Chapter 5
FIVE
DAISY
“You can’t be serious.” Willa stares at me through the screen, slack-jawed and wide-eyed, while I try to fit all of my groceries into one of the cupboards above the counter.
“I am.”
I should have known that texting my best friend about my living situation would result in an immediate video call. Maybe that’s why I waited two days to tell her. “You’re really not the least bit curious?”
“I’m not,” I tell her, pushing up to the tips of my toes to slide the box of cereal onto the top shelf.
“You’re so lying right now.” I glance over my shoulder at where my phone is propped against the toaster. Sometimes I hate technology, like right now when she can see right through me even though I’m halfway across the country. I make a mental note to hit decline the next time she videocalls me.
“I’m not,” I argue, refusing to accept defeat on this one. I can admit that Connor is attractive, but that goes right out of the window the moment he opens his mouth.
She shakes her head like she’s somehow disappointed in me for not jumping at the chance to hook up with the guy I’m stuck living with for the next four months.
“If I was rooming with a hot giant of a man with an attitude to match, I would be trying to climb him like a tree. You just know that guy has it going for him.” She sighs dreamily while I lean my hips against the wooden counter and shoot a pointed glare her way.
I should have known she would look him up. I’m the idiot who shared his name. Thankfully she hasn’t divulged any of her findings with me—I don’t need to know what he gets up to in his spare time when he’s not busy being the bane of my existence.
I groan, rubbing my eyes. “There will be no climbing.”
She shimmies her shoulders, and the movement makes the video feed jiggle. “You’re single and in the big city. This is your moment.”
“I’m not sure Southbay qualifies as a big city.”
“It is if it has more than one set of traffic lights,” she declares, flipping her hair over one shoulder.
I scoff. “Yeah, compared to Willow Creek everything is a big city.”
With the backdrop of the Rocky Mountains, Willow Creek is the picture-perfect town. The only downside is its size. The boundary lines could frame a postcard. Like, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it kind of small.
“Exactly. You should be enjoying it.”
“I am enjoying it. I just don’t need to climb anyone like a tree in order to have fun.”
“I’ll pretend to believe that, if you stop pretending you’re not totally into the hot giant in the next room.”
“That’s not going to happen.”
“Exactly.” She smirks, and I have a slight feeling I’ve lost the argument on both counts. But by some miracle, she stops pestering me about my dating life and fills me in on hers instead while I put away the rest of my groceries—and it almost feels like being home again.
To my absolute horror, Willa turns out to be right. It’s downright impossible not to think of Connor in compromising positions when all I can hear is the rhythmic banging of his headboard against my wall.
I push my head further into my pillow and turn the volume on my headphones up all the way up, hoping it will be enough to drown out the sound.
I got an hour of peace after my call with Willa before Connor stumbled through the front door.
At least that’s what I assume happened, because I heard the thump of something hard—like his thick skull—hitting the wall before the door slammed shut.
All it took was the sound of laughter to realize he wasn’t alone.
The hollow thud against my wall picks up speed, the nonstop tap-tap-tapping drilling itself into me.
I grab my duvet and pull it over my face, hoping it’ll help drown it out.
But the second I think I might have some kind of momentary reprieve, the song in my ear changes and I hear his breathy moan through the wall: “Fuck yeah, just like that.”
Seriously? Does he not realize how thin these walls are?
“Fuck.”
That’s it, I’m done.
I rip my headphones off, having had enough of the porno next door. He can do whatever he wants in his spare time, but I did not sign up for a front-row seat to it.
My socks slide on the floorboards as I yank my door open and storm toward his. The rhythmic thumping behind the door picks up just as I curl my fingers into a fist and hammer it against his door.
The thumping stops and for a brief, perfect second everything is quiet. I sag in relief, tipping my head back to soak it up.
Then I hear a single bedspring creek, followed by footsteps, and I freeze.
In my desperation to get him to stop, I hadn’t considered the fact I might have to face him.
I barely have enough time to contemplate fleeing before the door creaks open and Connor pops his head out, hair tousled and darker in the dim light. I imagine I look like a deer caught in the headlight, eyes wide and mouth open wide, still half contemplating fleeing back to the safety of my room.
Untampered frustration flickers across his face then morphs into one of his characteristic smirks.
“I didn’t know you were home,” he says, pulling the door open enough to slide out into the hallway until we’re face-to-face. He tucks it closed behind him, shielding his company inside.
My eyes drop and I really wish they hadn’t, because he’s shirtless and sweaty and wearing a pair of gray sweatpants that sit loosely on his hips. It doesn’t help that his chest looks like it was carved out of stone.
My eyes snap back to up to his, cheeks flaming when he crooks a brow as if asking, See something you like?
“You’re being loud.”
He leans against the doorframe like he has all the time in the world. “I don’t know if that’s how they do it where you’re from, but being loud is a good thing here, Tulip.”
“It’s Daisy.”
“Sure thing.” He nods, teeth pulling his bottom lip into his mouth and eyes shining with poorly veiled laughter. My blood rushes in my ears and I fight the urge to stomp my foot like a toddler. “I’m kind of busy. Did you want something?”
“I’m trying to study.” I tell him through gritted teeth.
It takes everything in me not to do something stupid, like shove him just to get my point across.
“Fascinating.” He tilts his head to the side, looking like he’s contemplating throwing me a bone. But then he opens his mouth, and I feel my anger flare bright red again when he says, “If it’s so distracting, you’re welcome to join.”
“Connor!” I shriek.
He’s trying to push my buttons, I know he is.
And when he leans in closer, his voice lowering until it’s nothing but a deep rumble that I feel reverberate all the way through me, I know he’s succeeding.
“Keep screaming my name like that and I’ll start to think you want a chance to ride me too, baby doll. ”
My mouth pops open. Who the hell does this guy think he is? “You’re unbelievable.”
“Thank you,” he boasts, not appearing the least bit fazed by our interaction. I hate that he’s got the power to get under my skin, while I barely scratch his.
I turn on my heels and storm back toward my room.
“Is that a no?” I hear him laugh when I’m halfway to my room.
I slam the door hard enough to rattle the frame, drowning out his laughter and wishing it was his face taking the blow instead. I don’t even make it to my bed before the thumping starts back up again. And this time I swear it’s louder than before.
I groan as I fall onto my bed, reaching for my headphones again. I turn the volume all the way up, while I pray that Connor McKibben is not the type of guy who can go all night.