as Mary dabbed at the corner of her eye where a tear had formed from laughing. Then, she straightened at the sight of me.
Her smile fell, which felt like a sucker punch right to the gut. I wasn’t a source of her joy, I was a thief of it.
She glanced at the table, at our roommates, back at me, and then to the girls.
“What the hell?” Riley said, pointing her finger at the table. “What’s this?”
“Why does it smell weird in here?” Giana asked, nose scrunching.
“It smells clean,” Mary said.
“Exactly,” Giana agreed. “Weird.”
Kyle rounded out of the kitchen with a casserole dish of some sort in his mitten-covered hands, and he plopped it down on the only free space left on the table before hanging his hands on his hips like a proud Mom at Thanksgiving. “What does it look like? We cooked.”
The girls blinked in unison, and while Riley and Giana exchanged confused looks, Mary only looked at me.
“What’s going on?” she asked softly.
“Can’t we do something nice for our roomie?” Kyle asked, walking over to throw his arm around her.
Giana pulled at the fabric around his waist. “Are you wearing an apron?”
“Every good cook wears an apron.”
“Okay… doesn’t explain why you are wearing one,” Giana mused.
“I cook all the time, fuck you very much, and I’m damn good at it.” Kyle stood tall, defensive.
Riley folded her arms, her brow arching in suspicion. “Are you trying to kill us or something?”
“Jesus, Novo,” Braden said, shaking his head at her.
“What? Given our history, I think it’s fair to assume,” she said, gesturing between her and Kyle.
“This isn’t about you,” he spat back at her.
“Then what’s it about?” Mary asked.
That made us all grow quiet, and I ran my hand back through my hair before grabbing my neck. Someone had to rip the Band-Aid off.
Since she already hated me, I figured I was best suited for the job.
“Blake Russo got assigned to the house,” I said.
There was a beat of silence, and then Giana deflated, and Riley cursed.
Mary just stood frozen.
“Oh,” she said after a minute.
“We tried to push off the date,” Braden said. “But with camp around the corner and summer training picking up, Coach wants him to get settled.”
Mary nodded, and then snapped her mask into place and waved us off with a breath of a laugh. It was almost magic, how she hid her hurt so easily, like she had been doing it all her life and it was as second nature as breathing. “Hey, it’s all good. I appreciate you guys letting me stay as long as you did. I’ll figure something out.”
“Well, actually,” I said, stepping forward. “We were thinking you should stay.”
Mary frowned. “Stay? But you just said—”
“In my room.”
Once again there was a long beat of silence, and then Riley barked out a laugh. “Yeah, okay. Nice try, Leo.”
Giana leaned into her side like she wanted to whisper, but we still all heard her when she said, “Oh, my God. This is one of my favorite tropes. Two people who hate each other, one bed…”
“I’m not staying in your room,” Mary said loud enough to snuff out Riley’s laugh.
“Why not?”
She scoffed like I was an idiot.
“You can have the bed, I’ll take the couch.”
“You can’t sleep on the couch,” she said.
“I’ve done it plenty of times.”
“Yeah, he’ll be fine,” Kyle said, clapping me on the shoulder. “He’s got a young back. Come on, Mary. You can’t leave. We love having you here too much.”
“At least not until your place is fixed,” Braden interjected. “Besides, what about Palico? She needs you.”
Mary looked between them and shook her head on an incredulous laugh. “Guys, I can’t kick Leo out of his room.”
Braden waved her off. “He’ll be fine.”
“What about my stuff?” she asked.
“I have plenty of room,” I cut in. “And I promise, I’ll only go in there when I have permission from you. I’ll grab what I need for my day the night before and keep it down here so I don’t wake you. I can share a bathroom with Kyle.”
“He can put some of his stuff in my room if he needs to,” Braden added. “We’ll make room.”
Mary’s brows furrowed where she watched me, like she couldn’t understand for the life of her why we would even suggest this.
“We don’t want you to leave,” Kyle said sincerely. “We’re like your big brothers now. We want to look out for you and make sure you’re okay until your place is ready.”
I had to bite back a snort at that because the last thing I thought of Mary as was a sister.
“Pleeeeeease,” Braden said, and he dropped to his knees, clasping his hands together. Giana and Riley laughed. Kyle, too. Even I cracked a smile at the sight.