“Good, because I’m still mad that you’re not helping.” I pretend to glare at him, but it’s hard to stay mad when I see how good he is with Zeke. And I hate to admit that he is helping, just in a different manner.
“Zeke, do you want to help this pretty girl put her panties away?” Ashton asks Zeke.
My eyes widen in horror. “Oh my gosh. I swear you’re going to corrupt him! Harper!” I squeal.
“Is Zeke bothering you?” Harper’s voice carries from down the hallway.
This time, Ashton glares at me. “Everything’s fine! Nova is being a drama queen.”
I want to throw something at him, but he’s holding Zeke in his arms.
“You’re such a—” I can’t even curse because the kid is staring right at me!
“Such a what?” Ashton grins, clearly amused by the situation as he keeps Zeke close to his chest. He turns Zeke to face me, and then Ashton sticks his tongue out at me and uses Zeke as a human shield.
“I can’t with you!” I point at the door. “Out! No boys allowed!”
“Somebody’s in a mood.” Ashton laughs, clearly amused by my anger. He leans down, whispering to Zeke, but clearly loud enough for me to hear. “I think someone’s PMSing.”
“I’m going to kill you, Ashton!” I shout at him as I chase him out of my room and into the hallway.
He takes a step back, retreating with Zeke in his arms.
“Everything okay?” Luca asks, stepping over boxes in the hallway that are labeled for the bathroom and hall closet. Clearly, the bathroom boxes weren’t even put into the bathroom.
Luca doesn’t have any clue about Ashton and me hooking up. I can’t even categorize it as dating. We haven’t officially gone out on a date. But we hang out together whenever we get the opportunity, which, in my mind, isn’t often enough.
I’m hoping that’ll change now that we live together.
Which sort of complicates matters, but it’s no worse than Luca discovering the relationship between Ashton and me.
He can’t find out.
Luca will kill Ashton.
At least he’ll try to. I’m not sure Ashton won’t have the upper hand and kick Luca’s ass, or worse.
Ashton leaves me to do the talking. Standing in the hallway, he lifts Zeke into the air and pretends to drop him, which earns him a fit of giggles from the toddler.
“Your teammate is just being a jerk,” I say.
Luca glances at Ashton. “Be nice to my sister. I know you two don’t always get along, but there’s plenty of room in this place not to murder each other. Okay?”
“She’s the one starting fights,” Ashton says, glaring at me. But I can see the hint of a smile playing under his lips. He’s milking this fight, trying to make Luca believe we actually hate each other.
I don’t know why my brother would think that, since I hang out around here often enough and watch movies with Ashton. But I do give him a ton of shit for the documentaries he plays. They’re boring as hell, and I swear he does it to piss me off.
“I’m not sure the house is big enough with his ego,” I quip.
“Truce,” Luca demands, glancing between us. “Or I swear I’ll make the two of you share a bedroom, with two beds, and keep you locked in there until classes resume.”
“You’re mean,” I feign annoyance with Luca. “But fine. Truce.” I hold out my hand to Ashton to shake on it.
Ashton begins to hold out a hand but pauses his movements. “As long as I can still have girls in my room while she’s in there, I don’t care.”
I yank my hand back and ball it into a fist.
“You’re really risking your life,” I threaten.
