Total pages in book: 50
Estimated words: 51243 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 256(@200wpm)___ 205(@250wpm)___ 171(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51243 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 256(@200wpm)___ 205(@250wpm)___ 171(@300wpm)
“Can we also set a rule for not walking around in nothing but briefs, too?”
I looked down, realizing that I hadn’t put on anything before coming out here.
“An oversight on my part,” I said, noticing she was still staring—her nipples standing at full attention under her thin shirt. “It won’t happen again.”
“Good.”
“Since I’m already out here, though…” I moved past her and turned on the coffee maker.
“I was about to make some for myself.”
“‘About to’ isn’t a real thing,” I said. “But if you ask me nicely, maybe I’ll consider making some for you, too.”
“I don’t trust you not to poison it.”
“You honestly think I would risk going to prison for you?”
“You might.”
“I won’t,” I said. “You like it with lots of cinnamon and caramel, right?”
“No…” She frowned. “Yes.”
I opened the cabinets, expecting to see what I saw when I was in here hours ago for dinner, but there was a long stretch of yellow tape running down the middle of the shelf. And there were labels on everything: Do not touch, Mr. Taylor’s, Miss Parker’s, Not for football players, and Not Yours.
What the… I looked over my shoulder at her.
“You have my permission to touch the cinnamon if you don’t have any.” She avoided my gaze. “But you can’t use my stevia packets. Those are expensive.”
“If you’re going to be this petty with me, we’re going to have a problem, Audrey.”
“You mean ‘another’ problem,” she said. “We had millions between us long before we came here.”
She had a point, but I didn’t feel like reminding her of her “we never knew each other” spiel from earlier.
“Fine.” I grabbed her labeled sweeteners and made the coffee without saying another word.
I carried mine to my room and downed it in one gulp. And at the thought of Audrey in that T-shirt, her nipples hardening as her eyes met mine … I took the longest cold shower of my life—and it still wasn’t fucking cold enough.
TRACK 10. I KNEW YOU WERE TROUBLE (3:54)
AUDREY
Omg! HELP! I’m in HELL.
Where have you BEEN today?
Pick up your phone, Cece!!!
Ibalanced my laptop on my knees and searched for “how to be cordial with someone you despise” before calling Cecelia for what had to be attempt number twenty.
It rang once.
It rang twice.
“What the hell, Audrey?” she answered.
“Well, finally!” I said. “I could’ve been dying in the hospital and you would’ve been the last to know.”
“You’re so dramatic. You should’ve totally pursued acting.”
“I could’ve been dead!”
“It’s four in the morning, Audreyyyy.” She whined. “Are you actually dying right now?”
“No, but it sounds like you are.” I paused. “Have you been drinking?”
“Um, duh. Hold on for a second...” The line went silent for several seconds, and then I heard the sound of a potato chip bag crinkling.
I didn’t have to be there to know it was a bag of Hot Cheetos that she would soon mix with Sour Patch Bears “just because.”
“Now that you’ve interrupted my sobering-up process,” she said, “what do you want?”
“It’s my roommate,” I said. “I haven’t had the chance to talk to you about it at all.”
“I told you to reach out beforehand.” She munched on chips. “Does he give off serial-killer vibes or something?”
“No, he’s—”
“I danced with this guy who was wearing a Freddy Krueger mask tonight,” she interrupted. “I could feel something pretty impressive back there. Oh! And next time you’re home, I have to take you to this new ‘candy and shots’ bar at happy hour.”
I gave up on talking to her when she was drunk; she wouldn’t remember most of whatever I said anyway.
“You miss me, huh?” she asked. “Is that why you’ve been calling so much tonight?”
“Yeah.” I held back a sigh. “That’s it.”
“Well, I miss you too, cousin!” There was a smile in her voice. “I’ll try to come visit in a month or so.”
“I would love that.”
“Bzzz! Bzzz! Bzzz!” She buzzed like a bee. “Guess who just got a brain alert?”
She probably won’t be sober for another two days…
“Uh, hello?” she asked. “Are you there?”
“Not for long…”
“Aunt Lydia got some royalty checks from your parents’ old publisher,” she said. “They were mailed to her address for some reason. Want me to pick them up, or do you want her to hold them?”
“You can pick them up whenever you get a chance,” I said. “Preferably on a weekday with no parties.”
“Of course. Well, now that we’ve established that we miss each other, can I go back to sleep?”
“Sure.”
“Wait a minute.” She gasped, then softly giggled like a schoolgirl. “Can I say something and you promise you won’t get mad?”
“No.”
“I’ll tell you anyway. You remember your friend, Taylor Wolff?”
“No, and he wasn’t my friend.”
“So, you do remember him?”
“Barely.”
“Okay, good,” she said. “Now, please don’t kill me, but my friend Mitchell and I were watching some old college highlight show the other day, and Taylor is soooo fucking hot now. Like, I swear, if I didn’t know him through you, I would—”