AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"To bad the night is still going to end with you passing out," she said nudging his arm with her elbow.
And she'd do it all with the most lighthearted bedside manner she could muster.
???
She didn't have to stay. He was an adult and could have taken care of himself, even if he was terrible at it. Which meant she'd stayed because she wanted to.
What does that mean?
Had she changed her mind about not having time for him? Or had she decided to take pity on him? The latter made more sense. It seemed highly unlikely her schedule had cleared since they last saw each other. Which meant she had even less time for this than she did for a cup of coffee.
She shouldn't be here.
But even though he'd told her to leave, he'd wanted nothing more than for her to stay.
"Here we—you are," she said leading him to his bed.
He hadn’t missed her Freudian slip. If she thought she’d be better off in another room…
"You may want to reconsider that," he said trying not to cry at the fire in his throat.
"There are plenty of empty rooms. One just right next door. I'll be able to hear you if you need me."
"Have you been in any of their rooms?" Isaac asked.
"No."
"I'll wait."
She cocked her head, one side of her face scrunched. If she thought the other guys kept their space as clean as he did, she was in for a rude awakening. He gave her about five seconds after she stepped into Jake's room before she realized how much more comfortable she'd be in his.
"Is that chair taken?" she said, wide-eyed and walking through his door like she had a two-by-four bolted to her back.
Isaac turned up one corner of his mouth biting his tongue to keep himself from blurting out anI told you so.
"Oh, don't look so smug," she said. "You just set the bar too high. Their rooms probably only seem so much worse by comparison."
He challenged her with a tilt of his head and a single raised brow.
"Fine. You're right," she said. "And please tell me the smell isn't something I should be concerned about."
"Jake just needs to do his laundry more often."
She gagged walking over to the big comfy chair then dropped her backpack on the seat. "It looked smaller from across the room. Is it a big chair or small love seat?"
"Big chair. Great for reading. And working on projects," he said before turning toward his bed and pulling down the covers to climb in. The cough syrup and pain killers were kicking in. The waking world grew more distant by the second.
"Um," Katie's voice sounded behind him. "Where's the bathroom? I'd find it myself but I'm afraid of what I might find behind the wrong door."
"The women's is left, down the hall, the last door on your right." Not that it mattered since they were the only ones there but the house had an unwritten rule that the women's bathroom was off-limits except for guests. Not that they didn't keep the community bathroom clean but the women's was kept pristine to encourage repeat visits from their female guests and to a lesser extent to keep their mothers happy.
She nodded and stepped into the hallway. Before she disappeared, Isaac called her back. "Katie?"
Her hand appeared on the door jamb before she stepped back into view again. He awed at the bounce in her step. At how none of this seemed to be getting her down when he knew it was getting in the way of the work she'd once dumped him for. Damn, it hurt to see her and know there would never be anything more between them. “Thank you," he said but still wanted to tell her to go.
And he would have if he thought she'd listen but, even as little as he knew of her, he knew for a fact, when she'd made up her mind to do something, that's exactly what she would do. And she'd already made it clear her mind was made up about staying to take care of him.
A sweet smile curled her pink, pouty lips. "You're welcome. Now go to bed."
