Page 47 of A Roommate for Christmas
Why did you sleep with him, Paige?She asked herself.Of course it was too good to be true.Just another scumbag who cheats on his girlfriend.
As if on cue, Carter knocked on her door.“Paige, you have to let me explain.”
“Explain what?”Paige asked without going to the door.“The fact that you have a girlfriend?The fact that you conveniently forgot to mention her to me before you got me into bed?I mean, come on, Carter, she knows your big move.I can’t believe I was so stupid not to see that you were playing me.”
“It’s not like that.She isnotmy girlfriend,” he insisted, still yelling through the closed door.“Can Ipleasecome in?”
Paige paused her packing and looked at the door.She figured she’d just get the conversation over with while she was still angry and could give Carter a piece of her mind.So she made her way to the door and opened it to a crestfallen Carter on the other side.
The second the door opened, he took a step forward.
“Monica is not my girlfriend anymore, I swear,” he blurted out.“Like I started to say last night, we were dating for three years, and we started living together six months ago.I knew I shouldn’t have moved in at the time because my heart wasn’t in it, but I was too chicken to say anything until a couple of months ago.I agreed to go on a break, even when I knew I was done.I just didn’t think she would try so hard to get back together.I figured she’d just forget about me and move on to the next guy who gave her attention.”
“And you didn’t have the balls to actually end it then?”She couldn’t look him in the eye as she threw the last items into her suitcase.
“Well, no, it’s just tha—”
Ding.
Paige’s phone interrupted Carter’s rebuttal.
He looked down instinctively after hearing the chime to see her phone open on her chat with Nadia.
He must have seen a few words from the exchange.
Real-life Grinch.
Self-centered asshole.
Can’t wait to get away from him.
“Wow,” Carter said, rolling his eyes.“Couldn’t even give me two seconds to explain myself before talking shit about me?That’s real mature.”
“Well, maybe you deserved it,” Paige said defensively.
She knew as soon as she said it that it wasn’t fair, but she was too angry to care.
“Give me that.”Paige snatched the phone from where it was lying on the bed.“And what do you care what I think, anyway?I’m just yourroommate, right?”
“I didn’t mean it like that, and you know it,” he bit back.
“The only thing I know is that when I get back from California, you and all of your things better be gone.”She was fuming.
Paige could see the pain in Carter’s eyes, and deep down she believed his intentions were good, but she was filled with too much rage to be rational.Everything about this situation with Monica brought Paige right back to last year with Chance, but this timeshewas the other woman.
“Well, it’s clear you want nothing to do with me, so I’ll happily give you what you want,” he said as he headed out of her room.“Merry fucking Christmas,” he grumbled as he passed through the doorway.
Paige heard his door slam a few seconds later as she was calling a rideshare.
She finished packing the last of her things and went outside to get into her Uber to the airport.She was going to be four hours early, but she couldn’t bear the thought of spending another second in the condo with Carter.
Yet, she couldn’t stop thinking about the situation the entire car ride.Paige felt like she had been made a fool of again.She was so angry with him for playing her—for not being completely honest with her before they slept together.The more she replayed everything in her mind, the more she realized how many opportunities he had to bring up Monica.Even if he was telling the truth about them not being together anymore, it was still so recent.She deserved to know—especially before taking things to the level they had the night before.
Paige had come to believe Carter was different from other guys.Their dynamic had felt so different and so right.And as mad as she was, she was also sad, too, to lose something that seemed special.
She closed her eyes and rested her head against the window.
In a few hours I’ll be wheels up and will never have to see this prick again.
