AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I thought about making him spell it out, just to watch his neck turn red. He was awful at this verbal communication thing. Instead, I shrugged. “I hadn’t really thought about it. This theorem I’m working on is sucking up every brain cell I have. Why… you have an idea?”
Baron set his plate in the sink and swiped his palms against his legs to brush the crumbs away. “I think it goes back to his parents, obviously. His mother, in particular.”
I groaned. Baron was normally quiet, but when he latched on to a psychological theory, he was difficult to shut up.
“No, hear me out. You know his history, right?” I nodded. We were all familiar with Gale’s history. His father had died when he was little, and his mother hadn’t been able to keep it together afterwards, and eventually Galen had wound up in foster care. She’d become addicted to oxy and pain meds, and it turned into a hole she couldn’t climb out of. For years afterward, she had tried, cycling through the process of getting herself clean and recovering custody of her son, but it was never long-lived. Galen always wound back up in the system, unable to be legally adopted but desperately needing more of a parent than the one he had.
His mother died when he was fifteen, and it was shortly afterwards that he came to live with Baron and his family. I’d met him the following year. Baron was talking and with a start I focused on him. “You didn’t know him when his mom died, but I did. He was so angry all the time—angrier, even, than when she’d jerk him in and out of the system. I think at some point, he’d gotten a taste of what it could be like when things were good, and when she died, all of those unspoken dreams and wishes died, too.”
“I can see that. But what does that have to do with this chick?”
Baron walked into his bedroom and paused before closing the door. “I’m not sure. I just know I recognize the anger. It’s the same, except compounded by attraction.”
“Huh.” He shut the door and I laid back against the sofa cushions, eyes closed. One thing was for sure. If he did allow himself to fall for her, it would be intense with that much anger behind it.
Explosive.
Chapter 11: Jude
Afew days later, I came home to an empty dorm after getting groceries and using the fitness center for a run. I gave a mental fist pump at the solitude. It was nice to have privacy every now and then and not have to invent reasons to avoid my roommates.
I put the groceries away quickly, using an empty corner of the refrigerator and a cabinet over the microwave that no one else was using. The first time I’d gotten groceries, I had thought about labeling my things. In the end I decided it didn’t matter. I wasn’t going to be territorial over food, not with roommates whose good sides I was trying to stay on.
Regardless of whether or not they liked me, they were very comfortable eating my food and drinking my drinks, I’d noticed. Just the other day I’d discovered my orange juice reduced to a single final swallow. They could have it, as long as I could stay.
I was starving, but I was also sweaty and stinky, so I grabbed my towel and shower kit from my room and headed to the bathroom to get a shower before the guys returned.
The bathroom was utilitarian, with a small pedestal sink, toilet, and combination shower-tub. With the girls I’d shared an apartment with in Manhattan, we’d shopped for décor and matching sink sets, bath towels, and floor rugs, making our place pretty and appealing. This bathroom didn’t even have a shower curtain, just a clear plastic liner. As I always did, I rolled my eyes as I twitched it into place.
“Men.”I was going to buy a freaking shower curtain.
I undressed and left my dirty spandex in a pile on the floor, then stepped inside the shower with my hands full of shampoo, conditioner, body wash, my razor, and other necessities. With the water beating down on me, I hastily shoved a bottle of dandruff shampoo to the side and put my stuff on a little ledge. There were two different bottles of men’s body wash on a different ledge, and a bar of no-nonsense green soap on the soap dish. I kept my stuff with me so I wouldn’t annoy them with its clutter. I picked up a bottle of body wash I hadn’t seen yet and sniffed. I had a thing for scents.
Or maybe it was just the way my roommates smelled. Every now and then I’d catch a whiff, and except for when one was emerging from the bathroom, they were not typical smelly boys. They smelled like… like…yum. That was it. Yum.
“Mercy.” I could get drunk off this one; it smelled so good. Notes of lime, cedarwood, and a nutty shea created an intoxicating blend. Which one of the guys used it? Why did they have to smell so freaking good? Placing the bottle back where I’d found it, I picked up my own vanilla and fig wash and soaped up, hanging my sponge over the faucet handle when I was finished for lack of a better place. I laughed noiselessly as I climbed out and started drying off. Hopefully my female sundries weren’t offending my roommates’ precious male sensibilities.
“Damn.” Used to walking around my house in nothing, I’d forgotten to bring a separate towel for my hair, or my clothes to change into. But the dorm was empty. I squeezed my hair out as best I could, then wrapped the single towel around my body. Picking up my pile of dirties, I opened the door and walked out—right into a hard male body.
A large pair of hands gripped my upper arms, still damp from the shower, and squeezed. I was pinned between a bare chest and the doorjamb, my hands grasping frantically at the towel to keep it from falling tucked in between us. Wide male pectorals filled my vision and the scent of the same body wash I’d been sniffing filled my nose. I wanted to bury my face in his chest and just breathe. Time stuttered to a stop as I lifted my eyes to see Galen glaring back down at me, his face filled with something a little like confusion, a lot like lust. I swallowed.
“Um. Excuse me. Sorry. I’ll just be…”
I trailed off, because he wasn’t responding in any way other than to stare, jaw clenching, at my mouth, the slope of my shoulders, the rise of my breasts beneath the towel. His breath was coming faster and as I watched he gathered himself, closing his eyes and exhaling heavily, before stepping back a few inches. “Why thefuck,” he bit off, “are you walking around half-naked?”
Heat rose from my chest to my cheeks. “I just got out of the shower, you moron. I’ll try not to offend your delicate sense of propriety again.” I started to stomp to my room when I remembered something. “What’s your excuse? You walk around half-naked all day!” I waved a hand at his bare chest, and before I could turn again he had grabbed it and reeled me in closer to him.
“It’s my dorm,” he gritted out, ignoring my efforts to pull away and putting his face inches from my own. “I’ll walk around however I damn well please. You, on the other hand, need to watch yourself unless you plan on being heels up on that sofa over there every time you want to tease someone.”
“Oh. My. God. You are such a neanderthal!” I jerked my arm loose, ignoring the heat that flushed through me at his insinuation. Twitching the towel into place so it covered my ass, I stalked away and barricaded myself in my room, muttering to myself as I went.Unbelievable!I had known some arrogant jerks, but no one quite as self-absorbed and full of himself as Galen was. What was his damage?
As I dressed swiftly in a pair of sweats and a tee shirt, all I could think wasdamn. I wish it had been someone else’s body wash.
Minutes later I was dressed and standing hesitantly before my door. I needed to make dinner, mix up some batter for muffins in the morning, and get ready for work. Galen had gotten me so worked up, though, I dreaded going out there. I could hear the low hum of male voices, and knew Galen was no longer alone. I put my hand on the knob and turned. Maybe it would help to have a buffer.
All three guys were in the common area, Galen sitting on the couch, Ezra standing before him, tossing a hacky sack in the air, and Baron in the kitchen, leaning into a cabinet. I ignored Galen and Ezra and moved into the kitchen, where I started pulling out the ingredients I needed for quesadillas. Baron watched me from the corner of his eye.
“Would you like one?” I asked politely.
