Page 79 of Accidental Roommates

He ends the call and I hear Nikki’s phone ringing from his room. Then I hear her yell, “Where’s my stuff, asshole?” followed by, “You threw it out? You know how much those panties cost? You’re paying for those!”

Moments later, she storms out of his room. I follow her to the living room and watch as she leaves, slamming the door behind her. She took the key with her, unless she left it in Jace’s room. I go in there and check. It’s not there, but she left his room a mess, with clothes everywhere.

I’m so mad. It’s not even my room and I’m furious.

Jace is a good person. A good friend. And seeing his ex barge in here and rip his room apart, after ripping his heart out, makes me want to strangle her. She hurt Jace and didn’t even care. She blames him for what happened. And then she shows up here without even telling him.

He never should’ve dated her. He deserves so much better.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Jace

I’m trying to calm down, but I don’t know if I can. I’m so damn angry right now. Nikki shows up at my house, tears my room apart, then has the nerve to demand money from me? After cheating on me? And what really upsets me is that I yelled at Kenzie. She got stuck in the middle of this. I got angry at her when I was really angry at Nikki. I’m so pissed at myself for doing that.

I need to call her and apologize.

“Jace?” she answers in a cautious tone, like she’s worried I’m going to get mad at her again.

“Kenzie, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled at you for letting Nikki in. It’s not your fault. You didn’t even know what she looks like. And you couldn’t have stopped her even if you tried. When she wants something, she doesn’t let anyone stop her.” I take a breath. “I’m really sorry. I was angry and I took it out on you when my anger should’ve been directed at Nikki. That’s just like her, letting herself in like that. Doing what she wants without asking. If she’d called, I would’ve told her I got rid of her stuff. It’s been so long, I assumed she didn’t want it. Anyway, I’m sorry for how I acted.”

“It’s okay. I get it. Anger makes you react without thinking. I’ve done it plenty of times. Don’t worry about it.”

She’s being really understanding. I thought she’d be mad, which she has every right to be after I talked to her that way, but instead she’s accepting my apology, something Nikki would never do. When we were together, I could apologize a hundred times and it still wasn’t enough. I had to buy her something to get her to forgive me.

“I don’t think an apology is enough,” I say. “So I’m going to give you one of my infomercial pans.”

She laughs. “Are you serious? Those are your magic pans. And you can’t buy them in stores. They’re like a rare antique.”

“That infomercial plays all the time. I can order more whenever I want. And I haven’t even tried the pans, so who knows? Maybe they’re not that great. If they’re not, I’ll give you something else. Anything you want to make up for how I treated you.”

“You don’t owe me anything. I totally understand what you were going through. If my ex showed up here without asking, I’d be pissed too.”

“But you wouldn’t take it out on me. I’m really sorry I did that. What if I take you out for dinner tomorrow? Can I at least do that?”

She hesitates, making me wonder if she doesn’t want to hang out anymore. She always acts like she does, but maybe it’s getting to be too much.

“I could probably do dinner. It depends on how much homework I get done. I have a paper due on Friday.”

That’s never stopped her from doing stuff with me before. Something’s changed. She’s acting differently.

“We can skip it if you want,” I tell her. “I just feel bad and want to make it up to you. I could bring home one of those coffee drinks you like.”

“Thanks, but I can’t sleep after drinking those. I can only have them in the morning.”

“Okay, well, think about what you want. It’s on me.”

“I should get back to studying.”

“Yeah, I’ll let you go.”

She doesn’t respond.

“Kenzie?”

“Yeah?”

“Are you okay?”

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