by Amy Brent
Roomies with benefits. I had to remember that.
Ian and I said good night, and I headed into my room, closing the door carefully but firmly behind me. For a minute, I leaned against it. I still felt caught up in the orgasm, and I wanted nothing more than to go back out there and cuddle some more. But that wasn’t the kind of relationship Ian and I had. It was just sex, nothing more.
Could we keep on doing this? For the first time, I started to think about the complications beyond Zach and my family and Jason. Could I keep on having sex with Ian without getting attached to him? Like Brittany had said, I’d had a crush on him for a while now. He was a good guy.
I shook my head. As long as I knew there was no future for us, and as long as I retreated to my own bed after we had sex, I could keep myself from falling in love with him.
Couldn’t I?
Chapter 16
Ian
I got out of the shower and toweled off. It was Friday morning, and I had four training sessions lined up for the day, including one with Keira, the super fake girl who kept hitting on me, and one with Jason. So, it was going to be a long day, which I supposed was good since I could use the distraction. I was still thinking about Abigail nearly every waking minute, from the shower to the time I lay down in bed at night.
Things had been off between us since Wednesday. I was still dying to know if it was something Zach had said to her or if it was something to do with Jason. Or maybe she was just sick of me already. Maybe it was like Jason had said: she only was interested in me for my body, and now that we’d had sex a few times, she realized she wanted someone she could hang out with more.
I didn’t really want to believe that Jason might be correct about that, but how would I know? I had known Abigail for a lot longer than Jason had, but he had dated her for a couple years. That had to count for something.
When I wandered into the kitchen, Abigail was in there with a mug of coffee and some cereal. She looked up from whatever she was doing on her phone. “Morning,” she said. “My parents invited both of us over for dinner tonight. Zach and Mikayla are going to be there, too.”
I stared at her. “They invited us over to dinner? Did Zach tell them about the fake engagement or something?”
“No, it’s nothing like that,” Abigail said, shaking her head. I thought I detected a faint blush on her cheeks. “They don’t think we’re a couple. Not even a fake one. They just want to thank you for helping me out.”
“Oh, cool.” I frowned, thinking it over. It was going to be a long day, and dinner at her parents’ place might be awkward given everything going on between her and me. But I was still looking for a way to fix the strain between Zach and me, and this might be a way to at least start on that. “Sounds good. Just let me know what time. I can drive us over there.”
“Perfect,” Abigail said.
At work, Keira was back. “You mean I should hold it like this?” she asked for what felt like the hundredth time. I could have sworn she was deliberately doing things wrong. I didn’t know if she thought it was cute or if she just wanted to try to brush her hands against mine as I took the weights from her, but it was getting on my nerves.
“Gosh, you’re so strong,” she said, giggling. I tried not to roll my eyes. It was a twenty-five-pound weight; it wasn’t all that heavy. Although to her, I supposed it was. She leaned against me, her hand on my chest. “Are you sure you can’t get coffee with me sometime? I heard you have some good recipes for eating healthy, and I’d love to pick your brain.”
I cursed inwardly. She just wouldn’t give it up. “How about I add you to the gym’s healthy eating email list?” I suggested.
“I suppose that’s a good thing, but I also heard you know all the best restaurants in the area for healthy eating,” she said. “Maybe you could show me a couple of them at some point?”
I wondered where she was getting her information, but then again, it wasn’t like I hadn’t slept with some of the women who came into the gym regularly. I had a reputation; I knew that. I just didn’t know how to get out of going to dinner with her, not without losing her and the client who had recommended she come see me.
Surprisingly, it was Jason who saved me. He came over and slung an arm around my shoulder, winking at me. “Didn’t you hear?” he asked Keira. “This man here is engaged.”
“Oh,” Keira said, her face falling. “You don’t wear a ring.”
“Not while he’s working out anyway,” Jason said cheerfully.
“Well, guys don’t usually wear engagement rings,” I said.
Keira stared at us for a moment and then shook her head, leaving without even saying good-bye. I quickly ducked out from under Jason’s arm, scowling at him. On the one hand, I was glad he had gotten rid of Keira for me, possibly for good. But I didn’t want her to tell all the women at the gym that I had been mean to her or anything like that. That abrupt departure didn’t bode well for me.
But there was nothing I could do about it now.
“You ready to get to work?” Jason asked me.
“Get on the treadmill,” I said. “Same warmup as last time.” I rubbed at my temples while he got started. I could already feel a headache coming on, and I knew it was going to be an even longer session than I’d imagined.
“So, how’s our Miss Abigail doing?” Jason asked a little while later as I fetched weights for his free exercises.
I bristled a little at the way he said that. Our Abigail. She wasn’t his, not anymore. “She’s fine,” I said shortly, not wanting to talk about Abigail with him.
“You know I’m going to get her back,” Jason said confidently, hefting one of the weights. “Even if it takes me until your fake wedding day, I’m going to get her back.”
I rolled my eyes. “Watch your elbows when you’re doing that,” I said mildly. No matter how frustrated I was with him as a client, I didn’t want him to do something stupid and hurt himself. That would only reflect badly on me.
“You don’t really want to be with Abigail anyway,” Jason told me a couple exercises later.
“How the hell would you know?” I snapped.
“Because you’re a player, just like me,” Jason said, shrugging simply. He took a sip of his water. “You only want her right now because it’s not serious. But the more serious it gets, the less you’re going to want her.”
“And I guess the only reason you want her right now is because you can’t have her?” I asked.
“No,” Jason said. “I want her because she and I are meant to be together. There’s a reason we lasted as long as we did. I screwed it up in the end, but I’m better now. I’m ready to make sacrifices for her.”
“Dude, she’s not interested,” I told Jason.
He scoffed. “Of course she’d tell you that. She’s just playing hard to get.”
It was an eerie echo of my own thoughts from the other night, but I didn’t really believe Abigail was playing hard to get. I didn’t really believe that was why she had asked me to be her fake fiancé. I might have believed that if Jason weren’t here in the gym demanding to have me as his personal trainer. But the more I worked with him and the more I had to interact with him, the more I was forced to conclude that Jason was a huge creep.
For some reason, he really thought he could get Abigail back. I didn’t know if he was following her or what, or how he had managed to just run into her so many times in so many places around town, but I could understand why Abigail wanted nothing to do with him.
“You’ll see,” Jason told me as he was leaving. “You’re never going to really interest Abigail. Not like I do. She’ll come crawling back to me soon enough.”
I shook my head and went to grab some painkillers. My head was killing me.
***
We were quiet on the drive over to Abigail’s parents’ house that night for dinner. I just couldn’t think of anything to say. I wanted to tell Abigail about Jason’s latest training session, how he was convinced he could win her back, but so
me jealous part of me wanted to keep his interest in her a secret. I tapped my fingers against the steering wheel, saying nothing.
As we entered the house, Mr. Foley pulled Abigail into a big hug. “Hey, sweetie.” He shook my hand and then turned back to his daughter. “Guess what? I’ve got some good news for you.”
Immediately, Abigail’s eyes lit up. “Is it about that company you were going to submit my resume to?” she asked. She turned toward me. “One of Dad’s new clients is this therapist office, and they’re looking to hire someone new. He put in a good word for me.”
“And I was able to get you an interview for Monday morning,” Mr. Foley said proudly.
Abigail squealed and threw her arms around her dad. Then she turned and threw her arms around me. “I’m so excited!” she said. “That’s great!”
Mr. Foley raised an eyebrow at me, and I shrugged, feeling embarrassed by the hug. Not that I didn’t want Abigail to hug me, but that was probably the first time we’d ever so much as touched in front of her parents before. Just because we were roommates now didn’t excuse us.
We walked into the dining room and sat down. Zach was already in there.
As dinner began, Abigail was still gushing about the job interview. “I’ll have to figure out what to wear. It’s a therapy office, so I need to look really professional, but if I’m going to be working with kids, I don’t want to look too stiff. Dad, do you have any more details as to what they’re looking for? Any pointers? And is there someone specific that I should be looking for on Monday?”
I couldn’t help grinning as I watched her. I hadn’t realized how subdued she’d been since moving in with me, but now it was as though her whole body was animated. It was much more like the Abigail I remembered, and I realized I must not have been doing a very good job of cheering her up, not like I’d intended to do. I made a mental note to try to do more.
Then I made another mental note: we weren’t dating. We were just roomies with benefits, and it wasn’t my job to cheer her up, even if she was my best friend’s little sister.
“So, if you get the job, what happens?” Zach asked, taking a bite of his food.
“What do you mean?” Abigail asked. “Of course I’ll accept it, and then I go to work for them.”
“And then you move out of Ian’s place?”
Abigail’s face fell, and she looked uncertainly at me. “Oh,” she said. “I hadn’t thought about that. I guess I don’t know.”
I raised an eyebrow at her. “I thought things were working out between us,” I said, confused. Why would she move out as soon as she got a job?
“You probably want to have a guy roommate, though, don’t you?” Zach pressed. “I know Abigail appreciates that you let her move in with you, but I thought as soon as she had the money to move into her own place, you’d start looking for a new roommate.” He frowned. “But I guess that would make the engagement charade a little more difficult, wouldn’t it?”
“What engagement?” Mr. Foley asked, looking back and forth between Abigail and me. “Are the two of you engaged?”
“Of course not, Dad,” Abigail said, rolling her eyes. I winced, surprised at the way she said it, as though there was no way in hell she would ever consider getting engaged to me. Not that I’d thought about getting engaged to her, either.
Abigail shrugged, putting her hands on the edge of the table as though preparing for an onslaught. “Jason’s back in town.”
“Jason?” Mrs. Foley asked. “Jason Dean? What a lovely boy. You should have told me he was back in town. We could have had him over for dinner tonight, too. We’ll have to get together soon, you and your father and Jason and me.”
“Mom,” Abigail said impatiently, giving the woman a look, “Jason and I aren’t back together. I just said he’s back in town.”
“But he wants to be back together with you, doesn’t he?” Mrs. Foley pressed. She frowned at me. “But I suppose Jason probably doesn’t like the fact that you two are living together.”
“Not just that,” Zach interjected. “They’re practically playing house. Ian makes breakfast for the two of them, and they pretend like they’re engaged. It’s sick.”
“What’s Jason doing back in town?” Mr. Foley asked, ignoring Zach for a moment and focusing on his daughter. “Has he been bothering you again?”
“Just a couple times,” Abigail mumbled.
“So you’re faking an engagement with Ian just to get Jason to leave you alone?” Mrs. Foley asked incredulously. She gave her daughter a disappointed look. “I thought we raised you better than that. Just tell the boy you’re not interested.”
“How many times has he approached you since he’s been back?” Mr. Foley asked sharply. “Is he calling you or actually coming up to you?”
“Both,” Abigail admitted. “But, Dad, seriously, it’s no big deal. He just wants to talk.”
“I don’t like that,” Mr. Foley said, shaking his head. “I still think you need a restraining order against him. The number of times he called you before was ridiculous, and then seeing him here at the house looking for you was too much.”
“I can take care of it,” Abigail said, shooting me a look, clearly needing to be rescued.
“Don’t worry, Mr. Foley. I’m looking out for her,” I said.
“With your fake engagement?” Mrs. Foley asked. “Was that all your idea, Ian?”
“It was my idea, Mom,” Abigail said with a sigh. Under the table, where no one could see, she reached for my hand, twisting her fingers into mine. I felt a bit awkward about this whole thing, but I squeezed her fingers, giving her whatever comfort I could.
Mrs. Foley barreled on. “So, let me get this straight. The two of you are only living together to convince Jason that you’re engaged?”
“No, Mom,” Abigail said, rolling her eyes. “I moved in with Ian before Jason showed up again.”
“Then I don’t understand. Why aren’t you planning to move out as soon as you get a job again?”
It went around and around like that for the rest of dinner, and I was beginning to regret having come over. Mrs. Foley clearly thought Jason was a better match for her daughter, Mr. Foley was upset to know Jason was back in town at all, and Zach, having started this whole disagreement, just sat back and watched it all. I gave him a dirty look and he just shrugged.
I could feel my headache coming back despite the painkillers I had taken.
Abigail and I were just as silent on the way home as we had been on the way over. I would have given anything to know what was going through her head, but I was afraid to ask. Was she regretting this whole thing? Did she think her family had a point?
It was a bit weird, what we were doing, pretending to be engaged so her ex wouldn’t bother her and so random girls seeking one-night stands would leave me alone. And her family didn’t even know the half of it; they didn’t know we were actually sleeping together playing house just like Zach had said.
But the thing that really bothered me was the idea of Abigail moving out. I hadn’t really thought about there being an end point to her living there. Not that I expected the two of us to live together forever, but I didn’t plan on her moving out as soon as she got a job again. That wasn’t why I had offered her the spare room.
Did she think that was all this was? A place for her to stay until she got her feet back under her again? I’d told her how much rent was, assuming she wanted to keep living there. I’d expected she would. She’d been talking about trying to find a job in the area so that she wouldn’t have to commute.
I wanted to say something, to assure her that she could keep living with me even if she wanted to drop the fake engagement bit, even if she wanted to stop being roomies with benefits. But I couldn’t find the words to say it without sounding like I was afraid of losing her.
I couldn’t lose her; I’d never had her in the first place. Not like Jason had. But it sure felt like this dinner had somehow destroyed something between Abigail and me, and I wasn�
��t sure how to go back to what we were.
Chapter 17
Abigail
I waited nervously for Dr. Ryan to be ready for me. The waiting room was mostly empty. There was just one lonely mom reading a magazine in there. It was mid-morning on Monday, not a busy time for therapy. I still couldn’t believe Dad had managed to get me this interview. I’d spent the whole weekend trying to decide what to wear, preparing for the questions Dr. Ryan might ask, and going back over my notes so I would sound polished when she asked me about my experience in the field and things like that.
I really wanted this to go well. This could be my chance to net a job I wanted to have.
A pleasant-looking brunette came out through one of the doors to my right. “Abigail Foley?” she asked, looking expectantly at me.
I stood up, brushing imaginary lint off my skirt, and moved to shake her hand. “Hi. You must be Dr. Ryan,” I said.
The woman laughed. “Please, call me Sandy,” she said, leading me back into her office. “You’ll find that things are pretty casual around our office. We want our patients to feel comfortable, and that all starts with the team that works here.”
“Of course,” I said, already feeling myself start to relax a little. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly while she busied herself making coffee for the two of us.
“Any cream or sugar?” she asked.
“Just a little cream,” I said. I accepted the mug she handed me, folding my fingers around it.
“Well, Abigail, for someone with no real experience in the field, you certainly put together an impressive cover letter,” she said, getting down to business as she sat behind her desk. “I like all your volunteering experience in particular. Can you tell me why you chose to work with Rita’s Secondhand for so long?”
“Sure,” I said. That was an easy one. “I was always involved with soccer growing up. Actually, my best friend played, and my brother and my brother’s best friend were on the same team for a while.” I stuttered a little as I thought about Ian, but I forced myself to forget about him for now and continue with the interview. “I just think sports are so important for kids, and Rita’s has a really strong program in the community with collecting used sports equipment and redistributing it. Plus, as you know, I’m interested in child therapy. This was a way for me to dabble in that field, even if it wasn’t in a strictly therapeutic setting. I was working with a lot of kids from troubled backgrounds.”