Echoes of Us (5 page)

“I hate to ask, but do you think you can help me unload my car?”

“Oh, sure,” I said before my brain could catch up. I wasn’t supposed to be talking to my new roommate. He was a business transaction, nothing more. My brain informed me it was good business to keep the customer happy, so if that meant turning into a pack mule that was what I was going to do. Maggie would be so impressed I actually remembered something from my business class.

“I can’t believe I got this lucky,” Jade said as he handed a box to me. “I needed a place to stay and out of the blue, Jeff tells me he’d moved out and you guys were in need of a roommate. He’s getting married or some shit.”

“What?” I gasped. “Married?”

“Yeah, his girlfriend is knocked up, so they decided to get hitched,” Jade said.

The world pressed down on my lungs, squeezing the air out and not allowing me to take a breath. I was going to pass out. Jade grabbed the box out of my hands just as I slid down the side of the car.

“Rylan!” Maggie shouted from the steps of the house. “Rylan?”

She jumped off the steps and rushed over to me. She knelt in front of me and cupped my face. “Rylan? What’s wrong?”

I grabbed her wrists and pulled her face against mine. “Did you know about Jeff?”

“Shit,” she said and pulled me to my feet. “Jade, I need a minute with Rylan. Can you excuse us?”

“Oh yeah, sure,” Jade said and headed into the house with a pile of his stuff.

“Did you fucking know?” I repeated. I sounded a bit hysterical, but this was huge. Jeff was marrying his pregnant girlfriend. The prick had been fucking me, begging me to run away with him, and at the same time he had been screwing some girl. This was exactly why relationships were a terrible thing. People fucked each other over regularly. My head hurt, and I wasn’t exactly sure why this bugged me so much. I never loved the guy, but it still felt like a major betrayal.

“I found out a few days before we left on this trip, but I knew you were superstressed about going to your parents’ house, so I was holding off telling you,” Maggie whispered. “I’m so sorry.”

“Things just keep getting better, but it illustrates why it’s best for me not to get emotionally invested in anyone,” I spat. “I’m going for a run.”

She made a halfhearted attempt to stop me as I headed into the house to change, telling me it was getting dark, but I wasn’t going to listen. The exercise would help clear my head and get some endorphins flowing. It might stop me from hunting down Jeff and spilling his secrets in front of his future wife. The woman had no idea what she was getting into.

When I raced out of the house, Maggie and Jade were sitting on the grass surrounded by a bunch of boxes. They both stared at me as I took off down the road. I’d take bets that Maggie was trying to assure our new roommate that I wasn’t a total nut.

During the beginning of the run, I made excuses for my reaction to the news about Jeff. It wasn’t love for me, but I did like the guy, so hearing he was fucking someone else when he claimed to be in love with me, stung. When I hit the third mile, my brain had devised multiple ways to murder Jeff. By the time I’d reached mile number four, I’d killed the asshole thirty-seven times. The fifth mile passed, and I decided I wasn’t going to kill the jerk. I had no desire to spend the rest of my life in prison. As the sixth mile started, I had convinced myself that Jeff was the one going to virtual prison and I felt sorry for the girl who was about to marry a fucking liar. During the seventh mile, I decided everybody could fuck off.

Maggie was right. It was time to have some fun. Brooding about my parents and everyone else was nonproductive. I had no control over what other people said or did. By the eighth mile, I wanted to call Maggie and beg her to come pick me up. My muscles were in a major uproar over this workout, especially since I hadn’t been doing much running the past week. The ninth mile almost killed me. I finally made it to our lawn and collapsed in a sweaty heap at Maggie’s feet.

“Feeling better?” she asked hesitantly.

“Marginally. A shower would improve my mood greatly.”

“Mine too,” Maggie said, holding her nose. “You stink.”

“How about I take a shower and make dinner for all of us,” I said.

“Really?”

I swiped a wet strand of hair out of my eyes. “Yes. I’m taking your advice. I can’t live like this anymore. I need to have some fun. These last few days have drained me.”

Her smile lit up the entire yard, and she squealed so loud, Mrs. Morgan opened her front door. Maggie waved and Mrs. Morgan shook her head.

“I’m going inside now,” I said. Maggie moved to hug me, but when sweat dripped on her shoe, she backed away, leaving me to grope the air.

She was still talking a mile a minute when I opened the front door and almost ran into Jade.

“Hey, I’m making dinner after I shower. Would you like to join us?”

Jade smiled widely. “Yeah, that would be great. I’m sorry if I said something to upset you.”

“You didn’t,” I lied. Our eyes locked, and I felt a flash of something deep in my gut. It made me squirm and back into the wall. I quickly schooled my features and lifted my shirt to wipe the sweat off my face, pretending not to hear the sharp intake of breath from Jade. It was probably my imagination anyway. I was still on an endorphin high from my run.

Once in the bathroom, I tried not to think of those brown eyes and pretty lips. I desperately wanted to touch my dick, but I wasn’t going to go there. I’d just met the guy, barely talked to him. A cold shower was the best thing for me right now, and I welcomed the frigid water.

It was absolutely nuts to be thinking about him. He might be delicious, but I had to live with him for the next year, and I had solid evidence that fucking around with your roommate was a terrible idea.

“Friends,” I told my reflection. “Pretty sure he’s straight anyway, and even if he isn’t, you aren’t going to use him as a sex toy.” I shook my finger at my reflection, but all I got for my trouble was a dick twitch. Thinking about Jade as a sex toy was not a very smart thing.

I tossed my towel at the mirror and styled my hair, making it look messy on purpose. When I opened the door, I could hear Maggie and Jade in Jeff’s old bedroom. They were laughing and hammering something into the wall.

My stomach reminded me I was starving and I was the one who volunteered to cook dinner.

After several cupboard inspections, all I managed to find was an open package of noodles and one jar of spaghetti sauce. I couldn’t remember the last time Maggie and I had made a trip to the grocery store. There was nothing else to do but order pizza, and since I didn’t know what Jade liked, I settled on ordering one pepperoni and one cheese.

“I don’t smell any food cooking,” Maggie hollered.

“Nothing to cook. We need to hit the grocery store, so I ordered pizza.”

“Did someone say pizza?” Jade asked. He strolled into the kitchen looking like a god artists should worship by creating marble statues and paintings to hang in the Louvre. If I kept this up, I might have to check myself into the nuthouse.

“There’s nothing in the house to eat,” I repeated to Jade.

“You guys should make a list and I can run to the grocery store after we eat. You’re both exhausted, and I’m a little wired. I think I drank eight cups of coffee waiting in the driveway,” Jade said.

“We’re keeping him, Rylan. He’s the sweetest,” Maggie said. She yanked open a drawer, pulled out a piece of paper and pen, and started scribbling as she went through all the cupboards and fridge.

Maggie suddenly stopped writing and eyed Jade. “Hey, you’re not one of those guys who would freak out if I put tampons on the list, are you?”

“Two sisters,” Jade fired back. “Are you one of those girls who would pitch a fit if I asked you to buy condoms?”

“Favorite brand?” Maggie asked and giggled.

Jade grinned. “How about lube?”

“What flavor?”

Jade laughed and winked at Maggie. They continued their banter, but I was still stuck on the buying of condoms and lube part of the conversation.

“I think things are going to work out just fine,” Maggie said. She bumped me with her hip, and my brain kicked into gear again. This arrangement was going to kill me. I should add lube to the list because I was going to be doing a lot of self-pleasuring. I’d only known this guy for an hour and my entire body was betraying me.

The doorbell chimed and made me jump.

“That must be the pizza,” Maggie said and raced out of the kitchen, leaving me alone with Jade.

“She’s a bit high-strung,” Jade said.

“You get used to it,” I said.

Jade pulled out a chair and sat down. He glanced at the list Maggie had filled out before he shoved it toward me. “Anything you want to add?”

I took a deep breath and threw myself into the lion’s den. “Are you familiar with this area?”

“Not really,” Jade said.

“I could show you the best grocery store,” I said. I knew I could just give him directions, but apparently I was throwing my earlier decision to treat this guy as a business transaction out the window. Besides, I was curious about him.

“Yeah, that would be great. I’ve never lived on this side of town, so I don’t know where anything is located,” Jade said.

“Pizza,” Maggie announced. She dropped the boxes on the table and tossed the napkins to Jade and me, smiling as she slid into her seat.

The next twenty minutes were spent sharing small talk in between bites of hot pizza. A couple of moans and several “oh, my God, this is the best pizza ever,” and Maggie tossed the boxes into the recycling bin and excused herself to go take a shower.

Jade searched out his keys while I went to tell Maggie we were leaving and to find out if she had any more additions for the list. The shower was already running, but we were never shy around each other. I pushed open the door and walked into the steam-filled room.

“Hey,” I shouted over the sound of the water. “We’re heading to the grocery store. Do you need anything else?”

The shower curtain moved, and Maggie poked her soapy head out and stared at me like I’d grown a third eye. “You hate grocery shopping.”

“Yes, but we need stuff,” I said. My face flushed, and I was extremely happy the room was filled with steam. I could just claim it was hot in here.

“Rylan,” Maggie warned.

“I’m not going to do anything stupid. He’s our roommate. I can play nice.” I added a frown and then blinked innocently at her.

She groaned and told me to add toothpaste to list. I scurried out before she could say anything else.

A horn honked and I guessed Jade was already in the car. I shoved the list into my pocket, grabbed my wallet, and ran outside. Our neighbor was leaning against the car, chatting with Jade. Mrs. Morgan was a nice but crazy lady who liked to wolf whistle at me when I was in my jogging shorts. I should have known she would be drawn to Jade.

“Hi, Mrs. Morgan. I see you met our new roommate,” I called out.

“Good choice. Much better than the last one,” she said and waved as she headed back to her house. Mrs. Morgan never liked Jeff. Her word for him had been “shifty,” which I guess had been right on the money. I wondered what word she picked for Jade.

“She gave me cash and a grocery list,” Jade said when I climbed into the car.

“She doesn’t drive and her son is a complete jerk. She somehow always knows when one of us is heading to the store.”

Jade laughed and started the car. Music filled the small space, but Jade changed it before I could tell who was singing.

“So, which way?”

“Way? Oh, right, to the store.”

I forgot about the music and shifted into tour-guide mode, pointing out different things as we drove to the store. Jade laughed when I told him the story about Maggie getting lost on the walk home from the bar after she turned twenty-one. It had taken me thirty minutes before I found her sitting on some kid’s swing set, singing loudly and off-key. Thankfully no one was home and the neighbors didn’t call the cops.

Traffic was light, so it didn’t take long to get to the store. Maggie usually drove the cart and barked out orders to me, but Jade let me take control of the cart. He picked up a basket for Mrs. Morgan’s stuff. I dug our crumpled list out of my pocket and handed it to him. The cart was enough responsibility for me.

The trip through the grocery store was entertaining, and Jade didn’t make fun of me when I shoved a box of my favorite chocolate cereal in the cart. I usually had to sneak that stuff into the cart and bury it so Maggie wouldn’t see it. When she eventually spotted the cereal, she would lecture me about the lack of nutritional value and the high sugar content. Jade grinned and added two more boxes to the cart.

“It’s my favorite too,” he said, smiling smugly.

“Maggie is going to think I ruined you,” I said.

Jade chuckled. “I was already ruined.”

The way he dragged out the sentence made me forget what I was doing. I ran into a display of crackers and knocked several boxes to the floor. I was pretty sure Jade winked at me when he bent over to pick up the boxes. I did not check out his ass.

It went on like that for the rest of the trip through the grocery store. Jade always had an answer or comment that seemed like he was implying something else. Of course, I was known to have a very active imagination, especially when it came to sexual innuendos.

By the time we stood in the checkout lane, I was beyond turned-on and totally exhausted. It was an odd combination.

“You look like you’re dead on your feet,” Jade said. I moved forward to help him unload the cart, but he stopped me. “I think I can manage.”

“Thanks,” I muttered. “It’s been a really long day.”

Jade wouldn’t let me pitch in for the groceries, telling me he was incredibly happy to have a place to live. We could figure out how we would divide everything later.

I never knew shopping could be so much fun. With Maggie, there was always a plan. The list was sacred; you never deviated from the list. But with Jade, it was a free-for-all, and we actually got some good food, which we would have to hide.

Mrs. Morgan thanked us several times for doing her grocery shopping. She insisted we keep the change, but Jade left the money, along with the receipt, on the bench by her front door.