Getting To Know

Chapter 3: Getting To Know

I spent the next fifteen minutes pacing the apartment while he nonchalantly lounged on the couch, sipping his beer and flipping through channels like he lived there alone. Like my being there was just some mild inconvenience.

There was only one bathroom. One couch. One kitchen.

And only one bed in the main room.

"That’s my room," he said when I opened the door across from the hallway. "I already claimed it."

"There were supposed to be two bedrooms."

"The second one’s barely big enough for a bed frame. Good luck."

“Are you for real?”

“I'm as real as real, sweetheart.”

I'm just a few seconds away from calling the police on his crazy ass.

I found the said room and stared at the shoebox-sized space with a narrow window and no closet.

Basically a storage unit masquerading as a bedroom. Great.

There's no way I'm lasting a month here with his psychotic ass.

I returned to the living room. "You leave your boots by the door, but your towel on the floor. You realize that’s disgusting, right?"

"Thanks for the input," he said without looking up.

"You realize this isn’t working."

"We just met. Give it a week. You'll love me."

“Weirdo.” I shot him a glare, then stormed off to unpack.

By the time I finished shoving my toiletries into the shared bathroom, I noticed two toothbrushes.

One black. One pink.

I frowned. His was the pink one.

The fuck?

When I returned to the kitchen, he was standing there shirtless wearing dark coloured jeans and a Toyota logo belt, eating peanut butter straight from the jar with a spoon.

"Do you always do that?" I asked.

"What?"

"Use your mouth like a shovel."

“I can use it in other ways too.” He winked.

Ew.

“That's it. I'm calling the landlord. I can't do this.” I fished out my phone from my pocket.

He smirked. "You always this uptight, sweetheart?"

"Only around strange men who take their towel off in the hallway."

The damn landlord wasn't picking up. Shit!

He licked the spoon clean and dropped it into the sink. "You’re going to love living with me."

"Oh, I already do," I said flatly, brushing past him.

I slammed my bedroom door and exhaled slowly, leaning my forehead against it, and hearing the creak of the couch as he settled in.

Then, his voice floated through the wall.

"You snore, you’re out!"

I rolled my eyes before yelling right back, "Touch my stuff and you’re dead!"

“The books about the tortoise and the lamb? Sorry, sweetheart. I think I'll pass.”

“Fuck you!”

I pressed my lips into a tight line. I never cuss. Way to go, Serena. Losing your cool on the first day.

“Aww. You talk dirty when you're mad? That's cute.” His voice turned mocking. “Don't flatter yourself, sweetheart. I've had better fantasies.”

His words stabbed me in the chest. It hit too close to home.

“I wouldn't touch you, even if my life depended on it, Kyle. You're not my type.”

“Likewise, sweetheart. You're a little too serious. Maybe loosen up a little and I might take you up on your earlier request. But that'll only be if you beg a little slower.”

“In your dreams, psycho!”

“I have a feeling we're going to be such best friends, Serena.” He laughed.

I glared at the door.

Then came the last part, low and almost playful, "But if you fall for me... that’s on you."

My stomach twisted. “You wish, asshole!”

“I'm quite hot and you know it.”

I can't deny that.

This was going to be hell.

I collapsed on the bed in exhaustion. How the hell was I supposed to live with a caveman like Kyle?

I was still checking what other options I had when Uncle Marcus's text lit up my phone screen.

Uncle: You asleep, kiddo?

Serena: Not yet. I'm trying not to murder my room mate, KYLE! It's a dude. Kylie doesn't exist!”

Uncle: Huh?

Serena: The landlord made a mistake… copied his name wrong. That old toad set me up for misery. Now I'm stuck in a house with a guy that pretty much just walked out of the stone ages.

Uncle: He's that bad?

Serena: The absolute worst. Acts as though he was raised in a barn.

Uncle: hahaha I'd love to meet this Kyle! He seems like the perfect match for you.

Serena: Yeah… until I need you to bail me out of prison at midnight.

Uncle: You won't.

Serena: He uses a pink toothbrush! Ew!

Uncle: Real men love pink.

Serena: I give up.

A minute later, uncle Marcus was calling.

“If he's really making you uncomfortable, I can speak to the man in charge and we'll work around it.” He said.

“It's fine. I can manage.”

“Serena?”

I sighed. “I've dealt with a cheating husband and a backstabbing cousin, what's one crude man I can't handle?”

I regretted those words immediately they left my mouth because he went silent.

“I'm sorry. I'm just really tired.” I said.

“It's okay. I'll come around your apartment tomorrow. If he’s too much trouble, I'll have him handled.”

“Thank you.”

“Get some sleep —”

“Uncle, when Delaney was sleeping with Austin behind my back, did you know?” I cut in.

I've always wondered how Uncle Marcus didn't see that one coming. As much as I hated talking about it, I still wanted to know.

I wanted to know if my uncle was aware that my husband was screwing his daughter without my knowledge.

“I walked in on them on tge morning of Delaney’s wedding when you were going over decor detsiks with the wedding planner. I told them to end it else I'd tell you. I had no idea they didn't. Serena, I didn't know how to tell you.”

“I see.”

The moment I hung up, I glanced at the framed photo of me and Austin sitting atop my illustrated works.

It's pretty ironic how that picture is the happiest picture I have of myself. My eyes were closed and my head was thrown back, laughing at a joke Austin cracked.

I walked to it and picked it up, swiping a hand across it. “You bastard.”

If there was a way to cut him out of that photo I would do it in a heart beat.

As if on cue, messages started dropping into my phone. One after the other.

From my publisher. From my agent. Random people. My fanclub.

Confused and tired, I tapped on the message from my best friend, Tessa. It was a news link and a message.

“Go get this bitch, bestie!”

I clicked on the link and the headline read:

Celebrity Publicist, Austin Lowell Announces Divorce And Cites Wife's Extramarital Affair With Raymond Hudson as Reason”