Stuck With Me: A With Me in Seattle Universe Novel

by Melissa Brown

  “I thought you didn’t read Austen.”

  “I mean, I saw Bridget Jones.”

  “You’re right. I probably would like him…just like you would love Jane the Virgin if you gave it a chance. In fact, you remind me of a character too.”

  Dev took another swig, draining his glass. I slid another can of seltzer toward him. He nodded and mixed it with Tito’s. For two people who’d never gotten along, our movements had synced up.

  “Oh yeah? Who’s that?”

  “Rogelio, Jane’s Dad.”

  With a loud blast, Dev spit out his seltzer, looking horrified. One eyebrow raised high, Dev stared at me.

  “Rogelio? Rogelio? Seriously? What about Rafael? Or Michael? Are you serious right now, Lyra?”

  “Wait, wait, wait, wait, hold on…” I narrowed my eyes at him, my lips pulling into a satisfied smile. He knew about the love triangle between Jane, Rafael, and Michael. One was a suave yet sensitive hotel manager, the other a police officer with a heart of gold. Both desirable, both crazy about the heroine of the show, both sexy in their own right. Rogelio, on the other hand, was the comic relief—the ego maniac who had to learn how to be a father to Jane. And Dev knew all of that. All of it.

  “You’ve watched it, haven’t you?” I bit down on my lower lip and raised both eyebrows, staring at him. He wiped the seltzer from his mouth and hung his head.

  “Fine! I’ve seen every episode. Happy now?”

  “And what’s so embarrassing about that?”

  He shrugged. “It’s not embarrassing. It’s just not…a guy show. It’s for women to gush over. But I loved it, okay? I loved everything about it. But being compared to Rogelio de la Vega? That cuts me deep.”

  “Would it help if I told you he was my favorite character?” I tilted my head to the side and put my hand on top of his, patting him gently. He turned his hand and clasped mine, holding it close. I looked down at our connected hands and adrenaline shot through my belly.

  “What are you doing?” I asked softly, still staring at his hand on mine.

  “Why?”

  “What?” I asked, feeling discombobulated, my pulse quickening.

  “Why was he your favorite? Because you liked laughing at him?”

  My lips parted and I stared at him, finally understanding what was going through his mind. He thought he was a joke to me.

  “No.” I shook my head, then cleared my throat, feeling overwhelmed in Dev’s vulnerability. “He had the biggest heart of anyone on the show. He really did. He just didn’t know how to express himself in the right away all the time. He was a work in progress, but that’s not a bad thing. It’s endearing.”

  “You’ve never found me endearing.”

  “I’ll admit there were times you annoyed me.”

  “Many times.” Dev narrowed his eyes.

  “Sure, but, c’mon, you called me the freaking Mistress of Evil.” I raised one wicked eyebrow, driving home my point.

  He grimaced, still gripping my hand. “Maren told you, huh?”

  “Yep.”

  “Shit.” He looked away, shaking his head, his thumb moving slowly over the top of my hand. A small shiver crawled down my spine. It was the slightest touch, but I liked it. I liked it a lot. “Our disdain was mutual, right?”

  “Was?” I asked, swallowing hard.

  Dev leaned toward me, hovering over the coffee table. His voice dropped an octave, his smile was warm yet seductive. “Definitely was.”

  I could feel my heart pounding inside my chest as I stared at him. His deep brown eyes bored into mine as he continued to lean in. My lips parted and I mirrored his movements, moving to hover over the coffee table. I was about to kiss Dev, my sworn enemy, the thorn in my side, and right at that moment, the only man I desired.

  I wanted him badly. And I knew the feeling was completely mutual.

  Bang! Bang! Bang!

  We both jumped at the loud noises coming from our door. Before Dev could even get the “What the fuck was that?” out of his mouth, the door opened.

  “Surprise!”

  Our mouths dropped as we took in the sight of our friends all plowing through the door and entering our suite. Maren, Peter, Scott, and Allison—they had all arrived. Quickly, Dev and I made eye contact, and I ripped my hand away from his. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t see his expression turn to stone.

  My stomach clenched as I hopped to my feet, pulling myself together as quickly as possible to welcome our friends—the friends we had been begging to arrive just twenty-four hours prior. The friends we thought we couldn’t survive the trip without.

  Turns out, we didn’t need them at all. In fact, if I was honest with myself, I would have been more than content to be with just one person for the rest of the trip.

  Just one.

  And I had just pissed him off.

  What else is new?

  Chapter 9

  Dev

  She let go.

  She fucking let go.

  The second she saw our friends enter the room, Lyra yanked her hand away and I felt a forceful punch in my gut.

  Why did you let go, Lyra?

  If I wanted to lie to myself, I’d make excuses for her—like she was so surprised by our friends showing up to the resort that it was an involuntary movement, an impulse. I could tell myself she realized in that instant that I was attached, that I had a girlfriend. I could tell myself she just wanted to avoid the questions.

  But the truth was, I suspected the real reason was that despite all the tension that was building in that room—hell, the tension that started building since when we arrived at the damn resort—was that she was embarrassed to have any feelings for me. I was a loser to her, a joke. To her, I was Rogelio when I wanted to be Rafael.

  “What are you guys doing here?” Lyra asked, jumping to her feet and running to Maren, pulling her in for a hug.

  “They opened the roads this morning, so we thought we’d surprise you. Didn’t expect the hotel to lose power, though. How long has it been out?”

  “A few hours, I think?” Lyra said, looking back at me, her expression soft with guilt. I looked away from her, too pissed to make eye contact.

  “Yep,” I said, still sitting on the floor. “I’d get up, guys, but my ankle’s all jacked up.”

  “I heard,” Pete said, tearing off his coat and walking to the living area, sitting on the couch. “I tried to warn you, man. How you doin’?”

  “Oh just peachy,” I said, unable to hide my annoyance.

  A few hours ago I would have been ecstatic to see my best friends, but now…now everything was just screwed up. Things were happening with Lyra…possibly big things, and now everything was turned upside down and inside out. And the only thing I knew for sure was that my instinct about my relationship with Trupti was dead on. I had to end it. Regardless of what happened between Lyra and me (and at the moment, it didn’t look good), I knew I didn’t want to be with Trupti anymore. That love, that spark, that devotion that I felt for her for years of my life were just…gone. Lyra or no Lyra, I had to do the right thing and cut Trupti loose so we were both free to move on.

  “Hopefully you’re on some good drugs,” Scott said with a laugh, plopping down in the chair. “Ooh, unicorns. Someone’s brave,” he said, looking back at Lyra. “He smokes me every time we play.”

  “Actually,” Lyra said, clenching her teeth, “I’ve given him a run for his money.”

  “Oh yeah?” Scott asked, raising an eyebrow, looking back at me. “Did she beat you?”

  “Several times,” I deadpanned.

  “Aha, it seems our friend has finally met his match,” Scott said with a grin.

  Oh Scott, please shut your damn mouth.

  Lyra cleared her throat, looking as uncomfortable as I was sure I did. “So, how were the roads?”

  “They’re not great, but we were able to get in. Forecast is clear for the next few days, so we should have no problem getting home,” Allison said, sitting on the a
rm of the chair and putting her arm around Scott’s shoulder. Seeing that simple gesture made me bitter. I was in no mood to see my happily shacked up friends express their love in front of me.

  Nope, not in the mood at all.

  “So, what should we do?” Maren asked. “We have a few hours until we ring in the new year. I say we do it up right!”

  “And what do you suggest?” Lyra asked, looking at me as she spoke. Again, I looked away.

  “We could go downstairs to the bar…have some cocktails.”

  “Are they even open?”

  “Oh…good point. Maybe not.” Maren wrinkled her nose. “We could play more board games…unless you guys are tired of it.”

  “We haven’t played Cards Against Humanity yet,” Lyra said, raising her eyebrows as she looked at me. Her eyes begged for forgiveness, and I was a weak man. I felt myself softening a little bit. “And it’s Dev’s favorite.”

  Maybe it was just a nervous impulse. Maybe I’m not a joke to her.

  “I’m assuming there’s Tito’s?” Pete asked.

  “Do you even have to ask?”

  “All right, let’s do this.”

  After several hilarious rounds of my favorite game, I was feeling better, lighter. Lyra was on her best behavior during the game, but she still sat as far away from me as possible. The tension between us lingered, only now it was more complex. I still wanted her. God, I wanted her, but I was torn between my desire for Lyra and my dignity, my self-worth. I refused to want someone who didn’t realize I was a catch. I didn’t want someone who jerked her hand away. I wanted someone to hold on to me as I tightly as I held on to them.

  Yeah, I know. At the heart of me, I’m a cheesy motherfucker.

  “Let’s take a break,” Maren said, “unpack our stuff a little, then hang out until the ball drops.”

  “You realize we need our television to do that, right?” I said, feeling snarky.

  “Not true, we have our phones.” Maren stood up and ruffled my hair. I groaned, realizing she was right.

  “You’re one step ahead of me, Mare,” I joked.

  “Always. Need anything, Dev?”

  “Nah,” I said, patting the half-empty bottle of vodka. “I’ve got all I need.”

  Maren shook her head, following Peter into one of the empty bedrooms. Just then, Scott popped his head out of the other empty room. “Wait, Dev, did you take one of the big rooms?”

  “I mean…you guys weren’t even supposed to make it, so…”

  “So you changed rooms? Did you sleep in the small one the first night?”

  “Not exactly.”

  “So you took the big room before you knew we weren’t coming?”

  I clenched my teeth. “Yeah, kinda.”

  Scott shook his head, laughing under his breath.

  “You wanna switch back?” I asked, hoping he would turn me down. I really didn’t feel like moving all of my shit, especially while on crutches.

  “Nah, it’s just two nights. We’ll be fine, but you owe me.”

  “Whatever, dude.”

  Once both couples had disappeared into their rooms, I realized I was alone with Lyra for the first time since they arrived. The air was heavy and the silence awkward as hell.

  “Hey,” Lyra said, lowering her voice. “About earlier.”

  I cut her off. “Don’t worry about it.”

  “But you seemed upset.”

  “Me?” I scoffed, shaking my head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Dev…”

  I tilted my head toward her, my tone condescending. “Lyra.”

  “I don’t want to go backward.” Her eyes were pained.

  I didn’t know what to say to that. I paused for a second, then shrugged. “No one’s going anywhere. It’s all good.”

  Lyra’s shoulders drooped as she realized I wasn’t going to entertain this conversation. I was done. I wanted to focus on my friends, and that was it.

  “Fine,” she huffed, grabbing her cup and walking into the kitchen, her back to me as she cleaned the countertops.

  “You realize this is a hotel, right? You don’t have to clean.”

  “I clean when I’m pissed.”

  I craned my neck in disbelief. “Wait a second, you don’t get to be pissed! I’m the one who’s pissed!”

  Lyra stalked toward me, her voice a harsh whisper. “You have no right to be pissed. You have a girlfriend! What was I supposed to do?”

  “You’re full of shit!”

  “Oh my God, you’re unbelievable!”

  “You’re telling me that’s the only reason you pulled your hand away?”

  She opened her mouth to speak, her cheeks a deep shade of red, but said nothing.

  “Exactly.”

  She pursed her lips, looking ridiculously busted. “Don’t look at me like that!”

  “Like what?” I hissed.

  “Like I broke your heart or something. For God’s sake, it was a moment. We shared a moment, okay? Get a grip!”

  “Oh honey, I am far from heartbroken. Like you said, I have a girlfriend, right?”

  “Yeah, you do. And she’s sure as hell not me!” She turned and stalked back to the kitchen, picking up a sponge and wiping with vigorous strokes. If I wasn’t so irritated with her, I’d probably tease her, make some sexually suggestive remark about how hard she was stroking that counter. But it wasn’t the time. I felt like Michael Scott wanting to tell his “that’s what she said” joke in front of the corporate goons who were there to bust him on his shit. The joke was on the tip of my tongue, but my own anger stopped it.

  I was my own corporate goon.

  What is this woman doing to me?

  “Thank God!” I said, knowing it was a low blow. I was never one to hold back during a fight, especially with Lyra.

  “You can really be a dick sometimes, you know that?”

  “How you love to remind me.”

  She threw her head back in defeat, tossing the sponge into the sink and walking back to the living room. She didn’t want to fight anymore; her body language said it all. “Dev, c’mon, you caught me by surprise, okay? I didn’t know what to do. And seeing our friends again, it…it brought me back to reality. That’s all.”

  “Well, let me be the first to congratulate you on that.”

  “Dev—”

  “Forget it, Lyra. Won’t happen again.”

  “What won’t happen again?” She tilted her head to the side, placing her hands on her hips. God, she was sexy even when I was pissed at her.

  “Just forget it, okay? Forget all of it. Let’s just pretend it never happened. You hang out with the girls, I’ll hang with my boys, and in a couple days we’ll go home and go back to hating each other—we’ll go back to the way things were meant to be.”

  Lyra sighed, sitting on the couch. “I thought we had a truce.”

  “Yeah, well, happy fucking New Year, Khaleesi. Prepare for war.”

  Chapter 10

  LYRA

  I didn’t sleep at all. Not one minute.

  I tossed and I turned thinking about the sharp turn everything took the second our friends walked in and I let go of Dev’s hand.

  Why did I let go?

  Things with Dev and I have always, and I mean always, been complicated. And if I could think of a better word than “complicated,” I would.

  Arduous?

  Perplexing?

  Convoluted?

  No word seemed big enough for the complexities that we brought to the table whenever we were in the same room. We were fire and ice, oil and water, all of those things that are total opposites and work to extinguish the other. In a word, we were a nightmare.

  But if we were such a horrible pair, why were things feeling so easy, so good, so…tempting before our friends walked through the door. Why was I more turned on by him holding my hand then I was by any man I’d dated in the last two years?

  Why?

  A soft knock on the door startled me a
nd I sat up, fixing my hair, wondering if it might be Dev wanting to make peace. As angry as I was at him, I could be convinced if Nice Dev made a return. Before I had a chance to check my morning breath, Maren peeked her head in. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t just a little disappointed.

  “Can I come in?” Her expression was gentle, her long hair up in a loose bun.

  “Sure.” I tried really hard to fake a smile, but I knew Maren would never fall for my lame attempt. Luckily, she held a small tray with two steaming cups of coffee and fresh old-fashioned donuts.

  “Wow, I don’t feel worthy of breakfast in bed.”

  Maren shrugged and placed the tray in the middle of the bed and she climbed up, sitting cross legged opposite me. “It’s nothing. Plus, I know you love these things. We stopped on our way here last night.”

  I inhaled the dark roast coffee, the steam tickling the tip of my nose. “That was super sweet of you. And you have no idea how badly I need this right now. I didn’t sleep at all.”

  “I had a feeling.”

  I raised an eyebrow.

  “C’mon, Lyra. You have zero acting ability—you wear your heart on your sleeve, always have. If something’s bothering you, I’m gonna know. And last night, it was so obvious, but I can’t quite figure it out. I mean, I know you and Dev don’t usually get along, but there was some major tension brewing when we walked in. So much that I felt guilty for showing up.”

  My cheeks grew hot, and I pinched my eyes tight, hating it was so obvious to our friends.

  “Does everyone know?”

  “Nah, just me. Peter didn’t notice anything, and the other two don’t even know you as well as he does. I figured we could talk before you have to go out there.” She looked over her shoulder, gesturing to the living area of the suite.

  “I don’t know where to begin.”

  “So, I’m right, aren’t I? You two are into each other?”

  “Were.”

  She flinched. “Past tense already? That’s awfully fast.”

  “It ended as quickly as it began, I guess.”