Page 21 of The Hardest Fall

Life was a tricky bitch sometimes.

Lightly knocking on her door three times, I relaxed against the frame and waited.

Zoe opened the door—only slightly—and her head peeked through the opening.

“Yes?”

“I thought we should talk.”

“About?”

“About this whole thing. If we’re going to live together, we should get to know each other. At the very least, I should know more about you than just your first name—your last name to start, perhaps?”

“What do you need my last name for?” She looked back over her shoulder. “It’s eleven thirty, getting a little late—maybe we could do that tomorrow?”

I bet she’d have loved to just avoid me altogether. Unfortunately for her, I wasn’t going anywhere.

“Are you going to bed?”

Holding on to the door, she worried her bottom lip with her teeth. For the first time since answering the door, she looked up at me as she grudgingly answered. “Not yet.”

Taking my hands out of my pockets, I straightened. “Come on. I’ll ask you a few questions, you’ll ask me a few, then we’ll both go to bed and rest a bit easier about our new situation.” Already walking away from her, I added over my shoulder, “Not to mention, I’ll be reassured that you’re not going to try to attack me with a rolling pin in my sleep.”

Hearing her mutter something under her breath, I let her follow me at her own pace. When I glanced back over my shoulder, she was pulling on the hem of her shirt, looking down at her feet.

“Clarke,” she mumbled, her gaze still fixed on the hardwood floor as she stood in the middle of the living room. This time, she spoke loud enough for me to hear.

I turned back. “Sorry?”

“My last name…it’s Clarke.”

“See, that wasn’t so bad, now, was it?” I gave her a quick grin, which she chose to ignore. “Mine is Reed.”

“I know. Everybody knows your name.”

“Oh? I remember you telling me that the second time we met. You a football fan? Come to any of our games?” Since she and her family were close to Coach—close enough that they shared an apartment, apparently—I thought maybe she’d attend the games with them.

“Not really.”

Her gaze briefly met mine then darted around the room as she tried to decide where to move to.

I had to be quick before she rounded the couch and saw the object of my first official ‘getting to know my roommate’ question. “My first question is…” I reached down to grab the unexpected find and turned to face Zoe. “Should I prepare myself to find more stuff like this innocently laying around the place? Or is this the only one?” Her jaw slowly dropped open, and even though I was trying my best to sound as serious as I could, the horror on her face was too much. I lost it and laughed. “You should see your face, Zoe Clarke.”

Her gaze was locked on the pink, ten-inch vibrator held loosely in my hand, which seemed to have all the bells and whistles. “Oh my God,” she managed to say, all breathless. “Fuck.”

“Yeah, I believe that’s what it is generally used for.” I was already having more fun than I’d expected to have on my first night with her. “So, I’m gonna take a wild guess and say you forgot you dropped it between the couch cushions and that’s not your usual hiding place?”

“It’s not mine,” she croaked out, walking toward me in quick steps. The familiar pink had risen in her cheeks again. I handed her the embarrassing item before she could start a tug of war and watched her carefully pluck it from my hand with two fingers.

My smile grew bigger. “There is nothing to be ashamed of. Masturbating is healthy.”

The light flush on her cheeks seemed to spread more by the second. After giving me a death glare, she walked away without a second glance.

I chuckled to myself. I wouldn’t have put it past her to lock herself in her room and not come back out. It seemed plausible at the time since it was kind of our thing—her blushing and promptly running away. It didn’t matter that I didn’t know anything but her name. When she did actually emerge from her room—which I had not expected her to do—there were no vibrators in sight, but that pink flush was still clinging to her pale skin, making the bright green of her eyes stand out more.

“It’s not mine,” she repeated as she took a seat and tucked her hands under her thighs. “I’m an art major focused in photography. I take photos to make extra money. It’s my job, and that was one of the five vibrators I had to take pictures of for a girl who has a blog. I have no idea how I managed to leave that one behind.” I must have given her a look that pretty much conveyed what I was thinking—bullshit—because her eyes narrowed on me. “Don’t look at me like that. Look around—there are no drapes in this place, so if that was mine, I’d have to…use it right where you are sitting. I’m not an exhibitionist. I’m not about to do it right in front of an open window—not that it’s any of your business if or where I do it at all…” She sighed and rubbed her eyes with her fingers. “I’m just going to shut up now so you can ask whatever it is you want to ask to feel safe in your bed tonight. Then when it’s over, I’ll run back to my room so I can scream into my pillow and pretend tonight never happened.”