The mattress was the same one I’d had from when I’d lived at Mamá Lupe’s, and I could treat myself to a new couch finally when the time came. I wasn’t going to be staying at Trevor’s that long. Just a few weeks, max. Long enough to finish my book and have some time to really think about my future. And regardless of whatever I decided, I’d definitely see Zac play a couple more times. I’d drive. Now if they made it into the playoffs….
In the meantime, I could get out of the house as much as possible, stay in the room when I was home, keep the house clean, maybe cook, and basically not be an inconvenience. I’d be a good houseguest.
And an even better friend.
The hands on my shoulders gave them another squeeze, those light blue eyes solid and steady. “Or CJ and I can get it if you gimme a key.”
“I don’t want to bother you guys any more than I already have.”
He made that face again.
“Don’t you roll your eyes at me, old fart. It’s true. You’ve all already done enough. Way more than you needed to.”
Those big hands went to cup my face, the palms squishing my cheeks together as I stared at him, blinking slowly. “What. Did. I. Already. Say? You’re. Not. A. Bother. You’re never gonna be a bother.”
It was my turn to groan.
He squished my cheeks some more. “Let me, yeah? If he doesn’t wanna help, you can wake up extra early and we’ll ask your neighbor that likes you if he’ll help.”
I squinted at him. “What neighbor?”
He stopped squishing my cheeks, that light blue gaze holding mine. “The one across the hall.”
“You think? Santiago?” I asked. “Huh.”
Zac’s thumbs slipped under the collar of my shirt as he massaged my muscles there. “CJ will help,” he said, changing the subject away from Santiago liking me.
I flashed him a smile and ducked out from beneath his hands when I just about moaned at what he was doing to me. “Okay, but if you can’t, I can handle it. Promise. I have people I can ask.”
“Yeah. Me.”
There went my poor little heart again, all defenseless and raw. So I poked him in the stomach. “Thank you again for doing this.”
“You’re welcome.”
I smiled up at him, and he smiled down at me.
He took my hand. “Come on. I’ve got film to watch, and you’ve got computer stuff to do.”
I snorted. “Computer stuff. How old are you?”
“Too old by the way you talk to me.”
I poked him again, and he tapped the tip of my nose before steering me into the house through the front door. The front door of the home where I was going to be living for a little bit.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, I thought about the pretty blonde who had been at his party the first day we’d seen each other, the one who had known where his room was.
Was he going to be bringing other girls there? To the room two doors down from the one I was going to be staying in?
If I could have started sweating on command, there would have been a drop sliding down my spine.
Why hadn’t I thought of that before? How hadn’t I thought of that before?
I kept my gaze forward as I said, “Hey, if you or CJ want me to leave at any point, you know, because you’re having company or something”—holy shit did my stomach hurt—“all you have to do is tell me. Okay?”
He stopped suddenly, and it took me about two steps into the space between the dining room table and the office to realize it.
“What?” I asked him.
I could see his tongue poking at the inside of his cheek as his gaze settled on me. His chest rose and fell as he looked down, and I was pretty sure I caught a nerve pulsing along his jaw. But after a second, he nodded once and all he said was “All right” before he started walking again.
Just all right.
Not “No, that isn’t going to happen.” Not “Don’t worry about it.” Just, nothing.
And I had to hold my breath and remind myself that this wasn’t a mistake. I wouldn’t let it be.
It’d be fine.
And I was a goddamn liar.
I was a goddamn liar because I suddenly felt nauseous and sick and jealous. So jealous that I scratched the back of my neck even though it didn’t itch. I had built this fantasy in my head that, when he wasn’t hanging out with