My Ex’s Roommates: Chapter 8

“You three think you know me so well. You think you have me all figured out, don’t you? You saw me coming and going with Jake and decided exactly who I was, huh? You have no fucking idea who I am. You don’t know anything about me.” I was yelling but I couldn’t stop. “Do you want to know where my daddy left off? It sure as hell wasn’t at calling me princess and giving me a fancy car to drive. Daddy left me on the side of the road when I was fifteen because I refused to go with his friend to score his next hit. My big brothers raised me from the time our mom ODed when I was still a kid. When they found out what my dad tried to do to me they nearly beat him to death and they’re in prison right now for it.

“I worked my ass off to get a scholarship to pay to be here. I have worked no less than thirty hours a week every week since I arrived on this campus, all while making sure my grades don’t dip at all because financial aid would love to rip that scholarship away. As for your idea that Jake somehow spoiled me while I was with him? You’re wrong there, too. I was stupid enough to want to make sure he knew I wasn’t with him for his money so I never let him do anything for me expect cover the costs of whatever charity event he wanted to be seen at with his parents.”

They all stared back at me wide-eyed. Dylan tried to say something but I turned my ire on him.

“I’ve called over eighty people this week about potential housing leads. While working as much time as they’d allow me at the library. I have stayed out of your way as much as possible because I do not, in any way, expect anyone to pick up whatever slack you think Jake left behind. I don’t expect any of you to do a single thing for me other than take my money and let me sleep under your roof until I find somewhere to go. Believe me when I say, I’m not fucking dragging my feet in order to stay here with guys who think I’m a stuck-up bitch with a silver spoon in my mouth. I’d literally take anything I could afford to get away from this house and every asshole who’s ever stepped foot in it.

“I’m so goddamn sick of everyone judging me and hurling their bullshit at me.” I closed in on Silas. “And you can sit there and say whatever nasty, mean things you have to say about me but it’s starting to look a little obvious that you’re just a little bitter that no rich boyfriend came along for you.”

On the TV one of the teams scored a touchdown and the noise of the fans celebrating pierced the silence that fell on the room. My chest rose and fell fast, my breathing hard after hurling everything I had back at them. I still wasn’t finished, though. They seemed to know it, too, and they stayed frozen as they waited.

“I’ve been tiptoeing around here but it doesn’t matter if I do that or scream the place down. Your opinion of me won’t change. I’m done pretending I don’t exist for your comfort. Kick me out if you want. Until you do, though, I’m existing in this fucking house that I’m paying rent for.” I pulled the envelope of cash out of my purse and started counting out bills. “How much?”

None of them seemed willing to tell me. They didn’t budge.

“How much is the rent?!”

Dylan cleared his throat. “Look, Harper, I’m sor-”

“How. Much. Is. The. Fucking. Rent?”

“Jake paid nine hundred a month.”

I snorted, even as I silently panicked at how much money I was going to be left with. “You mean Jake’s dad paid nine hundred a month.”

Carter grimaced when I counted at the correct amount and slipped the practically empty envelope back into my purse. “Harper, we-”

I tossed the wad of twenty-dollar bills at Silas and felt a sick joy at the way they fluttered down on him. “There you go, Silas. I showed you that I pay my own way. Is that good enough, sir, or do you need blood or my firstborn child to deem me worthy of even an ounce of kindness from you? Asshole.”

“Harper, wait.” Dylan reached for my arm but quickly snatched his hand back when he saw the look on my face. “Just wait a second. We-”

“Are you kicking me out?”

He frowned. “What? No. I just-”

“If you’re not kicking me out, I don’t need to hear anything else from you.” I tilted my head to the side as I stared him down. “So, I repeat. Are you kicking me out?”

He looked down at his feet with his hands on his hips and let out a heavy sigh. “No.”

“Then you don’t need to say anything else to me.” I grabbed my bag and purse and went to spin on my heels. I froze for a moment when I realized that sitting on the floor, leaning against the couch next to Carter, was a woman staring at me with wide eyes and a crooked grin. I winced inwardly at having said all of that in front of a stranger but there was no taking it back and I didn’t want to, anyway. She didn’t seem all that traumatized from the quick glance I got of her.

Stomping up the stairs and exploding into my room, the room I paid for, I didn’t slam the door. I left it wide open. I was done making myself small for them or any other man.

I threw my things onto my bed and stomped across the hall to the bathroom. The makeup coating my face suddenly felt too heavy, too constricting on my skin. I scrubbed it off and yanked my hair into a bun before going back to my room and sitting at my desk. It was painful to sit there when I still had the heat of a thousand suns burning through me but I forced myself to be still. I’d said all I needed to say and letting my anger blow up larger than it already had wouldn’t lead to anything good.

It took two hours and a handful of my secret stash of yogurt covered raisins to calm down enough that I wasn’t shaking. I’d stared at the same page of a book I was reading the entire time, not absorbing a single sentence. I debated calling my brothers over and over again, needing to hear their voices, but I didn’t want to upset them by losing it and begging them to let me visit.

I was just about to close my door and get in bed when I felt someone watching me. I turned around and saw Silas leaning against my door frame, his head cocked to the side as he studied me. I raised my eyebrows at him, silently asking him what the hell he wanted.

He let the silence stretch on until finally he pushed off from the doorway and smirked. “You have a filthy mouth, Harper.”

My face burned red as anger came rushing back.

That smirk turned into a full on grin as he backed away. “It suits you.”

I deflated, all my rising anger unsure of where to go or what was happening as I watched him walk off towards his own room. Was that a compliment? Another insult? I didn’t know.

I closed my door before anything else could happen that threw me off my indignant game. I wasn’t about to get chatty with them after everything that I’d said downstairs. I’d drawn a line in the sand, ten times deeper than the one they’d already had there. I didn’t think there was any going back.