Quietly, I asked, “Why else did you do it?”
“Why else did I end us?” he asked, though he knew that was what I meant. “I was bored.”
“Of what?”
Averting his eyes, he sucked in a shaky breath. Kill never liked to hurt me. He was so afraid of it that his constant sugar-coating and beating around the bush created problems in our relationship. If his lip trembled, I knew his answer was bad, and he was searching for an answer that would hurt me the least.
But he couldn’t lighten them this time. “You.”
“Bored of me?” I asked, my heart pounding in my ears.
Killian placed a gentle hand on my arm. “More so your issues.”
I shook my head, still not fully getting it.“What issues?”
“You’re always stressing yourself out about something, and I had to walk on eggshells around you because I’m worried about causing one of your… episodes.”
Episodes?
I scoffed, trying to ignore the sinking in my chest. “You’re a dick.”
“And I love Millie just as much as you do, but I never signed up for a child,” he said as if he wasn’t insulting my entire persona. He listed off my faults like they had been weighing on his mind forever, and he expected me to take it without offense. How could I?
Killian met my gaze, the pain behind it clear as day. His eyes softened as his hand rubbed soothingly on my arm. “I’m not trying to be a douche, alright? I want to work things out. The first step is saying what was wrong, and that goes both ways. What didn’t you like about me?”
Unlike him, I didn’t have a list of dislikes about my boyfriend. Besides the avoidance of telling me things as they were—which clearly he had gotten over—no issues rang in my head. Things were fine until they weren’t. Though, thinking back, maybe I was just oblivious to it all.
I jerked away from his touch as heat rose inside me. “How desperate do you think I am?”
Killian’s jaw practically touched the floor in disbelief, and he reached out to stop me from walking off. I dodged his grip, already feeling disgusted at the spot his hand was caressing and not wanting it to spread.
My feet were taking me home before I could even process it, completely forgetting why I was even at the dining hall. The subtle throbbing that had appeared in the back of my head was enough to make me not give a shit about anything but being away from my inconsiderate ex.
The only positive outcome of that discussion was that I think it finally pushed me to move on from Kill.
I made it home ten minutes earlier than I normally would have, thanks to my angry power-walking. Too bad what was waiting for me when I opened the door was anything but pretty.
The place was a mess, as usual. The thing was, I had just cleaned up before I left this morning. Salem unlocked a new achievement: he made the house a complete disaster in under four hours.
As I grew angrier, I couldn’t bring myself to let Salem sleep undisturbed on the couch. I stormed over and kicked him in the leg.
Salem startled as if I had poured a bucket of water on his head. “What the hell, Alex?”
“Would it kill you to pick up after yourself?” I asked just short of a yell. “I’m not your mother, and I shouldn’t have to clean up after you all the time.”
Salem stared, dumbfounded. He probably couldn’t believe I stood up to him. Hell, I couldn’t believe it either.
Once he understood what I said, he rolled his eyes and lay his head down. “I don’t want to hear this, Alex.”
“If you would pick up after yourself, then you wouldn’t have to hear it.”
The words went in one ear and out the other. “I’m not cleaning up shit.”
My scalp stung as I tugged at the ends of my hair, and my teeth ground against each other. The audacity of my roommate was astounding.
Salem gave me the silent treatment, and I think the sound of my stress soothed him to sleep. Knowing I could not waste more time talking to the brick wall that was my roommate, I went into my room and studied. I needed to focus on the exam more than I needed to worry about Salem’s dirty habits.
I wasn’t sure how much time passed before a knock on the door brought me out of my mock concentration. Out of instinct, I moved to go answer it, figuring Salem wouldn’t even though he was closer. Much to my surprise, Salem answered it before me.
