Page 63 of The Dollhouse

Giving him a skeptical look as I took a small bite of pizza, I asked, “Were you even alive when this movie came out?” I was pretty sure I was nothing more than an egg in my mother’s womb still; I knew Lake was a year older than me, but still. It wasn’t like this movie was a formative part of his childhood.

“I was… like, one?” Lake spoke, proving my point and making me laugh. “But you can’t measure classics on how old they are. Some things will never fade, and this is one of them.”

Yes, Lake was almost frenzied as he tried to defendLord of the Ringsto me. More specifically,The Fellowship of the Ring. And, of course, he owned all of the extended editions, and because he was an adorably cute nerd, he went on and on about how that was the only way to watch the movies. The original theatrical cuts weren’t as good, or whatever.

When the movie began to roll on the mounted television screen, I shut up, knowing he wanted me to watch it, wanted to watch me watching it. I bet he’d be gaging my reactions the entire time.

The movie was literally never-ending. Like, the longest movie I’d seen in my entire life, and, lucky me, Lake wanted to stay up all night since he had no classes tomorrow and no work and marathon them with me.

Yeah, I was one lucky son of a bitch, wasn’t I?

But, at least I got to spend the time with Lake. Once we were finished eating, he put the leftover pizza in his fridge, and we cuddled. No sex, but we totally spooned hardcore, and that was almost just as good.

My eyes were only half on the screen, my mind too focused on Lake’s arm around me, how nice it felt to simply belong. To not have to worry about my family or my stupid sister, to not even think about what my ex did to me for months behind my back, to forget that my one and only long-term relationship had been nothing more than a lie gilded in gold.

I turned my head toward him, giving him a warm smile.

“What?” he asked, dimples on his cheeks. “You hate the movie, don’t you? Only eight more hours to go—we’ll watchThe Hobbits later.”

Fuck. There were more?

But, no, that’s not even what I was thinking about. I leaned my head toward his, placing a soft, chaste kiss on his lips. It was a kiss that startled him apparently, for he did nothing but blink in response. “I will watch any movies with you, as long as you buckle up and watch horror movies with me.” It was a fair compromise, wasn’t it?

Lake chuckled. “Deal.” And he sealed it with another kiss, this one a bit deeper, even slower than the first. His tongue pushed its way into my mouth, and for the longest time, we laid there, in each other’s arms, lost.

That was until Lake broke off the kiss to ask, “You don’t see movies with Roman, do you?”

I gave him a look. “I thought we weren’t supposed to talk about Roman?” We’d decided to keep everything separate. Roman’s time with me would remain his time—and Carter’s—while my time with Lake would be completely his own.

“No, no, you’re right. I just…” Lake shrugged, his blonde hair a bit messy. “I want something that can be ours.”

A smile grew again on my face, and I rested my cheek against his chest, curling into him as my gaze glanced to the television screen. “Fine,” I murmured, being totally okay having movies be a Lake and me thing.

This was going to be work, I realized.

You know what, though? I wouldn’t have it any other way. If this was what my life would be like, juggling everything with Roman and Carter with Lake, I was okay with it. I had the best of both worlds, the guys who would probably kill for me if I asked them to, and the one who would always be there for me when I needed him.

That whole thing with Roman telling me he wanted me to move into his place, well… we weren’t going to talk about that just yet. Still too early in the relationship for that, in my humble opinion.

I settled onto Lake’s chest, content with his arms around me, his heat seeping into me, happy to be with him, even if we were going to spend the night watching all three movies. Not my idea of a fun time, but I’d do anything with Lake.

And, well, I might’ve dozed off a bit here and there, but we weren’t going to talk about that.

Jamie leaned over the counter, her dark, curly hair pulled back in a tight hair bun. “You look happy,” she remarked as she began to get my refills for table four. The music that normally filled the Dollhouse was loud in the air, but you got used to it. That, or you learned to shout while you were at work if you wanted to be heard.

I met her brown eyes, giving her a small nod. “I am.”

“I’m glad, girl, though I really hope that means you aren’t tangled up with that Roman guy anymore.”

I kept my lips zipped on that one; no one around here understood what Roman and I had, and that was fine. They only knew him as the guy who used to come in here and pull the workers in the back, the guy who would watch as they serviced Carter and Carter fucked them. Now he was the Dollhouse’s owner, and though he still showed up every once in a while, the only girl he took in the back was me.

Once she finished my refills, I set them on my tray and took them back to the table, where two older men sat, eyes on the stage, where Ruby danced, shaking her ass for all to see. They paid next to no attention to me, which was fine.

When I went to set my tray down, I passed Crystal, who gave me a wink. She meant what she’d told me; she’d started applying to other jobs. She even asked me to look over her resume, to try to help her make it sound more sophisticated. Needless to say, she didn’t have much of a resume to begin with, but I tried to help her as much as I could. I hoped she found whatever it was she was looking for.

Things were calming down in my life, finally; I was getting used to a routine again, and I was happy with it. As long as things stayed the same for a little while, I’d be okay.

I went to an empty table, bending over it to clean it up and wipe it off, to get it ready for whoever wanted to sit in it next, my mood as good as it could possibly be. At least, it was, for about three seconds, until I heard a deep cough.

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