After throwing on a tank top and sweatpants, I finally flopped down beside her on the couch with a sigh. “Man, I’m tired,” I mentioned out loud.
“How terrible for you,” she drawled sarcastically, pausing in her page flipping. She sniffed the air a bit and glared at me. “Did you use my body wash?”
“Who, me?”
No, fucking Megatron. Of course you!” She sniffed again, moving closer to me and smelling my arm. “It’s somewhere on you.”
“Whoa, back up, Snoopy,” I said with a chuckle. She grabbed my hand and sniffed the back of it before pushing it away.
“You did use it!” She threw her hands in the air. “You haven’t even been here that long and you’re already breaking house rules!”
“Just wanted to smell it to see why it was so important,” I said with a shrug.
“And you couldn’t smell it from the bottle?” she asked, folding her arms across her chest.
“Not really. All I could smell was my own body wash. You can use mine if it makes you feel any better,” I offered with a grin.
“As if,” she mumbled and turned back to her magazine.
After a few moments of awkward silence, I let out a loud sigh and looked to her. She ignored me and kept her eyes on the magazine.
I sighed again, a bit louder this time. Though she looked up, she still didn’t look at me. I grinned.
“Man, I sure am bored,” I said out loud. She didn’t say anything, going back to her magazine without a word. When I sighed again, she slapped the magazine closed and narrowed her eyes at me.
“You’re annoying, you know that?”
“Hey, I’m bored. What’s there to do around here?”
“You haven’t found anything to do in town by now?”
“I’ve literally only been to work, the hotel, and a couple of places to get food. It’s not like you guys have a bunch of options here,” I noted.
“Aren’t you friends with Chris? Ask him to take you somewhere,” she mumbled.
I scoffed. “If you want to call someone a creep, it would be that guy. I don’t want any parts in his nonsense,” I said. She giggled but quickly cleared her throat.
“Yeah, well, whatever. I don’t know what to tell you. I have to work in a little bit.”
“What do you do?” I asked.
“Customer service.”
“Like a call center or something?”
“Something like that,” she mumbled.
I raised an eyebrow. “So what kind of calls do you take?”
“Just customer service calls.”
“Uh huh,” I said and stood up. “Well, since you want me to be bored to tears, I guess I’ll take a nap and then figure out something to do later.”
“That’s the best thing you’ve said since you’ve been here,” she replied, picking the magazine back up.
“Try not to miss me too much,” I said as I walked down the hallway.
“Don’t flatter yourself,” she responded. I smiled to myself. This woman was probably doing everything she thought would push me away, but she was doing nothing but making me more interested with each response that came from her mouth.
This was going to be fun.
Chapter Five
Ashton
Life just loved playing cruel tricks on me lately.
First there was the bullshit with Steve that I didn’t see coming. Maybe that was my own fault, as the universe gave me sign after sign showing me that Steve was a complete dickhead. All the times he ditched me to hang with his friends, hardly hearing from him when he left on “business,” blowing me off when he was home, and always coming up with some excuse to get out of spending time with me. But now it looked like the universe decided to take it a step further and bring another douchebag into my life as my roommate.
And a very sexy douche at that. Ugh.
I sat at the kitchen island with a bag of grapes, popping a couple in my mouth as I tapped my nails against the counter. There was only an hour before I was scheduled to take calls, but it would be a bit awkward doing it with O’Shea in the apartment. Sure, I’d told him not to disturb me while I worked, but who was to say that asshole wouldn’t stand outside my bedroom door listening to me?
“That’s probably something he would do,” I muttered to myself, taking a few more grapes into my mouth.
“Something who would do?” he asked, standing in the kitchen. His sweatpants from earlier were replaced by a pair of dark blue, deliciously fitting jeans and a snug grey, deep V-neck shirt. Jesus. The man was absolutely gorgeous. His shirt fit as if it were body paint, molding the muscles in his chest and shoulders. His pants encased his strong thighs, which slightly flexed as he turned in different angles to show me his outfit.
“Don’t drown yourself in drool, girl. I’m not too familiar with CPR,” he joked, his hazel eyes twinkling in amusement.
I blinked and focused my gaze on his smug expression. Even though I did think he looked damn good, he’d never know about it, the cocky bastard.
“Trust me, no one’s drowning,” I scoffed, plucking a few more grapes from the bag.
He chuckled. “Hey, I can read body language, baby. You got that ‘fuck me’ stare going on.”
“First, I’m not your baby. Second, as fucking if,” I said, bringing my eyes to the bag of grapes. I wouldn’t necessarily say I wanted him to fuck me, but…the thought wasn’t too far off.
“Seriously though, what do you think? Too casual for a bar? Not casual enough? Too tight looking?”
I snorted. “Oh, it’s tight enough.”
“So too tight?”
“Eh, it’s fine.”
“Fine?” He groaned. “Fine isn’t good enough. Now I need to go change.” He turned and headed toward his room.
“God, and I thought I was a diva,” I teased. He turned and looked at me, a slight frown settling on his full lips.
“What’s wrong with wanting to look good, Satan?”
“Nothing. I just didn’t take you to be the particular type,” I replied with a smirk.
“Well, I like to look good, especially when going to places for the first time.”
“Fair enough,” I replied. “Then it looks good, Mr. Diva.”
He grinned. “Like sexy good or ‘it’s fine’ good?” he asked, ignoring the nickname I gave him.
I rolled my eyes. “Don’t be so obvious in fishing for compliments.”
“Just a simple question.”
“Fine. Sexy good. Now go away.”
His grin turned into a full smile. “So you think I’m sexy then?”
I scowled. Of course he’d try to twist the meaning of my words. “Your outfit, yes. You? Still questionable.” Though it wasn’t questionable. We both knew he looked good, but I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.
He tsked and shook his head. “You’re ice cold, A.”
“Glad we established that early,” I said and turned back to my grapes.
He smirked. “Anyway, not sure when I’ll be back, so do you have a house key or something I can use? I don’t want to wake you,” he said.
“Oh shit. I knew I forgot something,” I muttered mostly to myself. “You can borrow mine and I’ll get you one made tomorrow.”
“Sounds legit, Satan.”
“It’s Ashton.”
“You got it, Satan,” he said with a wink, turning to walk away and then pausing again. “One more question. What are the rules about company?”
I raised an eyebrow. “What?”
“Uh, company. You know, having people over. What do you mean what?” he asked, making a sarcastic look of confusion.
I shrugged. “You’re paying bills just like I am here. All I ask is that you aren’t loud or making messes—”
“Cool. See ya!” he exclaimed, throwing up a peace sign as he walked away. I ground my teeth and closed the bag of grapes, getting off the bar stool to return the fruit to the refrigerator. This was going to be a long two-month trial. One month and thir
ty days to go…
∞∞∞
Once O’Shea finally left the apartment around 8 p.m., I turned on my line and began taking calls.
“Thank you for calling Erotic Fantasies. This is Natasha, what’s your fantasy tonight?” I asked as I paced at the foot of my bed.
“It’s a beautiful evening to be alive, my sister! Tonight is the night you repent for your harlot ways and give your life to Christ!” a voice boomed from the other end.
Tonight would be interesting.
Before I could say anything, he continued. “Evil people will not inherit the kingdom of the Lord! I know you’re a lost soul, my child, and God sent me here to spread the message of his love to save your soul.”
“Um, thanks?” I said, unsure of what to say.
“Avoid the devil’s tricks! He’s doing nothing but using you to lead young men into lust! Phone sex is another form of sin and fornication! The end of times is nearing! You must repent and give your life to Christ!”
He continued rattling off bible verses in various loud tones, becoming so loud that I eventually had to take the phone from my ear. I literally couldn’t afford to hang up, but the longer he went on, the greater the desire grew to end the call. Before I knew it, the call ended in the middle of his rant. I glanced down at the small screen at the time. Guess he could only afford a five-minute sermon, I mused with a small shrug.
Calls were steady for the next couple of hours. Although the other calls were thankfully nothing like the first one, I was a bit disappointed that I hadn’t heard back from that caller who excited me the other night. Ever since I’d spoke with him, other callers seemed boring in comparison.
“Thank you for calling Erotic Fantasies. This is Natasha; what’s your fantasy tonight?” I rattled off as I sat on my bed, painting my toenails.
“Hey there, sexy mama,” a young voice said on the other end. I paused in my nail painting and raised a brow. This guy sounded like he’d just hit puberty. I wouldn’t be surprised if he were sixteen, which meant I needed to tread carefully until I learned his actual age.
“Hey there, yourself. What’s your name, darling?”
“Uh, Cody. What clothes do you have on? I want you to touch your boobs.”
“First, how old are you, stud muffin?” I asked, a smirk pulling at my lips as I continued my nails.
“I just turned 18 yesterday.”
I snorted, quickly coughing to disguise it. There was no way this guy was 18 yet. “Well, happy belated birthday, love—”
“JASON! YOU HAVE SCHOOL IN THE MORNING! YOU SHOULDN’T BE ON THE PHONE AT THIS HOUR!” a female voice yelled in the background.
“God, mom!” he exclaimed before hanging up.
“Tonight is wild,” I giggled to myself. Commotion sounded from the living room, followed by O’Shea laughing. I rolled my eyes when I woman’s laugh followed him. I guess that’s what he meant by company.
The phone rang again, distracting me from my roommate. On the plus side, at least he’d be occupied long enough for me to finish working without being paranoid about him listening to me on the other side of the door.
“Thank you for calling Erotic Fantasies. This is Natasha; what’s your fantasy tonight?” I asked, trying to ignore the laughing and thumping around coming down the hall as O’Shea and his one-night stand made their way to his room.
“Hi, Natasha. I’m Dylan.”
“Nice to meet you, honey. You’re right on time; I’m soaking wet for you.”
He was quiet for a moment. “My girlfriend broke up with me.”
Well then.
“Oh,” I said. “I’m so sorry to hear that, Dylan.”
He sighed. “I should’ve seen it coming, you know? I’m so bad with women,” he said. What the hell was I supposed to say to something like that? I was supposed to be talking about sex; I didn’t know what to say to a guy dealing with a broken heart when I was still dealing with my own.
“People can be weird, you know? I don’t think you should blame yourself or think you’re bad with women—”
“She left me because she says I don’t last long enough for her. Even called me a fucking minute man, the bitch,” he said, his tone bitter.
“I’m sorry, baby. I’m sure you’re far for a minute man. In fact, I’m already imagining you pounding my sweet pussy,” I said, trying to put this conversation on track. No sooner than the sentence left my mouth, a loud moan came from O’Shea’s room. You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.
“Oh yeah? That’s hot. Tell me what else you’re imagining then, sexy,” he said, his voice sounding lighter than it did when he talked about his ex.
“Um,” I stammered, becoming distracted with the sounds coming from O’Shea’s room. I’d never noticed how thin the walls were since it was only me, but even with a bathroom separating our rooms, I could still hear his date as if he were right next door. I’d definitely have to talk to him about that in the morning. “I’m sure you feel amazing. I bet you could make me scream your name as you fuck me.”
“Hell yeah, I’d make you scream, baby. What are you wearing?”
“I’m wearing a sexy lace nightie with no panties,” I purred, getting off my bed and moving to my full-length mirror. I wish I could afford to get some of the things I tell these men I wore, I thought with a sigh as I examined my tank top and shorts.
“That’s so sexy. I wonder what that pussy of yours tastes like,” he murmured, his breathing becoming a little quicker.
“I bet it would taste amazing after you fuck me and make me come,” I replied.
“OH YES! YES! FUCK ME!” I heard from down the hall. I ground my teeth and tried to focus on my call.
“Oh yeah, baby. I want you to sit on my face and let me get all those juices on my—”
“Please wait,” the operator said when the caller’s prepaid time ran out. After a few seconds, the line went completely dead, indicating that he didn’t pay for more time.
“Thank God that wasn’t Avery,” I muttered to myself. I decided to turn my line off for the night. It wasn’t like I could concentrate anyway with my roommate going to town on his new conquest down the hall. I crept out of my room and made sure the front door was locked before going back to my room and settling down in bed. As O’Shea’s rendezvous went on, my mind went back to Avery. His voice gave me goose bumps and made my core clench with need with the simplest words. Our conversation was still fresh in my mind, imagining everything he said he’d do to my nipples and how he’d fuck me so hard and make me come multiple times. A tingling sensation settled between my legs. God, how pathetic had my life become? I’m fantasizing about a man that was probably in a relationship and lived God knows where in this country. I rolled over on my side with a sigh, squeezing my eyes shut as I tried to block out the noise from my roommate.
One month and thirty days…
∞∞∞
My eyes snapped open the moment I heard him whistling in the hallway the next morning. I scowled as I jumped out of bed, grabbing my robe from the back of my door before opening it. Following the sound of the whistling, I found him in the kitchen, bent down to look in the refrigerator.
“Yeah, hey. I’m Ashton, you know, your roommate?” I snapped, folding my arms across my chest.
He lifted his head and nodded. “Uh, yeah. We met yesterday,” he said, turning back to the contents of the refrigerator. I continued staring at him in disbelief. The nerve of this cocky son of a bitch.
“So one thing I can tell you is that hearing you with your conquest of the night is the last thing I want to do when I’m trying to sleep,” I finally said.
“She was hella loud, right?” he asked as he took a juice carton out of the fridge and placed it on the counter. “I thought I was going to go fucking deaf—”
“I’m not joking, O’Shea.”
“Neither am I. My damn ears are still ringing,” he said, grabbing a glass from the drain basket on the counter. He was dressed in a dark blue jumpsuit stained with
a few dark grease stains and black sneakers.
I huffed. “You don’t take anything seriously, do you?”
“No one should take life too seriously. You should loosen up a bit,” he said, pouring juice in the glass.
“I should loosen up? You—” I paused mid sentence, watching him as he drank what I now noticed was the last of my apple juice. “Dude, are you serious right now?” I damn near shrieked.
He cocked an eyebrow and swallowed. “What’s that?”
“Do you not see that huge A on that carton?”
He picked up the carton and furrowed his eyebrows as he squinted at it. “Huh. I guess that is an A. I thought that was just up here since apple juice starts with an A. My bad,” he said, tossing the empty carton in the trash and finishing off his juice. “Well, off to work. See ya, Satan.” He gave me a salute and left me fuming in the kitchen, long after he’d exited the apartment.
I had no idea how I was going to last until his trial period was over, granted that I didn’t strangle him first if he kept up with his antics.
After making an omelet, I settled down at the island and called Alex. “Hey-o!” she exclaimed when she answered.
“Come save me,” I pleaded, stuffing a piece of omelet into my mouth.
“Um, why?”
“Because this man is driving me up the wall,” I muttered.
“I bet you’re being a drama queen. What’s he doing?”
“It’s like he does the tiniest things to get under my skin. Like yesterday, he used my body wash after I specifically told him not to—”
“Body wash, Ashton? You act like you can’t get another bottle of it. If you’re that strapped for cash, I’ll buy you another bottle,” she joked.
I swallowed hard, pushing a stray piece of egg around my plate. There was no way I could tell her that Steve bought me that body wash. I hardly even used it, knowing that once it was gone and I threw the bottle away, I’d be accepting that he’d thrown us away. Now that he was engaged to Clarissa and expecting a baby, I guess keeping that body wash wouldn’t make the process happen any slower.
“Ashton?” Alex called.
Withholding Nothing Page 6
