IOU: A Romantic Comedy

by Kristy Marie

  With my head down, surrounded by titters and whispers, I walk away, ignoring the “You’re dead” roaring out of Maverick and the distinct sound of a bone breaking.

  Fuck ’em both.

  Rumor has it he died for her.

  “Calm down,” Sebastian barks as Rowan pins my arms behind me.

  All I can see is her face. Confused. Shocked. Defeated. I betrayed her. I chose anonymity over the person I loved and trusted. I should have told her the truth about the favor, but it wasn’t any of that fucker’s business. No way did Tucker know the truth or the circumstances surrounding Ainsley’s and my arrangement. He simply spat out one of the circulating rumors which, unfortunately, held an ounce of truth to it.

  Growling, I fight against Rowan’s hold.

  “Maverick. Stop fighting us and calm your ass down.”

  “I am calm,” I grit out to Sebastian, tugging at Rowan’s grip just in case he eased up and I can break free and get one more hit on Fuckface. He needs more than just a broken nose. And he would have had more if I hadn’t walked up to Ainsley’s table with Sebastian and Rowan behind me. We had just made a deal and I needed to get back to Ainsley. They were being pains in my ass and wanted to be introduced to her. They are such girls.

  But then I saw Tucker perched at the same table as my girl. Rage powered through me faster than my legs carried me to the table. I knew Tucker wanted to speak with her. I assumed things hadn’t worked out with him and the ex-roommate, but I had no idea he was so upset over what we did to Taylor’s social media presence.

  Honestly, I don’t see the point in him being upset. His girlfriend is a narcissistic bully. We simply showed the true her. She wanted to be famous. Now she is, just not for the reason she—or he—would like. I’m sure her bad rep wouldn’t look good to his fancy parents or his med school application.

  But that’s what they both deserve.

  Ainsley might have taken the high road and not sought revenge on her roommate and ex, but I did. Burning curtains wasn’t enough for what they did to her.

  They both deserved to suffer like she did over the past few months. I wanted Taylor to shed tears like Ainsley had all those nights, and Tucker, well, I just wanted to ruin him. He never deserved the loyalty Ainsley gave him. He didn’t deserve either of the girls. What he deserved was to be alone with his expensive shoes and bad haircut.

  Granted, I didn’t join Ainsley’s crusade on honest terms. That evening when she dumped food on my lap, I had gone to Studs and Spuds to check out this new girl I was supposed to help. I knew she had been kicked out of her apartment and suffered a breakup in the process. I was supposed to find her a place to stay. I wasn’t supposed to offer her my apartment, but when I saw how Taylor treated her and the way they fucked around with her tables, I knew her situation was as dire as he claimed it was. I balked at the idea of taking her in. The last thing I needed was some heartbroken woman crying to Adele songs in my apartment for a month until I could find her a place to rent.

  But then she threw the plate of food in my lap.

  I knew then she wasn’t going to sing some sappy breakup song. This girl was going to fight. This girl had no idea who I was, only that I was making a shitty day worse for her. I was intrigued. And when Tucker came to me a little while later for a favor, I decided I wanted to see how this played out between them.

  Seeking revenge on her behalf came later. Ainsley became a constant in my life. I looked forward to going home and seeing what ridiculous shit she had done, and when I couldn’t stop the inevitable tears, I took matters into my own hands. Everyone needs their dreams to come true and given my deemed genie status, I decided to grant Taylor’s wish to become internet famous.

  Not to say that makes me the good guy in this situation. I should have told Ainsley about the favor. Honestly, I planned on it, but when she went with me to the hospital, and I wanted her to meet my family, I chickened out. I didn’t want to fuck up what we had by admitting the truth. It was easier to keep it from her, at least for a little bit longer until the newness wore off.

  Rowan scoffs, “Punching the pussy is not calm behavior, Mav. We need to go before security shows up.”

  Fuck security.

  “Your watch is going crazy, dude,” Sebastian tries to rationalize with me. “Take a breath. You don’t want to end up in the ER right alongside your friend, do you?” He points at Tucker, and for a fleeting moment, I consider the idea. I could use one more hit to make myself feel better. The look on Ainsley’s face . . . She was devastated.

  My heartbeat pounds in my ears. “He’s not my goddamned friend, asshole, and neither are you,” I lie, which just causes Sebastian to laugh.

  “Holy shit. You’re right, Row. He does love her.”

  I attempt to shrug out of Rowan’s hold. “Shut the fuck up. I’m fine. Let me go. I need to find her.”

  There’s no need in denying that I love her. I can fool the entire campus, but I can’t fool these two idiots, they know me too well.

  Rowan’s grip tightens around me. “We’re going with you.”

  Of fucking course. They can’t let me lick my damn wounds in private. I knew coming back to campus was a bad idea. All I needed to do was lie low for another couple months. Fucking Pops and his demands.

  “I need my hands,” I tell Row. “I need to text someone.”

  I see Sebastian nod like he’s giving Rowan his nod of approval. If I wasn’t so anxious to get to Ainsley’s ass, I would send an elbow straight into Rowan’s ribs for even asking for Sebastian’s approval. No one runs me, especially not Sebastian’s crazy ass.

  After a second, Rowan eases off me and I dig out my phone, nodding over my shoulder for Rowan and Sebastian to follow me. “Drive,” I bark at Sebastian, tossing him my keys.

  I jump in the passenger side and unlock my phone and fire off a text to the person who started this whole mess in the first place.

  Me: Is she with you?

  IOH-MB: Yes. Give me a few minutes with her. She’s very upset.

  The hell he’s getting a few minutes with her. He’s getting the few minutes until I get there. After that, I’m dragging her ass back to the apartment and locking her in until she agrees to listen to me.

  Me: I’m on my way.

  IOH-MB: You need to calm down before you get here. You’ll just make things worse.

  Why does everyone think I’m not calm? I’m calm, dammit!

  Me: Don’t let her leave.

  IOH-MB: Maverick. . .

  Me: Mitchell. . .

  IOH-MB: You’re both giving me indigestion.

  Totally Ainsley’s fault. If she had just listened to me and not run off, we could have sorted this out at home, naked. I would have even begged while she hugged her sea lion and I poured beer off the balcony and onto the neighbors. We both would have had our vices. Now I’m running around campus with blood on my knuckles like some kind of a psycho.

  A few minutes later we pull up to Fire Station 764, and no sooner than we park, Sebastian shouts, “Oh shit! Look out!”

  I look up just in time to see a fire extinguisher come down on the hood of my car. “Why didn’t you tell me Boss put you up to this?” Ainsley screams.

  I jump out of the car and attempt to snatch the fire extinguisher out of her hand, but Mitchell “Boss” beats me to it. “Why aren’t you mad at him?” I yell back, taking a step closer as she takes one step back. “Hit the fucking firetruck, not my car! He’s the one who started all of this!”

  “You both should have told me,” she cries, tears streaking down her cheeks and dropping onto her shirt. Her face is flushed and her hands are shaking. All I want to do is wrap her in my arms. I never meant for any of this to happen. The last thing I ever wanted was to cause her any more pain.

  “And told you what exactly?” I answer for both Bostic and me. “That Bostic gave a fuck about you and didn’t want to see you sleeping in your car anymore?”

  She sniffles.

  “Or that he asked me to
find you a place to stay and one look at you had my crazy ass offering you my poker room instead? I could have easily secured you an apartment if I had asked Sebastian’s mom. She’s the best realtor in Atlanta!” I take a breath, trying to calm down. “But I didn’t, Ainsley. You want to know why?”

  Bostic puts his hands on her shoulders and pulls her to his front. It pisses me off. She should be with me.

  “Because I liked living with you.”

  She swallows and a small sniffle squeaks out before she turns in Bostic’s arms, hugging him like he was the one who just admitted that he broke all his rules for her.

  I take a step back and yell “Fuck” into the open air, grabbing my hair and tugging. I want to feel pain. I need to get rid of this feeling in my chest.

  “I love you, okay? Is that what you want to goddamn hear? I’ve been in love with you since you called me out on the beer.”

  I think back to the time when she asked me to breathe on her to prove I drank the beers I carried around all the time.

  “You figured me out in a matter of days. No one has ever had the nerve to question me.”

  Sebastian lets out a scoffing noise that I don’t bother addressing. I mean someone other than him. He didn’t need to figure me out because he knew me before the rumors created me.

  “You want to know the reason I don’t smoke those cigarettes I tuck behind my ear when I’m thinking, or drink the beer I carry around to feel normal?”

  Ainsley’s tears lessen and she quiets.

  “Tell her, Mitchell. Go ahead and fucking tell her why I owed you a fucking favor in the first place.”

  At least the nasty look she gives is not aimed at me this time.

  “Boss?” She turns and steps out of his hold. Fucking finally! She folds her arms over her chest and settles her shoulders as if she’s preparing to self soothe.

  Mitchell flashes me a glare and then clears his throat. “A year ago, we got a nine-one-one call.”

  My watch starts beeping and Ainsley and Mitchell both stop to look at me. I wave my hand that I’m fine.

  “To my apartment, to be exact,” I add when they both just continue to watch me and not speak.

  “Maverick had been pulling all-nighters, working and playing poker, trying to get his grandfather’s business back up and running,” Mitchell explains. “He had developed the heart condition and didn’t know how to control it, so he began drinking and smoking more. It dulled the effects of the fast rhythm until one day it didn’t.”

  Ainsley gasps and makes a move like she wants to come to me but stops herself.

  Bostic continues, keeping his gaze on me, his eyes flicking to my watch occasionally. “I was the first one on the scene.”

  I remember the night when I answered the door, sweating and terrified. I wouldn’t let anyone else in. I knew I needed help, but I didn’t want anyone to find out and call my grandfather. He was in the rehab hospital, learning to walk again after the stroke. My brother was a junior, running the house and spending his evenings at the rehab center, annoying the old man. They did not need another thing to worry about. I was supposed to be working hard and getting my degree, not being found in my apartment drunk and having a heart attack.

  “After a little coaxing, Maverick allowed me inside and I put him on the monitors. After a lot of drunk arguing, he finally agreed to do some breathing exercises.”

  I was such an ass that night. Even if I was scared, I would have rather died than gone to the hospital.

  Ainsley interrupts, “You taught him how to convert the rhythm.”

  Bostic nods. “He refused to go to the ER, though.”

  Ainsley looks at me as if she could beat my ass.

  I shrug. She should know this about me. “It was a year ago,” I add.

  Is she going to be pissed off at me forever?

  “So, when his rhythm converted and he refused to go to the ER, I made him something to eat and then I left.”

  I narrow my eyes. “But he came back,” I tell her, filling in the missing information. “Just like he did with you. Your ‘Boss’ over here is a nosy bastard.”

  I chance a look at Mitchell, who only grins at me. “He talked me into going to the ER and getting checked out,” I add. He also swore he wouldn’t tell anyone. “Then he drove me home and I felt obligated to return the favor. So I offered him a game of poker, which he lost epically.” I point at him. “I did learn something, though,” I admit. “His tells.”

  I offer the man who’s been like a father to me this past year a grin. “As time went on and we began playing poker regularly, I noticed he would always bring a case of beer and a pack of cigarettes. But he never drank or smoked. Ever.” I shake my head and smile. “I had the worst time figuring out the purpose behind it. One night, about six games in, I finally asked him why and he said, ‘Everyone has a vice. I’ve found that I don’t need to drink or smoke to feel the comforts of its effect. There’s power in restraint.’”

  I flash Boss an exasperated look. “I had no idea what that meant until the day I was out on my balcony, and the neighbors below me were fighting. It was an exceptionally stressful day and all I needed was a minute of quiet and here they were in a screaming fight. The beer was doing nothing to calm me down, so I poured it out. Coincidentally, it hit my fussing neighbors and they screamed, moving their fight inside. It was the first time I smiled all day.”

  Ainsley grins and my chest feels lighter.

  “I realized what he meant after that. I could take matters into my own hands. I didn’t need beer or nicotine to calm me, I could do that in other ways. Me keeping those two things around is a reminder that I am not dependent on anything but myself. I, too, have power in my restraint.” I shrug. “And it throws off the poker players when I leave a bottle sitting full on the table or a cigarette unsmoked. They are so busy trying to figure out if that means I have a good hand or a bad one that they give away their own tells.”

  Greatest thing Bostic ever taught me, except for how to convert my rhythm obviously.

  “Anyway, I cleaned up after all that and took better care of myself thanks to Mitchell over here, who seriously needs a woman to occupy all his hero time.”

  I don’t mean it. Mitchell has been a really great friend to me. I don’t think I would have made it this past year without his guidance.

  Ainsley throws her arms around Bostic. “I knew you were a superhero!”

  He barks out a hearty sounding laugh. “Not quite. But I’ve taken solace in helping kids like you over the years.”

  I can see Ainsley’s shoulders shaking as she clings to Bostic for dear life. “Thank you for helping me,” she mumbles.

  Fury courses through me. “What about me?” I ask her. “Don’t I get a thank you?”

  Those dark tresses swing like a whip. “No. You don’t!”

  That’s it. I’m done. Ainsley James will hear me out if I have to force her. I did not break all my rules for nothing.

  I take a menacing step toward her and Bostic. “Why not?”

  “You lied,” she snaps, still holding on to Bostic like a life raft.

  My watch starts beeping again and her eyes go wide as she strains to see the numbers.

  Fuck it. If she must be stubborn. . .

  I fall to the ground and clutch my heart.

  A car door slams and Bostic yells out for someone to grab the AED, but it’s Ainsley who reaches me first, which is exactly what I hoped.

  “Breathe with me,” she barks all authoritatively, dropping to her knees and slipping her hands under my head. Grimacing, I try turning my head away from her. “Stop being so stubborn, Maverick, and breathe with me!” she scolds.

  Ha! Me stubborn. That’s rich.

  When she’s bent over me, vulnerable and unprepared, I wrap my arms around her and roll, pinning her beneath me.

  “Ahh,” she screams, smacking softly at my arms. “You’re an asshole! You tricked me.”

  I can’t deny it. I did what I had to do.


  “You wouldn’t listen to me any other way,” I tell her, hearing Bostic swear and call off the firefighters behind him.

  “I’m sorry,” I say earnestly. “I should have told you about Bostic and his fucking favor, but I didn’t know we would become friends.” It was a shock to me too. “I thought I would let you stay a couple nights and then you’d be gone.” But then she had to ask me to look into her eyes and see if I saw two shits or a fuck. “I didn’t know I would fall in love with you.”

  Her face softens as she takes my head in her hands. My watch beeps and she tips her chin so I will show it to her.

  I huff like it really annoys me, but I show her.

  My rhythm is still fast. Which I think we can all agree is her fault.

  “Breathe with me,” she whispers softly.

  “Promise you’ll stay and hear me out?” I’m not opposed to dying on top of her.

  She tilts her chin and agrees. “Breathe with me and I’ll listen to you.”

  I roll my eyes. “Fine.”

  I take a few deep breaths in rhythm with hers until my watch stops hollering. “Happy?”

  She nods, looking less like Angry Ainsley and more like Maverick’s Ainsley.

  “Mike, the guy I know,” I begin, “found you a place to rent last week.”

  She sucks in a breath and I hold her tighter, not giving two shits that we’re lying out in the parking lot of the fire station with Sebastian, who is probably filming this whole shitshow.

  “I found myself making excuses as to why the place wasn’t right for you.” Here goes nothing. “But the truth is, Ains, it wasn’t right for you because I wouldn’t be with you. I like living with you.” I correct myself. “I love living with you.”

  I test moving one of my hands up her arm. “I love buying toothpaste once a month because you use all mine. I love waking up to you in my bed and burning macaroni and cheese on the stove.”