Page 13 of Damn Roommate

I leave the kitchen with a quick step, glancing around the living room to see if the girls have moved off the dance floor, and laugh when I see them wiggling their hips. I slip through the crowd that has gathered in the apartment and go through the door that leads to the bedrooms. The hallway is empty and not a trace of partygoers. Another advantage of being in the team captain’s house; the room are spared.

I walk into my bedroom, turning on the light to walk over to the dresser. I barely have time to take off my tank top, which is sticking to my skin, when a high-pitched voice cries out in surprise. I tense up, pressing the damp cloth to my nearly bare chest, and turn to the noises behind my back.

“Scar?”

“Is this a joke?” I shout in front of the two silhouettes lying on my bed. “Are you serious, Nolan?”

I don’t know what breaks me the most. Seeing that the first time the guy I love is in my bed, it’s not with me; or meet his girlfriend in a situation like this. Inmyroom, while she’s all tangled up in the dress that goes up above her hips. She straightens up quickly to get dressed, avoiding my gaze. Nolan looks both surprised to see me and confused about the room he’s in.

“What the hell are you doing inmyroom?”

I’m still half-naked and far from being in a better position than them. Nolan watches me for a second too long and I curse the heat his gaze is causing in my chest, then he gets up and grabs his black T-shirt off the floor to quickly put it on. I freeze, my gaze landing on his chest before traveling down his body to see the prominence in his pants.

Bile rises in my throat.

“Scar, I thought we were in my room, I’m sorry.”

He looks genuinely shocked to be here, but from his dilated pupils and the way he stands while looking around with haggard eyes, I know he’s drunk. I’m still sick.

“Get out of there,” I spit.

Harriet, who hasn’t apologized, rushes down the hall, her heels in her hands. I stand by my dresser, facing a terribly uncomfortable Nolan.

“Scarlett.”

The tone of his voice coupled with my first name sliding on his tongue as if it had always belonged to him make my heart stop beating.

“Don’t you ever dare show up inmyroom again to fuck your girlfriend inmybed. Got it?”

He just nods and walks to the door in silence, puts a hand onthe doorframe, and stops for a second.

“Consider yourself lucky. If you had arrived two minutes later, you would have seen me in a much less delicate position!”

He mimes with his hands a grip on imaginary hips and lasciviously thrusts his hips. His teeth nibble at his bottom lip as if filled with raw desire.

“Get out!” I yell, throwing the first thing I had at hand.

My tank top.

He bursts out laughing and avoids it just barely. A hand still resting on the door, his gaze slides again on my bare chest. As if he was really seeing me for the first time. An unreadable light crosses his irises, but I don’t have time to linger on it when he gives me a mischievous wink and leaves the room. He closes the door, letting his deep laugh break the last pieces of my heart. In less than a second, I find myself alone in the room. The sheets on my bed are undone and the image of Nolan on his girlfriend has imprinted itself so strongly on my retina that I’m sure to have insomnia for the rest of my life. My heart is pounding, and I have a hard time calming my erratic breathing. I’m on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

I should never have left Corey.

I should never have moved here.

I should never have left France.

6

Nolan

I return to the apartment a little after eleven in the morning. The guys are already up and only Scarlett is missing. I haven’t talked to her again about last night, as if she had made sure never to be in my presence. I saw her several times talking with a guy, whom her brother tried to scare but failed. It clearly pissed off Edgar to see a guy standing up to him so openly and seducing his sister under his nose. In his apartment. Technically, rule number one had not been broken. Scarlett didn’t bring this guy in, it was the party we were having that attracted him. Leo tried to calm Ed down, because he was starting to get angry and kicking that brat’s ass just because he was talking to Scarlett wasn’t the best idea. Me, I was laughing. If I had been in my normal state, I would have given Scar a little comment and a few murderous looks at the guy to get him give it up. Just to see if he could handle it and if he deserved it. I did, but not as much as I should have. After my little bedroom incident, I mostly kept a low profile.

Fuck.

I was this close to fucking my girlfriend in Scarlett’s bed. I wasn’t so drunk I couldn’t walk, I should have known I’d opened the wrong door. It happened to me before when Milo lived here, he never complained about it. When I’m in the heat of the moment, I don’t pay attention to anything. Except that this year, it’s no longer Milo who is in this room, but Scarlett Martin. My little surrogate sister who shouldn’t even know what my dick looks like. Nor anyone else’s. She’s still a kid who listens to Justin Bieber.

And who wears red lace underwear much too tight, on a body much too formed.

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