Page 78 of Neighbors With Benefits

“Well yeah, but I didn’t want to say it outright.” Aiden ran a hand through his dark hair and then reached across the table to hold my hand. “This is actually a perfect segue, because there’s something else I want to tell you. Bash and I were hoping to tell you together, but he’s at work, and you look flustered, so I’m just going to say it.”

A door down the hall opened, and the sound of heavy metal drifted out into the living room. Dante appeared, wearing the same jeans I had seen him in this morning but a tank top that revealed a sleeve of arm tattoos.

“We’re kind of in the middle of something,” Aiden said.

“Can you text me the number for that new Thai place?” Dante asked in a rough, gravelly voice. “I can’t find it on Google. ThenI’ll leave you two lovebirds alone.” He gave me a wink that didn’t feel very friendly.

“Yeah, sure.” Aiden tapped on his phone. “Sent.”

“Thanks…” Dante started to walk away, then frowned. “This number is you?”

“It’s my work phone,” Aiden replied.

Dante gave him a funny look. “Since when do you use your work phone for personal shit?”

Aiden opened his mouth, closed it again, then glanced at me. In the blink of an eye, the vibe had changed. He was hiding something.

And with a flash of insight, it all came together.

The roommate named Dante.

The wrong number after my housewarming party.

The strange text message response I had received.

The reason Aiden was okay—and evendelighted—that I had slept with Bash.

I pulled out my own phone and scrolled down my text history. When I found that wrong number from almost two months ago, I hit the Call button.

The phone in Aiden’s hand didn’t ring, but another one did. A phone in his pocket.

I gasped. “It wasyou!”

28

Dante

HOLY FUCKING SHIT.

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

I couldn’t stop laughing. Neither of them noticed.

I wasn’t trying to stir shit up. I fuckinghateddrama. I also never would have fucked with Aiden or Bash, my two best friends. I was an asshole in a whole bunch of different ways, but not likethat.

But as soon as Jazz The Hot Neighbor Girl called Aiden’s other phone, I realized I had fucked upbadly.

Oh well. Too late to do anything about it.

I wasn’t surprised. Those idiots were always getting themselves into awkward situations. They were always too headstrong, or not headstrong enough. They pussy-footed around rather than coming out andsayingwhat they wanted.

Not me. I’d learned a long time ago that you didn’t get what you deserved in life. You got what youworked for.

The world was full of people who never got what they wanted because they expected it to justhappento them. Passivelyfloating through life, complaining that good things happened to other people while they were overlooked.

Fuck that.

When I wanted something?

---