Page 92 of Tapped By My Roommate
But there had to be a limit. Maybe I did need to get better at accepting a helping hand now and then. But there was asking for a favor, and then there was being a liability.
I didn’t want to be a burden—to anyone—but especially not to the guy I’d been falling for. I wanted us to take our relationship beyond friends with benefits; but first, I needed to be on equal footing.
Unfortunately, life wasn’t going to give me an easy out this time. I’d have to seek help somewhere. If it wasn’t going to be from Ethan, then that left me only one option.
I had to talk to Keith.
* * *
ETHAN
Rhett was sulking in the passenger seat. Imighthave insisted a little too strongly that he let me drive him to his mom’s house when he told me he had to go over there. This new assertive streak of mine was going to get me in trouble—and it hadn’t even helped me get what I really wanted.
While riding the high of rescuing Zilla, telling Rhett I wanted a real relationship with him seemed as if it would be easy.I’d slain the dragon, saved my lizard—I could do anything!The words had been on the tip of my tongue, ready to roll off the entire afternoon as I’d worked with Carla to ensure Zilla was healthy and settled at the animal rescue. I’d planned to tell Rhett how I felt as soon as we were alone.
But he had to go to work. Then I had my morning classes and extra trips to Oasis to check on Zilla. Each time we crossed paths, it seemed we were on our way to some other obligation, and the words jammed up in my throat. It wasn’t the right time, I told myself. But the longer I left it, the less easy the idea seemed.
I’d faced Tess, yes. But what did I really have to lose with her? I’d finally stood up to my research partner, Brian, too. In the end, it’d only taken a refusal to share credit with him and a warning that I’d let the professor know the research was all mine if necessary. He’d looked shocked at my assertion and had agreed to start doing his share of the work. But neither of those things seemed half as scary as telling Rhett what I wanted and possibly losing the best person to ever enter my life.
I thought he cared too. He seemed too good of a friend, too into the sex, for this to be a casual arrangement. But what if I was wrong? What if he really wanted nothing more than what we currently had? What if I told him, and I lost everything?
The Hayes family home was on a small side street on the far side of town, about three miles from campus. I remembered the route there after taking Audrey home the night we’d met.
“It’s the ugly peach house,” Rhett told me as I turned onto his block. “Three doors up.”
“I remember.”
It wasn’t the most appealing color in the world, but the house itself was nice. A little on the small side, with a cottage style. There was no garage, but a carport at the side of the house sheltered a nineties-model Ford Taurus. The grass was green, a bright pop of color after a colorless winter, and the oak tree in the front yard was beginning to fill out with leaves, probably a great source of shade in the hottest summer months.
I swung into the driveway and killed the engine.
“Thanks for the ride,” he said. “I can get someone to bring me home.”
I nodded. “Okay.”
He didn’t move. Rhett clenched his hands on his thighs, jaw tight, shoulders rigid. I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen him look so tense—even during our most awkward period of avoidance. I never wanted to return to those days. One more reason I was nervous to broach the topic of our relationship status.
“You okay?” I asked.
“Yeah, just…bracing myself for what’s to come.”
I reached over and unfolded one of his clenched fists. “If you don’t want to do this, maybe I could loan you—”
“No.” He cut me off, shaking his head. “It’s very nice of you to offer, but this is too much to ask.”
“What if I offered though?”
Rhett shot me a strained smile. “I can’t, no. I can’t take advantage of our…friendship.”
Friendship.I mentally flinched at the word, and I had to look away to hide my expression. Was that really all that Rhett felt for me? Maybe I was a fool to think we were on the same page. “Okay.”
Rhett leaned over and dropped a kiss on my cheek. “You’re too generous. You have a roommate because your funds need to last you the whole year. You don’t have a paying job like me.”
“You’d pay me back,” I muttered, even though I knew he was right. I really couldn’t afford to hand out the six-hundred-plus dollars he needed for his car. But I’d do it—and hope to figure out what to do when funds ran short later—if it helped Rhett.
“I don’t want to owe you money. I just, the way things are with us…”
My heart skipped. “What do you mean?”
