After a moment, she collected herself.
“So, what?” She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. “You two are screwing now or something?”
“No,” Eric said evenly. “He offered me his guest room while I figure out where I’m going to live.”
Her jaw worked. “And you really think I buy that you’re not fucking. I saw how into each other you were when we?—”
“It’s not that I think you buy it,” I said. “It’s that I really, really couldn’t care less.”
Her eyes widened and her lips parted again. Yeah, it made sense that she’d be surprised; I’d never had much of a backbone with her or anyone else.
“We’re done, Selena.” I turned to Eric. “Unless you have anything to add.”
He shook his head, watching her with a derisive look on his face. “Nope. I sure don’t.”
“Oh fuck you both.” She glared at him. Then she looked at me and lifted her chin slightly. “Just so you know? I was only with you because your dick does more for me than hisevercould.” She gestured dismissively at Eric.
And with that, she stalked off.
We stood in stunned silence for a moment as her sharp footsteps faded down the concrete stairs.
I finally shut the door, and Eric and I glanced at each other, then broke eye contact. I thought his face colored, but I was mostly aware of the heat rushing into mine.
Without speaking, we returned to the living room. I didn’t unpause the show. Eric didn’t resume browsing apartments. We sat there for a long moment, not saying a word or looking at each other.
I couldn’t have begun to read his mind, but I was mortified. Selena wasn’t the first ex to say something along those lines. Especially when someone realized they were the one who’d fucked up, they’d just tell me on the way out that they were only using me for my dick. Sometimes I wondered if they meant it, or if they were just trying to save face by hitting me with that parting shot.
I wondered if therewassome truth to it this time. Selena had made more than a few comments about how Eric hadn’t been able to please her the way I could, and she’d alluded several times to it being because I was packing more than he was.
But like, I’d literally watched the two of them in bed together. Eric wasn’t lacking anywhere. Even if shehadbeen right about what he was packing, the man’s mouth was incredible; he’d gone down on her until she’d come so hard she’d almost cried, and then he’d sucked my brains out my dick until I nearly had a religious experience.
And that was before he’d ridden my ass while I’d been pounding her; I thought I’d touched heaven because they’dbothdriven me wild.
So her comments to me while we were dating had probably been to butter me up and keep me from suspecting she was still banging that “ex.” That parting shot on her way out the door was just to hit both of us below the belt. So to speak.
After a painfully long time, Eric cleared his throat, the sound making me jump. As he watched himself petting Chili, he said, “Well. That was, uh… unexpected.”
I didn’t know if he meant her showing up or what she’d said on the way out. Either way, I agreed. “Just a bit, yeah.” I sighed. “Maybe I should be looking at that apartment guide too.”
He lifted his gaze. “You think she’ll come back and mess with you?”
“Nah, probably not. But I’ll probably jump out of my skin every time someone comes to the door.” I sighed, pressing back against the couch. “I’m not afraid of her or anything. Just… never been a fan of confrontation.”
“I know the feeling,” he murmured. “That was probably the one thing I really didn’t like about my relationship with her—how confrontational she was if we were disagreeing.” He paused. “Well, the one thing I didn’t likethat I knew about.”
I laughed dryly. “Yeah. I feel that.” Silence fell again, and my stomach knotted as we sat there for what seemed like ages. I was the one to speak this time. “Listen, what she said before she left—she’s full of shit. You know that, right?”
The response to that was a laugh so halfhearted, it was nearly soundless. “I mean, she never complained about my size before. But maybe she…” He didn’t finish that thought, and he deflated against the cushion.
I fought back a grimace. I was honestly more pissed at her over that comment than anything else. I was still livid about the cheating, of course, but the cheap parting shot? Especially about something that a person could bereallysensitive about? That was just cruel for cruelty’s sake.
Eric blew out a breath and rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, she’s gone now. Good riddance to bad rubbish.” He put his iPad aside and gestured at the TV. “Think we can get in another episode or two before we call it a night?”
I could take a hint. Without another word, I unpaused the show, and we were again lost in the series and its irresponsible cinematography. Seriously, I was going to need glasses after squinting so hard to see what the fuck was going on.
It was a nice distraction, though. Hopefully it was holding Eric’s attention, though his mind probably kept wandering back to that encounter just like mine did.
I still had no idea if she’d meant what she’d said, or if she’d just been trying to hurt us both on the way out.
