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“No, hear me out a second. Viridian is bold and rich. It doesn’t beg for attention, but you can’t ignore it. It’s wild but calm at the same time; alive, unapologetic, and impossible to forget. That’s you. You can hide behind Vera all you want, but that Verydian energy will always be there.”

Sooooo… this is the part where I say, “I do,” because who told him to say all that?

I cleared my throat and said, “You thought about this a lot.”

“Every time I say your name in my head.”

“Well,” I started, sliding my feet off his lap, slipping them back into my heels, “you’ve just earned yourself a non-game night sleepover. Let’s go to your place and pack you a spend-the-night bag.”

His mouth gaped in astonishment.

“I can stay the night? At your place?”

I nodded.

“It’ll be easier for me to get to campus in the morning, but don’t be doing too much because my roommate is there.”

“I never do too much,” he protested as if I had offended him.

He’s cute when he’s delusional.

***

“See…”

“Don’t start,” Hart said, sighing as he examined his handiwork.

“I told you—”

“You were the one on top,” he said accusingly.

I scoffed and tightened my robe belt around my waist.

“You’re not blaming me for this when you were power thrusting like it was going out of style. I was just along for the ride.”

“And you loved every second of it. Relax. I’ll buy you a new one.”

I stared at my broken bed and sucked my teeth when Monica frantically knocked on my bedroom door.

“Hey, Vera. Is everything okay in there?”

“Everything is fine,” I groaned.

“Are you sure?” she pressed. “What was that loud banging noise and screaming?”

“Go shower,” I told Hart, giving him a tiny shove toward my bathroom.

“Should I wait for you?”

“Wait for me for what?” I asked skeptically. He motioned towards the bed.

“So we can finish what we started?”

I didn’t bother answering him and slipped out of my bedroom, swiftly slamming the door behind me. I found Monica standing there with a butcher knife in her hand, primed and ready to kill over me.

“Please put that knife away before you hurt us.”

“My bad, girl. I heard you scream, and I thought I had to get active. What happened?”