Jock Reign: Jock Hard Book 5
Page 28
My roommate-lover-girlfriend appears at the top of the stairs, bounding down looking all sorts of cute and adorable and chipper, hair in a ponytail at the top of her head.
And damn she smells good.
She thrusts her hand out toward Roman. “Hi, I’m Eliza.”
Her eyes dart down to his sodden feet, sans footwear, and I catch the brief lifting of her brows before she schools her features.
“I’m Roman, but you can call me Rome.” He shoves his hands into the pocket of his khaki shorts. “Thanks for having me over. You’d really be helping me out if this works out.”
“Well, we hope so too!” Eliza’s cheery announcement sends her ponytail swaying. “Let’s show you around and then maybe chat in the kitchen?” She starts toward it. “Are you an early bird or a night owl?” she asks him on the way.
“Bit of both? I watch a lot of movies so that keeps me up later than I should be awake sometimes, and most days I wake up at the crack of dawn. But that’s probably because none of my rentals had curtains on the windows.”
We laugh.
“What kind of movies do you like to watch?” I ask.
Rome shrugs. “Uh, dorky shit. Marvel movies and, I don’t know—horror films.” He shoots a worried glance at Eliza. “I’m not a murderer, I promise.”
“Things murderers say,” she singsongs, albeit with a grin. “Kidding. We love murder flicks too, and only Jack is a killer.”
Very funny.
“Here’s the living room where you can watch all the killing documentaries and comic-book movies you desire.” She flips on the light. “We like to keep it tidy.”
Correction: she likes to keep it tidy, always the one folding the blankets and fluffing pillows and straightening up. Me? Not so much…
Rome’s head nods in approval. “This is awesome.”
Goddamn right it’s awesome. He’s one lucky bastard to land a place like this, and so far, he seems like a decent fellow.
No doubt we can live with him.
Nothing odd about him besides the soggy socks, far as I can tell.
“Oh—we should quickly show you the bedroom you’d be renting, eh?” Eliza is about ready to park her rear in a chair when she springs up, crooking her finger so we both follow her through the house and back up the stairs.
“Seriously guys, this place is insane,” Rome murmurs as we take him to the now empty room.
Eliza took the time to clear out the clothes and shoes from the closet, removed her toiletries and tampons and hairspray and makeup from the quaint little bathroom she inhabited while she was using this space, transferring everything over to my room.
I can see that Rome is jacked up about this place.
“Dude, this is great.” He sits on the bed. “Fully furnished?”
“Yup. If you want to swap out the bedding, you can. Eliza did.”
He looks between us. “The two of you are dating?”
“Yeah. Is that a problem for you, or…”
“No man, I was just wondering. It’s cool.” He bounces on the mattress, testing it out. “This is great.”
“We’d, um, have a few rules of course—respecting privacy, etc. etc. But other than that…”
Eliza and I share a glance.
We both dig him.
“The room is yours if you want it.”
Rome grins. “I’ll take it.”
Epilogue Two
Eliza
It’s move-in day for Roman.
Or Rome, as he likes to be called—although truth be told, he looks more like his name is Stuart. Or Ben.
Not that names can describe a person, but he certainly isn’t a hip and cool Rome. He’s more shy and introverted, happy to observe. Speaks when he has something meaningful to say.
Jack and I have gotten to know him a little bit over the past few days while getting things ready for him to move in, went to the movies with him at the theater one night. We went out for dinner with him on another. We both really enjoy his company—he’s a nice guy, the type I think we’re both going to be able to rely on, the kind of person you would take home to your parents and introduce as your friend.
Rome is single, and I have a sneaking suspicion (based on the fact that he wears socks with sandals) he’s been in the friend zone with women for most of his life. He doesn’t strike me as the type of guy who makes any kind of romantic overture, but then again, that’s just me making assumptions based on little information.
We are excited about this new roommate, adding something new to the equation—someone who shares some of the same hobbies and interests we have.
Jack likes Roman because he’s also not athletic. My cute boyfriend might look big and strong and good at sports, but he’s meh and isn’t afraid to admit he’ll run in the wrong direction when handed the ball.
He is who he is, and he ain’t ashamed.
While the boys haul several of Rome’s boxes inside (and there are way more than I would have guessed, considering he’s a guy and would be expected to own way less stuff), I putz around the kitchen, making food for us to eat once they’re done.
Pizza.
Salad.
Garlic bread.
Pull open the cabinets and stare inside because what else do people eat with pizza? Fruit?
Yeah—I could go for some of that.
My phone pings as I take a container of ripe strawberries from the fridge and set them on the cutting board, washing my hands before taking up the knife.
Check my phone first.
Lilly: Are you busy?
I wipe my hands on a nearby hand towel.
Me: I’m making linner. Why, do you need something?
Lilly: What’s linner?
Me: Lunch and dinner.
Me: But seriously, is everything all right?
Lilly: I need to talk—can I come over?
Me: Sure. Of course! We’re here, just hanging out. New roommate moving in, but his stuff is mostly in the house. Come on over.
Lilly: New roommate?
Me: Yeah—Jack and I sublet my room and I’m sleeping with him, LOL.
Lilly: Oooo you’re a couple now?! You should have told me!
Me: You’re so busy and we’ve been busy…
Lilly: I can’t wait to hear all about it and see your place. What’s the address? I was thinking I’d leave here in a few minutes.
I text my old roommate my new address and resume cutting the sweet strawberries into slices, stealing a few. One for them, one for me.
Two for them, one for me…
Have everything set out when the doorbell rings again, the guys both inside the house, most of Roman’s things brought into the foyer. He goes up and down the stairs, taking box after box after tote to his bedroom, grunting every so often from a too-heavy container.
“Hello?”
“In here!” I call out, hoping she’ll follow my voice because I have fingers full of juice from cutting up fruit and am washing my hands and fussing with the pizza and salad, wanting everything to look nice for the guys when they’re all finished with moving things. Lilly peeks her head into the kitchen, knocking on the doorjamb before entering.
“Hello, hello!” she calls with a smile, stepping toward me, arms extended for a hug.
She’s smiling but…
Looks tired.
Same as she did the last time I saw her, when she and Kyle were fighting.
I step into her arms. “What’s wrong?”
Her body is tense. “I’m sorry to pop over like this, but Kaylee hasn’t been home much and today I just didn’t want to be alone.”
“Why? What’s going on?”
“I…ugh.” Lilly pulls out a chair at the counter and drops into it with a heavy sigh. “Kyle and I are done. Like, done done.”
“Lilly, why?!”
“He cheated.”
That stops whatever argument I was going to have for her stubbornness, and whatever speech I was going to give about communication and effort and—
“How do you know?”
“I found the texts. It’s been going on a while.” She steals a slice of pizza that’s in the center of the counter. “Why not just tell me you’re unhappy? We had that huge fight—why would he get back together with me if he was cheating? He should have just told me then.”
I fall into the chair beside her. “Sometimes people aren’t strong enough to be honest when it matters most.”
Lilly nods, chewing. Swallows. “I cannot believe I haven’t started crying, but for real, I’ve done so good.”
That makes me laugh, and I stand again so I can finish prepping linner.
“You need a stiff drink, but all we have is soda, juice, and water. What’ll it be?”
“Water—pour me another.”
I have my back to the room while I’m at the sink filling a glass with water after filling it with ice. My new roommate enters the room with a large box in his arms, only his head visible.
He stops self-consciously, unsure of what to do.
We haven’t established any kind of ease with him yet, so these first few days are going to be a little bit awkward. Not his fault; that’s just the way things go when diving in feet first by taking in a newbie. It will get better; it has to.
But Rome himself is a tad awkward. I don’t expect him to be overly extroverted until he gets to know us and we him, but lord he is shy.
“Uh, Eliza? Jack said I can store some of my things in the garage?”
I set the glass of water in front of Lilly. “Oh sure. Here—let me get the door.”
That’s when he notices my friend. Lilly’s seated at the counter, all blonde and beautiful and forlorn, her big sad eyes gazing back at him.
She smiles.
He blinks.
Awkward…
“You must be the new roommate,” she says at last. “I’m the old one.”
Roman fumbles with the box he’s carrying, nearly dropping it to the floor and blushing beet red in the process.
“Um…Rome. You can call me Rome.”
“Hi, Rome. I’m Lilly.”
She winks at him.
He drops his box, the undeniable sound of glass shattering echoing throughout the kitchen.
“Fuck,” he moans, dropping to his knees, peeling back the cardboard to peer into its depths.
“What is it?” Lilly joins, squatting beside him and peering over his shoulder.
Breathes on him because, duh—he needs oxygen.
“Uh…”
Oh.
My.
God.
Lilly has rendered the poor guy dumb, this already shy dude fumbling with the contents of his box, lifting shards of what can only be a trophy or award into the air.
Letting bits of it fall back into the box.
“That looks like it could have been an Emmy Award,” Lilly says breathlessly. “What was it actually?”
“It’s—it was—a Cambridge Gates Scholarship Award,” he says quietly at long last, after staring holes into the already broken glass. It still shimmers under the light.
“What was it for?”
I see Rome struggle to gulp in a breath. “I won an award to attend Cambridge University in the UK—I spent my junior year there.”
Oh shit.
Oh.
And his beautiful award is ruined!
Lilly puts her hand on his back and glides it back and forth compassionately, causing Rome to freeze. “I’m so sorry it’s broken, Rome. Guess we’re both having a bad day.”
He shakes his head once she removes her palm, regaining the ability to take air into his lungs. “It’s just a bit of glass. I have memories from living there…I don’t need this.”
“We could glue it together?” Jack strolls into the kitchen as Rome dumps the pieces back into his box. “Might look like utter shite, but at least you’d still have it.”
“I love mosaics. I can do it for you,” Lilly volunteers. “I used to work at a pottery shop in high school, and we did artwork with shards. You should let me try to get it back in one piece.”
“Really, it’s fi—”
But Lilly has the box in her arms and is already standing, commandeering his busted award.
“Nope. I’m going to fix this. It will be a complete mess, but it will give me something to do, and at least you’ll still have something to display.”
Rome looks at me for help.
I shrug.
“Once she has her mind made up, there’s no stopping her.”
And if there’s one thing I know to be true about Lilly…it’s that she loves fixing things that are broken.
Are you ready to lear more about Rome?
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About the Author
Sara Ney is the USA Today Bestselling Author of the How to Date a Douchebag series and is best known for her sexy, laugh-out-loud New Adult romances.
Among her favorite vices, she includes: iced lattes, historical architecture, and well-placed sarcasm. She lives colorfully, collects vintage books, art, loves flea markets, and fancies herself British.
Sign up for Sara’s Newsletter to find out about her book releases, and read real-life “Sara Dates A Douchebag” stories only found in her newsletter!
For more information about Sara Ney and her books, visit: https://authorsaraney.com
Also by Sara Ney
New Series coming in 2022
The Player Hater coming February 2022
The Mrs. Degree coming April 2022
Jock Hard Series
Switch Hitter
Jock Row
Jock Rule
Switch Bidder
Jock Road
Jock Royal
Jock Reign
Jock Romeo coming November 2021
Trophy Boyfriends Series
Hard Pass
Hard Fall
Hard Love
Hard Luck
The Bachelors Club Series
Bachelor Society
Bachelor Boss
How to Date a Douchebag Series
The Studying Hours
The Failing Hours
The Learning Hours
The Coaching Hours
The Lying Hours
The Teaching Hours
#ThreeLittleLies Series
Things Liars Say
Things Liars Hide
Things Liars Fake
The Kiss & Make Up Series
Kissing in Cars
He Kissed Me First
A Kiss Like This
The Bachelor Society Duet: The Bachelors Club
Jock Hard Box Set: Books 1-3