Inked on Paper - Nicole Edwards Page 0,43

on the fact that when I was around Jake, or even immersed in his stories, my muse came out in full force. I wondered whether that was because of him, or simply because I’d broken through the mental block. Strange how one seemed to coincide with the other, though.

Then again…

I frowned, thinking about my ex for the first time in… Shit. I hadn’t thought about that lying, cheating, ass-fucking bastard in at least six months, so why did the devil have to pop into my head now? Was it because when I’d been with him, as up and down as those eight months had been, I’d at least been motivated, inspired? Was that what my problem was? Did I latch on to the rock star/bad boy types because they roused my inner artist?

Oh, shit. That was just stupid.

Really. Stupid.

“Only one way to find out,” I mused aloud as I rode the elevator to my floor. “No more Jacob Wild. Easy as that.”

For some reason, I didn’t think it was going to be all that easy, but it was true, I needed to keep my distance from the man. Which was a strange thing to think about since I hadn’t intentionally run into him in the first place.

Regardless, I got the sense that Jacob Wild lived in the fabricated world of happily ever after. I, personally, knew there was no such thing. And I’d read enough about him to know that there was no happy ending where he was concerned. Not for the women he was with. He was a notorious playboy, a man who likely wouldn’t settle down any sooner than Gil or Gavin. Or my ex.

I was not interested in that type of guy. Been there, done that, had burned the T-shirt.

Nope, I would rather be alone than live in a fantasy world.

After depositing my sketchbook on the desk in my bedroom and placing my cell phone on the charger, I tugged off my boots, then crawled up in my bed, burrowing beneath the blankets.

And then slept like the dead.

Six hours later, I woke up starving. After a pit stop in my bathroom—not the community bathroom that Gil and Gavin had taken over—I made my way to the kitchen. When I was pulling my cereal bowl out of the cabinet, I heard a sound and slowly closed the cabinet door, peeking around it to see what it was.

Gavin’s door was shut, which meant he was probably asleep, and Gil should’ve been at work by then, so I’d thought I had the place to myself.

Boy, was I wrong.

The first thing I noticed was the petite brunette walking toward the kitchen. Her hair was a mess, makeup smeared, she was wearing one of Gil’s DbD T-shirts and scratching her bare leg as she moved toward me, not paying any attention whatsoever.

“Hey,” I said, a little louder than I should have, but I enjoyed the startled look I received.

“Oh, hey.” The woman turned back to look toward Gil’s bedroom, then back at me. “I … uh…”

“Is Gil still here?” I asked, scowling at her as I poured cereal into my bowl.

“No, he, uh…” She looked back over her shoulder once again. “He had to go to work.”

Fucker. Why the hell Gil thought it was okay to leave his floozies in the condo when he wasn’t there was beyond me.

“And you’re here why?”

The woman looked both pissed and flustered. An odd combination that I found amusing.

“I could say the same to you,” she muttered.

“I live here,” I stated firmly, trying not to snarl at her.

“Oh.”

Oh was right. Once again, it appeared that Gil hadn’t mentioned that he had a female roommate. He tended to leave that part out for the simple fact that I was a woman and it didn’t do much for his game, I guess. Regardless … I lifted my eyebrow, waiting for the girl to respond.

“He … uh… He said I could shower.” She didn’t bother making eye contact as she pushed her long hair out of her face. “Are you his…?”

“Wife?” I tried to sound angry, but it didn’t work. “No. Roommate.”

“Oh, thank God. That would’ve been really awkward.”

And this wasn’t?

I stood at the counter, spooning cereal into my mouth while I watched her. “You should probably shower,” I suggested around a mouthful of Corn Pops. “And go.”

The woman nodded, then did a little skip toward the bathroom. I watched her, rolling my eyes. With my bowl of cereal in hand, I went back to my bedroom, grabbed my

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