Page 31

Kota

“M om, really, it’s okay,” I said into the phone as I walked down the hall to our apartment. I had the phone tucked between my ear and my shoulder, my bag slung over my opposite shoulder while I clutched onto Rob K.

“Are you sure you’re okay with this? I feel like I’m ditching you.”

“You’re not ditching me,” I laughed.

I’d gone over to my moms to spend Thanksgiving with her. I was originally going to stay for the weekend, but when she got a call from the new guy she’d been seeing, asking if she wanted to go to his cabin with him for the weekend, I convinced her to take the offer.

The truth was, my mom had a lot of men in line for her while I was growing up, but nothing ever came out of any of those relationships. Not because they didn’t have the potential to, but more so because of me.

I was one menace of a kid, that’s for sure. Either I was purposefully such a brat to the men that they couldn’t stand me, or I told my mom I didn’t like them.

To this day, I wasn’t entirely sure why I did it. But I assumed it was probably a mixture of my trust issues with men and being jealous of someone else taking my mother’s attention.

Now that I was older and was able to see how shitty it was of me to do that to my mom, I encouraged her to talk to men and go on dates as much as possible. My mom was my favorite person on the planet, and I wanted her to have the most fulfilling, enjoyable life possible.

Even if that did mean sharing her on Thanksgiving.

“Do you promise you’re okay with this?” my mom asked again.

“I promise,” I assured. “How many times are you gonna ask?”

“As many times as possible before you hang up.”

I chuckled, struggling to pull my key out of my purse as I approached our door. “In that case, I’m gonna hang up now.”

She sighed. “Alright. Well, you have a good night, sweetie. Call or text me if you change your mind and I’ll come home right away.”

“Not gonna happen,” I said with a smile. “Love you, Mama. Have fun!”

“Love you too, Kota girl.”

I pushed the door open, grappling with everything in my hands. I immediately set Rob K down and watched him scurry off. When I stood back up, realizing that there was noise surrounding me, I could feel my spine stiffen to stone as the blood drained from my face.

Crew was sitting on the couch, his eyes glued to me, mouth slightly parted.

“What are you doing here?” I spit out, letting my bag fall off my shoulder and plop onto the floor.

“Uh,” his brows came in, “what are you doing here?”

“I thought you were going to your parents?” I accused.

He raised a brow, challenging me. “I thought you were staying at your moms?”

My jaw tensed in the slightest. “Change of plans.”

“Same here,” he said.

I rocked back and forth on my heels awkwardly. “Are you... gonna be here all weekend then?”

“Yep.”

Shit.

“Alriiight,” I dragged, glancing around. “In that case... I’ll be in my room.” I could feel Crew’s eyes on me as I hurried towards the hall, and just before I managed to reach it, Crew spoke again, causing me to come to a sudden halt.

“Hey.”

I stood silently, the intensity of his stare burning into my skin. His shoulders weren’t tense with animosity like I’d seen them hundreds of times before. They were relaxed, along with every muscle in his body. He leaned forward, resting his forearms casually on his knees.

“Are you alright?” he suddenly asked.

My brows furrowed for a moment. “I’m fine, yeah... What do you mean?”

“I mean, after last week.”

All of a sudden, awkwardness hit me like a truck. We hadn’t really spoken about the whole Bobby thing since he showed up at our apartment and was impolitely greeted by Crew.

“Yeah,” I blew out with a deep breath. “I’m fine. Thanks.”

He gave a single nod as I turned and dashed to my room.

***

I stayed in my room for most of the next day, pleased to do absolutely nothing.

I gave myself the day off from studying or doing anything around the house, even though my room was a mess and could use some elbow grease.

After watching a movie, scrolling through social media, and reading one of the slutty books I borrowed from Bridget, I figured it was time to make some food. I’d only been snacking throughout the day, and since I didn’t cook often during the week because I was normally so busy, I figured tonight would be a good time to make one of the many recipes that Lane and Bridget had been recommending.

I forced myself to get out of bed, bribing myself with the thought of food. I tiptoed down the hall, peeking around carefully to make sure Crew wasn’t in the common areas.

I hadn’t seen him a single time today, which was fine with me. He’d been so much more civil ever since his birthday. It wasn’t that I was mad about it; I just felt kind of awkward.

Quite honestly, I wasn’t sure how to act around him. I was so used to arguing with him, showing him the worst versions of myself, and shooting irate glares every time we were in the same vicinity. Now that we were being decent to each other, I felt like I was in a foreign country whenever I was near him.

With a deep sigh, I rolled up my sleeves and got to work cooking. I wasn’t totally sure what I was even making; I was just following the recipe.

After fifteen or so minutes of prepping, I finally stuck the chicken in the oven and set a timer before toppling onto the couch.

My eyes slowly fluttered to a close, and the next thing I knew, I was being jolted awake by the sound of the timer going off.

I rushed into the kitchen and took the chicken out, and I’d be damned if I said it didn’t smell like Heaven. I couldn’t get some on a plate fast enough, cutting it into tiny pieces so that it would cool off quicker.

“What’s that?”

An ear-ringing screech left my mouth as I jumped, seeing Crew standing behind me, glancing over my shoulder. My hand found its way to my chest in a poor attempt to ease my hammering heart. “What the hell!”

“What?”

“Don’t scare me like that!”

“Sorry,” he shrugged nonchalantly. “What’s that?”

I sighed, stepping away from him. “Some recipe Lane and Bridget gave me.”

“Mmm,” he hummed with a nod. “It’s probably good then.”

“Probably,” I agreed, giving him a side eye.

He gave out a casual whistle, glancing around like he was waiting for me to offer him some. I watched him quietly, wanting to set him on fire more and more as the seconds ticked by. I was trying to hold back a smartass retort, because after all, he did help me out last week. But it was hard to be nice to him when he was being impossibly annoying.

Not to mention, being stuck alone with him for the weekend while he was being impossibly annoying.

Finally, I let out a sigh, the words leaving my mouth as if they were getting reluctantly ripped out. “Do you want some?”

He showed off a dimple as he gave a charming smile, and if I was any woman other than myself, my panties probably would’ve been on the floor.

“Sure. How nice of you to offer,” he joked.

I rolled my eyes, grabbing my plate and taking a seat at the kitchen island. Crew shoveled the biggest piece of chicken there was onto a plate, then took it to the couch.

We didn’t speak after that.

That was enough interaction between us to last the rest of the night.