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Lee suddenly gasps.
No. Oh God, no. Not again.
“Hang on,” Lee orders, glancing between the two of us. “Are you two…”
Jamie crosses his arms. “That’s what it sounds like.”
For fuck’s sake.
“We had one rule!” Lee shouts. “To avoid exactly this kind of ugly shit.”
“Would you fuck off with your rules?” Jack snaps.
Lee spins on me. “You betrayed me.”
My jaw drops. “What?”
“We’re supposed to tell each other everything, and you’ve been sneaking around with not one buttwoblokes? Unacceptable!”
The doorbell rings again.
“For fuck’s sake!” Lee screeches. “Can these people not let us finish one bloody house meeting!”
Unlike him, I’m overcome with relief at the interruption. That is, as long as it’s not Yvonne coming back for a second go at me.
This time, I answer it myself, desperate to place some physical distance between myself and my angry roommates. When I open the door, I’m startled to find Sophie Brown on the front stoop.
“Sophie, hey— ”
“Abbey, thank God.” To my shock, she grabs both my hands and searches my face urgently. “Are you all right? Please tell me he didn’t harm you.”
It takes me a second to realize she means Ben.
“What? No. He didn’t.” I squeeze her trembling hands. “I promise.”
“Truly?”
“Truly. The worst he did was snort a ton of cocaine and mock me for not wanting to get trashed with his friends.”
Relief and disgust war in Sophie’s eyes. “You’ve no idea how relieved I am.”
“How did you know what happened?”
“Ben rang this morning.” She looks annoyed. “He has the dreadful habit of doing that. Behaving in the most atrocious manner and then ringing me afterward to warn me of the potential repercussions.”
I gesture for her to enter. “Why don’t you come in? It’s freezing out there.”
“Oh. Yes. All right then.”
She steps into the front hall, where she removes her long fitted winter coat. Beneath it, she looks chic in black slacks and a red sweater.
“I need to leave for class soon, but I’ve got about an hour. Would you like a cup of tea?” I offer as I hang up her coat.
“Yes, thank you.”
I deposit Sophie in the living room and duck into the kitchen to prepare her tea and pour myself another cup of coffee.
Jamie has gone upstairs, but Lee and Jack are still there, so I give them a contrite look and lower my voice. “Can we please just table everything for now? I don’t want any drama in front of Sophie.”
