Page 22 (2/2)

“Maybe another time”

His hands frisked around to my stomach, and normally I’d accept that kind of action—initiate it, even—but for some reason I couldn’t shake Hot Boy’s rejection

I was more of an emotional train wreck than even I’d realized Despite Ella re day

And just as I was chastisingup with his friend, I heard Hot Boy’s low rumble of a voice “Give it a rest, Nate She said she was leaving, and I’m pretty sure that means without you”

I blinked in shock Maybe he’d noticed me after all

His friend backed aith his hands raised And then turned to the keg

Hot Boy gave ood?” “Yeah, thanks”

Wait aall chivalrous And the boys I hooked up ere so not chivalrous

Hot Boy nodded before turning on his heels and heading out of the roo on the cold hard tile

Chivalrous Hot Boy was so not into me

I walked the two blocks back to my apartment alone

I tossed and turned, i across my skin

My cell phoned buzzed froht

Chapter Two

I stepped out of the shower and slid intohootten ree at the local university, which was only five blocks away and was the exact reason I had chosen this apart, only five floors, with two apartments on each level There was one laundry rooedElla toat home

Andalone was for the best The rent was cheap, and I’d become a creature of habit

We’d probably only get on each other’s nerves Besides, she crashed at h

My phone buzzed from the bathroom counter and I saasmust’ve been up Maybe she had broken up with her latest assle and needed consolation Too bad I wouldn’t be giving it to her Not since she acted like what had happened with Ti it on how I dressed around him

I told ain

“Mo to be late for work”

She was in tears and wanted to useboard No surprise there I only talked to her to keep tabs on h school

“What happened—did what’s-his-name dump you?”

“No, I du on me one too many times”

Phone calls with Mouys If you ree of your life, they couldn’t mess with your head or put their hands on you without your permission Not anymore Love was only a ridiculous fairy tale that was never satisfying, warm, or safe

Only I could provide e around my heart

“Maybe this is a good time for you to take a break from men Focus on Adaoing to hteen, too” I was always nervous about how h the house Would he become an assle male, too?

I’d had heart-to-hearts with hi on at home I hadn’t told him about what happened with Tim—at least not the worst part of it Ella was the only one who knew everything If you didn’t count the people who regularly denied it: Mom and Tim

“Honey, you’re twenty-one It’s high tiood man”

“I told you I can take care of ood men out there Exceptthe sairl for the last fewprotection The last thing he needed was to support a baby But he’d told me he’d stick by her if that happened That he was in love

I wasn’t sure how my brother had come out of that household unscathed But I was afraid that he was such a good soul, he’d be taken advantage of by someone

“I know you can But s I hate to think about you spending your life alone”

And that’s when I needed to get off the phone When h she herself was so device for losers, cheaters, and liars Men who either mooched off her, rent-free, or paid her bills as hush money

“Okay, Moet to work Talk to you later”

My blond waves were damp and unruly, so I pulled them back in a low ponytail I trailed mascara over my translucent lashes to help my eyes stand out and so I wouldn’t look twelve years old That way the families of our residents wouldn’t think they could boss me around with their crazy-ass requests I concealed the freckles on the bridge of loss

Noenty-one-year-old woman stared back at h school, but my butt and chest weren’t as filled out as I would have liked My boobs were finally a solid B cup, but the rest of me still looked too boyish

Not that the men I ith cared about any of that They were in it for the sa I was—a quick release of sexual frustration I could goit, but ood for fast relief, but he wouldn’t be ative him

The sunlight strea that I decided to walk the three blocks to work today As I was headed out the front door of e U-Haul pulled up to the curb One of the apartments on the fifth floor had been vacant for the last twouy who lived on the fifth floor was a pilot and rarely there, so the washer remained unused

Two guys stepped out of the truck, and as one rounded the corner, I al sneakers He didn’t have his red ball cap on today, and his messy hair fell into his warm brown eyes

No fking way

He stared athis face At the party last night, I’d heard hi, but never in a uessed it was to

My head down, I kept walking, equally eht

Nothing like the prospect of a day spent with geriatrics to sober oodness the friend with hirabbed my waist “Hey,” he said I turned and faced hi sneakers “You’reum

do you live here?”