6. Ari
six
Ari
“Last time we’ll be here with Ari as a solo man,” Cole snickers, flopping down onto my sofa.
“Fuck off,” I chide. “This is a temporary arrangement.”
“Temporary until it becomes permanent,” Lane teases as he stretches out in the chair.
I throw my head back and groan. “Why the fuck would I want it to become permanent?”
“Because you don’t actually hate her?” Josh states.
“Of course, I don’t hate her. I’ve literally told you guys I don’t hate her. I don’t like her.”
“How about this?” Knox adds with a devious smile. “Because you’re going to fall in love with her.”
I choke on my laughter. “Yeah, that’ll happen. I’ve never fallen in love, and I’m certainly not going to fall in love with Lucia fucking Torres.”
“Yeah, I don’t believe that,” Cole chimes in, a smug grin on his face.
“Why the fuck are you all so certain about this? You’ve been on both of us for fucking years at this point.”
“Honestly,” Lane shrugs, “because we see what you two don’t.”
I level him with a look. “What could you possibly see other than contempt?”
Josh takes a sip of his beer. “You two are far more alike than you think. Once you both stop pretending to not like each other, things are really going to change.”
“I’m not pretending to not like her,” I scoff. “I don’t. We’ve never gotten along.”
“And two years later,” Knox chides, “neither of you has told us why.”
“Because it’s not my story to tell,” I sigh. “We got off on the wrong foot, and Lucia has to be the one to decide if you guys get the whole story. It’s not up to me.”
“Wait a second,” Cole says, sitting straight up. “You’ve been nice to Lucia this entire time?!”
“Not airing something out is being nice?” I question, cocking my brow.
“Uh, yeah.”
I just shrug. “It’s not a big deal. But can we please talk about something else? I’m leaving for Korea in a few days, so this is the last time we can get together here without me having to share the space with a woman who loathes my mere existence.”
Josh looks at Lane. “How’s the adoption going?”
Lane looks at us with the brightest smile. “Finalized yesterday.”
“No shit!” I shout. “Congrats, man.”
“Sage officially has a mom. God, I’m fucking lucky.”
“You manifested that shit,” I laugh. “Told me the first time you met her that Liv was going to be Sage’s new mom.”
“Forever grateful I was right,” he grins.
“Ari really is the last single one of us,” Cole chimes.
“And that’s not changing,” I shrug. “You guys can enjoy your love stories. I prefer to read about them instead.”
Yeah, the guy who doesn’t want love likes to read romance novels.
Ironic, isn’t it?
Knox pipes up now. “I think we need to take some bets.”
I eye him curiously. “What are we betting on?”
He smirks and zeroes in on me. “On when you’re going to fuck Lucia.”
“Jesus fucking Christ,” I groan as the guys laugh raucously around me. “I’m not fucking Lucia.”
“I give it until the season starts,” Josh chuckles.
“No chance he holds out that long,” Lane says emphatically. “It’s gonna be before we leave for Spring Training.”
“I’m thinking during Spring Training,” Knox chimes. “Lucia is always in Bradenton with us.”
“You’re all wrong,” Cole states. “I give it until New Year’s.”
“Fuck all of you,” I chastise. “I am not going to fuck Lucia. Goddamn.”
“Pierce seems to think you won’t be able to keep your dick in your pants long at all,” Josh laughs.
“I can pick up someone by just going out. I don’t need Lucia in my fucking bed to get laid.”
“You don’t need it, no,” Cole shrugs. “But the sexual tension between the two of you is going to snap at some point.”
“What sexual tension?”
They all just stare at me, and I roll my eyes.
We have no sexual tension.
I am not sexually attracted to Lucia.
She’s hot; I won’t deny that. But I don’t want her.
I can find myself in someone’s bed who doesn’t hate the fact that I’m around.
That sounds far better to me than sleeping with the woman who would probably twist my balls off if I didn’t make her come in time.
I mean, I wouldn’t mind having her hands there, just not as she’s trying to hurt me.
…
Uh, not sure where that thought came from because I do not want that.
At all.
She can keep those toned arms and slender fingers to herself.
Exactly where they should be.
Not all over me.
Strangely, I feel my blood rushing south, so I have to adjust myself subtly. When I do, I notice that the guys are all still staring at me.
Shit. Those thoughts are written all over my face, aren’t they?
Cole takes a swig of his beer and fights back a laugh. “Yeah, you definitely don’t have any sexual thoughts of her.”
I sigh and sink back against the sofa.
They’re mistaken. Clearly.
My thoughts were about how I didn’t want her all over me.
So, I obviously don’t want to have sex with her.
But now I know for sure I’ve signed myself up for months of torture, not just by having a hot roommate, but by having friends that are going to be relentlessly irritating about it…