“Her has a name. It’s Shelby, and I didn’t ask to be your roommate either,” Shelby said, crossing her arms. She gave me a disapproving look through her glasses.
“Scarlett, can I talk to you outside?” I said, taking my sister by the arm and dragging her toward the door. She must have been feeling friendly since she didn’t take a swing at me or try to kick me in the balls.
I let the screen door slam behind us. “What game are you trying to play?”
“Game?” She gasped. “Why, Jonah Bodine Jr., how dare you insinuate that I’m playing some sort of game when I gave you this house to live in at a discounted rate. I put family before business, and you’re expecting me to just what? Stop making money altogether? Will that make you more comfortable, Jonah? Will it?”
She poked me in the chest, and I backed up a pace.
“I’m not asking you to not make money—”
“Because that’s exactly what it sounds like. It sounds like you’re trying to take advantage of my generosity. I didn’t have to rent this house to you, did I?”
“No, but—”
“And you don’t expect me to stop running my business of putting paying people in my rentals, do you?” She took another step forward into my space. I had close to a foot on her, but I was man enough to admit that my sister scared the hell out of me.
She was unpredictable. And that made her dangerous. She was also a biter.
“No, however—”
“I’m so glad we have that settled. Now, you and Shelby will share the Little Yellow House for the next month. After that I’m sure I can juggle some of my renters around at great expense to myself and get one of you into a different damn place. But until then, I expect you to say, ‘Thank you, Scarlett.’ And pay your damn rent, which is now half of what it was before I so generously bestowed a roommate on you, on time.”
“Th-thank you, Scarlett.”
“You’re welcome, Jonah,” she said, batting her lashes at me from under her Bootleg Cockspurs ball cap. “See ya around, Shelby,” she called into the house as she tromped down the stairs.
Me: Which one of you dumbasses opened your big mouth to Scarlett about me being a sad puppy?
Bowie: I was planning on it tomorrow. Why?
Gibson: We all would have. No one’s had the chance yet.
Me: She just gave me a roommate.
Jameson: Of the female persuasion?
Me: Shelby Thompson, GT’s little sister.
Devlin: Scarlett works in mysterious ways.
Gibson: You can do better than that, McCallister.
Devlin: Your sister amazes and terrifies me. I fully support whatever scheme she’s concocted.
Bowie: Amen.
Me: I hate you all.
6
Shelby
I’d been Scarlett Bodined.
And I hadn’t seen it coming. I’d heard rumors of such things. I’d been warned. And I’d still been steamrolled by a tiny Southern belle whose master manipulations deserved to be immortalized in the annals of psych journals.
I was tempted to throw out my fifty-percent done paper and start all over with Scarlett as the star.
Then Jonah walked back into the house.
Our house.
This was not the ideal solution I’d thought I was engineering for myself. And now I was stuck in a house with Jonah “Eight-Pack” Bodine.
“Um. So hi,” I said when he came to a halt and just stared at me with those green eyes. Smooth, Shelby. Super smooth and casual.
I was a nerd and as a nerd, I excelled in flirting with nerd men. My interactions with tall, lean, frowny athletic types were slightly less natural.
He was dressed in workout gear. Shorts, a t-shirt, sneakers. And everywhere I looked, I saw things I liked. Muscle. Stubble. Sharp green eyes that looked as though they could peel my skin back and look inside me. He had a breathtaking smile that I’d spotted a time or two, but he definitely wasn’t aiming that particular weapon at me now.
He gave me a long blank look.
Nervously, I smiled wider.
His brows knit together.
Our facial expressions were carrying on different conversations.
I knew there was a simple misunderstanding at the heart of Jonah’s barely concealed contempt for me. But I also knew he wasn’t exactly amenable to clearing the air right now.
“I’m sure we can work this out,” I said cheerily.
“I don’t know what you did to make my sister think this was a good idea,” he said calmly. “I don’t want to know. You stay out of my way, and I’ll stay out of yours.” With that, my new roommate somberly climbed the stairs to the second