Bad Girl (Alphahole Roommates 3)

Carly stares at me for a solid ten seconds, combing through her mind for facts before frowning.

Just like I figured.

“What’s the name of the ex she’s supposedly hung up on? Do you know?” I ask.

“No,” she whispers.

“She tell you anything about him or that situation?” I ask. “Any idea where she went to school? Does she talk about old friends? Stay in touch with anyone from before she moved here?”

Carly’s frown lines deepen.

“That’s what I thought. She’s run here away from someone or something. She deflects when the conversation turns to anything personal. Ally keeps everyone at arms’ length because she’s terrified of letting anyone in. I’m pretty sure I want in. When we met, there was something. Some crackling chemistry I’ve never felt before and it was something I wanted to explore, but out of nowhere she went from hot to cold with me and has been waffling. Playing games. Though I get the impression it’s not the kind of games she usually plays. Instead, she’s fighting the urge to let herself see where things might go with me despite wanting it. So, I’m getting in her space to find out more and to see if she’ll let her walls down enough for me to decide if this can go where I think it can go.”

Carly is listening thoughtfully, so I continue, leaning forward and lowering my voice. “When we spent that night together, I saw something more. Something worrisome. I think she’s protecting herself in a way that sets my sirens off. I think my vocation scares her too. If she has secrets, and I think she does, she’s worried I have the skills to figure them out. I need to know what it is she’s afraid of because I think it might be big, deep, dangerous, or real painful. If I know what it is, I might be able to help her deal with it.”

There’s a noticeable change in the atmosphere as Carly demands, “Spent what night together?”

I raise my hands defensively, thinking fuck. “I figured she would’ve told you.”

“Told me that you guys spent the night together? Of course she would’ve told me.”

“So she told you?”

She stares in disbelief. Obviously, Ally told her nothing.

“No,” Carly whispers.

“That’s what I’m sayin’,” I point out. “Could use your help, though. You’re already bein’ cool about taking Aiden’s back about me staying in the apartment with her, and it was cool you making this plan to get together tonight too despite knowing she’d pitch attitude about it. I may need more help as this goes on. She’s trying her worst to push me away, and I suspect it’s not what she really wants.”

“What if it is?” she asks.

“It isn’t,” I declare. “Pay attention and you’ll see it.”

“Peaches, listen to the man,” Aiden advises from the barbeque. “He’s got the strongest intuition of anybody I ever met.”

Chewing the inside of her cheek, Carly studies my face for a minute.

And Aiden’s right. I do know what I’m talking about here. I can read people. Though it doesn’t take a genius or a psychic to read Ally Kingston.

A girl doesn’t take off in the middle of your first date like she’s scared shitless when you make it obvious you’re interested in more than a quick fuck unless she’s afraid of something real. That girl doesn’t look at you every time she sees you like she’s torn between running from you and throwing herself at you if she doesn’t want you. And she certainly doesn’t send mixed messages by ignoring you and then getting drunk and offering you a booty call if she’s not hung up on the idea of you at least a little.

Then, when that girl is the sweetest lay you’ve ever experienced and then clings to you like that at night when she tells you she wants you to go … she wants you, otherwise she wouldn’t plead in her sleep for you to not leave after telling you she wants you to leave as soon as you’re done fucking her.

An uninterested or indifferent woman doesn’t look you in the eyes while you’ve got your mouth between her legs like she wants to give you a bunch of babies and whatever else your heart desires.

When a girl does the shit Ally is doing and sending mixed messages, hiding from you, making shit up, but looking at you with longing like that – you either back off and give up or you dig in to break down her defenses so you can get to the heart of the matter. Something about her – I think it’ll be worth it to dig in.

Aiden is getting anxious at this stage to get the kabobs on, but Carly tells him she wants to wait until Ally comes up.

She then goes to the kitchen, leaving just the screen closed. There’s noise in there. Angry woman noises. Drawers slamming, cutlery clanking.