5. Chapter Five

Chapter Five

Myles

M y concentration for today was officially shot.

Avery was supposed to drop by to pick up the keys, but she hadn't told me when, so I pretty much remained tethered to my door. I didn't want to get sucked into work and accidentally miss her arrival.

After the disaster during the showing last week, I had been sure she wouldn't want to room with me. Fuck, I couldn't get over the coincidence that club hottie was the one who'd answered my roommate ad. I also couldn't get over the fact that she'd seen my cock on the countertop. Of course she'd been nothing but smooth, but holy fuck, the memory still popped up at random moments, drowning me in embarrassment all over again.

I paced my kitchen for the thousandth time, tempted to make a trifle.

I'd never made a trifle, but someone had mentioned one in a show I watched the other week, and I liked the word enough that I was curious what it would take to make the dessert. Maybe it would be a nice welcoming treat for when Avery came to get her keys. She'd said she planned on moving in next week but would be dropping by with some of her stuff.

Fuck.

How would I survive having her up in my space 24/7?

Afar at the diner was bad enough, but if she was around, I would be a blushing, stumbling mess forever after. Yet I couldn't say no either. The idea of having her as my roommate was more than I could've hoped for. Far better than a normal person who'd just be disgusted by me all the time.

A knock on the door startled me, and I whipped up to stand ramrod straight. Ouch, my back. If I strained a muscle by standing, I'd reached a new low.

I raced toward the door, almost tripping over my feet, which was par for the course. By the time I pulled up to the knob, my palm was already sweaty, but I tugged the door open anyway.

Avery was not waiting on the steps.

No, Mom stood front and center, Dad a few paces behind her.

My brows drew together. "Did I miss a text or something?"

Mom shook her head. "We were in the area and weren't sure if you'd be in. I know you work from home, but we hoped you'd be free to chat during your lunch break. Looks like we caught you at the right time."

I swallowed hard. Right. Lunch breaks. Like I kept normal human hours and not wombat ones. "Uh, yeah." Truthfully, today was the wrong time, but since Avery hadn't said when she would stop by and I was too keyed up to dive into my manuscript, adding a family visit to the mix might offer the distraction I needed, albeit anxiety-inducing but for different reasons. At least I wouldn't get horny from my folks visiting.

"Come on in." I stepped aside to let my parents in.

Mom walked into the house like she examined for clues. I swear, if she hadn't gone into teaching criminology, she would've been a detective. As it was, she watched way too many episodes of Miss Marple. "Were you expecting company?"

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, I know I'm not tidy." I had straightened up my usual stacks of books and tackled some of the piles of bills and papers I let clutter my coffee table and kitchen counter. If I was going to have a roommate, I needed them to adjust to my chaos slowly instead of getting confronted with all of it at once.

"Do you have any coffee made?" Dad strode over to the cupboards. Since this used to be Grandma's house, he was familiar with it, especially the kitchen. She'd been a spitfire, Boston-born and raised, and lived up to the old person sitting on the stoop stereotype. Except she'd mostly shouted about raccoons at random passersby rather than haranguing kids.

Betty was a menace.

"Yeah, mostly full pot," I said, scratching my nape. My story needed to be straight for my job because Mom always grilled me as if she tried to poke holes in my career. It didn't help I told them I'd become a journalist but never had any articles to show as proof. If my mother wasn't research savvy, I'd try to fake articles, but the woman knew how to source, for better or worse. It was a miracle they hadn't figured me out yet.

"We brought over some sandwiches we got at Lefty's." Mom plunked a bag on the kitchen counter.

"What? You didn't figure my fridge would hold any culinary delights?" I joked, heading right over to the bag. My stomach grumbled because all I'd fed it was coffee, and we'd already hit lunchtime. My skill set happened to be writing sexy aliens fucking, finding cabs at unreasonable hours, and soldering. So, if any metalwork needed fixing in the house, I had it under control, but when it came to the daily upkeep activities of a human being and a residence, I was a bit adrift.

"Remember, we had to eat your home ec projects." Mom took a sandwich out of her bag and handed it to me. "I don't think anyone should have to suffer through lemon-and-ketchup-glazed chicken."

"It could've caught on," I muttered.

"With a toddler, maybe," Dad said, a full cup of coffee in his hand.

"Savage." I crossed my arms as I leaned against the kitchen counter. "Did you guys come here to visit or bruise my fragile ego?"

Dad shook his head. "We're well aware of the shape of your ego, and there's nothing fragile about it. But no, we just wanted to see you. It's been a while."

"We didn't realize you moving into Grandma's house would mean vanishing from our lives." Mom brought out the big mom-guilt weapons because of course she did.

"Work's been busy," I blurted. Well, fuck.

Mom's eyes glinted. "Oh, so your articles are getting published? When are we going to see them?"

I swallowed hard. "Uh, the issues are coming out in a year, so then."

Hopefully, in a year, I would've found a new imaginary job, and my parents would forget all about this one. Not likely.

"Mm, and what's the topic of these?" Mom asked. "What happened to the papers about black hole evaporation?"

Well, that research went into a sexy, sexy, only-one-ship book where the leads were stranded in space and forced to fuck out their feelings.

"Fungus." I spouted the first thing I could think of. Probably because I'd been looking up fungal spores for some infestation I could use in my latest book. So helpful right now.

My mother blinked at me and then fixed me with a stare. I should tell them what I did for a living. Except the pressure I put on myself was staggering—it wasn't even them. All they'd done was love me, but a professor and a dentist? They couldn't possibly be proud of me for writing erotica for a living. And they'd been such fierce defenders of me growing up, pushing back against friends of theirs who tried to make snide comments about my transition or family members who struggled to accept me.

I swallowed a lump in my throat. After that kind of support, I wanted to be an adult they could be proud of, so the idea of disappointing them… crushed me.

A knock sounded on the door.

Oh, shit.

"A visitor?" Dad asked, taking another sip of coffee.

"Ah, so that's why the place was clean," Mom said.

I scrubbed my face and strode to the door before Avery thought I'd forgotten about her. Maybe I could give her the key and usher her out before my parents interrogated her. I tugged the door open.

Avery stood in the doorway, fist raised as if in preparation to knock again. Today, he had more of a masc look, with his open flannel, black tank top, and black jeans. His black nose ring and swept-to-the-side chestnut strands added to the appeal. As if he needed any help. The sight of him hit my sternum like a sucker punch, and words exited my brain.

"Hey." Avery's bright grin was spellbinding while I still tried to piece words together from the alphabet soup that spilled in my head.

"Who's that, Myles?" Mom asked from behind me. "Are you seeing someone?"

I winced. Of course Mom would ask that. She and Dad were the nosiest people I knew, constantly asking if I was dating anyone. I loved them for their constant care, but sometimes the inquisition only reminded me of how alone I was.

"Oh, is this a bad time?" Avery gripped the side of the door as if prepared to close it and bolt.

"No, no." I waved him in. "I have your keys. Don't worry."

"Ignore us," Mom said, hovering behind me. "We dropped in on him unannounced, so he wasn't prepared for our visit. Come on in."

Great. So I couldn't just hand the key to Avery and hope my parents would stay out of this.

"Sounds great," Avery said, mischief dancing in his eyes.

Reluctantly I stepped back from the door to let him inside. When he walked past me, his arm brushed mine, and electricity rolled through me, almost incapacitating me. Maybe I was lonelier than I'd realized.

"Are you going to introduce them?" Dad asked, and I braced myself for the inevitable disappointment when I burst their bubble.

"This is Avery. He's going to be my roommate."

Mom's eyes twinkled. "Oh, okay. Roommates ."

Ugh. My fucking family. Avery full out grinned, seeming utterly amused with my mortification and not correcting my family.

"Just roommates," I said.

"We're accepting, honey. You don't have to hide your relationship," Mom said, a curious look in her eyes. Great, did she actually think we were together?

I cast a glance at Avery, whose lips twitched, but he wasn't saying a damn thing. "Roommates. I'm even giving him the key today."

"I'm so glad we're in that stage." Avery batted his lashes.

Motherfucker.

Dad peered over his coffee, glancing back and forth between us. I scrubbed my face. Shit, how could I derail this train filled with screaming goats Mom and Avery set on fire?

"Welcome to the family," Mom said with an impish grin.

Oh, she was definitely just pushing my buttons.

"I'm so thrilled to finally meet you both," Avery gushed, putting on the performance of a lifetime. Maybe I didn't have a super intense crush on him anymore. Maybe I'd made a terrible mistake in asking him to be my roommate. Except then he flashed a grin at me, those blue eyes full of sparks and light, and I swooned.

"Okay, enough." I marched over to the drawer where I'd placed the keys. "Mom, you're going to have to hold off on those wedding bells. Avery, here are the keys to your room. Which you are renting. From me."

"Well, I'd hope so." He plucked the keys out of my hand. Even the brush sent a flutter straight through my system. It didn't help that he popped a flirty wink in too. "Who else would I be renting it from? A pet cat?"

"Is there a reason you need a renter?" Mom asked, her forehead crinkling in concern.

My cheeks heated. "Nothing crazy. Just the med bills from last year knocked a bit into my savings. And I've got an empty room sitting and collecting dust."

"Literally." Avery jumped in. "It's like a shrine."

I blinked at him. How could he be…so comfortable with people? It usually took me years or an entire lifetime to get to a level where I could tease and make snarky comments, and even then, what came out of my mouth was nothing like the witty comebacks in my head. Which was why I worked better as a writer.

"Please tell me you got rid of Mom's decor in the room." Dad wrinkled his nose and looked up as if he somehow had established x-ray vision and could see through the ceiling.

"Unlike you, I don't find the vintage doilies offensive. Also, what if disrupting them sets off her ghost?"

"Excuse me," Avery said. "I thought you guaranteed no hauntings as part of the rental agreement."

Fuck, I should've had him sign an official document or something. I clearly aced this whole future landlord thing. What if he refused to leave? My heart thudded hard as my gaze lingered on his slender frame and the smooth skin peeking out from his sleeves. Fuck, he was too pretty. And didn't seem to think I was a hopeless loser yet. Maybe it was okay if he stayed forever.

Thoughts I couldn't share with him, because he'd guaranteed find me certifiable.

"I saged the place beforehand," I said. "Since you're here, do you want a coffee or anything?" At this point, I'd take him as a buffer for my parents and their insistent questioning.

Avery nodded and strode over to the cupboard, poking around as if he'd lived here for years and hadn't just shown up for the second time. My heart thudded a little harder. I didn't know him well enough. He still might be a secret serial killer or have a massive doll collection that would be an immediate dealbreaker, but something about him drew me in.

Maybe it was his effortless charm or the fluid way he moved or how he hadn't blinked twice at the weird shit I said, but my shoulders dropped an inch from my ears, which was an impressive feat.

As Dad grabbed some milk from the fridge for Avery, who rummaged around for silverware, Mom slipped up beside me.

"Even if he's not someone you're seeing, I'm glad you've got a roommate," she said.

I swallowed hard. Avery flitting around my kitchen slammed me square in the chest, hammering down how alone I'd been these past few years.

"Me too."