AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I push the door open and flick the light on. “Here you go. Laiken is in the room right by the stairs.”
“Thanks,” she tells me, as her hand drags across the bed. “You know, if you want, you could join me in here.”
For the love of God. Either this chick knows absolutely nothing about me, or she is the worst friend on the face of the planet. Honestly, I’d rather not know which one it is.
“I’m all right,” I tell her. “You have a good night.”
She looks disappointed, but I don’t give a fuck. Who the hell ends up at a guy’s house that she’s never met before, doesn’t say more than two words to him, and then tries to get him into bed? I mean, if there was a warning sign for potential STDs, this would be it.
I shut the door behind me and roll my eyes.
Great roommate you got there, Lai.
ALL I WANTED WASto come home and go to sleep. That’s it. I just wanted a quiet night where I could shut my eyes and ignore all the things that torment me constantly until the morning. But as I lie on the couch, knowing Laiken is asleep in the bed we shared, for the first time since she left, my brain won’t shut off long enough for me to drift away.
The whole night, I go back and forth between trying to sleep and giving up on it all together. What I really want to do is go upstairs and get in bed next to Laiken, but I can’t. I won’t let myself. That’s just downright cruel—not to mention giving her false hope, and I’ve been doing enough of that lately.
So, I don’t.
The darkness turns to light as the sun rises in the distance, and I know there’s no point in falling asleep now. I may as well go over to Cam’s so we can get an early start. But I don’t want Laiken to think I ran off because she was here.
I go into the kitchen, grabbing a pen and ripping a piece of paper off the notepad. I could take a page out of her book and write it on the back of a sacred memory, but I decide against it. Surprisingly, a small piece of paper works just fine.
Who knew?
Bringing the note upstairs, I quietly go into the room and leave it on her nightstand. She’s lying on her side, holding my pillow like she need something to cuddle with. I can’t look at her in this bed without thinking of all the nights we spent in it—loving each other in the best way we know how. When she would fall asleep just because she was too worn out from sex not to.
But this is the same bed she slipped out of while I slept beside her.
The same bed she left me in as she walked out the door.
With that memory fresh in my mind, I force myself to look away leave the room. It’s better this way, for the both of us.Safer.
I FULLY EXPECTED CAMto be at the gym. He usually is every morning by five. So, imagine my surprise when I got there and realized his Jeep wasn’t in the parking lot. Instead, I found it at his place. And when I used my key to get in, he was still sound asleep in his bed…
With Mali right beside him.
My eyes roll. Watching the two of them is like watching a carousel that just won’t stop. It’s not constant, but every now and then, they end up sleeping together. And the next day, neither of them act like anything happened at all.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve caught them like this, and it doesn’t get any less tiresome to watch. They make me dizzier than Laiken was last night.
Going into the kitchen, I open the cabinet under the sink and find just what I’m looking for. I walk back to Cam’s bedroom, careful not to make any noise at all. Then, I hold the airhorn up and press the button down.
The obnoxious noise pierces the air and they both startle awake, swearing. Cam, being used to my shit, throws a pillow at my head, while Mali groans and flips me off. She gets out of bed, wearing one of Cam’s T-shirts and a pair of his boxers, and rips the airhorn out of my hand. Thankfully, I know what to expect with her and I shield myself before she’s able to kick me in the balls.
“Again with this?” I ask her as she gets back into bed. “Seriously?”
“Go away!” Cam grumbles, throwing his arm over Mali and trying to pull her back down.
I click my tongue against the roof of my mouth. “Would love nothing more, but we have to go find that hacker, remember?”
He presses his face into the mattress, groaning miserably. It takes him a minute, but he finally rolls out of bed and goes into the bathroom to get ready. I stand in the doorway as I wait, just shaking my head at Mali so she knows that I’m judging her.
“Fuck off, Mr. Sex in Storage Rooms.”
I can’t help but laugh. “Well played.”
She grins proudly. “Hayes, zero. Mali seventy-two.”
