The Rival Roomies

by Piper Rayne

  I pluck the phone out of his hand.

  “Guess I shouldn’t be surprised it’s to Mancini. That man put a wedge in our marriage the size of the Grand Canyon.” He goes back to eating his steak because he doesn’t give one shit that I married Dom as long as the blog doesn’t make him out to be a monster.

  “I don’t see why it’s news in the first place.”

  “You’re my ex-wife. Did you really think they wouldn’t figure it out? The media combs through every marriage license in Vegas. Either that or they pay off someone who works there. Hell, there’s probably a picture.”

  I recall the picture stuffed into my nightstand behind my favorite unicorn vibrator. “The keyword is ex. I should be off the radar.”

  “I think once you make it onto the list of names they scan for, you probably never make it off.” He winks again and my stomach hollows out. “Who would’ve guessed you’d be associated with my name your entire life whether we’re legally bound or not.”

  The satisfaction he’s gaining from this information is wearing thin.

  “It could’ve been you.” If he’d been able to keep it in his pants.

  “Nah. You ruined the forever after shit. I’m going Dom’s style. Or at least his old style. Different flavors all the time, wasn’t it?”

  Now he’s hitting below the belt. I gulp down the rest of my wine. “Are you insinuating I’m one of his flavors?”

  He finally finishes his steak and moves on to his green beans. The man only eats one food group at a time. He’s basically a toddler.

  “Don’t get upset. You’re his favorite flavor.” Max shrugs. The waitress comes over, and Max doesn’t even bother asking if I want anything else before he says, “Check.” She walks away and he sets his eyes on me as if he didn’t metaphorically jab me with a knife and I’m not bleeding out all over the floor. “I have to be on set early.”

  “We need to discuss this trip.” I don’t budge.

  He pulls out his wallet and places his card on the edge of the table. The hell if we’re going dutch when we wouldn’t be here if he’d act like a mature adult and consult me when it comes to Ryder. I’ll let him pay for my meal.

  “Go play house with Mancini for a while, and I’ll take Ryder to Europe. See how civil I’m being?” He wipes his mouth again before putting the napkin on the table.

  His words remind me that if my son is around all summer, I’ll have to tell him about my impromptu marriage. Dom and I have yet to decide where we’ll live. If Ryder goes away with Max… “You can have Ryder on one condition.”

  One of his perfect eyebrows rises. “This should be good.” He leans back with a smirk and folds his arms.

  “You take Ryder to Europe, but don’t tell him about Dom and me. Let me have the six weeks to decide how and when to tell Ryder when he gets back.”

  He pretends to think it over, his head tilting from side to side and his eyes toward the ceiling.

  “Otherwise I say no to taking Ryder, and you know very well what the papers say about taking him out of the country without my permission. I believe it’s called kidnapping.”

  “Always a hard bargain with you, Val. Fine. Deal. But don’t blame me if he finds out on his own.”

  The waitress returns with a credit card machine, and he puts on his reading glasses to read the screen.

  “Please, you’re not that big of a celebrity. It’s not like it’s going to be on Entertainment Tonight or something.”

  He looks over the rim of his glasses, testing me, but he knows it’s the truth. “Fine. I’ve already booked the tickets. We’re leaving this weekend.”

  The snake thought he had me from the get-go. Was he really willing to lose the money for those tickets?

  “I’ll get him packed.”

  He slides his card back in his wallet, along with the receipt the waitress gives him. “I’m not sure what Mancini has that I don’t, but good luck figuring out whatever it is that you have to figure out.”

  I could list a whole spreadsheet of reasons why Dom is a better man than Max, but he’s doing me a favor, so I’ll play nice. “Thanks, Max.”

  “Sure. Never say I’m not a nice guy.”

  We leave the restaurant, and he puts me in a taxi. I was terrified to tell Ryder, so this buys me time. By the time he returns Dom and I will have moved forward with the annulment and there won’t be anything to tell Ryder—except maybe a lesson as to the perils of drinking too much.

  “Sweetie!” I walk into my condo to the sound of music blaring from Ryder’s room.

  He doesn’t answer, so I drop my purse onto a kitchen chair and walk down the hall, where I knock on Ryder’s door. The music quiets and he opens the door. He’s dressed in sweats and a T-shirt, freshly showered after being out with his friends.

  “What’s for dinner?” he asks.

  “I’ve eaten, but I have something in the fridge for you. How was your day?” I try to peek into his room, but he steps out into the hall and shuts the door, blocking my view.

  I’ll just go in later when he’s not home.

  He shrugs as an answer to my question.

  “I’m assuming your dad called you?”

  “Yeah. Thanks for letting me go, Mom.” He puts his arms around my neck as we walk down the hall. He’s been taller than me since the eighth grade.

  I nod. “Well, make the most of it.”

  I dig Anna Mancini’s meatballs and pasta with chicken marsala out of the fridge. Thanks to that horrible dinner yesterday, my son can eat tonight.

  “Will you be okay here?” Ryder asks with real concern in his voice.

  The poor boy always feels responsible for me. The first weekend he left me to go to his dad’s after the divorce, he kept thinking of reasons he couldn’t go. He’ll be going off to college soon, and the last thing I want is for him to stay close on account of me.

  I glance over my shoulder after placing a plate in the microwave. “I’ll be fine.”

  “Dad said we could go to…” Ryder continues to tell me about all the promises Max made.

  For my son’s sake, I hope his dad does spend the six weeks getting to know Ryder better and not finding exotic women to sleep with. I nod and smile and encourage him while my insides ball up into a big messy knot. While he’s gallivanting around Europe, I’ll be moving in with Dom.

  Once Ryder’s busy eating his dinner, I shoot a text to Dom.

  Me: Ryder is going to Europe with Max for six weeks. I’ll move into your place since you have an extra bedroom. After Luca’s wedding, we say it doesn’t work and I’m back home before Ryder returns. And he never finds out what I did.

  The three dots appear.

  Dom: You sure you don’t want to share my bed, WIFE?

  I roll my eyes but school myself before Ryder senses anything is amiss.

  Me: Positive.

  Not really. My body is like a magnet to Dom’s. Just because we live together doesn’t mean I have to be there all the time. I’ll sleep there and that’s it.

  Easy peasy.

  Chapter Ten

  Dominic

  * * *

  Every Thursday, I meet my brothers at the Trading Post for lunch. Today they decided to bring along their girlfriends. Now I’m stuck at a table with all of them. There’s no fun in this, so I send Ash a message to call me with an emergency in twenty minutes. By then I should’ve already finished my lobster mac and cheese.

  “I can’t believe you’re married.” Annie sits next to me, Enzo across from her. “I think it’s romantic.” She pats my shoulder.

  “I love the spontaneity of it.” Bella looks just as dreamy-eyed as Annie.

  Carm beams a smile toward Bella, and his hand disappears under the table.

  “Don’t get too excited. We’re giving it five weeks. We’ll pretend until after Luca’s wedding, then we’ll break it to our parents that it’s not working.” I sip my drink.

  “What?” The horrified expression on Annie’s face is like she just saw the ending
of a romantic movie being stripped away. “Why?”

  “Because we were drunk. We didn’t plan for it to happen. We’re both in agreement.”

  “Are you sure about that?” Bella asks, straightening her napkin in her lap. “Because the woman I saw in Vegas was very interested in you.”

  “Really? I wish I would’ve had more time with her that night.” Annie pouts at Enzo, who shrugs.

  “I don’t,” he says, picking up a piece of his goat cheese pizza.

  Now that I think about it, those two disappeared halfway through dinner.

  “There was something between you. I can’t describe it. I don’t know… it reminded me of turbulence.”

  “Turbulence?” Annie asks.

  I check my phone. Five minutes until Ash calls me.

  “That doesn’t make sense,” Enzo says over a muffled mouthful of pizza.

  “Let her explain,” Carm says, protective over his girlfriend.

  Bella smiles at him, but still holds an expression that says I’ve got it, but thanks. “It felt like there was a lot of unease between the two of you. Worry about when the next big dip will come that has you gripping the arms of the seat, but even though you’re scared, you enjoy the thrill at the same time.”

  Annie snaps her fingers and points at Bella. “Makes total sense.”

  Annie turns to Enzo, and he’s nodding. Seconds later, she pulls out her notebook and the two of them end up in a conversation about an idea for an ad pitch brought on by Bella’s little speech.

  “We’ve lost those two.” Carm kisses Bella’s cheek. “Have I told you how much your brain turns me on?”

  Bella giggles and slaps his chest. “What doesn’t turn you on?”

  “True story.”

  “Anyway, I think you should hold out until you’re through the turbulence, you know?” Bella says to me. “Putting a time limit on it seems like a horrible idea.”

  “Believe me, there’s a lot between me and Val you don’t know.”

  She holds up her hands. “I know it’s none of my business, I’m just telling you what I, as an outsider, saw. I mean, I never would have thought Carm would be the one.”

  “There’s history.” I continue to make excuses when I should just shut up. It’s none of their business, but I kinda want to know more about what Bella saw in Vegas. Because when I look at Val, all I see is a woman who hates me but wants me in the same breath. I have no idea what goes on in her head, but one thing is certain—she started the annulment process. That means no matter how much she might want to fuck me, she doesn’t want to be married to me.

  “History is the basis for the best relationships sometimes. I think that Mama is right. You can’t argue that there’s a reason why the two of you married. Drunk or not,” Carm says.

  The waitress walks by our table, and I signal for my bill. Poor Katie, who was our waitress for years, decided not to take our table when Carm walked in with Bella. She liked him, we all knew it, but Carm never felt the same way. Which means that if the girls keep attending, we might need to find a new restaurant for our Thursday lunch dates.

  I look at my phone again. Ash should’ve called by now. It’s not like her to not follow orders.

  “Okay, we’re out. We’ve got to get back. Congrats on the wedding, big bro.” Enzo stands and sets some money on the table. “Let us know when you guys register.”

  I flip him off, and he laughs.

  “Bye, guys.” Annie hugs and kisses everyone before following Enzo out of the restaurant.

  As my gaze follows them, I blink because I can’t be seeing what I’m seeing.

  She knows this is where I lunch on Thursdays. How many times last year did I stop by her studio for a quickie after lunch?

  Val’s in ballet tights, small skirt, and a leotard. She has a small wrap to cover her curves, but it’s not enough to keep the other patrons from appreciating her body. Our eyes catch, and her shoulders fall. Without a smile, she weaves through the tables, followed by a trail of gazes checking out her ass. I’m not happy with the way other men look at her as she makes her way to me, and by the time she reaches the table, I’m annoyed.

  “It’s my new sister!” Carm stands and embraces Val in a huge hug, swaying both of them. “I knew it was just a matter of time.”

  “Carm, are you sure you’re not the leak?” She allows him to kiss her on each cheek before she gives the opportunity to Bella.

  “So good to see you.” They embrace, then Bella looks at Carm. “We should get back.”

  Carm, the asshole he is, acts as if he doesn’t understand. “I want to spend time with my new sister,” he pretends to whine, all while opening his billfold and laying money on the table. “But I do have things I’d like to do rather than play mediator between the two of you.”

  I roll my eyes and say my goodbyes to Bella.

  “See you at Sunday dinner.” Carm’s laughter echoes through the crowded restaurant, and I catch poor Katie watching him and Bella walk out.

  “May I?” Val signals toward an empty chair.

  “You are my wife. Would you like me to pull out the chair first?”

  She rolls her eyes and sits down, keeping her purse attached to her arm and sliding closer to the table. She’s not here to eat, I guess. “I ran by your office, forgetting that you’re here. I thought maybe with your brothers’ new girlfriends…”

  “That we didn’t meet anymore?” I ask.

  She shrugs. “That maybe you didn’t have hook-up war stories to swap anymore.”

  “Nah, now we just talk about how I married someone in Vegas and how Ma is making me stay married to her and how she’s moving into my condo this weekend.”

  “About that…”

  “Do you have a plan where we don’t have to move in together?”

  Her eyes stay trained on me, and she shakes her head, worry furrowing her brow. “No, unfortunately, I’m still arriving first thing Saturday morning, after Max picks up Ryder. But I figure we need to set some ground rules first.”

  “Ground rules?” I inhale a deep breath, sure that this conversation will annoy me to no end. I pick my fork up to get back to my lunch.

  Our waitress approaches again. “Did you want anything?”

  “No, I’m leaving shortly,” Val says with a smile.

  “Okay, let me know if you change your mind.” The waitress leaves.

  “Listen, I get that we’re doing this whole fake marriage thing for our parents’ sakes. I don’t want to disappoint mine as much as you don’t want to disappoint yours. But I can’t live with you while you’re sleeping around.”

  My fork drops from my hand into my bowl of mac and cheese. “I thought you were talking about cleaning up the kitchen at night or making sure to put the toilet seat down. Not where my dick goes.”

  “All of those are up for discussion too, but I won’t allow you to embarrass me.” She lets her statement hang there for a minute as we lock eyes.

  I know what she’s not saying. She’s already been through that once before when Max was her husband.

  “I started thinking about it at work… how it would look and how’d I’d feel if that happened and I started to panic a bit. So if you can’t commit to that, then I’ll be straight with my parents about what this is and to hell with them being mad at me. I’ll tell Ryder about my mistake in marrying you. But one sighting from someone in the neighborhood of you with another woman and suddenly I’m a bigger embarrassment to my parents and once again I’m the naïve and unsuspecting wife.”

  I sip my drink before I answer to give myself a moment to cool down. “I won’t.”

  “Even at the office.” She gives me a pointed glare.

  “The office?”

  “There was a very attractive trader, Nell, hanging around Ash when I dropped by. She was asking when you’d be back, and I didn’t get the sense that it was for stock tips.”

  “She’s a co-worker.” I stab a piece of pasta with my fork and shove it into my mouth.
/>   She tilts her head and stares at me until I break.

  “I don’t have to apologize.”

  “No, you don’t. But please refrain from screwing her for at least five weeks.”

  I push away my bowl of lobster mac and cheese.

  Val surprises me by picking up the fork and stabbing a few noodles and a clump of lobster. “I assume you’re done?”

  “What’s yours is mine, right?”

  “Cute.” She stuffs the forkful of pasta into her mouth.

  One thing I’ve always loved about Val and me is how comfortable it is between us. Maybe too comfortable at times, and that made us too honest.

  “I won’t sleep with anyone else during our honeymoon phase.” I pretend to cross my heart with my finger.

  “Thanks. I’ll do the same.”

  “That’s nice of you. Don’t bust into my room if you hear me groaning though. My guess is I’ll be beating off nightly.”

  Hell, sharing a condo with Val and not screwing her is going to give me a permanent case of blue balls. Not being able to fuck anyone else will make this excruciating. But I won’t hurt her like Max did.

  “Same here. I might just buy myself a new toy.” She smiles over another mouthful of pasta.

  “Thanks for that visual.”

  She reaches for my glass, and I allow her to take it. After she swallows, the smile and friendly banter between us dies. “We can do this, right? I mean, with no lines being blurred or crossed?”

  I want to say let’s just sleep together and enjoy the five weeks while we have it, but I know where I’ll be after that. Not in a good place. And I swore after the end of us in the Hamptons last year that I’d never do that to myself again. “Of course. We went nine months without sleeping together before Vegas.”

  She stares at the table then looks back at me. “And then we got married.”

  I laugh. “We went thirteen years before we started hooking up.”

  She nods. “Okay then. Do you have any rules you want me to follow? Especially since it’s your place.”