Shattered Ties(51)

“Yes, you are. Tell me.”

“I don’t know how I’m going to feel when I see where you live.”

“You’re an idiot. A house is just a house.”

“Try saying that from my position.”

She slammed on the brakes and brought the car to a dead stop right in the middle of the road. I grabbed the dash as I flew forward.

“What the hell was that for?”

“You listen to me, Jesse Daniels! I don’t give a shit about where you live. I’ve told you that a million times, and you still don’t believe me. When are you going to realize that I’m telling the truth?”

“Okay, okay. I believe you. Jesus.”

“You better,” she growled as she started driving again.

We pulled up to her house a few minutes later. Damn. It was bigger than I’d expected. It was dark out, so I couldn’t see much, and I was secretly glad.

I didn’t need to feel worse about the differences in our situations.

“This is it.”

“Wow,” I said as she parked in a garage connected to the house. Correction—it wasn’t a house. It was a mansion. I really hated my life right about now.

“Come on, I need to get your passport stuff sent in.”

I followed her through a door that led inside the house. She flipped on a few lamps as she went so that we could see. The grandeur of the place completely amazed me. Her living room alone was bigger than my entire house. It, along with the rest of the house that I’d seen so far, had polished hardwood floors. The couch and the matching love seat were both a bright white that I would be afraid to sit on in fear of getting them dirty.

Surprisingly, there was no TV in the room.

“Where’s your TV?” I asked as I followed her out of the room and up a set of steps.

“That’s the sitting room, so it doesn’t have one. The room beside it does though,” she said.

“Fuck me,” I said under my breath.

After we made it to the top of the stairs, we walked down a hallway.

She stopped at the door at the end of the hall. “This is my room.”

I walked into the room behind her, and then I stopped in my tracks. Her room was almost as large as the first one we’d passed through downstairs. She had a massive California king–size bed against the far wall. There was a computer desk to the left of the door that was piled high with books and notebooks as well as a laptop and printer. A massive mirror was hanging on the wall between her bed and a dresser. Other than that, the room was noticeably empty. There were no pictures or knickknacks to be seen anywhere. I’d been in enough girls’ rooms to know that this wasn’t normal.

“Where are your pictures and stuff? I’ve never seen a room so bare in my life.”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I just never put up anything.”

“It’s like you don’t even live here.”

“Most of the time, it feels like I don’t. Sure, I go to sleep in this bed most nights, but I don’t consider this home.”

“And where do you consider home?”

“I haven’t figured that out just yet, but I will someday.”

“You’re so strange. As soon as I think I have you figured out, you do or say something that completely blows my mind.”

“I like to keep it interesting.”

“Trust me, you do.”

“Make yourself at home while I send this stuff in for your passport.”

“Sounds good to me.” I walked over to her bed and fell down onto it. It was like I was lying on a cloud. I wasn’t sure that I would be able to sleep in my own bed ever again after spending the night in this one.

I watched as she scanned the forms into her computer. After she scanned them and uploaded a picture, she sent the email out to whoever her contact was. She wasn’t paying any attention to me, and I took full advantage of that to watch her. Jesus, she has a body to kill. When we weren’t in school, she constantly wore those tiny little shorts of hers and a tank top, showing just enough skin to drive me wild. I wanted her so f*cking bad. Apparently, my body agreed because I had to adjust myself to hide how turned-on I was just by lying on her bed and watching her.

I needed a shower, preferably one that was on the cold side. I didn’t want her to think that I was only after one thing. I’m not, honest. I just couldn’t help how I responded to her.

“You mind if I take a shower while you finish up?” I asked.

“Of course not! The bathroom is the door next to my room. There should be towels and everything in there.”

“Great. Thanks.” I stood and walked to the door, trying to angle my body away from where she could see what was happening downstairs. Damn it, I need that shower now. Sleeping next to her tonight is going to be hell.

“You know what? There’s no guy stuff in there, but I think my mom had the maids put some stuff in the guest shower downstairs. I’ll go check and see.”

She passed me as I walked into the bathroom.

It was huge, just like every other room in this house. I found a towel and hung it on the holder next to the shower. The shower was surrounded completely by frosted glass, and I slid the door open carefully, afraid to break something. I fiddled with the controls to get the water running, cursing the fact that she didn’t have a shower with knobs, like normal people. When I finally managed to get the water on and to the right temperature, I slipped out of my clothes and stepped into the shower. Despite the cold temperature I’d set it on, the water felt like heaven as it fell across my skin.