“Yeah.” I exhaled, running a hand through my hair. “And now I think she’s freaking out about it.”
“Did you do it while she was sleeping?” Jace asked, not seeming particularly concerned if I had.
I could feel the heat climb up my neck. For a second, my mind flashed back to how exactly she’d been sleeping right before I did it—with my cock in her mouth—and I had to clear my throat before speaking.
“She was awake,” I said quickly, ignoring their amused, knowing stares at the weirdness in my voice. “And she seemed happy about it. I think.”
Parker’s eyebrows shot up. “You, think?”
“She’d seemed happy…but then she said she wanted to sleep in her room tonight,” I added, and both of them froze like I’d just announced a death in the family.
“Shewhat?” Jace demanded. “No. Absolutely not.”
Parker shook his head, scandalized. “After the tattoo? That’s…not good.”
I let out a humorless laugh, dragging a hand down my face. “I mean, it’s probably not a big deal. Normal couples have some space…especially when they’ve just started dating, right?”
They both stared at me like I’d just admitted to having eaten paint chips as a kid.
“Right?” I added weakly.
Jace blinked once. “Matty, that might be the dumbest thing you’ve ever said. Which is truly saying something.”
I growled at the fact that Jace was the one confidently saying that.
Parker nodded. “Space is how relationships die, man. You’re supposed to suffocate them—with love.”
I groaned. “Yeah, you’re right. I think I need to convince her to move in with me. Make sure she knows space is not allowed in this relationship.”
Jace clapped his hands together. “Nowthat’sthe energy I like to hear. We’ll help.”
Parker grinned. “We could release a possum in her dorm. No one’s staying after that.”
Jace’s head whipped toward him. “What the hell, Parker? That’syouridea of help? You realize we’d be the ones catching the possum, right? Because I don’t think Matty could do it. I’m not getting rabies for his romance schemes. There has to be a line somewhere. And I think it’s at possums…and possibly sharks.”
Parker shrugged. “Fine. Fire alarm? Maybe her window ‘breaks’ mysteriously, and she can’t sleep there until maintenance fixes it.”
Jace leaned in, nodding thoughtfully. “Or we stage a haunting. I’ve got a speaker and a fog machine left over from Halloween. Couple eerie whispers at three a.m., maybe a silhouette in her mirror—boom, she’s out.”
“Or we fake a campus mold infestation,” Parker added. “Black mold. Gets ’em every time.”
I stared at them both, torn between horror and admiration. “You two are actually insane.”
Jace grinned. “Maybe. But we’re not the ones letting our freshly tattooed girlfriend sleep somewhere else.”
“Yeah,” Parker said, crossing his arms. “You better fix that before she starts thinking she can, like,breathewithout you.”
Jace shivered, like the idea of that was terrifying to him. “How long have you two been together now? Feels like FiFi has been with us forever.”
“Seventeen days, eleven hours, and twenty-three minutes,” I said automatically.
Both of them side-eyed me.
Jace blinked, then let out a low whistle. “Matty Adler. A true Machiavelli.”
Parker frowned. “Did you mean mathematician? Because what you just said makes no sense.”
Jace tilted his head, considering it. “Maybe. Possibly. I’ll let the big brains debate it.” He pointed at me. “What Idoknow is that you just permanently branded a girl you’ve been with for exactly seventeen days, eleven hours, and twenty-three minutes. Probably twenty-four minutes now. That’s definitely too long to go without moving her in.”
