Page 28

28

LANE

A slamming sound jolts me awake.

There’s a pinch of discomfort in my neck. I roll my shoulder to relieve it, and that’s when I realize what I’m sleeping on doesn’t feel like my bed at all.

There’s another slamming sound, just to my left, and it doesn’t sound like anything that should be in my room, either.

That’s when I realize I didn’t fall asleep in my bed last night. The last thing I can remember, I came downstairs and ended up binge watching a Korean drama with Scarlett.

I open my eyes. My breath hitches, because the first thing I see is Scarlett’s rich, chocolate-brown hair feathered over my shoulder and cascading down my arm.

Speaking of that arm, her breast is pressed against it, feeling so fucking heavenly that I could die right now and have no complaints.

My forearm rests on her lap, right on top of her warm, soft thigh, and suddenly I realize my cock is a hard rod behind my boxer briefs.

We must have fallen asleep in the early hours of the morning. We’ve ended up pressed together, her left side leaning against my right side, while we slept sitting up.

“Ya’ll up?” Tuck asks from the kitchen, his voice sounding booming to my morning ears.

“Yeah,” I answer, my voice husky with sleep. “I’m up.” I crack my neck.

Scarlett starts to stir next to me. Panic flashes through my chest, because I don’t want her eyes to open and immediately be greeted by the outline of my pulsing cock behind my underwear. I grab a throw pillow and press it into my lap as she rubs her eyes and yawns.

When she straightens up, the sensation of her hair feathering over my arm as she pulls her head away from my shoulder sends sparks dancing over my skin. The feeling sure doesn’t help the throbbing cock under the pillow situation I’m working with.

I try to focus on how cold the right side of my body feels now that it’s deprived of her warmth, hoping that something negative might slow the rush of blood below my waist.

Scarlett stretches out her arms on another yawn, and I have to try really hard not to gawk at her tits as her chest pushes forward.

“Do you remember what episode we got to last night?” She asks.

A smile rises on my lips. “Thirty minutes into episode four. You fell asleep.”

“You paused it?”

“Finishing it alone felt wrong.”

She grins, and the way it looks on her sleepy face makes my heart do a somersault. “Should we finish it after class today?”

“It’s a date.”

To that, Tuck says wryly from the kitchen, “Sure sounds like one.”

When I get home after my last class, I find Scarlett sitting on the couch. Sebastian’s next to her. And he’s not wearing a shirt.

My nostrils flare. An unpleasant feeling prickles over my skin.

Sebastian’s one of my best friends, but seeing him naked in front of Scarlett last night made me want to drive my fist through his face.

Seeing him shirtless next to her doesn’t invoke quite that level of hostility. It’s more like I just want to pick him up by his ankles and toss him across the room. Preferably to the furthest corner away from Scarlett.

He shouldn’t be making our one girl roommate feel uncomfortable by being around her in various states of undress.

Yeah, that’s it. That’s why I don’t like him bearing his skin around her. I’m gonna hold on tight to that rationalization.

Sebastian glances over his shoulder as I shut the door. “Yo, Lane. Just showing Scarlett how much ass I kick at Fallaway ,” he says, referencing a side-scroller video game.

“Yeah, well, save your game, because Scarlett and I have an appointment with the TV.”

“That’s right, Seb,” Scarlett says. There’s really something wrong with me, because just hearing her call him that nickname has a knot of jealousy tugging inside me. “ Lie to My Heart takes precedence over video games.”

Just then, the refrigerator door shuts, and I realize Tuck had his head shoved into it. “What episode ya’ll on?” he asks before stuffing half of a leftover Italian sub into his mouth.

“Thirty minutes into episode four,” Scarlett calls from the couch.

Tuck’s mouth forms into an O shape. “Aw, shit. Wait ‘til you see what happens at the end of episode five.”

“No spoilers, bro,” I tell him.

“I’d never spoil a show as good as Lie to My Heart . You know me better than that, Captain.”

If I ever admitted how glad I am that Tuck and Sebastian leave to give Scarlett and me alone time to watch the show, they’d be ragging on me for the rest of my life.

But I am glad. I like this to just be something Scarlett and I do together. Just our thing.

I find myself hoping that this show has lots of episodes.

We finish the episode Scarlett fell asleep during and then watch the next three before Scarlett concedes with a groan that she needs to start working on an essay for her English class.

I’m scrounging in the kitchen for a snack when I hear Sebastian walk up behind me. A residual pang of the protectiveness I felt seeing him shirtless next to Scarlett pulls in my chest.

I feel the square above my nose crinkle as my brows draw together of their own accord.

I turn to Sebastian, crossing my arms in front of me. “Sebastian, we should talk.”

Sebastian pours himself a glass of orange juice, unfazed. “Yeah, go ahead.”

“We have a female roommate now.”

He quirks an eyebrow at me. “Uh. Yeah. I’m aware.”

“So, we shouldn’t make her uncomfortable. By that I mean, we should wear shirts around the house. And not walk around naked. And definitely not flirt with her, or even say anything that might be misconstrued as flirting. And definitely, we shouldn’t even think about hooking up with her. I’m not saying you are, but just in case. We need to make sure we’re treating her like one of us, so she feels at home, but at the same time respectfully, so she isn’t uncomfortable. So, like, if you have a thing for her, it wouldn’t be cool to act on it, you know?”

Holy shit, I’m totally rambling. The words are just flying out of my mouth, each one of them dripping with my own insecurities.

Sebastian’s expression is blank for a couple seconds as he looks at me. Then, he throws his head back and laughs.

Peals of laughter continue to flow from his open mouth as he leans against the kitchen island, like I’ve just told the most hilarious joke imaginable.

“Oh, man,” Sebastian says, taking a deep breath to steady himself and wiping a tear of laughter from the corner of his eye. “I mean, I like Scarlett. She’s hot, and she’s a cool girl. But you?” His eyes take my measure, and he laughs again. “You’re screwed.”

He shakes his head wryly while he clasps my shoulder walking past. “Don’t worry, bro. I’ll keep my shirt on.”