That Bubbling Feeling: A Feel Good Roommate Romance Novel

Chapter 29

Kai

I was the last to arrive at the gym today. Frankly, I hadn’t even planned on going. I’d planned on having a nice, mature conversation with my idiot best friend that would’ve hopefully, eventually, ended with us fucking. Then, after that, we were going to fuck again, and then… I don’t know. Fuck, probably.

Mission not accomplished.

He obviously didn’t have to fuck me if he didn’t want to. I’d come to terms with that. Kind of. But, god, he could’ve at least talked to me about what happened. His coldness was unbelievable.

No, actually. It wasn’t. Jonah was like that.

My body raged with a number of different emotions that, when combined, created a very dangerous concoction.

“Pull day!” Aaron said with a smile as I approached the warm-up area. “What are we starting with?”

I glared at him, and he caught my expression. I didn’t want to speak to anybody, yet I didn’t want to be alone. I just wanted to be angry, and I wanted to scream and claw and rip, but that wasn’t an option, so I’d settle for tearing my muscles to shreds. “Let’s deadlift.” I didn’t give a shit what exercise we did, I just wanted it to hurt. I wanted it to absolutely knock me out from exhaustion, and I wanted to listen to the nastiest, heaviest music while I did it.

“Uh oh.” Briggs pulled the corners of his mouth down and shot a look at Aaron.

I registered their silent interaction before dragging my vision away. Crouching down, I pulled my things from my stupid fucking gym bag that smelled like the bottom of Jonah’s stupid fucking hamper when he accidentally left it a few days too long.

“What’s goin’ on, KK?” Aaron sang. The shadow in front of me, and the unmistakable looming energy, informed me that the giant fucker had approached me from behind as I hunched over my things. I ignored that sensation and continued to rip gear from my bag, rejecting all questions.

“Leave her, dude,” I thought I heard Briggs say.

We warmed up together, though I kept my headphones on, ensuring the music was loud enough to clear every other thought from my head. It was just enough to keep my mind at bay while it was playing, but the second they came off, reality hit.

I’d just put down my most recent set. Aaron had reached his hands around my head and pulled my headphones off. I didn’t even know how long we’d been rotating for, but all three of us stood around the platform, pulling deadlifts.

“Kai.” Briggs’ voice echoed around me. It took me a moment to tune into it. “You just hit a PR.”

I blinked slowly, clearing the thoughts of Jonah from my head. I hadn’t noticed the new personal record, but it was nice of Briggs to. Any other day, I would’ve celebrated with the guys and posted some annoying, ironic video on my story for laughs. But I didn’t give a shit today. Not one.

I was suddenly pulled from thought as the ceiling slid above me and my ass hit the platform. What the fuck? Pain bloomed in my tailbone, reaching from my heels to my head.

“Kai!” Aaron put himself behind me to hold up my back. Had I really just fallen? Physically, I was exhausted. Emotionally, I had a long way to go. “Hey.” He pulled me up to my feet easily and kept me between his hands as he turned me to look at him. “Let’s go to the bags and take a quick minute before we move on to isolation. Or, if you’re done, let me know. I can help you get home.”

“No!” I did not want to go home. Or…I did. Fuck. I wanted to be close to Jonah about as much as I wanted to rip his fucking head off. I huffed a breath. “Fine. Bags.”

We racked our weights and grabbed our things, making our way to Room C where the punching bags were hung. I quickly swathed my hands with disgusting wraps from Aaron’s bag, the only place scarier than my own, and began rapid-fire punching the sack held by Briggs. An enormous groan escaped me as I went. I continued until my knuckles were sore, my energy died out, and my arms fell to my sides weakly. I released an enormous sigh.

I owed them an explanation for my shitty attitude.

Turning around, I slapped both my hands on Aaron’s chest. He wrapped his giant arms around me with care, and my face sank into his sweat and cologne-filled shirt. My voice was muffled as I shouted, “I’m so fucking horny!”

His arms quickly unclamped. He backed away from me slowly with his hands lifted, a stunned but amused look on his face. “What did you just say?”

Briggs’ giggle sounded from behind the punching bag along with a thought. “I thought you were pissed off. If it’s just that, you can easily fix it.”

“I’ll fix it.” Aaron crossed his enormous biceps over his chest and grinned. Any person interested in men would be out of their mind to turn down that offer. And I was. Out of my mind.

I shook my head and slid my wrapped palms over my eyes. “No, ugh. It’s not just that. I’m fucking pissed and I need to fuck.”

“Even better.” Aaron tilted his head down to let his eyes darken beneath his black lashes. “Anything for a friend.”

“Not you. Ew, Aaron.” Fucking gross.

“Who?” asked Briggs. He came into view and stood just next to Aaron, each of them looking at me with smug expressions. By the way Briggs showed me his teeth, I had a feeling he might’ve already known who.

Ugh, the dreaded questions. I’d hoped they’d just accept my bad mood and move on without a full-on interrogation, but I should’ve known better. My face scrunched into itself. Admitting it aloud was almost painful. “Jonah.”

Aaron threw his head back and roared with laughter, walking around himself in a little circle. “You are fucked!”

I shot him a glare. “Thanks for that, Aaron.”

Briggs swallowed his own giggles and placed his hand on Aaron’s shoulder to bring him back down. “Well, does he feel the same way?”

Aaron scoffed, tossing his hands to the sides. “Are you kidding me? Of course, he does. He’s a guy.”

“Not all guys are like you,” Briggs said. I agreed. Jonah was nothing like Aaron. “But I know he does. I’m just asking for good measure.”

“Excuse you?!” I stomped my foot, sending more pain to the top of my head. Fuck, I was going to need a hot shower after this session.

My two snickering gym partners proceeded to pull out their phones and assess every photo, video, and comment exchanged publicly between my best friend and me. Aaron thought it all too funny that there was a heart or some sort of loving emoji commented by me on every single one of Jonah’s very few posts. Briggs was a personal fan of the few pictures of us scattered about my account, our faces smushed into the camera looking, admittedly, quite smitten.

“Kai, come on,” Briggs said, tilting his head to one side skeptically. “Don’t be stupid. You two are dating without sex.”

“We are not!”

“The poor guy is totally friend-zoned,” Aaron added. “I’d bet everything I own that you’ve been unknowingly stringing him along for years. God, I feel so bad for the little dude.”

What? No. No, that couldn’t have been true. Absolutely not. Jonah had made it very clear last night and this morning that he had no interest in crossing any lines with me, so there was no way he’d been waiting for it. He’d never been one for romance; that was how I’d always known him. He hardly tolerated people, much less liked them.

I tutted and smacked Aaron lightly on the arm. “That’s not true. I would’ve known.”

“No you wouldn’t have,” he mumbled happily, still gazing at his phone with a bright, white smile. He observed closely, the expression falling from his face, shifting from glee to interest. “This guy is like, low key kind of famous, Kai.”

I shrugged. “To a certain group of people, yes.” They weren’t exactly international superstars, but most people who still wore skinny jeans knew who they were.

“Does he fuck a lot of ladies to cover up his sorrow over you not loving him?” Aaron asked.

I couldn’t help but snort at that. The thought of Jonah being a ladies’ man was the most ridiculous thing I’d ever heard. “He doesn’t fuck anyone, Aaron. He’s never been into that stuff.”

Both boys froze, their mouths curving down. Aaron began shaking his head silently, and Briggs’ eyebrows floated steadily toward his blonde hairline.

I took a step back. Why were they being so monumentally weird about this? “What?”

Briggs lifted a hand to cup his forehead. “He’s your roommate, right? Does he ever, like, come by your room to hang late at night? Or…”

I bit my lips together and hesitated before answering. They were already acting strange, and I knew they were going to kill me for what I was about to say. “We sh—” I cleared my throat. “We share a room.”

Both boys threw their hands in the air and groaned frustratedly, begging the gods above for some type of mercy.

“You guys at least have separate beds, right?” Aaron asked urgently. I could tell by his composure he expected me to say yes but was asking anyway because, at this point, it wouldn’t have surprised him if I said no.

“Well, yeah…”

“Yeah…what?” Aaron asked, prodding for an answer he didn’t want to hear.

I whispered my next sentence quickly in hopes they wouldn’t be able to discern it. “Sometimes we sleep in the same bed.”

Alas, it was to no avail. They both groaned again, louder this time, throwing their hands to the heavens.

“He doesn’t just want to fuck you, he’s been waiting years for it, waiting years for you,” Aaron said. I had no time to think about the way that sentence pinned me right between the legs because he kept speaking. “If he got girls, I wouldn’t feel so bad. But, Kai, he probably has no fucking idea what to do with you. Do you know how nerve-racking it is to hit on someone?”

“Yes, Aaron, I do. I’ve made the first move before. Girls are pretty and scary. I get it. But you don’t know Jonah, and you definitely didn’t see the way he acted last night, so if you could save the unsolicited advice—”

“What did he do last night?” Briggs asked, slapping a hand across Aaron’s chest like a human seatbelt.

Ah, fucking fuck. I wished my mouth had a zipper on it. I crossed my arms. “Nothing.”

Aaron’s smile returned to its place, stretching his angled cheeks from ear to ear. “Seems like he did something pretty hefty to have you acting this way. Briggs is gonna need that move to get out of the friend zone himself. Hey Briggs, maybe you should reach out to Jonah and he can teach you. Kai, what’s his number?”

“Shut the fuck up, Aaron,” Briggs and I said simultaneously.

Briggs then turned to me with a softness in his eyes that was much more tolerable than the dark mirth in Aaron’s. “But actually, kind of, what did he do?”

I shook my head and chewed on my bottom lip. There was no way I could divulge this kind of stuff to these guys. Jonah would be so pissed at me if he ever found out I was sprinkling these secrets around. But Briggs looked so innocent and kind, and I knew he’d never do anything to hurt Thalia, and he was my friend, and he needed help. Oh god, the poor thing. “He, uhm…” I shook my head. “He just made me comfortable, B, in a way that I couldn’t do myself.”

He nodded and looked at the floor, his face twisting into the sweetest thoughtfulness. Part of me wanted to shake Thalia by the shoulders and tell her to scoop him up as soon as possible, because fumbling a good one really sucked. I should know.