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But when I turned back to them, I realized all three guys were looking at me.
“What...me?” I cried. “You think I should talk to her? I’m not the one who barged in here and upset her to begin with.”
“Welp, that’s what you get for having a girl for a roommate,” Beau said, slugging me on the back. “You get stuck talking about feelings and shit. Now march your ass back there and make everything chill. We’ll decide if you’re good with us from however much luck you have cheering her up.”
“Yeah, we’ll just be in the kitchen, seeing if you have any more food in there,” Fox added. “Because now I’m craving Cocoa Pebbles.”
Cress started after Fox. “Ooh. I hope there’s coffee.”
The last one left—Beau—pointed at me threateningly. “Clock’s ticking, pal.” Then he followed the others to raid my kitchen.
But what the hell? I was not the talk-your-feelings-out kind of person. Why had this fallen on me?
I glanced around the empty living room, wondering what the hell had just happened right before I looked down at the bowl of cereal in my hands. My Cocoa Pebbles had gone soggy.
“Motherfucker.”
17
Haven
The gentle knock that fell on my door told me it could be no one else but Wick. Beau would’ve pounded, Cress would’ve walked in without even knocking, and no way would Fox come near me after seeing me tear up. Nothing scared him off like crying girls.
I sighed because it seemed too rude to tell Wick to fuck off since he hadn’t done anything wrong, even though I just wanted to be left alone.
Well played, cousins. Well played.
Wiping at my eyes, I mumbled, “It’s open.”
The door slowly floated inward, but he didn’t come inside. Leaning against the doorjamb, he crossed his arms over his chest and watched me from worried eyes. “They’re still here, stealing food from our kitchen. You want me to kick them out?”
I smiled through my tears and shook my head. The way he said our kitchen brightened something inside me. I hadn’t even lived here a full three days yet, but he was already willing to share the place with me, despite his initial resistance to the idea.
“No,” I told him. “They’re family. I can’t kick family out.” Then it occurred to me that maybe Wick actually wanted them gone, and since this place still felt more like his than mine, my eyes widened with worry. We hadn’t exactly had the talk about visitors yet. “I mean, do you have a problem with that?”
He shrugged. “I don’t have a problem with them if you don’t. My sisters will no doubt be the same way, if you don’t mind. They treat this as their second home, invading whenever they like.”
I smiled again, affectionately this time. “That’s cool.” The idea of siblings treating my home like their own was nice.
He nodded but said nothing else.
He did that a lot. Just went quiet. But he seemed comfortable with it. I’d seen a lot of people ramble on and discuss some really meaningless topics just to fill a silence—I actually was one of those people—yet Wick seemed to thrive in them.
Right now, though, I swear he was just waiting me out. Which worked.
“He was right, you know.” I fluttered out a hand before wiping at more tears. “What Beau said. It wasn’t wrong. I think I’ve lost my ability to judge anyone. I mean, how much of a sucker do you have to be to date someone for three years and not know the entire time that they’re unfaithful? I thought I was being a cool girlfriend and giving him all the space he wanted, but he just took advantage of that.”
I ground my teeth and shook my head, more disappointed in myself than anyone.
Wick shifted as if to get more comfortable against the door. Then he glanced up at the ceiling. “Want to hear something crazy?”
“Is it bad about me?” I asked, biting my lip. “Because if it’s bad about me, I’m not sure I do.” I was a little too susceptible at the moment to learn more problems about myself. This was one of those moments I needed to hear some good, encouraging tidbits to boost me.
Lips twitching into a grin, Wick shook his head. “No,” he promised. “It’s bad about me.” Regret flamed in his eyes as I met his gaze and frowned out my confusion. “The thing is,” he started, “I liked Nicholl when I first met him, too. I thought we were friends. And when he showed me his true colors, I was completely blindsided. Just like you.”
Setting my hand against the base of my throat, I whispered, “Really?” Huh, I couldn’t picture Wick and Topher as friends. They’d been enemies for as long as I’d known them.
When he nodded, I had to know, “What did he do to you?”
