Page 22 of Teased By My Roommate

HAWK

Ihad a brother, but no sisters. And I didn't have a lot of close female friends. But I did know that when a woman said she wanted to be alone, you listened to her.

I finished making dinner and placed a large portion in a covered bowl in the fridge. Then I went to my room to eat, and sent Lila a text.

Me:I will be in my room for the rest of the night, if you want to watch a movie or whatever in the living room. Your dinner is in the fridge. Please eat something. I will drive you to work in the morning, and we don't have to talk if you don't want to yet.

After a few minutes, I got a response.

Lila: Thank you.

I was halfway through my pasta when I heard her door open and a bit of shuffling in the kitchen. Then her door shut again. I hated the feeling that she had to hide from me in her own home.

When I was done eating, I opened my laptop to look up Lila Astor. I vaguely knew of their family, but because I ignored that whole society thing, I'd never really given a damn before.

Then I found a webpage that mentioned Lila was the daughter of Fergus and Genevieve Astor.

Genevieve Astor? That was her mother?

Good lord. Even I had heard of that woman. She was a loon.

A search brought me to her blog, which was basically a combination of society gossip and ludicrous how-to articles for women who wanted to be "desirable brides".

No wonder Lila had run away.

Genevieve would definitely want her daughter to follow her advice to confirm that it worked. If Lila married any regular guy, it would prove that she and her husband did not control the family properly.

What a disgusting combination of ego, money, and caring far too much what strangers thought.

My poor sweet baby. That was too much family pressure. She would never be allowed to be seen in public with me if I weren't from that world too.

How ironic that I actually was.

I hadn't really told her about my background yet. Our relationship had started off with too many secrets. Now I was going to have to figure out how to make things right, and how to make sure that we could be together on our own terms.

But first, I was going to have to care for Lila.

In the morning I made breakfast and prepared coffee. When she came out of her room, I simply said, "Good morning," then went back to my room until she called through the door that she was ready to leave.

During the drive to work, we chatted about the weather for a bit, but that was it. As I pulled up in front of the physiotherapist office, I said, "If anyone is searching for you, you know they'll never look twice at a big old truck like this, right?"

Finally she gave me a half-hearted attempt at a smile. "That's a good point."

"Pick you up at five-thirty?"

She nodded. "Thank you."

At eleven-forty-five I had a sandwich and fresh juice delivered to her office so that she didn't have to leave the building. When I picked her up, she gave me a slightly warmer smile. "Thank you for lunch. It was wonderful not to have to go out."

"You're welcome, baby. This is just a temporary thing. You’re not going to have to hide for long."

Lila shook her head sadly. "I saw a neon green sports car go by today that looked just like Gerald's."

"Your older brother?"

Her head spun as she looked at me, then her shoulders sagged. "Yes. I guess you looked me up?"

"Yeah. I saw that your mother must be…what's the polite way to say it? A handful?"

---