Dear Roomie (Rookie Rebels #5) - Kate Meader Page 0,54
fine after they fired her.”
“Good work, Jorgenson.” Kaminski offered the high-five, and Reid came this close to intercepting it. Not good work, Jorgenson. Bad work.
That conversation with Kennedy a few days ago came to mind: he’d offered to, well, fuck her when the season was over and she said it probably wouldn’t work. Because she might have already slept with someone he knew. Like Bast. Or a Rebels teammate.
And why wasn’t she asking Reid to hit the coffee shop for her show-and-tell? He went there every day!
“Still doesn’t solve Durand’s problem,” Theo said. “He has a hot woman in his apartment exactly at the time he doesn’t need a hot woman in his apartment.”
“I do need her.” Before he could get pissed at Foreman for another knowing look, he added, “for my dog. What I don’t need is to make my apartment into fucking Antarctica just so she can overdress and keep me from going into a blue ball toxic shock whenever she walks around the place she’s living in. We’ve already discussed it.”
“So it is a problem!” Kershaw pointed dramatically and searched the faces of the rest of the crew for consensus.
Jesus. There was a reason he didn’t do this buddy-buddy shit. All the conversations devolved into this nonsense. Yet at the same time, there was something comforting about knowing these guys understood what he was facing.
“It’s … sort of a problem. But I’m working on making it not a problem.”
“Twice a day in the shower,” Tate chimed in.
Theo nodded. “Hell, when I was keeping little Theo on the down low after I knocked up Ellie it was more like three.”
“Three times a day? And now? You’d better not be doing it at work, Kershaw,” Cal said. “I don’t need that kind of imagery when I come out of practice.”
“Now I’m going to wonder what Theo’s up to if he takes too long in the hotel bathroom,” Erik said.
“Moisturizing.” Theo raised his eyebrows comically. “That’s what I’m doing.”
“How are you working on it not being a problem?” Cal asked Reid.
“Not three times a day in the shower.” Which everyone found hilarious.
Erik wiped his mouth. “These brownies are fucking amazing.”
“My roommate made them.”
Kaminski chuckled. “She bakes as well? Durand, you are fucked.”
Burnett put his head around the door of the kitchen. “Hey, ya kickers, quit the jerk-off talk and come watch me beat Bond into submission in Battlefront 2.”
“Heh, beat Bond into submission,” Theo said. “Good one, Alamo. Add that to the collection.”
“Jerkin’ the gherkin,” Kaminski said.
“Cruising for an oozing,” Theo offered.
“Five knuckle shuffle.” Kaminski again.
Reid caught Foreman’s eye, and it was all either of them could do not to laugh.
“Painting the ceiling,” Jorgenson said as they headed into the living room, to which Theo went as wide-eyed as a child confronted with a giant ice cream cone.
“Fish! Something you need to tell me about your super powerful joystick?”
Foreman grinned. “Aren’t you glad you stopped by, Durand?”
“Thrilled.”
He was only half-lying.
20
Kennedy took a break from researching tattoo parlors for Edie—she would automatically find all of them wanting—and checked the flights to Bangkok for New Year’s Day. She had the money, she knew she wanted to be on the road soon, and Edie was very clear that Kennedy should not be putting her life on hold for an old lady.
The last few years had kept her busy. If she couldn’t find work teaching yoga, it was relatively easy to pick up jobs for cash under the table, usually in the ex-pat communities of Europe and Asia. As lifestyles went, it wasn’t for everyone. She kept a bank account in the US, her passport up to date, but otherwise no roots, no reason to stay still. Her next gig would be a six-month stint teaching English, extendible for a year, as soon as the work visa was granted.
Edie wanted to see her settled—with someone special—but it didn’t have to be near her. If Kennedy was going to stay put anywhere, it would be here because Edie was her touchstone. But Chicago was expensive and staying put for longer than a few months required she do more tending to her life. Get health insurance and a place to live and a Netflix subscription. Adulting.
Someone knocked at the door.
Bucky jumped to his feet and ran to it, his tail wagging. Usually that meant one thing: Daddy was home. But he couldn’t be. He would be gone for at least another day on an away game trip to New York.