Page 73 of Cheater and the Saint
I’d never really been a cat person, but I couldn’t deny how calming it was to have Diego around. As if he’d sensed I was upset and had come over to help. He purred as I pet him. The movie ended at one a.m.
“I’ll take the couch,” Angel said before yawning.
“What? No. I’m not going to kick you out of your own bed. I’ll be fine out here.”
“Okay,” he said, standing up. He went into the other room before coming out with a pillow and blanket. “Feel free to help yourself to anything in the kitchen.”
“Thanks.”
“Goodnight, Saint.” His hazel eyes held my gaze, and it looked like he wanted to say something else. But then he looked away.
“Goodnight.”
Diego jumped off my lap and followed Angel into his room.
After I went to the bathroom and brushed my teeth, I changed into some night pants and lay on the couch. It wasn’t until I went to grab my phone that I realized I didn’t bring it. When I’d received that text from Leo, I’d tossed it across the room and never picked it back up. Oh well. I didn’t really want it anyway, knowing he’d be blowing up my messages once he got home and discovered I wasn’t there.
I shouldn’t treat him that way, because after all, he was only doing whatIhad said was okay. However, that’d been before I’d fallen for him. So as unfair as it may be, I couldn’t handle talking to him right then.
Sometime in the middle of the night, a fuzzy body snuggled against me, and I fell back asleep to the sound of purrs.
***
“You sure you don’t want to stay longer?” Angel asked the next day. “I don’t mind.”
It was around two that afternoon, so I’d already stayed a while. That morning, I’d messed around a bit on my laptop and chatted with Chris—who had told me to forgive Leo and had basically called me out for being an asshole. It was one of the first times I’d gotten seriously mad at him and had exited out of our chat without so much as a goodbye.
He didn’t understand.
Hell, I barely understood it myself.
“No, I think I need to get home and face this,” I answered and checked to make sure I’d packed everything back into my bag. I heaved a frustrated sigh and sat down. Diego rubbed against my leg, and I reached down to pet him. “Am I being irrational?”
“You like Leo as more than a friend. Y’all have a connection that’s more than that, too. So, no. I think you have every right to be upset.”
“Thanks,” I said, feeling better. “Well, I better go.”
Angel drove me to campus and pulled up to the curb beside the dormitory. Before I got out of his car, he said, “If you need me, just text, okay?”
“Will do.” I offered him a smile before grabbing my bag and opening the car door. “Thanks for everything, Angel. Really.”
He nodded. “Anytime.”
As I walked across the lawn, nerves bubbled in my stomach. Facing Leo again after he’d fucked someone was going to suck. Bad. I was jealous and angry, but mostly upset. I didn’t know what to expect when I walked through the door. Maybe he was still in bed. Maybe he hadn’t even come home and was still tangled up with some other person somewhere, having morning sex just like we used to have.
Used to have. My eyes stung at the thought.
How was it possible to miss someone you never actually had?
At the door, I placed my hand on the handle and paused. Inhale. Exhale. Tears were already trying to form, and I closed my eyes before opening them again.
Having horrible anxiety, I’d mentally planned out my conversation with Leo. I’d written a speech in my head and everything, planning to tell him that we needed to go back to roommates and nothing more. That when it came to him, I refused to share, so we needed to end things, because I couldn’t be with him anymore.
And then I opened the door.
Leo was sitting on the couch, his face in his hands and his body shaking. He was still in his costume from the night before, but it was wrinkled, probably from him sleeping in it. His dark hair was a complete mess, but as always, he pulled it off.
“Saint?” He stood and rushed over to me. His eyes were puffy and red, and his cheeks were wet. “Where the hell have you been?”
