Page 24 of Jump

“Surprise.” She flashes a wicked smirk and connects my hand with Vivian’s until I turn back to the first.

Electricity zings from her palm to mine. Fiery hot, and panic-inducingly potent.

“I can’t believe it’s taken this long to get you both in the same room at the same time.” Hannah releases me and drops her hands by her hips, while mine and Vivian’s remain attached. Fused together. “Anyone would think Matt’s been hiding, huh?”

“Yeah…” Vivian’s eyes narrow as we shake. Once. Twice. Three times, before she pulls away and wipes her palm on the thigh of her jeans. “One could wonder if he’s been purposely avoiding being here when I come around.”

“It’s, like, five percent avoidance,” Hannah chatters on. “Ninety-five percent antisocial and rude. But now you’ve met, and you both already know of the other. Ruiz is our freeloader, Viv is my best friend. Ruiz is a smoke-jumper turned local FD lieutenant, and Viv needs someone to move in and share her rent because life is expensive.” Finally turning away—none the wiser to the million things not being said—Sullivan saunters back to her man and slips under his arm. “Is dinner ready? I’m starving.”

“Just about,” Axe confirms.

“I’ll help set the table.” Like her ass is on fire, Vivian darts past me and drops her keys and phone on a side table in the dining room. Then she hotfoots it back to the kitchen and yanks the fridge door open to find the salad I saw and avoided when I was searching for my dinner. “I’m so freakin’ tired, guys. So let’s eat, then I’m going home to bed.”

* * *

“So, this guy,” Hannah, seated beside Axel opposite me, throws her head back and laughs. “He’s, like, Hannibal Lecter reincarnated! Super creepy. He would wear my girl’s skin as a suit if we left them alone together for more than a minute.”

“Then we’re not letting him move in,” Axel grumbles.

He watches Viv, who keeps her head down and her eyes on her plate. But because she was forced to sit beside me, he watches me, too.

He’s an observant motherfucker, and his attention is focused heavily on the way she leans away from me.

“Did you interview anyone else who might be appropriate?” he wants to know.

“None so far,” Viv fills her mouth with food, making it impossible to maintain a flowing conversation. “But it’s no big deal. I have a dozen more coming to look at the place.”

“All men,” Hannah inserts with an air of disbelief. “Like, there’s a pandemic of single guys looking for an apartment to share with a woman. It’s crazy! Where are the chicks?”

“Not risking moving in with a stranger,” Axel jokes. “It’s a cruel world, and women are done being messed with.”

“Yeah, but now Viv is the one who’s gonna get murdered.”

My stomach churns, and my lasagna, which smelled delicious when it was in the oven, is now as welcome to my senses as curdled milk. “Why are you interviewing for a roommate?”

“Because her apartment is too expensive to keep on her own,” Hannah cuts in before Vivian can.

Though, her body language says she wasn’t going to anyway.

“It’s a great apartment, super roomy, and with an updated kitchen, despite what Hannibal thinks of it. It’s in a nice, safe area. The neighbors are awesome. The landlord isn’t a dick, and the bathtub is just…” she kisses the tips of her fingers, “mwah. But it’s expensive, so either she finds someone to go halfsies, or she sells her body on the street.”

Vivian’s cheeks grow hotter, while my eyes narrow.

The thought of her being forced to live with another guy sets my gut on fire. The thought of her selling sex to pay rent makes me homicidal.

She was my safe space for a single night. My heaven when I’m so used to hell. She was my everything, if only for a short while.

I’ll be damned if she sells herself to survive.

“Anyway,” Hannah grabs the salad bowl and shovels more onto her plate. “That’s why I figured it would be best to introduce you two. She needs a roommate, and you,” she pins me with a glare and fakes a smile, “need to get the hell out of here. It’s a perfect solution, really. And since we vouch for you both, we can feel reasonably sure it will all work out.”

“Reasonably?” Mouth full, Vivian lifts her face and peers at her friend through the top of her lashes. “Why reasonably?”

“Because he’s a miserable prick,” Axel answers. “He’s rude, unkind, never cooks, and always sulks. But splitting rent with a ghoul is better than hooking,” he grins. “So… pick your battles, ya know?”

“Are you a miserable prick, Matt?” Challenging, Ana tilts her head and peeks my way. “Really? You seemed nice enough at Nicole’s party.”

Hannah gasps, the sound arrowing straight to my gut and intensifying the way it churns. “You met each other at the party?” she exclaims. “Neither of you mentioned that.”

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