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Aaron rolled his eyes slightly, but then, he pinned me with a serious look. Intimidating-looking dude, he was. All tall and scowly. Not that he was intimidating me, though. The only person in the room I was slightly scared of was 5’4” and had a vein that might pop out of her forehead.
“Okay.” I sighed. “You need to calm down,” I told my cousin. “We spent the night together, here, in your apartment. But it’s not what you think, all right?”
Lina’s eyes narrowed. Aaron’s head tilted.
I could see my cousin’s skepticism all over her face. “There’s only one bed, Lucas. And should I repeat that you’re practically naked?”
I knew Lina; I knew she wouldn’t drop this until… the end of times. She was as stubborn as they came. So, I said it as clearly as I possibly could: “Rosie and I haven’t fucked.”
I heard my roommate’s sharp intake of breath at my words, butI ignored it. I had to. I was in a towel and trying to make a point, for Christ’s sake.
Lina let out a strange sound.
After a few seconds, Rosie took a small step forward. “Remember those missed calls? Soon after you left?”
Lina nodded, her murderous eyes softening when they switched to Rosie.
“Well, that night there was a… a little incident in my apartment.”
I huffed. “The ceiling in her living room caved in. Nothinglittleabout it.”
“Fine,” Rosie relented. “Little or not, I couldn’t stay there. In fact, my place is out of commission until the repairs are done. That’s why I’m here. That’s why I called you that night, to see if it was okay to spend a few nights in your apartment. But you guys were somewhere off the grid, so I just packed my stuff and used your spare key. That was the night Lucas arrived in New York.”
There was a long silence in which Aaron resumed his frowning and Lina’s vein eased off until becoming barely noticeable anymore,gracias a Dios.
My cousin finally said, “So you two”—she waved a hand in our direction—“have been living here? Together?”
I nodded and caught Rosie doing the same.
“Which means,” Lina continued, “that you haven’t hooked up and that we haven’t walked into you two engaging in post-sex shenanigans?”
Rosie croaked, her cheeks turning red,“Post-sex shenanigans?”
I just crossed my arms over my naked chest and answered a simple, “No.”
Lina seemed to process that, her expression falling when she said, “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Rosie spoke before me, “I feel awful and—”
“It was me,” I took over. “I convinced Rosie that we shouldn’t bother you. That there was no point in telling you anyway.”
Rosie’s head turned, looking at me for a beat before returningto her best friend. “I’m so sorry, Lina. We should have told you. We really, really should have. But we didn’t want to worry you over nothing. And I… well, with everything going on I forgot you were returning today so I couldn’t even give you a heads-up.”
Lina nodded slowly, assessing the information, looking more sad than pissed off.
I sensed Aaron’s gaze on me. His eyes were narrowed, but not in a disapproving way.
“Lucas has been so great to me,” Rosie murmured, taking a couple of steps forward. And when she spoke next, her voice seemed to pick up, turning steadier. “No. He’s been the best. In fact, I don’t know why you’ve been so hard on him. Because he’s a kind man. Considerate, too. And he’s done nothing but make me feel safe. So, no one’s nuts should be kicked here. Especially not his.”
Hearing Rosie say those things about me made me wish I wasn’t standing in a towel in front of my inquisitive cousin and her husband. Because I wanted to wrap my arms around her and bring her to my chest. Squeeze her right into my body for what I knew would be a wildly inappropriate amount of time.
Because she’d stood up for me.
Not even I’d thought of doing that. I’d been ready to take the beating.
I swallowed, pushing down how that made me feel.
Lina’s mouth parted, her body now lax in Aaron’s arms. And Aaron was… smiling? If the barely there bent of his lips could be considered one.
