There was a gentle tone from the front door. Austin mumbled, “Shit.”
The door flung open before he could explain. Stumbling in the entry was a tall guy, his face scribbled with tattoos all over it. When he snarled in our direction, I could see some of his teeth were capped in gold.
“That’s how it is. Quick, right?” The door swung closed and slammed from the weight.
“Taylor, please ignore everything he’s about to say.” Austin moved my bag and slung his arm over my shoulder, holding his hands over my ears. It didn’t matter, I could still hear perfectly.
“Oh, Taylor? She’s hot. Fuck hot. I bet she’s perfect for you. Into you.” I was gathering this was the roommate from the earlier fight. He was latching onto my name and just rolling me into their fight. The man looked me up and down. “Young for you, though.”
“She’s my little sister’s best friend. So maybe be a little respectful, asshole.” Austin stood and held a hand in front of me, signaling for me to stay put, I was assuming.
“Oh, so picking up some trash from home, I see.” The roommate stepped forward and squared up with Austin.
He was for sure wobbly, like his executive functions were off. Drugs. I bet he was on drugs.
Austin’s eyes flared and his hand shot out. He had the man’s jaw in his hand as he hissed, “Respectful.”
I’d been around plenty of boys in fights in my day. Teddi and I had run with the football players and her brothers our entire life. But there was something different about the way this guy and Austin were threatening each other. It was almost…sexual.
Oh. Then I figured it out. They were roommates and possibly lovers. Hence, the extra anger and tension.
The other guy gave Austin a harsh, hollow chuckle. “So you haven’t been able to replace me after all, then. What did I tell you? My leftovers are tainted. You won’t find anyone to love you.”
I felt my eyes go wide. This guy was straight up gaslighting Austin. And this sure, headily awesome human that had so much confidence was knocked down a peg. I watched as the man’s words hit Austin’s self-worth.
Austin shook his head and hissed, “Mind your business.”
Pushing up from the couch, I strode over to Austin. He wasn’t getting told that he was less than in front of me. I stepped between the two men, and Austin let go of the man and put his hands on my shoulders. I saw embarrassment and concern swimming in his eyes.
Wrapping my arms around Austin and rising on my toes, I did something I had been dreaming about all my life. I kissed Austin Burathon. I kissed him with how much I wanted him. I kissed him with how hot I found him. I made sure my lips told him I was awed by him, and his kindness, and his bravery.
He kissed me back. Austin kissed me back with such skill that I literally swooned and he had to steady me. His lips tasted so good, his talent so sure. I was dying. I was dying right here.
The only thing that snapped me out of it was a hard slam of a door.
I jolted back from the shock of the noise. I had been instantly transported to another world in Austin’s kiss.
I covered my mouth as the realization of what I did hit me. Oh God. I kissed him? I kissed him!
He looked over my head in the direction of the door and then gave me a sad smile. “I guess we’re busy saving each other tonight, huh?”
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry I kissed you. It was the only thing I could think to do because I’m pretty sure that dude would not have been affected by a punch from me.” I thumbed the indication over my shoulder. “And I had to do something. Fuck him. Wow. Fuck him so much.”
Austin shook his head and held out his hand. I took it. “I’ve fucked him a lot, angel. It doesn’t change who he is—I’ve tried.”
“Who is he?” I followed Austin as he stopped to grab my backpack and I got my water glass.
“Him? That’s Torin.” Austin opened his bedroom door and I was treated to another magazine layout. The furniture was all low and minimal. The brick wall behind his bed towered to a high ceiling.
He set my bag on top of the dresser.
“Endgame,” I offered as the stories shared by Teddi flooded my mind. She never referred to Torin by his name, only Austin’s complicated ex-boyfriend that everyone called Endgame. Austin and he were so much in love, but Teddi didn’t like Endgame at all. She felt he was a toxic hanger-on that didn’t value Austin. The last I’d heard of Endgame had to be my senior year of high school.
“Teddi told you.” Austin sat on his bed.
I sat next to him. “She’s not a fan.”
“I know. My sister is opinionated. It is what it is.” He flopped backward onto the bed and a sliver of his toned stomach peeked out from under his shirt. There was a hint of a tattoo there.
I flopped back as well, both of us staring at the ceiling. “Yeah, she hates the hell out of him. I hope I didn’t make things more awkward by kissing you.” The entire kiss replayed in my mind—a flashback of literal minutes, but I was grateful to have the memory nice and clear. I'd revisit it for the rest of my life.
“Nah. The kiss was fire. Thank you for that. He and I were likely to get into a hate brawl anyway. It was a total mood diffuser.” He turned his head to look at me and I kept my eyes firmly on the ceiling.
The last thing I wanted our kiss defined as was a mood diffuser.
He propped up on his elbow and turned his hips toward me. “So what are the implications of you walking out tonight? You had to be in a rough spot.”
And just like that, Austin switched the moment to be about fixing my problems and ignoring his own.
I let him move the conversation in that direction because I was still hurt that the kiss hadn’t meant the world to him. The moon to him.
I sighed. “Roberta, the roommate, had a single dorm room before I came along. I guess it was luck of the draw or whatever. She really wanted it to stay that way.” I turned to pop up on my elbow, facing Austin. Lord, he was pretty. Sexy.
“And she decided to make your life miserable so she can have it back that way again,” Austin correctly surmised.
“Yeah. And I like to imagine I’m tough, but when her boyfriend farts at me in the middle of the night? Apparently, I bounce the hell out.” I ran a hand through my hair as amusement hit Austin’s face.
His unrestrained smile was lighter fluid on my heart. It started clodhopping around in my chest. I was the one that made him smile, and I knew I was addicted to that whole feeling instantly.
“So can you find a new roommate?” He asked me.
He narrowed his eyes like he was trying to plan my future for me.
“It’s difficult because I’m on two scholarships. And they are tied to my room and board. The college is super picky about the awardees maintaining a proper decorum. Roberta knows this and has threatened to tell the whole college all the ways I’m evil. She has literal fistfuls of Post-it notes with my flaws wallpapering the dorm room.” I touched my neck.
“Oh, I’m so sorry. Crap.” He held out an arm and we hugged briefly, on our sides. “That’s so rough. Fuck her so much.”
“Yeah. She’s really like all of my problems right now.” I rubbed my thumb on his comforter.
“Listen, stay with me. What can they do if you just move out?” He tilted his head.