are strewn all over the floor. He calls my name, but I ignore him, too embarrassed to look at him. By the time I shut the bathroom door behind me, I want to crawl into a hole and stay there.
What was I thinking hooking up with Rider? He lives across the street from me. I’m going to have to see him all the time. With other women.
I swipe at my eyes again, hating myself for feeling anything. I never cried with Sean. Not once. He never made me feel anything too intense. Being with him was pleasant. Like a warm bath or a box of chocolates or a cup of tea on a cold day.
Rider’s a hurricane. A cataclysm. A precipice upon which girls willingly toss themselves over the edge for one night with him.
Which is exactly what I did, and now I have to face the consequences.
I get dressed as fast as I can.
Finally, I look in the mirror. Raccoon eyes stare back at me. My hair would make a fine nest for a flock of geese.
With my skirt in near tatters, I dare say I look like Katy Perry in that music video when she’s trying to survive a jungle. Well, minus the flawless makeup and anthemic self-empowerment tune blasting in the background.
After wiping under my puffy eyes with some toilet paper and dampening my hair so it doesn’t look like I got ravaged by Edward Scissorhands, I take a deep breath, straighten my glasses, and prepare to open the door to Rider’s bedroom. We had sex. This isn’t a big deal. He does this all the time. You can lose it at home if you need to. Not here.
He’s still sitting at the edge of his bed, but now he’s wearing jeans and a long-sleeved, dark Henley. His elbows rest on his knees, his hands templed under his chin.
His eyes turn up to me, and I straighten under his perusal.
“You ready to go?”
I nod slowly, even more confused when he gets up to walk me out.
Really, I just thought I’d make a run for it.
We take the back stairs that open up into the kitchen. Where all of his roommates meander about. Including my brother.
Knox, who everyone correctly calls Noxious, lets out a low whistle. “Someone had fun last night.” He eyeballs my skirt, which has a slit halfway up my thigh. “You two really went there, huh?”
“Don’t look at her that way. And shut the fuck up.” Rider places his palm on the small of my back.
Tank pushes Knox out of the way. “Ignore him. He hasn’t been properly house-trained. He still pees on the furniture.” He holds out a to-go cup to me and gives me a wide smile. “Coffee with extra cream, light sugar. Just the way you like it.”
“Thanks, buddy.” I grab it, grateful for a break in the horrid tension. And really, how thoughtful is Tank to know how I take my coffee?
My brother crosses his arms, pointedly looking away from us. It’s the last straw.
I glance at Rider’s other roommates. “Look, guys, we’re all still friends, right? What I do in my personal life shouldn’t change anything.”
Trevor winks at me. “You’ll always be golden in my book.”
One by one, the rest of the guys agree that we’re cool. Except my brother, who stares out the window.
“Really, Ben? How am I supposed to know you give a shit about me? At all. Much less care who I date?” My temples pound from drinking too much last night and from the fact I might need to punch my brother in the throat.
He scoffs and faces Rider, gritting out, “Date? Is that really what you think is going on here?”
I narrow my eyes at him. “Consider that a euphemism, okay? For your sake, not mine. What Rider and I do is none of your business. He’s my friend and has done nothing to gain your ire.”
Knox takes a big bite out of a bagel and talks around a mouthful of food as he slings an arm around Ben’s stiff shoulders. “Your sister uses some big words. Do we know what ‘ire’ means?”
Ben shrugs him off as Tank smirks. “It’s three letters. Figure it out with context clues.”
As I start to make my way toward the front door, my brother steps in front of me and says, “I know it doesn’t look like it at the moment, but I’m only looking out for you.”
“By humiliating me in front of your roommates?” I hiss.
Rider is back