Her eyes crawl over me like I’m a spider she wants to squash, and then she takes off, heading deeper into the apartment. It’s the smallest apartment I’ve ever been inside. Can’t be more than half the size of my closet. The cognac leather couch set against the wall takes up most of the living room. There are plants everywhere; it’s basically a jungle. And books. Lots of books. Two floor-to-ceiling cases full of books.

“If you want more money,” I say, stepping closer to her. “I can—”

She laughs, her fillings dark against the whites of her teeth, but it’s forced. “I don’t want more money.”

“Then just tell me what you want.”

She stares at me for the longest moment, and then there is some small derangement about her face, her eyes narrowing, mouth tightening.

“Are you really going to kill him?” she asks, her voice breaking slightly like she actually feels something for him, and my jaw tightens.

I swallow and look away. When I turn back, she’s still staring at me. “Look, I can—”

I stop at the sound of a door opening, and both our heads turn at the same time.

“Babe, I was thinking. When I get back to Ohio—Oh. Shit.”

Nate stops short when he sees me. My mouth opens. He’s completely naked, all wet and hard and glistening, his body lean and lightly spattered with coarse, dark hair, towel draped around his neck.

His eyes shoot over to Brandi as he pulls the towel down and wraps it around his waist. “I didn’t know you had—”

She cuts him a sharp look. I’m not sure what it means but right now I don’t care. I’m still stuck on seeing his dick. Soft and impractical, and slightly leaning to the left. I feel a flush of warmth creeping up my cheeks and clear my throat.

Nate’s eyes come to me for the quickest moment, then back to Brandi. “Um, yeah—I’ll just...” Nate stumbles over the rest of his words as he heads back into the bathroom.

Brandi cuts her eyes at me so hard I can almost feel the sharpness of her glare on my skin. She folds her arms across her chest. “Can you leave?”

“I’m pretty sure you being jobless means you don’t pay the rent here, so you don’t really have veto power, do you?”

She looks like she wants to smack me across the room. I want to do the same to her.

Her phone buzzes on the couch. She leans for it and lifts it to her ear. “Hi. Yes, thank you. I’ll be down in a sec.”

She hangs up and looks at me, and I speak before she can try to throw me out again. “I’ll just wait here until you get back.”