Page 10 of The Other Room

She sat unmoving, and I followed her demanding gaze as it slid to the partially empty food bowl in the corner.

“It’s not even empty yet. There are starving cats in the world who would kill for the leftovers you seem too good to finish.”

She just blinked her response.

“Fine. I’ll fill it, but this is the last time. From now on you finish it before I fill it again. We aren’t wasteful in this household, Petunia.”

Rubbing my head, I leaned over to my bedside table, picking up my phone to check the time. Nine in the morning. Not bad. As a bartender, sleeping until noon wasn’t unheard of, and since I was nocturnal by nature, it was a good career fit for me. However, with the number of things I needed to get done around the cabin today before heading back to work, I’d take those extra hours of awake time. Two new messages sat unopened on my phone, so I clicked the unknown number and gasped when I saw the string of words that addled my brain and flipped my heart over.

Morning, Roomster! I’m packing up my truck right now and heading over before you can change your mind. Last chance to say no. I know tequila greased the wheels into getting you to agree to this, so just text me if you don’t want me to move in. I’ll understand.

Roomster? Move in? What the what? Whose number was... I gasped, clasping a hand over my mouth. I may not know the number, but I knew who’d sent the message. Matt. I’d deleted Matt’s number last year when I’d vowed to never speak to him again, but there was only one person who would be texting me about moving in. Memories of last night assaulted my body like incoming enemy fire. The pleading eyes. The insistence from Tony and Aaron that I let him move in. The last round of bar dice when I’d gambled away the spot in my empty room and... lost.

Shit! I hadn’t won every round last night. There had been a fifth one... the round where I’d agreed to let Matt move in if I didn’t win. Then I remembered him tossing his arm around my shoulder and calling me “Roomster” after I’d rolled a losing round of nothing but aces.

Like the universe was conspiring against me.

No. No, no, no, no, NO!

What time had he sent this message? Maybe I still had time to respond and tell him no. Hell no, in fact. But I scrolled down and saw the message had been sent at eight in the morning, and there was another message he sent a half hour ago.

Okay! Since you haven’t messaged to tell me no, I’m officially on my way, Roomster! Thank you, Jo! You’re a lifesaver! You won’t regret it! Beer pong and bacon buddies reunited!

Scrambling to text him back before he pulled into my driveway, hoping to send him back to anywhere that wasn’t here, I started typing a message back. But then I heard tires grinding on the gravel just outside my cabin, and I groaned. I was too late.

Glancing down in horror at my underwear and tank top, I leapt out of bed and hopped into a pair of shorts, tripping over my feet while I tried to yank them on.

“Hey, Roomster! I’m here!” Matt called, and I heard his footsteps coming up the stairs to my porch.

“Just a second!” I realized my shorts were on backward, so I ripped them off and hurried to get them back on. In my rush, I put both legs in the same hole, and when I went to pull them up, they stopped just short of my thighs. As I stood with my legs mushed together, stretching the one leg hole of my shorts to near ripping, I looked up to see him arrive at the screen door that was kitty-corner from my bedroom. Our eyes met, and he took one look at my black boy short underwear and then looked up at my horror-stricken face and spun around.

“Sorry, I didn’t realize you weren’t dressed, and the door was open.”

“The door isn’t open,” I spat, pushing the shorts down and getting my legs into the appropriate holes.

“Well, it’s a screen door, and totally see-through, so it’s pretty much the same thing as open. I’m really sorry... I just—”

I could hear the laughter laced with the words, and his amusement caused my temper to flare. “Just forget you ever saw anything.” The elastic waistband snapped into place.

“Are you decent?”

“Yes. I’m decent.”

“I’m turning around now.” Covering his face, he slowly spun on his heel, peeking out between spread fingers. When he saw me wearing the shorts correctly this time, he pulled his hand from his face, a sexy smirk still tugging his lips upward. “Can I come in?”

With a heavy sigh, I nodded. As he stepped through the door, his gaze slipped to my breasts for a beat before wide eyes lifted to meet mine. My eyes bulged when I realized I may be wearing a tank top, but I wasn’t wearing a bra. Heat scalded my cheeks as I crossed my arms and covered the breasts this thin tank top did little to hide.

“I’ll pretend I didn’t just see that, too,” he said, forcing his eyes to stay with mine.

“Give me a second.” I spun on my heel and disappeared into my bedroom, slamming the door behind me. My plush white robe hung on the back of the door, so I tossed it on, tying the waist sash tight. With a deep breath, I opened the door and stepped back out.

“Are you actually decent this time?”

“Yes,” I said, still struggling to force the heat from my cheeks.

“Did you... did you forget I was coming? Forget about last night?” The mirth that usually resided in his eyes flickered out, and a heavy layer of disappointment tugged them down to the ground. Back in the day if someone had put that defeat in his eyes, I’d have given them a date with my fist, but this time I’d put it there. But this Matt wasn’t the same one I’d have laid down in front of a train to save. Last year, that version of Matt had died a slow death.

“Listen, I had a lot of tequila last night and I was exhausted after my shift. I just... this isn’t a good idea.” I crossed my arms over my breasts for good measure.