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“Thanks.”
She gives me a smile that breaks me, and a tiny sob cracks through my strong-girl facade.
Her lips part to say something, I’m not sure what, when a knock rattles the hollow door. We both freeze, staring wide-eyed at each other, but Marley moves first.
“Better not be Jim. Rent isn’t due for another five days,” she mutters under her breath. “Weasel’s gonna bleed us dry if he raises it again.”
She swings open the door and my breath catches at the sight of Cash filling the frame. Marley’s breath catches, too.
He peers over her head at me, a gruff, “Mornin’,” reverberating in the tiny space.
My eyes swing to the clock. Seven forty-two in the morning. “I thought you said eight.”
His dark eyes are no lighter in the morning than they are in the haze of a dark club. “You’ve been crying.”
“I haven’t.” It’s not a lie. I haven’tactuallyspilled a tear, just come close.Really close.
Cash drops his gaze to Marley, who still stands stunned in the door. “She been crying?”
“Uh,” Marley stutters, wrangles hold of herself, and explains, “Almost.” She pinches thumb and forefinger together. “But not quite.”
“Why?”
Why is his voice so deep?
“Cara, our other roommate, is kind of a cow. She drank all Wren’s cream and Wren doesn’t like coffee without cream, but she also needs coffee or she’s like—” her voice pitches low. “Not very nice.”
“Right.”
“I think she might be feeling emotional.”
“Stop talking about me like I’m not here.” The microwave beeps again, reminding me about the cup of coffee I’d placed inside. Ignoring them, I turn to retrieve it when Marley makes a gagging noise.
“Coffee’s gross enough.Youtake it another step beyond that by drinking day old shit.”
“I’m not wasting it,” I mumble.
Cash’s brows draw together. I ignore him as I tear open the powdered creamer and begin dumping it into the mug.
I’m just finished stirring my cup when he shoulders past Marley, stabs a thick finger through the handle of my mug, and pours the whole thing down the drain. He then drops the cup into the sink and roughly clips, “Ready?”
“That—” I pull air in through my nose, trying to center myself. Some days everything goes so wrong, a girl needs to just go back to bed. To reset and maybe wake up on the other side. This—this is one of those days.
“Oh, man.” Marley winces. “I told you she wasn’t very nice without coffee.”
I close my eyes and begin to count.One, two, three…
I don’t make it to four. I open my eyes and finish as calmly as I can. “That was my coffee.”
My voice rattled.
“That,” a big paw swings to the sink where my discarded coffee trickles down the drain, “Was shit.”
He’s too close. Again.
I step away, putting much needed space between us as Marley studies us with a frown pinching her face, hip popped, and arms folded.
She drops her arms to swing a finger with a nail that is literally chewed to the bed between us. “What’s going on here?”
