Page 24 of Catching Feeling

Shaking my head, I wince when I put too much pressure on my nose. “No fucking thank you.”

“Aw, Reese, are you scared?” Her lip pokes out in a mock pout, and my gaze narrows. “That’s cute.”

“Puppies are cute, Viv. I’m hot. But scared? Nah. Creeped the fuck out? Absolutely. Listen, I do not fuck with the universe like that. Law of Attraction and all that. And I do not want some tiny redheaded little leprechaun fucking following me.”

Her laugh, throaty and low, cuts through the air, and even though it hurts like a bitch, my lip tugs into a grin.

“So you’re a big baby, got it,” she teases. “But for what it’s worth, I really am sorry. I’m not a violent person or anything.”

“Says the girl who might poison me,” I joke. My shoulder dips, and I pull the rag away from my nose, then glance down at it. “Thanks for breakfast, by the way. It’s fine. I’m an athlete— I’ve had much worse. I once took a cleat to the cheek when someone was sliding into home plate, and I needed ten stitches. Now, that was a lot of blood.”

That’s only one injury on a list a mile long, but it never deterred me. Baseball is in my soul.

Viv’s nose scrunches as a shiver runs down her body, and she rubs her hands along her bare arms. “Ouch. I can handle a lot of things, but blood is not one of them. In movies, it’s fine, but the real thing makes me queasy and light-headed.”

“Yeah, well, that’s me with ghosts, demons, and apparently… leprechauns,” I admit. “Hard no for me.”

Seems fitting that I’d move a girl in my house who’s obsessed with that shit. Rosie’s going to love that.

“I’ll keep that in mind. Uh, sorry again for almost breaking your nose. I’ll try to keep my research to a minimum when I’m home alone,” she says with a lazy grin.

Pushing off the wall, I shake my head. “By all means, don’t let me stop you from your creepy research.”

Her eyes twinkle in amusement, and she nods as she pulls her plump lip between her teeth. “Night, Reese.”

“Night, Rocky.”

5

viv

A Murder a Day Keeps Reese Away

It’s been just over a week since I moved in, and I’m finally ready to admit that living with Reese isn’t quite as bad as I expected it to be. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still not happy to be sharing a living space with him, but I am appreciative that he was crazy enough to offer.

It helps that since the night I accidentally punched him in the nose, we’ve barely seen each other. Like true roommates. Our schedules are totally different.

Except ever since I left him that protein bar, we’ve been leaving each other breakfast in the mornings.

And it’s kind of… cute, even though it physically pains me to admit that. I’m warming up to the idea of us being roommates, but that’s exactly it. Warming up.

This morning, he left me a strawberry yogurt and a note that said, “Those jeans you wore yesterday? Yougurta be kiddin’ me, Viv. ;)”

I wonder how long it took him to scroll on Pinterest to find that dad joke.

“I can’t believe the two of you actually made it an entire week together, and nobody died,” Hallie says around a mouthful of Sour Punch Straws. We’re not technically supposed to eat in the library, but we’re rebels like that. “Now I owe Eli twenty bucks.”

My eyes widen in disbelief. “You two bet on us?”

She nods unapologetically and shrugs. “I mean, it’s you and Reese, Viv. You can’t even be in the same room without going at it, and not in the good way.”

I blink as I bite down on the inside of my cheek to hold in what I wish I could say. That going at it with Reese was by far the highlight of my freshman year so far and that I came twice before he ever got inside me.

Those are the things I wish I could share with my best friend, but that secret is never seeing the light of day. I’m keeping it tucked away exactly where it belongs. It would make things ridiculously awkward for everyone, and I’m pretty sure if our friends knew what happened, I’d never live it down.

I slept with the guy I claim to hate… I mean, what does that say about hating him?

“Fine, you’re right. But…” I bend my head over the table, closer to where she sits across from me. “It’s not as bad as I thought it would be. So far. It’s only been a week though, so he could still be the roommate from hell like I expected him to be. Don’t tell him that, but it’s fine so far. He’s gone a lot for baseball, and I’m usually working, studying, or in my room working on Haunted Homicide.”

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