She’d been watching online videos for more than an hour, and it was still only ten past eight?
It had been hours since Tina had left to meet Glen, and with Melanie not returning for the night, Kris was struck suddenly by how alone she was.The whole point of house sharing was to have some ready-made friends to buoy her during the long winter nights.As it was, though, she’d spent three of the last seven on her own, and the night before, she’d been out getting inebriated with Liz and Cindy.
Running her fingers through her hair, she blew out a breath.It wasn’t as if she blamed Tina and Melanie for wanting to spend time with their respective beaus.Far from it.Maddeningly, she was sure that if Shaun had been interested in seeing her again, Kris would have been happy to invest the time in him, so she understood her housemates’ motivations.They were all postgrad students, but beneath the shiny exterior of academic success, it appeared that all that any of them craved was love.And not just the carnal wave that washed over them in the initial flushes of a new relationship, but the tangible type that grounded them in something far greater than only themselves and their own ambitions.The kind that felt like home.
“Oh, stop it.”She tutted at the ridiculous, romanticized notions in her head.
That kind of connection looked good on paper, but she was smart enough to know it rarely existed in real life, and when it did, it took effort on the part of everyone involved.
Kris would do better concentrating on preparing for Pine’s next seminar and considering where to apply once she’d left education.She should focus on the future, onherfuture, on what she wanted, but as it was, she was still licking her wounds about Shaun.Whenever she envisaged her future, all she saw was the lack of anyone else in her life.Yes, she had friends who meant a lot to her, but what she feared was a future without the kind of soul-aligned companion she used to read about in the romance novels she’d digested as a teenager.
“Serves me right for reading those books, I guess.”
She shrugged, considering flicking on the television in the corner of the room, but then decided against it.There would be nothing to watch anyway, and the last thing she wanted to do was fall asleep on the sofa.
“I should get that early night I was telling Tina about,” she said to no one in particular, but as she yawned and climbed to her feet, she already sensed she wasn’t going to do that.
Not eating much at dinner meant Kris’ hunger was starting to stir, and rather than being sensible and finishing the cold pasta Tina had prepared for her, her sights were already set on something naughtier.
“Pizza.”Her lips curled as she considered the loaded cheese and pepperoni variety she had in mind.
She could have one delivered from the large commercial pizza chain in town, but if she dashed out, she could grab herself a delicious small one from the place around the corner, save herself the delivery fee, and still enjoy the mushroom pasta for lunch the next day.
Mind made up, she grabbed her phone and purse before slipping on her boots and coat.Pleased to see the jacket had largely dried from the downpour earlier, Kris yanked the zip up until it sat just under her chin and then wrapped her scarf around her neck to cover her throat.January had brought its usual plummeting temperatures, but the cold and ice weren’t going to stop Kris from satisfying her desire for pizza.
If she couldn’t have Shaun or a gratifying sex life, then she’d find other ways to please herself.
Halfway to the pizza place and dodging iced puddles as best she could, she focused on the way melted cheese was going to soothe her Shaun issues.
She was surprised when the chime of an incoming text broke her concentration, and skidding along a patch of black ice, she paused by the closed newsagent to catch her breath and retrieve her device.
Her heart leapt at the sight of the unknown number.Her phone might not have recognized the origins of the new message, but after a day of correspondence, she most certainly did.
“Oh, no,” she groaned, backing herself against the metal shutters as she contemplated whether or not to just delete the missive.
One facet of her would have been much happier to enjoy her pizza in peace, without intrusion, but ignoring that instinct, she found herself flicking in to acknowledge whatever the enigmatic stranger had to say.
You shouldn’t be out here on your own at this time.
Adrenaline spiked at the disconcerting warning, her gaze flitting around the wintry street as though she expected to find its proprietor watching her.
Who are you?
She typed the message quickly, irritated at the chiding tone of the one she’d received and aware that the more she focused on her infuriation, the less she needed to acknowledge that, yet again, the unknown sender had known not only who she was, but where she was.
Stop messaging me.
Pulling the freezing air through her nostrils, she stared at the screen defiantly.
Enough.
Enough with men dictating what she was thinking and feeling, and more importantly, enough with her handing them that power.Of course she wanted a meaningful relationship, but in the short term, she’d take her cheese pizza and some damn peace.
She’d just taken a tenuous step toward at least one of those goals when her phone buzzed again.
“For fuck’s sake,” she muttered, her jaw tensing as she lifted the device again.
Whoever they were, she was going to tell them precisely how much they were pissing her off.She’d already apologized for being rude.At that point, there wasn’t much more to say.
