Roommate Arrangement (Divorced Men's Club #1)(46)

“What do you write?” he asks.

“I thought I already said.” I did. I mentioned it at least once this week when he messaged to ask what I was doing. “Fantasy.”

“Ah, nice. Like Game of Thrones?”

I’m so sick of that comparison. So I decide to fuck with him. “More like Harry Potter. Or Twilight.”

“Ah.” Now he doesn’t look so impressed.

And I hope he never plans to read my books because I say, “Oh, yeah, it’s the full-on chosen one trope. Barry Trotter is obsessed with Eddy Carlisle, and they go to magic school together, and—oh, there’s dragons. And a giant centipede. And at one point, Eddy’s decapitated, and Barry has to do a spell to stick his head back on, but it always chooses the most random moments to pop back off and roll across the ground.”

The people at the table beside us are looking at me in horror, and Lee’s clearly confused, but I’m past caring.

“That sounds … interesting.”

“Sells like hotcakes.”

He clears his throat. “There’s a market for everything, isn’t there?”

“Including dinoporn.”

“Dino …” He scrambles for his drink. “Umm … that’s fascinating. Hey, did I tell you about that time at work Marty and I had that battle with the office across the street? Where we’d send the other—”

“The most disgusting lunch dishes you could find, and the ones who bowed out of eating it first had to pay for the others to go on a golf retreat?”

“A couple of times, huh?” He tilts a bashful expression my way.

Like, six, but who’s counting?

“So what’s the deal with Payne?” he asks. “I know you said you’ve never dated, but he was … I don’t want to say rude, but …”

But he was rude. Payne wasn’t happy to see Lee, and that should piss me off a lot more than it does. Payne doesn’t know Lee, so the only reason I can think of for him to not like Lee is me. It makes me hopeful that there’s something there even when it really shouldn’t. Because if he’s jealous, even the smallest, slightest bit jealous, that means I might actually have a chance. One day in the future when he’s moved on from his divorce, could something actually happen?

I’d wait my whole life to find out.

“He’s protective of me,” I lie. Though … it’s not really a lie, is it? Protective might be a strong word, but Payne has my back a lot.

“I think he has feelings for you.”

I almost laugh because Lee doesn’t need to worry about that. And not only because I don’t have feelings for Lee, but if Payne wanted anything with me, he already knows it’s on the table. “Payne’s my roommate. That’s it.”

“Well, I won’t pretend that’s not a relief.” He tries for a smile again, but I’m not feeling it. I’m not feeling any of this. I should be. I should be focused on him and not picking at the things I don’t like, but looking for the things I do like instead.

So, Lee has some outdated thoughts when it comes to publishing—that’s not a big thing. All it would take is a quick Google search to show him where he’s mistaken. And the food thing? Next time I’ll tell him I don’t like hot things.

I remind myself I need to make an effort, but I can’t stop thinking of Payne. Is he actually waiting up? What’s he doing right now? If I was at home, would I be cuddled up next to him, his heavy arm resting in my lap as I draw over his skin? Before I can stop myself, I find myself asking Lee the same question I asked Payne the other day.

“So, hypothetical. If a twenty-five-hundred-pound dragon jumped from the top of my apartment building, would it have enough time to unfurl its wings and take flight, or would it crash to the ground, creating a massive crater?”

Lee opens his mouth, then snaps it closed again. “Umm, Beau? Weren’t we talking about Payne?”

“Oh, I thought we were done with that.”

He gives me a pitying look. “I’d like to continue with it, if you don’t mind.”

“Sure, but dragon question first.”

“Why? Is it important?” And then he gives me the look. The look that clearly says he worries about my sanity. The look I get at least once over the course of a date and is usually the sign I take that it’s time for us to take off, hook up, and call it a night. But I don’t want to hook up with Lee.

“I, umm, need to piss.” I drop my fork onto my almost full plate and head for the bathrooms. I need any excuse to get out of here, so when I reach the hall for the bathrooms, I pass them and turn another corner, where I pause to pull out my phone.

My first instinct is to call Marty, but Lee is his friend, and he’ll only encourage me to give him more of a chance. So instead, I hit Call on Payne’s number.

“’Lo?”

“Payne?”

“Ohh … it’s Bo-Bo …”

Jesus fuck. “Are you drunk?”

“Bit tipsy, yeah. Don’t worry, I’ll buy you another bottle of scotch.”

That’s not the part I’m worried about. “Do you have someone over? Or are you drinking alone?”

“Alone. But why are you alone? Where’s Liam?”