I glance at Reid, who is trying to hide the smile on his face. “Don’t you have your own apartment?”
He shrugs. “I gave it up.”
“To slum it in college apartments?”
He shrugs again and then smirks the sexiest smirk there ever was. But it’s not going to work on me. I stare him down.
“His parents have cameras on his apartment. It’s why he doesn’t have any parties and is always here,” Dustin divulges.
“What? Why?” I ask.
“They own the building,” Reid answers.
“So, he’s breaking free,” Dustin says, puffing his chest like he had everything to do with Reid’s newfound freedom.
Someone calls Dustin over to the furthest truck, leaving me, Ivy, and Reid standing there on the sidewalk. I simmer with so much anger that I’m sure my face is beet red.
“Why are you so mad?” he asks quietly.
“Oh, I don’t know,” Ivy says sarcastically. “Maybe because you’re playing a dangerous game.”
He crosses his arms. “How so?”
I poke his chest, and my finger bounces off hard muscle. “How the hell are we supposed to keep this from Dustin when you literally live in the same apartment as him?”
A smile grows on his face. “So there is something between us?”
I throw my hands up in the air. “I thought the other night solidified that.”
He raises his eyebrows. “So we’re dating?”
“What? No.”
“So we’re seeing other people?”
“No!”
He rubs at his forehead. “I’m so confused.”
“You and me both,” Ivy says, touching his shoulder as she passes him. “I’m going inside while you two figure this out.” She pauses and whispers over her shoulder, “But you might want to keep your voices down.”
She heads inside, and Reid turns back to me. “What are we, Avery?”
I shuffle my weight from one foot to the other. “I don’t know. Okay? I haven’t figured that out yet.”
“Why?”
“Because! Have you not thought about the consequences?”
He glances over at Dustin, who’s laughing at something one of his buddies said. “I have.”
“Then surely you know this isn’t a good idea. And an even worse idea now that you live across the hall.”
He looks back at me, studies my face, takes me in, and I try not to squirm. “You’re worth it.”
I look down at my feet, the desire to say it back on the tip of my tongue. “You’ve made this so much harder,” I murmur.
“He’s going to find out eventually,” he whispers back. “We should just tell him.”
