Chapter Ten: Good Boyfriend

Caleb 

“You’ve been in a mood all evening,” Anna grumbles when she perches on the couch next to me, snuggling close enough to place her hand on my chest. 

She leans in, purring into my ear. “Aren’t you glad that he’s gone? Now we have more space and time to ourselves.” Her hand travels lower as she talks, lingering at the lower part of my stomach, before tiptoeing over my crotch. “I get that you’re worried about him because he’s your roommate, but he’s an adult. He should be able to take care of himself.”

My teeth grind as she loosens the drawstring on my sweatpants, her hand sliding into my pants. My hips jerk, but in protest to her touch, rather than into it. “See?” Anna laughs softly. “You’re interested. You just have to tell your mind to be quiet and we can spend the rest of the evening doing something better, instead of sitting and having cereal and moping.”

I look at the bowl of half-eaten cereal sitting on the coffee table. I dumped it at some point, because I’d been forcing myself to swallow each mouthful, even though it tasted like plain cardboard. 

Truth was, I couldn’t—I can’t—get Ryan’s words out of my head. 

I know what I am already. A hypocrite. 

But hearing it from him makes it so much harder to keep the accusatory fingers from pointing in my direction non-stop. 

Anna’s fingers stroke me softly, her soft body curled against my chest…but no matter how long she keeps going at it, I can’t get hard. 

“Maybe it just needs a little motivation,” she whispers as she crawls off the crouch, a hand placed on my thigh as she makes her way to stand in front of me. 

I realize what she’s about to do when she starts going on.

“I—” I stop her, holding her shoulders and gently pulling her back to her feet. 

“What?” She shakes her head with a frown. “You don’t want me to? You like it, don’t you?” Her voice grows more confused with each question, her frown deepening. 

I shake my head, feeling like a jerk as I watch the light dim in her eyes. “It’s not you,” I murmur, bringing her close and sitting her on my lap. I hug her closer and she sighs as she lays her head on my chest. “It’s…stuff. I’ve been thinking about my dad. I know that I don’t have to keep up pretenses with Ryan at the moment, because the heat on us has died out…”

She nods. “Yeah. Nobody’s going to be suspicious if you end the relationship now. But—” she lifts her head to look at me with an unreadable expression, “you’re not going to do that, are you? Even though your dad no longer cares about you taking over his company and getting married to someone of his choosing.” 

I sigh quietly. “It’s not that simple. My dad plans on buying a company in a few weeks. It’s going to be in the news again and I’ll come under scrutiny. As always.”

Anna shrugs, her arms around my neck. “But nobody’s going to care if you’re in a relationship, right? And if they do—” she sits up suddenly, leaning back so I have no choice but to look at her, “—wouldn’t it be better if you…if we,” she bites her lip hesitantly, “…went public with our relationship?”

Yes. 

It wouldn’t hurt to tell the public that Anna and I are dating. It might paint me in a bad light—moving on with someone new after recently breaking up with someone whom I claimed to love. But I wouldn’t have to hide her anymore. 

“What’s the problem now?” Anna demands. “It’s him, isn’t it?” She gets up with a scoff, hands planted on her hips. “You’re going to keep me, your real partner, in the dark, because of someone you’re pretending to be in love with?”

“Anna—” I drag a hand over my face with a soft, exasperated sigh. “I made a promise to him. If I end things now, he’ll have no other choice but to concede to his mother’s wishes. She wants him to marry. She wants him to settle down. To take over from his father.”

Anna throws her hands in the air with a tight grunt. “And?” She says. “Is that so bad? Is it so bad that the rich kid who never had to work a real job for a single day, has his life all planned out for him? A life where he gets all the benefits, I should add?”

“He works at an animal shelter,” I argue weakly. 

She rolls her eyes. “The shelter. If he didn’t have his parents’ money, he’d be working two other jobs plus the shelter. And I can’t—” she scoffs as she bites off her words, shaking my head. “I can’t believe you’re taking his side over me.”

“I’m not,” I try to explain, standing up and moving closer to her. She allows me to take her hands when I reach for them. 

I run my thumbs over her inner wrists, with a sheepish, apologetic smile on my lips. “I didn’t mean to,” I say softly. “I’m taking your side. You’re my girlfriend. I just don’t want to come off like a terrible person, because he’s helped me too.”

Anna chews on her lip in protest, but she doesn’t pull away. “I’m not going to ask you to betray him, but I don’t have to like it though, do I?” 

A grin tugs at the corner of my mouth. “No, you don’t.”

She nods. “Good.” Then she exhales, yanking her hands loose and plopping down on the couch. She gives me a stern glare. Now that you’ve ruined the mood, I’m going to binge-watch my sitcom series and you have to watch it with me.”

I stop myself before I can complain, finding my rightful position next to her. She leans into me after picking up the TV remote, but her phone starts to ring before she can turn it on. 

“Ugh,” she groans. “It’s my roommate.”

I shake my head. “Don’t answer.”

She purses her lips. “I have to. Or else I’m going to have to listen to her talk my ear off about how I wasn’t there for her when she needed me the most.”

She answers it while I search through her list of movies to pick the one I know she likes the most. I pull her closer, with my arms around her waist, kissing her neck, while she’s still on the phone. 

Anna whimpers when my fingers slide under her shirt, skimming her stomach, reaching high enough to brush the underside of her breasts. She squirms as I cup them, making half-attempts to push me away and give her roommate attention at the same time. 

“Tell her you’re busy,” I whisper in her ear. 

She pushes me off with a giggle, then ends the call seconds later. “I have to go.”

 “What?”

Anna sighs, planting a kiss on my lips. “I know, I know. But she said her boyfriend just broke up with her. I have to be there for her.”

She wriggles out of my grip, grabs her bag, gives me another kiss, and walks out. The door closes as I slump back into the couch, sighing heavily. 

At least she didn’t leave with us fighting. 

Maybe I’m not so shitty after all. A small smile touches my lips as I click play on the movie. I’ve barely gotten through the credits, when the door opens again. 

I glance over my shoulder. “You’re willing to risk an earful to—

I stop whatever I was going to say. 

Because it’s not Anna I lock eyes with—it’s not Anna that’s staring at me with a torn, broken expression. 

It’s Ryan.