I try not to gag.
“She sent me a text when you didn’t respond, and I played the hero,” he goes on, tying the damn sheet in place so he can quit holding it. “I messaged you to let you know I was handling it. Didn’t you get my text?”
Fucking texts. They’re the bane of my existence this morning. I’ve been running around town for no reason. I could still be in bed with Bo.
“So you and my sister…” I let that trail off, because I don’t even know if I want to know.
“She was bound to give into me sooner or later. And hey, you love me. You say she’s a sponge—which is harsh, by the way—so who better for her to sponge off of than me? Your best friend.”
He winks and gives me a smug grin, while I shake my head and back away. “I’m going back home. I need more sleep before dealing with this.”
He laughs at my back while I start jogging once again. At least I’m getting in my damn cardio.
It doesn’t take long to reach my building, and I pace around the elevator impatiently while it takes its sweet ass time going up.
I practically leap out of it when the doors open, but I stumble to a halt near my door when I see Cody in the hallway. Waiting.
My morning sucks balls. Big, fat, hairy, deformed, mangy balls.
“How did you get up here?” I ask him, planning to get the doorman fired, considering no one is supposed to be allowed in the building unless they’re residents or with a resident.
Hell, three different doormen stopped me and made me prove I lived here before they’d let me up, since they’d never seen me before. How do they remember all the people who live in this building?
“A girl walked me in. I told her my friend just moved here. Had to find out from Dustin where you even lived. Pretty shitty, don’t you think?”
“Pretty weird to show up at my place at the ass-crack of dawn, don’t you think?” I ask, unlocking my door and waving him in.
My bedroom door is still shut, which means Bo is still in the bed, waiting for me to join her. I hope.
“Woke up and couldn’t go back to sleep,” he says as though that explains what he’s doing here. “You’re pissed at me about those photos, aren’t you? I didn’t know the circumstances. I was just reporting what I saw. It’s not like I could have seen that coming, dude.”
“Keep your voice down,” I whisper, motioning with my head for him to follow me to my kitchen.
He looks confused as we walk into the somewhat spacious kitchen, and he glances over his shoulder before facing me.
“Did you take a girl home last night or something?”
I guess he didn’t hear Viv when she told me Bo was watching me or see who I went after. First time Viv’s ever acted like a real sister looking out for me. Her friend… Amber? Andrea? I don’t remember. Anyway, she almost fucked up everything for me all because she was too drunk to stand up or sit down without leaning on someone.
I kept finding crafty ways to dodge her when she’d run her fingers over me. And Bo was watching.
A smile lights my lips when I think of how pissed she was. Bo was pissed, and she let me know it. That’s already a step in the right direction.
“So you gonna tell me why you ignored me last night?”
Oh yeah. Cody is still here.
“Dustin invited you there. Not me. I’m not pissed about the photos, dude. I’m pissed that you were lurking outside my girl’s apartment. No way did you just happen to be walking by when that happened. I blame myself for rushing off to yell at her instead of focusing on that detail sooner. What’s your fucking issue, man?”
He looks down for a second and takes a breath.
“You and Dustin are all that’s left,” he finally says, looking up as his shoulders slump. “Since she came around, you’ve barely even hung out with us. She’s done nothing but cause issues, and so yeah. I might have had a few long meals at the diner across from her apartment building. Not proud of it, but there it is. I thought I was doing you a solid.”
I want to grab all the stupid he just spewed and shove it into his ears so he can really hear it.
“Bo hasn’t caused any issues, you jackass. You’ve caused the issues. She hasn’t done anything to provoke you. Dustin and I are just fucking fine. You and I are the only ones with any problems, and every one of those problems is your own making. Get the fuck over yourself. I have a girlfriend. It’s not the end of the world!”
Internally I curse, because I said that way too loud. Cody looks back down at the ground.