Page 8 of My Ex's Roommates
Carter grimaced when I counted at the correct amount and slipped the practically empty envelope back into my purse. “Harper, we-”
I tossed the wad of twenty-dollar bills at Silas and felt a sick joy at the way they fluttered down on him. “There you go, Silas. I showed you that I pay my own way. Is that good enough, sir, or do you need blood or my firstborn child to deem me worthy of even an ounce of kindness from you? Asshole.”
“Harper, wait.” Dylan reached for my arm but quickly snatched his hand back when he saw the look on my face. “Just wait a second. We-”
“Are you kicking me out?”
He frowned. “What? No. I just-”
“If you’re not kicking me out, I don’t need to hear anything else from you.” I tilted my head to the side as I stared him down. “So, I repeat. Are you kicking me out?”
He looked down at his feet with his hands on his hips and let out a heavy sigh. “No.”
“Then you don’t need to say anything else to me.” I grabbed my bag and purse and went to spin on my heels. I froze for a moment when I realized that sitting on the floor, leaning against the couch next to Carter, was a woman staring at me with wide eyes and a crooked grin. I winced inwardly at having said all of that in front of a stranger but there was no taking it back and I didn’t want to, anyway. She didn’t seem all that traumatized from the quick glance I got of her.
Stomping up the stairs and exploding into my room, the roomIpaid for, I didn’t slam the door. I left it wide open. I was done making myself small for them or any other man.
I threw my things onto my bed and stomped across the hall to the bathroom. The makeup coating my face suddenly felt too heavy, too constricting on my skin. I scrubbed it off and yanked my hair into a bun before going back to my room and sitting at my desk. It was painful to sit there when I still had the heat of a thousand suns burning through me but I forced myself to be still. I’d said all I needed to say and letting my anger blow up larger than it already had wouldn’t lead to anything good.
It took two hours and a handful of my secret stash of yogurt covered raisins to calm down enough that I wasn’t shaking. I’d stared at the same page of a book I was reading the entire time, not absorbing a single sentence. I debated calling my brothers over and over again, needing to hear their voices, but I didn’t want to upset them by losing it and begging them to let me visit.
I was just about to close my door and get in bed when I felt someone watching me. I turned around and saw Silas leaning against my door frame, his head cocked to the side as he studied me. I raised my eyebrows at him, silently asking him what the hell he wanted.
He let the silence stretch on until finally he pushed off from the doorway and smirked. “You have a filthy mouth, Harper.”
My face burned red as anger came rushing back.
That smirk turned into a full on grin as he backed away. “It suits you.”
I deflated, all my rising anger unsure of where to go or what was happening as I watched him walk off towards his own room. Was that a compliment? Another insult? I didn’t know.
I closed my door before anything else could happen that threw me off my indignant game. I wasn’t about to get chatty with them after everything that I’d said downstairs. I’d drawn a line in the sand, ten times deeper than the one they’d already had there. I didn’t think there was any going back.
9.
***Silas***
“Casey pulled her spooky computer shit last night after you two went upstairs and she confirmed what Harper said.” Carter pulled on his jersey over his pads and then chugged his jug of water. “So, we’re assholes. At least, that’s what Casey says. She’s said it before, though, so I’m not too scandalized by the revelation.”
I finished pulling my pads on and paused before putting on my jersey. “What all did she confirm?”
Casey, Carter’s twin sister, hadn’t been the least bit fazed by having a woman she didn’t know walk into the room and scream at us last night. “Three brothers in prison for the attempted homicide of their father. The father ODed six months ago so they should’ve just waited, I guess. They got five years and have served almost two years of it so far.”
Dylan moved closer in the locker room so we weren’t overheard by anyone else. “Only five years for attempted homicide?”
Carter’s eyes pinched as he scowled. “Casey read the court transcripts. She said it should’ve been called justifiable after all the shit their dad put them through. Trying to sell Harper for a bump of crack was just the last straw.”
The sour feeling in my gut grew more intense. “Shit.”
“Yeah.”
Dylan ran his hands over his head and frowned. “We fucking suck.”
“You want to know just how much I fucking suck?” Carter didn’t wait for us to reply. “I can’t stop thinking about how fucking hot she was while she was ripping us a new one.”
Dylan looked away but I saw the guilt on his face before he did. He was the most decent one of the three of us so I knew thinking about Harper being hot would make him feel shitty.
Me, on the other hand… I could acknowledge that finding her hot as fuck last night was not great but it didn’t change anything. She’d burned so hot while shouting at us that she practically glowed. There was fire in her eyes and a bit of crazy that just did it for me.
