Nice Guys Don't Win (The Boys #2) - Micalea Smeltzer Page 0,23

text you what I want.” My body feels heated all over from the pain. “Let me get you some money.”

“Zoey,” he says in that deep, steady voice, “don’t worry about that right now. Just text me what you want, and I’ll get it. You’re hurting.”

“Thank you.” A tear falls.

Before I have the chance to swat it away, he captures it with his big thumb. “Don’t cry,” he practically begs.

“Hormones.”

It’s so much more than that. In the past five minutes this man who’s my roommate, and maybe slowly becoming my friend, and yeah that I’m attracted to, has shown me more kindness than Todd ever did in our relationship and I was too blind to see it. I hate that I stayed so long and got even more hurt in the end.

“You’re just not enough for me, Zoey. You aren’t what I want.”

I remember his words so clearly when I caught him in bed with Liza.

Liza with her pale blonde hair, her big blue eyes, and pert small boobs was the complete opposite of my darker complexion, black hair, and brown eyes. I’d always thought I was pretty enough, but in that moment his words brought back a long-ago buried fear that I was too different to truly be beautiful.

“Hey,” Cole whispers, rubbing his thumb over my cheek. “Where’d you go in that pretty head of yours?”

I smile faintly at the word pretty. “Thinking about people who aren’t worth my time. Thank you. You have no idea what this means to me.”

“It’s not a big deal. I’d do this for anyone.”

I know he means that too. It hasn’t taken me long to realize that Cole is a special, rare kind of guy.

The most amazing thing is I think he’s completely unaware of it.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

I feel cold when his hand falls from my cheek. The door closes behind him a few seconds later.

I waddle back to my room, uncomfortable thanks to the toilet paper stuffed in my underwear. Grabbing my phone, I text him what I want and get my comforter off the bed and one side of the fitted sheet before I feel wetness seeping down my leg. I look down, cursing at the line of red.

I hurry back to the bathroom, whimpering at the mess.

I do the best I can and start a bubble bath, grabbing a fresh set of pajamas from my room for the second time. It’s the only way I’ll truly feel clean. I send a text to Cole, letting him know that I’m getting in the bath and to hang the bag on the bathroom door, along with another long-winded thank you.

The bath helps immensely with the cramps and helps slow down my flow as well.

Slipping out of the bath, I dry myself off and wrap the towel around myself before I take the bag from the door.

Bless him.

Coming out of the bathroom, I pause at the entry to my bedroom in stunned silence. Cole looks up, giving me a half-smile. “I saw the…” He flicks his fingers at the bed. “Anyway, I started the laundry and I’m almost done putting these on.”

He’s putting clean sheets on for me.

I woke him up at three in the morning for tampons and he comes back and doesn’t crash like a normal person. No, he sees the state of my bed and finishes removing my sheets, adding it to the washer and starting it, and then proceeds to put clean sheets on.

Hormones, get ahold of yourself. I’m not going to cry again.

“Thank you. I can finish this.”

“Nah, I got it. Go take some medicine. I also got you a hot water bottle. It’s in the kitchen.”

“I don’t want this to go to your head or anything, but you’re really kind of amazing.”

He gives me a small half-smile. I know he’s going to say it’s not a big deal again or something of the sort so I leave before he can. I take the Midol and fill the bottle. I didn’t even think about how much help one of these might be. But he did.

I wander back down the hall to my room, just as he’s finishing putting the pillows back on my mattress.

“Is there anything else I can do to help you?”

It’s on the tip of my tongue, to ask him to stay, because I hate being alone when I’m hurting, but I don’t. It’s not right to ask him of that, especially when we’re still getting to know each other and when