The Roommate Agreement(19)

Ugh.

Damn it.

Not my business.

“Where could he be?” I asked, pushing a wisp of hair behind my ear. “Brie was drunk, and that doesn’t excuse what she accused him of, but it was pretty shitty behavior. I don’t know, Jay.”

“You think we should keep out of it?”

I hesitated. “They’re our best friends, but…”

He raised his eyebrows, lips tugging up at one side. “They’re adults and have to sort out their own relationship issues?”

“Something like that.” I deflated with a sigh. “Maybe try calling him. If he picks up, tell him Brie’s worried about him and wants to know he’s all right.”

“What if he doesn’t want to go home?”

“Then you can make up the sofa for him and bring me pizza to apologize for the unexpected house guest.”

He stared at me for a moment then burst into laughter. “You’ll use any excuse for pizza.”

“Wine would be good, too. And—”

“Oreos. I know.” His tiny smile became a full-fledged one that made his eyes light up.

My tummy flipped.

“Don’t worry. I’m on it.” He reached out and flicked my ear. “By the way, I think your scream deafened me.”

I wrinkled up my face as he headed for the door. “Yeah, well, seeing you naked scarred me, so we’re even.”

His laughter followed him out of the room.

I wished he’d taken my attraction to him with him.





CHAPTER EIGHT– JAY


Bras Do Not Live On The Sofa, Shelby



“You think you can handle it?” I turned my head to meet my new employee’s eyes.

Georgia nodded, her blond ponytail swaying as she held her finger out and pointed at everything on the counter. “Let the phone ring two times before answering, people coming for the first time need a forty-five-minute guided tour of the machines before they can go alone, the schedule for classes is in the calendar, and the price list is right here.” She finished by tapping the price list. “I got it. You can go for lunch. One hour alone isn’t going to kill me.”

“All right. Are you sure?”

“I have your number if there’s a problem.”

“I won’t be far. Just down the street. I can be back in two minutes.”

“Stop panicking!” She laughed. “It’s not like I’m here alone. Lisa’s over there and, uh…” She paused, her finger hovering in the direction of the tall, heavy-built black guy who was currently instructing a young woman on how to use the treadmills.

“Liam,” I said, lips twitching. “Lisa and Liam. Are you sure you can remember?”

“Yes. I’ll be fine.” She smiled at me.

“All right. See you soon.” I knocked on the counter and left the main floor of the gym, heading for the staff room and the lockers there to get my phone and wallet. Sean was already waiting for me in there, and he looked rough as hell.

“Took you long enough,” he grumbled, rubbing his hand through his hair.

“That’s a lot of thanks for someone who gave up his sofa and had to spent sixty bucks on pizza, wine, and Oreos for his grumpy roommate last night,” I retorted, tapping the combo for my locker in and opening the door. “I didn’t even get any of the pizza. She squirreled it away into her room before she went to your place and spent the night with Brie.”

He grunted.

“Still not talkin’ to her, huh?”

He followed me out to the staircase to the lower floor. “We spoke this morning. She’s going to her mom’s tonight because her grandma’s going over for dinner, so I guess we’ll talk tomorrow.”

“You guess you’ll talk?” I snorted and pushed open the glass gym doors. “You’ve been together for two years. You’ve lived together for six months. And you’re going to stop talking to each other because you were texting a woman you—actually, yeah, never mind. I think I might be on Brie’s side here.”

Sean groaned, shoving his hands in his pockets. “She assumed I was only texting her. I was texting my mom most of the time, and anyway, Georgia’s texts were completely innocent. She’d forgotten to write down her hours, and I was talking her through logging into the employee portal.”

“Did you tell Brie that?”

“While she was blind drunk? No. I fed her Advil and water and put her ass to bed.” He shuddered. “The more pissed she got at me, the more she drank. I told her I was texting my mom, but she didn’t listen.”

“Why were you texting your mom?”

“My grandpa’s in the hospital getting tests done. She didn’t get back until late the other night. It’s a three-hour drive either way, and she needed more clothes.” He shrugged.

“And you didn’t tell your long-term girlfriend that?”

He side-eyed me. “If I did, would I be here bitchin’ about it to you?”

“You could try calling her and telling her, you know. It won’t kill you.”

“Yeah, but I don’t know what’s up with him yet.”

“And you think keeping it a secret is going to make it better?”