The Roommate Agreement

A part of me wanted to see if he’d actually haul me over his shoulder. Or if he’d have the talk here.

But I wasn’t that petty.

All right, I was a little bit petty, but I had no desire to be hauled over his shoulder like I was being saved from a burning building, nor did I want to talk about what had happened in front of our friends.

I glared at him for a moment longer before I turned and packed up my laptop. I heard Brie’s “Awwww,” of despair, the nosy little shit, but I ignored it as I moved deliberately slowly.

Jay clicked his tongue.

I took my sweet-ass time wrapping my cord around my headphones.

He sighed. If he thought that was going to make me move any faster, then maybe he didn’t know me as well as I thought he did.

In fact, he was probably being as petty as I was.

After another minute, I put my phone into my purse and stood up. I shot him the widest, sweetest grin in my arsenal, and he clenched his jaw, but his lips twitched in response.

He wasn’t very good at staying mad at me.

I was far better at being the one to hold a grudge.

I stalked toward the door, and when he hadn’t moved, I turned, my hair flicking over my shoulder. “Well? Are you coming?”

“He hopes so,” Brie piped up.

Sean replaced the hand over her mouth. “Sorry.”

Jay took a deep breath and, with a shake of his head, followed me to the door. He stayed behind me the whole way down the stairs, and the only reason I had to wait was because I assumed he had his truck and I didn’t have a car.

And me starting to walk would just start another war of words.

“Get in,” he grunted, pushing the button to unlock it.

“A gentleman would open the door for me.”

“My inner gentleman is busy. He’s thinking about tossing you on the backseat and doing unspeakable things to you.”

“My inner lady is responding by flipping you off.” I yanked open the door and climbed up. I went to close the door, but Jay was standing there, and he smirked right before he slammed it shut.

He was such a jerk when he was all riled up.

Mind you, I wasn’t exactly a nice person.

The drive was made in complete silence. We didn’t even look at each other. It was weird. We always laughed and joked whenever we rode together, but this kind of felt like I was riding to my doom.

Dramatic, I know, but you don’t write books without the taste for a little drama.

He pulled into the parking lot next to my car. I jumped out before he’d even killed the engine, and I made my way to the elevator and up to the apartment before him.

I put my laptop bag and purse on the armchair and readied myself for him to come up. Feet apart, hands on hips—I adopted the universal battle stance for a woman ready to unleash some sass on a man.

Jay didn’t bat an eyelid when he saw me. Instead, he ignored me completely and walked right past me.

All right, so it wasn’t as scary as I thought it was.

Or maybe I just wasn’t that scary.

Probably the latter. I knew I always shit my pants a little whenever I walked in and saw my mom with her hands on her hips.

Jay said nothing, now bustling toward the coffee machine. He pulled a mug down and set the machine alive, still ignoring me.

Was this how annoying I was in Brie’s apartment?

Wait, no. He wasn’t allowed to do this. He was the one who’d stormed in there, interrupted me mid-sex-scene, and demanded we come home to talk.

Well, we were home, and he was making a fucking coffee.

“Well?” I said. “Aren’t you going to tell me how you’re going to fuck me seven ways to Sunday?”

Jay didn’t respond.

“Are you still thinking them up? I have to admit; I thought you’d have them written down. Like a prepared speech or something.”

Still nothing.

“’Cause now I’m a little curious. I mean, you already mentioned the backseat. One out of ten for originality on that, by the way. Pretty sure everyone did that in high school in some awkward dimly-lit parking lot. Not that I’d know since I stayed a virgin in school, but Brie did enough for the both of us.”

His shoulder twitched.

Ah. I was going to have to wind him up until he just came out with it.

“I have to admit, you really got me thinking about all the places you could have sex and all the ways you can do it. I’m just throwing this out there: butt stuff is off the menu. That is a one-way system, thank you very much.”

He cricked his neck to the side. Damn it. I thought the mention of butt stuff would do it.