Perfectly Toxic (Sterling Shore 9)

My eyes shoot to Bella’s as I pale, and her eyes widen as she clamps her hand over her mouth, smothering the laughter as her cheeks blaze red.

“I really didn’t mean to call you,” I say awkwardly.

“I…uh… figured that out. I tried to hang up. I promise. But… It just called me back. I uh… Good luck with all that, son.”

She hangs up, and I count the top ten list of humiliating experiences in my life. This one now takes a place at the top.

“Your mother heard us fucking?” Bella whispers, choking back another laugh.

“I have no idea what she heard exactly, and I’m really not going to fucking ask her. Ever. Like, this shit never happened. You understand?”

She bursts out laughing, but then she smothers it again when I glare at her. She mocks a salute, and I roll my eyes, cursing my phone as I resume my original task of finding a plumber.

I call the plumber while walking back inside. The asshole is going to take at least a week to get out here, possibly longer. Bella is frowning when I get off the phone and call another one. Five plumbers later, I settle for the first one, since the rest won’t be able to tackle a job like that for at least a few weeks.

“Looks like you’re staying with me,” I tell her.

I don’t like the look she gives me. “I’ll stay with Allie and Wren.”

“What the hell is wrong with my place?”

Her lips thin. “Have you bought a new bed yet?”

Ah. “Yes. I got it yesterday.”

“I’ll still stay with Allie and Wren. I think we might kill each other if we’re together for that long.”

My eyebrows go up. “You mean fuck each other to death? Because I think we get along just fine.”

She gives me a withering look. “Ethan, we really don’t. We fight and we fuck a little too often. We’re great in short intervals, but too much time with anyone can grate on someone’s nerves.”

Now I’m pissed. No way do I want her over at Wren’s when she could be at my place. Then she couldn’t ignore me—or make me grovel—when she has to sleep under the same roof after I do something stupid.

And I’m sure I will do more stupid shit. It seems to be my specialty around her.

“You’re staying with me, and it’s really not up for debate,” I tell her as I stand and head toward her room. If she doesn’t pack a bag, I’ll fucking pack it for her.

“No offense,” she says, following me, “but I doubt I’ll survive all your partying.”

“It’s not like I party nightly,” I growl.

“Ethan,” she groans, following me into her small closet as I start looking through her clothes. Fuck it. I’ll just grab shit.

“Ethan,” Bella says again, as though saying my name over and over will jar reason into me.

Personally, I think I’m the only reasonable one in the room at the moment.

“We haven’t even defined our relationship or whatever this is yet.”

Is she serious?

“I’ve only been with you since we started this thing, and you’ve only been with me,” I point out, grabbing half her hanging clothes and pulling them out of the closet, forcing her to stumble out of my way or get walked on.

“But that doesn’t mean we’ve defined anything,” she continues, following behind me and trying to snatch clothes away. My iron grip prevents her from actually getting anything.

When I toss them

onto the bed, Bella goes to grab them again, but I snatch her around the waist, easily lifting her and carrying her back to the closet so I can grab more shit.