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Knowing he wants me there for a very difficult but healing conversation? My heart literally beats for this man. “Of course,” I say again, and then we go up to his apartment where we do nothing but eat popcorn and snuggle on the couch. It’s as if we know when we need a night to decompress, and with the important phone call on the horizon, a restful night is just what we need.
I’m exactly where I want to be.
twenty-six
cohen
There are no accidents
“Are you sure?” I ask again, because the way the stack of boxes sway in Otis’s arms has me nervous about the contents. “Because I don’t mind—”
“I got it, I got it,” he banters, taking the first two stairs cautiously. He gains confidence and starts to charge up and I watch in what feels like slow motion as the top box teeters, a flap lifting in the commotion. Otis barrels forward, and the box slips backward, tumbling onto his head before clunking down each concrete step, the contents being spewed everywhere.
I reach down and start collecting things as Otis drops the boxes that made it to the ground in the breezeway. “Fuck,” he groans. “Why didn’t you take the top box?”
He grins as I snatch baseball cards and elementary school trophies from the lawn. “You have a lot of, uh, momentos,” I say as I climb the stairs with an armful of his crap.
We’ve been moving him for the last two hours and for a single guy, the man has a lot of… trinkets. I’ve seen boxes of Playstation games, boxes full of new sneakers, one plastic container that looked to have toys in them and when I questioned, I was promptly corrected that they are collectibles.
Yet he has no bed, and no furniture.
“You sure you guys don’t mind me using Scarlett’s stuff?” Otis asks, fishing a hand through his sweaty hair. “I mean, her shit looks new and nice.” He winces. “I ruin things. I spill a lot and I’m not very careful.”
I clap a hand on his shoulder. “I appreciate the honesty but, she’s sure. She’s… living with me now. She doesn’t want that stuff anymore.”
“He’s right, I don’t care at all,” Scarlett says from the open apartment door. I turn and take her in, wearing cropped jeans and a flowy black shirt exposing one silken shoulder. Her blonde hair is twisted on top of her head, and her feet are bare. She looks so much healthier and happier than when I first met her.
“Want me to Venmo you for ‘em?” Otis asks as he moves the stacked boxes from the breezeway to his apartment floor.
She wrinkles her nose, pushing a stray piece of hair back into her bun. When she does, her belly is exposed, and my mind shifts from moving boxes with Otis to having sex with Scarlett.
My mind has been on sex a lot, obviously, but not just because I was a monk for four years prior to her. Mostly because we decided we’d… not use protection. It’s not actively trying to have a child, but it’s not actively stopping it either.
I’m a firm believer there are no accidents, and I think we both know what we hope happens sooner than later.
But I need to talk to Valerie first. Because no matter how hard I try, I need that last piece of closure. The piece that levels me up and allows me to really give myself to the future.
“Don’t, Otis, honestly. I don’t care,” she waves her hand down, then wiggles her brows between the two of us. “And anyway, my first royalty check and my signing check for Loved by Lucy comes in this week, the day of the party.” She looks down at us over her nose, playfully. “I’m about to be one-hundred and twenty five grand richer.”
“More than that, that’s just your signing, isn’t it?” I ask, because she showed me the contracts and everything else. When she started moving her things in, that included transferring mail. She showed me her contract, and all the numbers that came with it.
I’m proud of her for leaving Jizz, and thriving at Crave despite the fact she had every reason to shut down. She fought through her trauma, she’s still in therapy, and amidst it all, she inked a deal with Debauchery. This week, the final toy is launched and Crave is having a party in her honor.
Tucker Deep offered to host, but I told him that we would.
The first time having people over together, the first time for people to really see us as a serious couple. We don’t hide it at work, but we don’t go hard on it either. And I think that’s to respect Crave but also so I can walk. Because a kiss from Scarlett makes me think of all of the places on her body that I’d like to kiss.
“Yeah, but, you know where the rest is going.” She wiggles her eyebrows with excitement, but Otis misinterprets it.
“Implants, huh?”
I turn to face him, disapproving dad written on my face. “She’s got a year left on her bachelor’s degree,” I deadpan, to which Otis responds by showing me his palms.
“Otis, we’re about to have a quick shower then dinner. You wanna come eat with us?” she peers into his open door across the hall. “Looks like you don’t have much.”
Otis waves her off. “Naa,” he says, “I ordered pizzas. Tuck and some of the guys are coming over. We’re gonna play some Diablo on the Playstation.” He catches my gaze and extends an invitational arm. “Wanna come chill dude?”
I shake my head. “Thanks, but I need a shower and we’re making sushi.”
