Zeke let me push him a few more feet ahead before he switched places. He began guiding me forward, his arm around me. He bent forward, his mouth teasing my ear. “You’ve not been around, but you’ll find out that I enjoy pissing Monroe off. It’s our thing. She’ll get all worked up, threaten me, and nothing will happen. Or if something does happen, it’s usually between Blaisie and her man.”

  “You mean Blaise and his brother?”

  “Course.” He was a little smug as he was maneuvering us past the kitchen, past the other room where a bar was set up, and down the back hall into his primary bedroom.

  A couple was kissing on the bed.

  Zeke ordered, “Out. Now.”

  “What?”

  The woman scrambled up, hurrying out with the guy moving slower.

  Zeke’s smile was polite as he said, “Have a nice time, just not in here.” The guy threw him a glare, but Zeke dropped the act, letting him see a hardness in him, and the guy hurried out. Zeke glanced my way. “Sorry. I’m all for people enjoying themselves, but one of the rules of partying, you don’t take shit when you want shit to happen.”

  “I know how to handle drunk people.”

  Zeke was shutting the door, locking it before he looked back, another eyebrow raising up. “I’m sure you do.”

  “Those people weren’t drunk.”

  “True, but sometimes I like being a dick to people who deserve it. Those two people, they deserved it.” He went to a bar that he had in his own room and poured me a drink. “Blaise informed me that maybe I shouldn’t have thrown a roommate-warming party on your first night here. Was he right?”

  I opened my mouth to tell him no, of course Blaise wasn’t right, of course I’d love any party Zeke would throw at his own house, and then realized this was now my home too. Or where I’d be living until something changed, and I relaxed, maybe for the first time since our quickie in my bedroom. I took the glass he handed and went over to his patio door. He had his own sitting area. It was connected to the rest of the backyard, but it was behind a corner. Unless people wandered all the way over to a far corner of the yard, no one would know we were outside.

  I opened the door, hearing the sounds of the party already muted from our little area and sat down on one of the lounge chairs. “Is this a party where I need to lock my room?”

  Everything I owned was upstairs, still in boxes.

  Zeke shook his head. “I went up and locked your door when people started arriving. Most will stick to the basement, main floor, outside, and garage. I’ve had parties before. Not many venture upstairs, and if they do, usually they see the cameras I have in place.”

  “You have cameras?”

  “Security. I meant to tell you, but we just haven’t gotten around to it. It’s in the main rooms and hallways. There’s none in the bedrooms or bathrooms.”

  “Good to know.”

  He was studying me again. Some of the party-Zeke was fading, and I was getting some of my Zeke. He said softly, “I can turn them off when you’re here. Turn them on at night or when we’re gone, if you want. I’ll give you the controls so you can do it yourself, if you want. I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable. With the size of the house and because I travel a lot, it seemed smart to have them installed.”

  That made me feel more comfortable. “You travel a lot?”

  He nodded. “At times, or when I want. I can do stocks anywhere.”

  That was true, and also, a whole new way of living that I wasn’t used to. “That’s nice.”

  He frowned a little, and I knew he heard a note in my voice that I wished hadn’t slipped out. There was some envy, I couldn’t lie about that. Being wealthy had perks. Living was easier, or it seemed that way.

  “Wha—” He laughed, a little hitch in there. “I’m sorry. I…” He got all the way serious. “I don’t know how to respond to that.”

  “You don’t need to say anything. That’s a nice thing you can do, traveling anywhere and whenever you want. But it is a reminder of how different we are. I can’t do that. I have to stay where I have a job.” I took a sip of my drink, hissing from the vodka’s burn.

  He nodded, still watching me in his way. “I remember that you were supposed to go to grad school at one point. What happened? Can I ask?”

  I needed another drink for that conversation. “Life happened. That’s all.”

  “Ava—”

  I looked away, taking a long draw from the drink now. The burn was getting less and less. Thoughts were starting to come in, piling in, but the basic bottom line was: what was I doing? Moving into this giant house? Sleeping with my roommate? He was not in my league. He was so far out of it, skyrocketing out of it, and I knew, even though I’d been fooling myself out in the party, that there would be actual mean girls coming in at some point. Kit. There were others. There had to be. For Zeke to be who Zeke was, of course there’d be bitchy women coming into our lives. My new life? And they’d be there, looking down at me, because who were we all kidding here? I was the help.

  I’d be more comfortable being hired to either tend bar at this party or be waitstaff.

  A hard laugh rippled up my throat. “What are we doing here?”

  “Oh Jesus. Are you serious?” he bit out.

  I did a double take, not expecting that from him, and seeing my look, he leaned forward. His own face was hard. “Is this the part of our story where you realize you’re poor and I’m not and you decide this is going to go nowhere so you should move right back out?”

  His words pierced me, but there was some truth in them. “It would make sense. Yeah…”

  He cursed. “Fucking please.” He stood up, going back into the room and added to his drink.

  “You’re mad? At me?”

  He didn’t answer, but his eyes were trained right on me as he came back outside, sitting down in the chair beside me.

  I asked, “Is this our first fight?” I was in the twilight zone. We’d only fucked twi—more than twice, more than three, four actually, but this was happening too fast. Way too fast. I should’ve known. I began to stand up.

  “Where are you going?”

  “Leaving. You’re right. I shouldn’t be here.”

  His eyes were angry, blazing. “I didn’t say that. I said that’s what you were going to say.”

  I couldn’t deny that. “It’s true. I mean, what is this? What are we doing? I didn’t even ask about rent. I have no idea if I can pay for it.”

  “You really think I’d make you pay me rent?”

  I flushed. “You better! I’m not a freeloader. I have never been one.”

  “Maybe that’s part of the problem.”

  I fell silent. My whole insides were twisted up. “What does that mean?”

  He half-glared at me, taking a pull from his drink.

  “Zeke. What does that mean?”

  He still didn’t answer, taking another draw from his drink. Still glowering too.

  “Zeke Allen, answer me right now.” I would’ve folded my arms over my chest if I didn’t have a drink, so I folded one arm across my chest and tried to look intimidating.

  “I want you with me, and I’ll keep saying it as many times as you need me to hear it.” He sighed. “You look at me like that, and all I’m thinking is how I want to throw you on the bed, peel off your pants, and sink so far inside of you that you forget everything we were just talking about.”

  My body got insta-hot. Like, heated to boiling hot.

  And, well, damn.

  “What?” I could only mutter, feeling the throb burst deep inside for him.

  He saw it. He did. He knew the effect he had on me, and just like that, the whole feel of the conversation turned. It took a one-eighty, and he was giving me a wolfish look, one that had my toes curling, and I could only let out a shaky sigh because I knew he was two seconds away from doing just what he said he wanted to do.

  I was going to let him, because as he finished his drink, set the glass aside, and started for me, I knew without a doubt that Zeke Allen had buried himself deep inside of me and I had no idea what to do about it. He stepped to me, his hand moving around my neck, cradling the back of my head, he must’ve hit a button because privacy slides were rolling down over his windows, and I groaned right before his mouth fell on mine.

  After that, he did exactly what he promised.

  I loved every second of it.

  16

  AVA

  It’d been a month, and well, I knew two things. One, I wasn’t paying rent. Every time I asked, Zeke tried to have sex with me. He mostly won those conversations. And two, I had never understood the sex-obsessed people. The girls who gushed about it in Manny’s at night. The books. The movies. Society.

  I did now. Oh, boy, did I understand now.

  The other thing I didn’t know, was how my bed felt because I hadn’t slept in it. Every night, we were in Zeke’s. If I informed him I was going to my room, to my bed, somehow I’d still end up in his. He was damned good at it too.

  I was just coming from the back section at Manny’s when I heard Zeke’s voice from the bar area. Since I moved in, he’d come in a few times, but not as much as before. Though he and I were… well, he and I. I’d missed seeing him at Manny’s. There was comfort in familiarity, and Brandon clocked me coming from the back. He pulled his hand back, and I rounded the bar, pouring Zeke’s beer myself. I flashed Brandon a grin. “We’re not that busy. You can take off if you want?”

  He glanced around. I wasn’t lying. We weren’t busy, but I still had six hours before closing, and there wasn’t another bartender on staff. “I’ll stay till ten, how about?”

  “Okay.” I slid Zeke’s beer across the bar to him. “Hey.”

  His hand closed over it, over mine before I pulled back. “Hey.”

  Brandon was watching us, and chuckled. “Look at you two.”

  Zeke shot him a look, tipping his head back.

  Oh, no. I recognized that look. It was the one where he wasn’t sure if Brandon was being nice or not, and he was going to bait him to see what reaction he got. Yeah. That was another thing I knew about Zeke.

  He wasn’t the simple guy most considered him as. He was layered, and he kept most under the surface, packed under the smiling and charming jackass he could be at times. Case in point as I was bracing myself for what he was going to say to Brandon.

  He delivered, “Look at us…what? You got something to say to back that up or just that, ‘look at them’ and see how the room is going to react?”

  There was some bite to his voice.

  Brandon stopped drying a glass, lowering the towel. “You kidding? What’s that about?”

  Zeke leaned forward. “I think that’s the point I’m making. What’s your comment about? You and me, we’re friendly from a distance. We aren’t buds where I can shrug off some needling. The question I have for you is what are your intentions? Friendly or public mockery?”

  There was a lot more bite to that comment.

  Brandon stood back, his whole face in shock, and I understood. He knew this side of Zeke existed. I knew too, but he hadn’t seen it in a while except when a female got too persistent and wasn’t taking a hint.

  Brandon shook his head, slowly, flicking his gaze my way before snorting. “Nice to see you haven’t changed, Allen.” He motioned to me. “I’m taking five.” He gave Zeke a tight look passing by me and heading down the back hallway.

  I moved in, frowning. “Did you have to go that hard?”

  Zeke leaned back, the tension gone and picked up his beer. “He was walking the line between being kind or making us a joke. Now, he won’t make us a joke.”

  Well, there was that. “You don’t know he would’ve done that.”

  “Yes,” Zeke said it tightly. “He would’ve because he doesn’t like me. He doesn’t like me for you. And he doesn’t have the place to step forward and warn me off. That was his way of broaching that gray area, but I gave him something to actually bitch about. Except now, he’ll be more careful about choosing his words and what message he’s going to deliver.”

  Some customers came in, so I moved to handle their drinks. When I got back to Zeke, he was watching Javalina again. I frowned. “I didn’t know they were playing again. I thought they were off-season now?”

  “It’s a rerun.”

  “Oh, gotcha.” Still. “Who do you know on their team?” I’d always wondered because he tended to know quite a few professional athletes.

  He frowned back at me.

  I grinned. “What? You rotate between Blaise’s team, Mason Kade’s team, the Kansas City Mustangs hockey team, and the Javalina hockey team. You watch the Javalina more than the Mustangs, so I can’t quite figure out if you know someone on the Mustangs’ team or just like them, but I know you know someone on the Javalina because you watch them almost as much as Mason Kade’s team. So.” I propped my hip against the counter. “Who is it?” I thought about it. “Please tell me it’s not someone who is currently screwing someone you used to screw?”

  He cracked a grin. “I don’t know anyone who plays for the Mustangs, but I like Cutler Ryder.”

  One of my guesses was answered. “And the Javalina?”

  “I know one of the guys. He’s in a relationship with a friend of mine.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Did you screw this friend?”

  “No.” His lips twitched again. “She and I were not like that.”

  She. I knew it’d been a she. “Are you going to tell me her name?”

  He was full on grinning at me now. “I’m kinda liking you not knowing. You’re getting heated. I like this reaction. Are you jealous?”

  I growled, but more customers came in, and I went to help them out.

  After that, we got swamped. Four baseball teams decided Manny’s was their new hangout after their games, and I was thankful Brandon had decided to stick around. I also forgot all about the Javalina and Zeke’s friend too, that was, until around midnight when I looked over and saw a different friend standing next to him. Standing real close to him.

  Penny Lancaster. I didn’t know if she was married, or if she was, what her married name was, but my stomach shrank because I remembered how he and Penny were on-and-off again in high school. She’d been more than a one-night thing, and dammit, but I knew this. I so knew this. This was not a secret. He had a past, a big past, and who was I to even get worked up about it? We were sleeping together and roommates, but beyond that, I hadn’t a clue. We’d not had “the talk,” hashing out if we were exclusive or not, but then again; when would that have come into play? I was the one who left for work, but when I wasn’t, Zeke was around. All the time. In the house, or in another room, or at Manny’s.

  And now with Penny.

  My head was spinning, and this wasn’t good.

  I shouldn’t be reacting this way, but I couldn’t stop or ignore the burn that was going down my chest.

  I went over to them, and wished that she had aged bad, but she hadn’t. She still looked as beautiful as I remembered from back then, one of the popular girls from their rich private school.

  He lifted his head up as I neared them. “Hey.”

  Penny had started to speak, seeing me, but hearing his tone, how he greeted me, she gave me a whole different look. Her eyes got sharper. Her mouth closed a little before she had a fake smile on her face and raised her chin up a little. A Lana Marks Cleopatra Clutch in her hand. “Hi…” She cocked her head to the side. “You’re Ava, right? From Roussou?”

  I flashed her a thin smile. “I am. What would you like to drink?”

  I felt Zeke watching me and ignored him.

  Her eyes narrowed before another smile smoothed out over her face, and she pulled out the chair beside Zeke. “How about your most expensive wine?” She slipped onto the seat, and her smile got brighter. Her eyes slid toward Zeke. “On this guy?” She playfully elbowed him.

  That burn started digging right down and deep into me, going faster. “Sure.” I didn’t wait for Zeke to approve, and turned, reaching for the good stuff. The most expensive stuff because that’s who she was. She was worth the pricey stuff. Not me. I was worth the cheap stuff. The beer on tap. Jell-O shots. That was me. And this chick, Penny Fucking Lancaster, the ex or the one who could’ve been considered the ex of Zeke’s if he ever had a steady girlfriend because she was it. The one who was mostly on-and-off with him, and that said a lot about her, about what she meant to him.

  And I was totally and irrationally jealous, and I hated this feeling. The burn was hurting, slicing into me.

  I poured the wine and slid the glass over to her. “Raise a hand when you need a refill.” Still ignoring Zeke, I walked right past Brandon and said under my breath, “I’m taking five.”

  I felt Zeke’s eyes on my back as I kept going, right out the side door.

  If I smoked, I would’ve been smoking. I didn’t, so instead, I was perched on a picnic table in the back and bent over, looking at my phone. It buzzed, but I ignored Zeke’s text.

  And his next two until I put my phone away because he was now calling me.

  A second later, he stepped outside, his phone to his ear, and seeing me, he put it away. “What is going on with you?”

  I glared at him. “If you were to guess?”

  His eyebrows bunched together. The sides of his mouth turned down. “I’m actually lost here.” He stepped down the stairs but put his hands in his front pockets. He stopped right in front of me, his head lowered, his eyes trained on me. “Connect the dots, please. I don’t like feeling lost when it comes to you.”

  “Are you serious? I know who that is.”

  “Penny?” His confusion seemed to double.

  “I know she was your fuck buddy back in school.”

  Understanding dawned, but then his face went blank, really fast. I didn’t like the “really fast” part because he was hiding it now, from me. “That was a long time ago. You want me to be an ass when your ex shows up?”

  I gave him a look. “You would, and we both know it. You already were with Jarrod.”