Page 30 of Rook

But I felt fucking drunk on it when I pulled back.

Tessa was either equally as affected or putting on a hell of a show for Nancy as she swayed a bit on her feet before moving away.

“I’ll see you downstairs,” she said to Nancy before making her way out the door.

As soon as she was gone, Nancy’s usual tight posture and pinched face came back as she literally slipped on rubber gloves to tear my apartment apart.

I’d gotten my fun by—as the coffee brewed while I waited for Tessa—I’d ripped open a few condom foils, put a dash of fluid in them and a little oil on them, and dropped them into both the bathroom and bedroom garbages.

She reeled back like there were maggots in there.

It was worth the prep.

“Everything alright?” I asked, biting my cheek to keep from smiling at her obvious discomfort.

“Fine,” she said, voice tight. She moved on to my drawers instead of rifling through the actual trash like she normally would.

“She’s great, isn’t she?” I asked, leaning against the wall as she went into the kitchen to dig around in the cabinets and fridge, looking for drugs that she knew I didn’t touch, or, I dunno, a laptop hidden under a stash of dishes or some shit. There was no logic behind her searches. “Tessa,” I added.

“She seems like a nice young woman.”

“She’s fantastic. I would like to eventually let her move in. She’s been dropping a lot of hints.”

Nancy was silent for a moment as she finished her search of the kitchen.

“I suppose that wouldn’t be a problem. So long as there are no electronics in the house. If she has a laptop or tablet, she has to keep it elsewhere.”

“Understood,” I agreed. Then, as much as it killed me to say it, I added, “Thank you.”

She acknowledged that with a nod before concluding her invasion of my privacy and making her way downstairs.

I wanted to follow, to keep an eye on her, to make sure she didn’t threaten Tessa in some way.

But I had to keep my ass upstairs, watching out the door until I saw Nancy make her way to her car half an hour later.

Tessa must have been waiting for her to pull off because as soon as she did, she started up the steps.

I opened the door to let her in.

“You okay? How did that go?”

“It was good,” she assured me. “Well, she was nice tomeanyway. She didn’t have the nicest things to say about you.”

“I don’t care about that. I just didn’t want her picking on you when she got you alone.”

“Yeah. She kind of just went on and on about how ‘good girls’ like me should make smart choices on who we date. Blah blah blah. I was as nice as possible while still making it clear I’m committed to you.”

“You did great, babe. And I got approval for you to move in. I know you just moved into the clubhouse…”

“This was the deal,” she cut me off. “It’s okay. It’s not like I have a lot of stuff to move. I do have one condition, though.”

“Okay.”

“I get to go to the clubhouse for dinner at least one night a week.”

I didn’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t that.

“Babe, you can eat thereeverynight if you want. You’re not a prisoner here. I just need you on call for a random Nancy drop-in.”

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