Chapter 33
Chapter Thirty-Three
Iris
As much fun as Iris was having, staying with Law, she knew she would eventually have to go home. The first week passed way, way too quickly. It felt way too natural to be living with him.
Every night she went to his house, which felt more like coming home than going to her apartment had for a while.
They always greeted each other with a kiss, even on days when he was grumpy from the pain or from something that had happened at work.
On his worst day, she still felt more welcomed and at home than she did with Noelle.
At least he had good reasons for being out of sorts.
She loved getting him back to a good mood by teasing him or going full-on service-sub and making him comfortable until he finally relaxed.
They spent the evenings watching tv, playing board games, or just sitting next to each other and reading. One night, he was working while she read, but it amounted to the same thing. It was comfortable. Safe. The kind of life she’d always imagined living when she’d imagined living with a boyfriend.
She never wanted to leave.
A few times, she caught Law looking at her a little funny and worried she was overstaying her welcome. When she brought it up, he shut it down immediately. He liked having her there, and she was making his life easier by being there, and that was that. He wanted her to stay another week.
Whether he actually needed her to—he was moving much better, they didn’t need to be worried about his head wound anymore, and he was grumpy about having things done for him at the moment—was unclear.
So, she wasn’t sure what was going on in his head and was a little afraid to ask. All she thought about was how much she wanted to stay.
Did he have quirks about how he wanted things kept in the house?
Yes.
Was she still more comfortable being in his house than she was in her own apartment, where all her stuff was?
Yup.
Granted, he’d made room for her. He had a whole closet he hadn’t used for anything other than a few boxes of clothes he hadn’t gotten around to donating yet—Q and Connor had taken care of that for him.
Her stuff was strewn around his bathroom, in his shower, and across the counter, and he didn’t seem to mind.
She was pretty tidy but had a lot more stuff than him in general
Friday was the day. She’d go home, switch out her clothes, do a few things around the apartment, then head straight back to Law’s. Even knowing she would not stay there, her chest knotted up at the idea of having to go back to the apartment at all.
I really need to find a new living situation.
It was so much worse now that she’d had a taste of doing something else.
This week had been great, but it was way too soon to suggest something as big as moving in with Law.
She would hate for him to think she only wanted him for his house, which was far, far from the truth.
Moving into the apartment in her dad’s basement sounded pretty good by comparison to continuing to live with Noelle, but she would rather move into the apartment in her dad’s basement than make Law feel she was using him for a place to live.
Driving into the parking lot, Iris’ tension ratcheted up another notch when she saw Noelle’s car. It didn’t necessarily mean she was home since she relied on Tyler a lot for rides.
Pressing her ear to the apartment door, Iris bit her lip as she listened and waited.
She didn’t hear anything, no television or conversation.
Mentally crossing her fingers, Iris let out a long, deep breath and put the key in the lock.
The door opened to an empty apartment, and she sighed in relief, the knot untwisting in her stomach.
Crap. Too soon.
The unraveled knot pulled tight when she heard a door in the back of the apartment open, then Noelle appeared in the hallway. She’d been in her room, but Iris hadn’t heard a thing.
“Oh, finally checking in, are you?” Noelle asked sarcastically, putting her hands on her hips. “A little late, don’t you think?”
“What are you talking about?” The question popped out of Iris’ mouth before she could think. Dammit. That was an open invitation for Noelle to unload, and her friend took immediate advantage.
“I’m talking about the fact you’ve been gone all week and haven’t called or texted me once to see how I’m doing.” Still standing in the middle of the hallway, Noelle didn’t look as if she would be moving any time soon, which meant Iris had to deal with her since she couldn’t get past her.
She was barely two steps inside the apartment, and Noelle was already pissing her off.
She was getting mad instead of wallowing in guilt, which was what she would have done in the past and what she was pretty sure Noelle intended.
There was still a little part of her that felt bad she hadn’t checked in on Noelle, that she’d been relieved to be away from her, but a part of her that worried she was a bad friend… a really tiny part.
“I’ve been taking care of Law. You got my message, right? About how he was in a car accident?”
Noelle rolled her eyes. Rolled. Her. Eyes.
Iris’ nails dug into her palms as her hands turned into fists, her jaw aching from how hard she was clenching her jaw shut.
“He isn’t even actually your boyfriend, and he was fine, right? Did he really need you all week? And what happened to chicks before dicks?”
“We’re in a relationship, even if we haven’t put a label on it yet, and yes, he needed me.”
“What, he has no friends to help him out?” Noelle snorted. “Well, at least he and I have something in common.”
It was a verbal jab that would have once hit Iris right in the solar plexus, but it didn’t have the same weight. It didn’t sting the same way. She was no longer afraid Noelle would end their friendship. There was no driving need to fix things because she’d reached the end of her rope.
She just wanted Noelle to leave her alone. Iris wasn’t a bad friend, and she knew it. Not only that, but being away so much had ripped the blinders from her eyes. All the little comments, Iris always brushed them off as Noelle not realizing how they sounded…
No. She was pretty sure now Noelle knew exactly how they sounded.
Even if she didn’t, that didn’t make it okay.
Especially since when Iris pointed out how it sounded and how Noelle’s words made her feel, Noelle was never willing to change her perspective or apologize.
She always brushed it off or turned it back around on Iris.
Iris tested it, just in case.
“That’s really hurtful. We’ve been friends for a long time, and not being around for one week while I was taking care of…
of someone I care about after they were in a car accident does not negate that.
You didn’t check in with me to see how I was doing, and I’m not mad.
” Iris kept her tone reasonable, taking deep breaths to stay calm.
Realizing she didn’t have to put up with this, that she was going back to Law’s tonight, really helped.
She wasn’t trapped anymore and didn’t particularly care if Noelle was mad at her.
Well, mostly. At least, she didn’t care enough to stick around and grovel when she knew she wasn’t in the wrong so that Noelle wouldn’t be mad at her.
“I didn’t check on you because you made it clear you didn’t want to hear from me when you left me that voicemail, then never contacted me again.
” Noelle huffed. “Well, guess what, you won’t have to put up with me any longer.
The lease is up in two months. I contacted building management yesterday with our sixty-day notice that we’ll be moving out. So, I hope you’re happy.”
Iris gaped. Of all the things Noelle could have said, she hadn’t expected that.
“What? You can’t just… we didn’t even… what the hell, Noelle?” She didn’t want to keep living with Noelle, but she wouldn’t have contacted the management office without at least talking it through first.
“Oh, now you care. Maybe you should have thought about that before you treated me like shit.” Noelle was looking for all the world like the injured party, hurt, anger, and betrayal clear in her expression. She meant it, and that was the thing that messed with Iris’ head the most.
She could feel the waves of emotion coming off of Noelle and knew they weren’t fake. Noelle was visibly, palpably upset.
That was why Iris ended up questioning herself all the time.
Not this time.
She was done.
She was so, so done. Noelle wasn’t acting rationally—twisting the truth, making it into something it wasn’t, making Iris out to be something she wasn’t. She was truly upset, but she didn’t have to be.
“I’m not treating you like shit. You are the one making decisions that affect both of us without talking to me.
You are the one who didn’t bother to reach out to see how I’m doing while accusing me of doing that.
You are the one twisting things around.” Iris was holding her ground and not giving in this time. Not again.
“Great, and now you’re gaslighting me! I can’t wait till the end of this lease!” Throwing her hands in the air, Noelle whirled around and stalked into her room, slamming the door behind her.
Tears formed in Iris’ eyes, but she quickly wiped them away. She wouldn’t shed one tear over this stupid fight. She wouldn’t. This wasn’t her fault.
Right?
Law
The moment Iris returned, Law knew something was wrong. She’d been a little off that morning before leaving for work, but nothing compared to how she was now. She was jittery, and the smile on her face wasn’t anywhere close to being genuine.
It was all Law could do to keep from frowning the moment he saw her, but he didn’t want to add to her upset by having her misinterpret the expression on his face.
She set the bag in her hand on the floor, which made it even harder not to frown. It was a reminder she’d gone back to her apartment. Whatever the problem was, he would bet good money it had to do with her roommate.
“Hey, how was your day?” If she didn’t want to talk about it right away, he didn’t want to push her.
Moving toward her, he put his hands on her hips.
She tilted her head back for a kiss, sighing before his lips even touched hers.
Not an unhappy sigh, more a sigh of relief—as though she was happy to be there, as if his mere presence made her feel better.
Talk about an aphrodisiac. Having that kind of effect on her was like catnip to his ego. He loved knowing that just being in his presence could calm her.
Sliding his hands around her waist, he pressed them flat against the small of her back, keeping her trapped against him as he kissed her.
Iris kissed him back, careful where she placed her hands and arms. She’d been diligent all week about making sure not to put pressure anywhere that might hurt him.
Ending the kiss, he enjoyed the feel of her leaning against him—on his right shoulder, definitely not the left. The sling between them was still uncomfortable, but at this point, he’d gotten used to it.
“Are you gonna answer my question?” he asked gently.
“What was the question again?”
Law snorted softly. “I asked how your day was.”
He felt, as much as heard, her sigh. She rubbed her nose against the side of his neck, and with tiny movements of their bodies, he swayed them. Not rocking her, exactly… but sort of.
“It started off pretty well, but when I went to the apartment to switch out my clothes for the next week, Noelle was there.” As Iris told him about the confrontation, Law found it more and more difficult to hold his tongue, but he did because Iris clearly needed to get it all out.
Though she sounded defeated when she started, she got angrier as she spoke, and he sure as hell didn’t want to stop that.
He hated the way Noelle treated Iris—and no, he didn’t need to meet the woman to feel that way.
Iris self-examined everything she had said to Noelle, and he could see her doubt that she remembered the events correctly, despite how self-aware she was.
Law could feel her distress growing along with her anger.
When she got to the part about Noelle ending their lease, he had to hold back a sigh of relief and joy.
Even though he didn’t want her to live in that toxic situation anymore, Noelle going behind her was fucked up.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t much she could do about it.
Turning her head, she pressed her forehead against his shoulder, letting out another long sigh.
“Now, I have to live another two months with her while I find a new place, and just thinking about being in the same apartment makes my skin crawl.”
“So, move in here.” The thought had been in his head almost from the first moment she’d started talking, and it hadn’t gone away. It was a crazy thought—definitely, a thought unlike him—but it hadn’t gone away. In fact, it had only gotten stronger.
They’d fallen into a routine almost immediately. A good one. He loved spending his evenings with her, whether they were sitting side by side on the couch, doing separate things, watching something together, or at the table playing a game. He didn’t want her to leave.
“What?” Iris jerked backward, staring up at him in shock, but didn’t look horrified by the idea. More disbelieving, as though she couldn’t believe he had suggested it but hoped she hadn’t heard him wrong. “I… isn’t it too soon?”
Maybe, but it was also too soon for him to have fallen in love with her, and look how that had turned out.
“It doesn’t have to be permanent. You could move in here while you’re looking for a new place to live when the lease is up.
That way, you can keep paying for the apartment.
I don’t need a roommate financially, so you wouldn’t have double expenses.
” The more he spoke, the more he liked the idea… a trial run living together.
If it worked, he’d make sure the trial run went on forever.
Iris blinked. Her lips firmed.
“I would want to help pay for utilities and food,” she said.
“Not while you’re helping me as I heal,” he countered. “Really, you’re doing me a favor. It’s just an extension of what you’re already doing, but after that, you can pay.” When she opened her mouth to argue, he shook his head. “Go with the flow, remember?”
A little light appeared in her eyes, and as the tension melted away from her body, he could feel her relax against him.
“Live here while I look for a new place… I could do that… if you’re sure.” She searched his gaze, worried he might change his mind at any moment.
Fat chance.
If they lived together for a bit, maybe wanting to tell her he loved her wouldn’t feel too soon.
“I wouldn’t have offered if I wasn’t sure.”
The smile that lit up her face was the best one yet.