Sweet (True Believers #2)(9)
Author: Erin McCarthy

“Why, what are you doing in here that you need a locked door and a hoodie duct-taped to the window?”

“What do you mean?” Though I knew exactly what he meant.

“You’re either cooking meth or filming a sexy YouTube video.”

I snorted. “No. Now go away. I’m on the phone.”

“Fine. Hurry, or I’m eating the whole pizza without you.” He turned, the metal-spiked bracelets on his wrist jangling as he pulled his hand out of his pocket.

Feeling flushed, I lifted my phone back to my ear. “Hello?”

Kylie had hung up. Nice.

But she had texted.

Riley? HAWT.

I rolled my eyes, but even as I tapped a denial, I totally agreed with her. Snagging my tank top, I went for a slice of pizza, knowing it would bloat me, but I was hungry. It sucked not to have cafeteria access in the university center, no matter how dicey the teriyaki beef was. Plus it seemed stupid to be ignoring Riley when I could be fighting with him. It was way more fun.

Especially when I had the satisfaction of walking in to the living room right as Riley moved past the coffee table with the pizza box, triggering the automatic room freshener I had bought at the store. He jumped.

“What the f**k is that?” he asked as it misted up along his hip.

“It’s an air freshener. It goes off automatically when there is an odor or motion.”

He looked at me like this was the stupidest thing he’d ever heard in the existence of stupid things. “I hope that wasn’t more than a dollar or you were ripped off.”

“The sun is going down, so do I have permission to open the windows?” I asked, already walking over to do just that. Between a breeze and the mister, maybe the room would smell less like an old ashtray and more just like stale boy.

“No.” Then he grinned when I stopped in my tracks and turned to glare at him. “I’m kidding. Knock yourself out.”

“I’d rather knock you out.”

“Badass.” Riley picked up a piece of pizza and bit off a piece so huge, literally half the slice disappeared in his mouth.

I felt like I instantly gained five pounds on my ass just watching him. So not fair that guys could eat whatever. Hell, Rory could eat whatever she wanted, too, and she never grew tree trunks masquerading as thighs. But I had to fight to stay in shape, with massive amounts of cardio classes and strength training. If you could major in zumba I would because it felt like I spent half my life in the pseudo salsa classes. Sighing, I slid the window open and vowed to only eat one piece of pizza.

There were no plates. Or napkins. Riley was wiping his fingers on his jeans and resting his slice on the closed box. But given the state of the coffee table surface, that was probably the best plan. Dust and cigarette ash probably weren’t good seasonings. Lifting the lid carefully so his piece didn’t slid off onto the floor, I pulled out my own slice and sat down next to him on the couch. The pizza was loaded with everything, including tiny meatballs, and my mouth started watering.

“Thanks for sharing.”

“You’re welcome.” He finished the slice in one more bite and reached for another one. Something about the movement set off the air freshener again to his left. “Christ.” He waved his hand around. “That smells awful.”

“You think the air freshener smells worse than this room did?” I was in awe. In my opinion it already smelled better from the ocean breeze mister and the air blowing in through the open window.

“This thing smells like dead old lady.”

I laughed. “It’s called ocean breeze.”

“No ocean I’ve ever been to smelled like that.”

“How many oceans have you been to?”

He grinned. “None.”

“Have you smelled dead old lady?”

“Probably.”

“No, you haven’t. Or if you have, I’ve leaving because that makes you a serial killer.” Setting my slice of pizza on my knees, I picked a meatball off it and popped it into my mouth. Maybe if I ate slowly, I would fill up and I wouldn’t overeat.

“I’m not a serial killer. But I do go gambling and those old women aren’t even alive, I swear. They’re just propped against the slot machines, abandoned by their families.”

There was an image. “I’ve never been to a casino.”

“They’re both a lot of fun and massively depressing. Full of saps who think their luck is about to change. I don’t believe in luck unless it’s bad luck.”

“You’ve never been lucky? You’ve never won something or had a day where it seems like everything goes right?” I pulled off a mushroom and chewed on it.

Riley gave a laugh. “Look around you, princess. Does it look like anything about my life is lucky? Except for those weeks where if I’m lucky, I can pay all my damn bills.”

I wasn’t sure what to say to that. He had a point. He didn’t sound bitter, not really. Just resigned. Tired. “It sucks that Tyler had to drop out of school.”

Tyler had been getting an associate’s degree so he could be an EMT, but then he had been arrested for carrying his mother’s drugs, and he’d had to drop out. Rory had told me that Riley and Tyler had been counting on Tyler having a stable job to bring in money, and now that was gone.

“Yeah.” Riley stared at my knees. “What the hell are you doing? Are you going to eat that or just pick it to death?”

“I’m not really hungry,” I lied.

He shook his head. “I can hear your stomach growling. Are you worried about gaining weight? Christ, you girls drive me crazy.”

“Easy for you to say, but we all know everyone hates on the fat chick.”

“You’re hot. Stop worrying about it.”

“Thanks, I guess.” I nibbled a pepperoni.

“I’m serious. You have a great body.”

I wasn’t sure how to react to that. He didn’t sound at all like he was flirting with me. He sounded more like a best friend, like Kylie or Rory. None of my guy friends ever bothered to reassure me, and my g*y friend Devin just flat out told me that I could become a heifer if I wasn’t careful, that it was in my genes. I carried the predisposed heifer DNA strand apparently.

But while I was trying to come up with a snarky response, he leaned over and crammed his pizza in my mouth. “Bite it.”

I started laughing, trying to pull away. I tried to say “Stop it,” but it sounded like “Stpack” because of my giggles and the cheese and dough way farther in my mouth than I would put. Grabbing his wrists, I tried to force a removal, but he was strong, his skin warm, his eyes dancing with laughter.