Page 15 of Room One Hundred and Twenty Nine

“Fuck, you are something,” Parker says, as he runs his hand through my hair.

“Same,” I say back to him.

He leans forward and presses a kiss to my lips. It’s gentle. Like a peck you give someone before they go to work in the morning. He’s looking at me until he catches something out of the corner of his eye. They narrow and that’s when I hear a car door closing.

On either side of our front door, there are glass panels, so we can see outside. I turn to see what he’s looking at. And what he’s looking at is Haruko tries to get her dress free from the door of a taxi. She seems frustrated as fuck. Finally, she frees it and just as the taxi pulls away and is out of sight, she stomps her foot on the ground.

We tuck ourselves back into our pants before opening the door and walking out. Parker jogs over as I stand on our front porch.

Parker said that Haruko had a date tonight. I suspect it didn’t go so well considering she’s back, it’s before eight, and she’s stomping her feet as if trying to get rid of the memory of them.

Fuck. If this is about her date, let’s hope I never meet them. Because I have half a mind to hold them against the wall by the throat, demanding they tell me what made Haruko feel anything but joy.

Chapter 7

Parker

I jog to Harukowhile trying to push back my hair into something that doesn’t look like an unkempt mess. Something that doesn’t look like I just had someone’s hands pulling on it as I sucked their dick. I can still taste Nick on my tongue, but I try to ignore the twitch in my dick as I come to a stop in front of her.

“Hey, are you okay?” I ask.

Haruko turns around, her eyes wide with shock. She looks around, as if she’s looking for the magical portal I jumped out of. Or maybe she’s looking to see if there’s anyone else here.

“Um, yeah. I’m fine,” she says, her voice one of defeat.

“Hey,” I say softly, touching her arm.

Fuck, her skin is so soft. “You can talk to me. Is this about the date?”

She sighs before pulling her bag off her shoulder, letting it fall to the ground.

“Yeah, it’s about the date. It… didn’t go well.”

“Want to talk about it?”

She shakes her head, but then she changes her mind and nods.

I lead her to her porch and we sit on the stairs. I can see Nick standing on our porch watching us.

“What happened?” I ask.

“Well, for one, the chemistry sucked. I felt no spark. Nothing. And then he ordered for me. He didn’t ask if he could order for me. He just assumed he knew better and did it. Twice. And then he made fun of what books I like to read and that was it. I had to leave. I made it half an hour.”

“What books do you like to read?”

She turns her head to look at me. “Promise me you won’t laugh like he did.”

My brows raise. “He laughed at you?”

She nods, her lips wobbling a touch.

I run my hand up and down her back, trying to soothe her before she takes in a big breath and lets it out.

“Romance. I like romance books.” Her lips turn into a half smile.

“That’s a good genre. Personally, I’m a romcom guy.”

She smiles fully and I feel like my heart grew three sizes.

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