Page 54 of Bully Roommate

Frankie eyed him suspiciously, as he poured his cup of coffee and nonchalantly grabbed a bagel for the toaster. When Frankie looked at me, he almost looked pissed.

I tried to warn him not to push but he said, “What’s up with last night, Maverick? We’re just not going to talk about it?”

Cringe.

Maverick glanced over the rim of his coffee. The angry frown on his face made me squirm. “There isn’t anything we need to talk about,” he said, grabbing the bagel. “And I’m not going to talk about it.”

Frankie slammed his fist down. “You scared us, Maverick. This isn’t normal and you’re just not going to talk it through—,”

“I’m fine,” Maverick barked, frustration lining his face. “I don’t need a kid telling me to talk about my feelings. I’ve got this under control.”

Frankie stood up abruptly, put his bowl in the sink, and left the apartment.

Silence enveloped us. Slowly, I traced the top of my coffee cup and watched the lukewarm liquid. Maverick dragged my chin up with two fingers and stared at me. “Don’t worry about me, Josie.”

“How can I not?” I asked quietly. “That was scary.”

He nodded. “I know.” When he stepped back, his devil-may-care face returned. “What do you want to do today? We said a picnic, right?”

“Yeah, I need to run by the library first, and then I’m all yours.”

Maverick’s mossy green eyes traveled over my face and down to my t-shirt. “You need a shower? I’m all for one together.”

Chills climbed down my arm and slithered between my legs. I’d never been naked in front of a man before, and not that it sounded bad, but that romance book didn’t give me the courage I needed.

The fear must have been evident on my face because Maverick laughed. Bending down, hands flat on the table, he grinned at me. “We’ll take it slow, Jose. Let’s get ready.”

I stopped him with my palm against his forearm. “I want to, Maverick,just not yet.”

He swept his lips across mine softly. “There is no rush, in the meantime, I’ll kiss your mouth until it’s bruised,” he whispered. “Or until you beg me to stop.”

I let my fingers trace my bottom lip and imagined him doing just that.

***

Maverick and I walked into the library together, and to my surprise, there were many people scattered along the computer lab and in the study rooms. Who knew so many students studied on the weekend?

It’d been the first time I walked with Maverick around campus and it earned me heated stares from girls I’d never met. Probably girls Maverick never met. He didn’t seem to notice, but it irritated me.

We walked to the second floor of the library where a line of desktops sat in the far corner of the building. I took a seat on the far end of one lone person. The second floor didn’t seem as popular as the first.

Maverick groaned and plopped down beside me with a thud. I logged into my email and used the scanner in the corner of the room to send it over to myself.

Maverick leaned next to me, his minty breath on my cheek. “So, you’re interning for some big art professor, huh? This is for him?” he asked, looking over my application.

“Yeah,” I said. “I’m excited to have the opportunity and be able to paint. This way my mother doesn’t know I’m painting, because I’m not enrolled in any actual classes other than the required art class."

“Why doesn’t your mom want you to paint, Josie? That’s wild.”

I shrugged. “She doesn’t think I can make a living on it and it’s a waste of time.”

“How would she know?”

“When I signed up for my classes my senior year, I was still under their thumb and their address was used as a contact for the university. She’ll get my grades and stuff.”

Maverick dropped my apps on the desk and leaned back. “That sucks, even though it’s good your parents care, they could loosen the reigns a little.”

“I agree,” I said, pressing send. “Okay, he now has my information. I need to look for one book for my literature class and then we can go.”

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