Their Little House Colter (Five Little Roommates #1)

Chapter Four

Colter

This was a week of firsts. So many firsts.

It all started at Chained when I saw a sexy daddy, and for the first time, I thought maybe I should approach him. That was so not like me to have one night with a daddy. So not like me that I didn’t even know how to approach the man, and he left before I worked up the nerve. Probably good because I realized very quickly that one night wouldn’t be enough. I was setting myself up for hurt, so I went back to playing.

But if that was true, why couldn’t I forget about him? That night, I pushed it aside, assuming I only thought about trying it because my day had sucked and my bestie had already found a daddy for the night. But if that were the case, he’d have been long forgotten instead of infiltrating my thoughts nonstop.

The second first was going to check out the new room in the little house. I’d never looked at a place specifically because I liked the social aspect. And if the listing had been a random homeowner looking to fill rooms, I’d never have given it a second’s thought. It wasn’t an apartment—there were lots of shared living spaces—and that was usually a nonstarter for me. But add in a playroom and people who like the same things I did, and I was willing to give it a shot.

The house was really nice. Much nicer than I thought it would be. I had a sort of frat-boy type image of what a house filled with men sharing public spaces would look like. How wrong I’d been. It was neat and tidy, welcoming, and, best of all, everybody was kind.

I mean, sure, they had to be. No one decides to be an asshole on interview day. But they had a really good vibe, and I could see myself being happy there.

And that’s where another first came in. I found myself attracted to a little, which was probably not good. By nature, we both wanted the same thing in a relationship, and it wasn’t another little. That didn’t make him easier to ignore.

Dallas had been sitting there, pretending not to notice me. I envisioned him being a tad mischievous when he played, which went against the other vibes he gave off. He didn’t present himself as in-your-face kind of little, who played loud and hard, partly for the attention. If anything, I could see him at Chained, living for the story times.

He’d probably turn out to be a great playmate and roommate. But still, part of me wondered for a split second if maybe we could be more. Fine, longer than that because, gods, his ass was magnificent. And that smile could light up a room brighter than my light-up sneakers.

Either I was really obvious about my attraction, or Monroe was great with people, because on my way out, he said, “Try to remember that Dallas is little too.”

I wanted to argue with him, but that was a horrific idea, given why I was there. I really wanted this place. I wanted to be able to be friends with my roommates, to have something in common, to be able to share a part of myself I didn’t get to with most people.

And the rent? Oh, the rent was great. In so many ways, it was the perfect place.

The timing was great, our lease up soon. But this wasn’t our first lease cycle, and I was sure Mike assumed that I was going to sign again, just like I assumed he was going to as well, which meant it was time for a potentially difficult conversation.

“I can do this.” I hugged my stuffed dragon tightly. “I can do this. It’s a better place to live, and it isn’t like I’m breaking up with Mike. We are just sharing expenses. No big deal.”

My dragon nodded, with some assistance from me, and I gave him a kiss on his head. I put him back in my dresser, where he hid.

He wouldn’t need to hide in my new place. I’d be able to carry him around without anyone thinking twice about it. But first, I had to man up and go tell Mike.

I made his favorite dinner, thinking that would help ease him into the bad news. That was a miscalculation on my part. Instead, my meal confused him and turned things really weird, really quickly.

“There’s something I need to talk to you about.” I grabbed one of the shrimps off my plate with my fork.

“Oh. Oh. Oh.” He got louder with each oh. “No. It’s not you, it’s me. I like girls. This is sweet and all, but—”

My jaw dropped. He didn’t think I was leaving. He thought I wanted more with him. Crap. Talk about giving the wrong signals.

“No! That’s not what I was going to say. Don’t worry, it’s not at all like that.”

I wasn’t going to tell him he wasn’t my type because Mike was the kind of person who would be hurt by that. Not because he wanted to be my type, but it would be rejection in his eyes. I did want him to know that that was not at all in my head.

I couldn’t be lovers with someone I wasn’t friends with. And if we weren’t friends after so many years of living together, we never were going to be. Plus, there was the whole he-was-straight thing. Which I had been pretty sure of anyway. Not that I gave it a lot of thought.

“I think that…I’m not going to be staying here after the lease is up.”

“Really? Oh. Because of what I—I didn’t mean to—I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to offend you.”

Great. Now he thought he was to blame and I was upset he rejected me. I was batting a thousand today.

“No. That’s what I needed to talk to you about. I found a place closer to work. I think it used to be an old boarding house at some point, but some guy owns it, and it’s nice, the rooms are nice, and it’s got a real nice kitchen and a nice dining room.” How many times could I say nice in a row?

I left off the part about a playroom.

“And it’s closer to work,” I reiterated, “so I think I want to move.”

He looked at me for a while. I wasn’t sure if he was going to answer at all. He just stared.

And then, finally—

“So. Okay. Maybe I’ll look for someplace too. The rent was going up anyway and for what we pay already, it’s not the greatest.”

And once that was out there, everything was back to normal.

I wasn’t good at confrontations, even though this technically wasn’t even one.

But at least it was done.

Now all that was left was to move out and into my new place.

I could hardly wait.