Takedown Teague (Caged #1)(34)

“I’m not,” I insisted. I was still trying to figure out what the hell I had just said. There was a little voice in the back of my head telling me I had asked her to move in with me, but I knew that couldn’t be right. I never lived with a woman before, and I barely knew this one. I couldn’t have said that.

Oh yes, you did.

Fuck.

I had to take it back, didn’t I? But I couldn’t do that. I mean—she hadn’t answered yet, but I had already offered. It would be rude to take back the extended hand at this point, wouldn’t it?

Why didn’t I ever pay attention to all those etiquette lessons I was forced to endure as a child?

Besides, I wasn’t so sure I wanted to take it back at all. Yeah, this was definitely out of the norm. There was no denying that, but that didn’t mean it was a bad idea.

Of course it was. It was a f*cking awful idea.

“It’s the perfect answer.” I felt my mouth open, and words spewed forth on their own. “You wouldn’t have to find a job right away. You would still be able to get to school, and we’d only have to carry your stuff upstairs.”

“Liam, I am not a mooch!” Tria insisted. “I’m not going to move in with you and have you take care of me like some child!”

“It wouldn’t be like that,” I said. My arms and shoulders tensed up. I was losing this battle, if that’s what it was, and I didn’t want to lose it. The more I thought about it, the more I wanted her with me. No matter how stupid the idea was, I wanted to figure out how to make it work so she would stay.

“Oh, really? How would it be then?” she asked, the anger flashing through her eyes.

I wasn’t exactly sure what she was thinking, but I had the feeling she had the wrong idea. I was also dealing with a certain amount of pride here. She didn’t want anyone to think she couldn’t succeed on her own.

“We’d just be…you know…roommates. Help each other out, right?”

“Roommates?” Tria echoed.

“Yeah,” I replied with a nod. “Lots of people have roommates to help with expenses. There’s nothing wrong with that. I help you; you help me. Even if you paid half the rent, that would give you two months before you would need to have another job. We’d share food and shit, so that wouldn’t cost as much.”

“Roommates,” she said again. Her tone was rather deadpan, but there was still a hint of ire underneath it.

“Right. It’s actually kind of perfect for me, too. I could use the help, I guess.” I had no f*cking clue what I was babbling about, but it seemed to be working.

“I’m still paying half the rent, though,” she said as she looked up at me. “I’m not negotiating on that.”

“Sure,” I said with a shrug. I really didn’t care if she paid rent or not. I was just glad she seemed to be considering it.

“What about the utilities?” She was just trying to come up with excuses now.

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Liam.” She sighed.

“Pay me back later. Whatever.”

“This just doesn’t sound right.”

“You wouldn’t have to quit school,” I reminded her. “You’ll have time to find a job that isn’t too far away, and then you can pay me back, or we’ll split the bills or whatever. It’s just temporary, you know?”

Holy shit, did I really just say that?

“You know, until you’re back on your feet.”

“Temporary,” she repeated softly.

Obviously, that made the plan sound a lot better to her, so I went with it.

“Just until you’re back on your feet with a new job, ya know? You could stay in school, and you wouldn’t have to go back to Maine. Once you’ve found another job, you can save up a bit and do whatever you want. “

Her eyes widened, and I had the feeling the tide had just turned.

“I’d pay half your rent for this next month, right?”

“Sure,” I said. “I mean—that helps me out, too, right? Not at all moochy.”

Tria looked up at me, and I could see her gaze darting between my eyes. Her mouth tightened a little as she kept looking at me intently as if she were trying to find the perfect answer written in my irises.

“Are you sure?” she asked.

“Positive.”

She nodded slightly then, and all the tension in my body flooded out so fast I was surprised I managed to keep myself from falling over.

“So, you’ll do it?” I felt the need to hear her say the actual words.

“If you are sure it’s okay,” Tria answered. “I don’t feel good about it.”

I was pretty sure I felt good enough about it for the both of us.

*****

I had been completely right about one thing: moving all her stuff out didn’t take a lot of time. It was a good thing, too. I went with Tria to tell the landlord she was moving out of her place and into mine, and I had the idea he would have been a lot shittier about it if I hadn’t been there. As it was, he was very insistent she be out pretty much immediately because he needed to move another section eight family in, or he wasn’t going to get something or other from the government next month. He basically gave her until three in the afternoon, or she wouldn’t get her deposit back.