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“They work!” she insisted as I shoved her out the door.
“It’s a way to meet serial killers,” I said, shutting the door. But her hand shot out and stopped me from closing it.
“You know, I think you’re trying to get rid of me.”
“I am.”
“That’s not nice,” she pouted in that fake way that always got to me. “I just came by to check on you. Besides, this is my property. You can’t kick me out.”
“I know, but if you stay, I’m going to start talking to you about the next group of students that are coming to school next year.”
She tossed her hands up as she hustled to the stairs. “Enough said. I’m leaving.”
“I love you!” I shouted.
“Kiss, kiss!” she waved, before tottering across the gravel to her car. She changed cars as often as boyfriends. Right now, she was on a sports car kick, though I wasn’t sure why. She would never drive with the top down and ruin her hair.
I waved to her as she backed down the driveway, then shut the door and groaned, sliding down to my butt.
“She scares me,” Lee said, scaring the shit out of me.
I pressed my hand to my chest, trying to calm my racing heart. “Shit, Lee! You scared the crap out of me.”
“I walk like the dead,” she reminded me. She descended the stairs, never making a sound as her black boots took one stair after another. I still hadn’t figured out how she moved so silently, and one of these days, she was going to sneak up on me and I was going to murder her. “I’m going to the bar. Don’t wait up.”
“I won’t,” I promised, standing to move out of her way.
“If I don’t see you again, have a nice life.”
Then the door shut and the two craziest people I knew were gone. The sad part was, if I spent too much time with either of them, I might end up the same way. That was a terrifying thought.
3
DASH
“You got it?”I asked, squeezing a handful of groceries through the space between the doorway and the couch.
“Yeah,” Brock grunted.
I felt the relief in my fingers as he took the plastic bags from me. That was the last of the groceries, so at least we’d have something to eat tonight. I climbed over the couch and stepped foot inside my new house. Well, my new house with Brock. I didn’t mind sharing for now. Neither of us needed a house to ourselves and since construction stalled with a shortage of building materials, it was the best answer for both of us.
“Why the fuck did you get sodium-free broth?” Brock shouted.
I turned just in time to catch the can he whipped at me like a football. I looked at the can, shrugging when I saw the label. “So, we add salt. Big deal.”
“Big deal?” he said, his eyebrows shooting up. “It’s a huge deal. What if we don’t get the salt-to-broth ratio correct? Do you have any idea how it’ll taste?”
“I would imagine either not very flavorful or way too salty.” I tossed the can back at him, grinning when he jumped in the air,catching it with only one hand. “Who gets the master bedroom?” I asked.
“You can have it. I don’t give a shit.”
“Cool.” I took the stairs two at a time to check out my new digs. The bedroom was huge, but the bathroom was even better, if you were really concerned about how much space you had in a bathroom. This was going to eat at him, which would give me some bargaining power.
I whistled to myself as I walked downstairs, picking out my spot for my leather recliner.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Deciding where I want to put my chair.” I grabbed the chair that was pushed against the wall and pulled it across the floor until it was in the perfect position.