Granted, Kim and Justin had been living together for almost two months, but now it was official. The lease on Kim’s old apartment was up and all her things were either at Justin’s house or in storage.
Kim answered on the second ring. “Did you tell your boss where to shove it yet?” The last text Ali sent to her friend had been a rant about her boss, so of course that was where Kim would start their conversation.
“No, I haven’t.” Her boss was a royal pain in the ass. Today he’d told her to go to the hospital pharmacy and visually verify a medication had been received. The pharmacy had been busy, so it had taken her almost an hour to find what she’d needed. When she’d returned, her boss had been fuming, demanding to know where she’d disappeared to. When she’d tried to explain, he’d cut her off and ordered her out of his office.
“You need to find another job. Or, at least, another position. Doesn’t the hospital have anything else you could do?”
Ali sighed and plopped onto the bed. “I’ve been keeping an eye out, but I have to be careful. If my asshole boss gets wind of it, I might not have a job at all. He’d love an excuse to fire me.” She needed to change the subject. The last thing she wanted to do was talk about her jerk of a boss. “How’s your new living arrangement?”
She could almost see Kim’s smile through the phone. “Really good.”
“Oh? Do tell.”
“I wish we hadn’t waited, Ali. I mean, we wasted so much time when we could have been together,” Kim said.
“But you’re together now. That’s what matters.” Even as she said it, Ali’s thoughts drifted to Daniel. How long did she have with him?
Not that she really had him. Not like that. But she couldn’t stay in his house forever. Even if he was okay with her being there, it wouldn’t be good for her mental well-being.
“True.” Her friend hummed. “And we’re enjoying making up for lost time.”
Her friend giggled and Ali joined her. “I bet you are.”
“Yes, well, enough about me. How are your neighbors? Still banging the night away?”
Ali rolled her eyes. “I wouldn’t know.”
The other end of the phone was silent for a long moment. “What do you mean you don’t know? Did you get ear plugs to wear to bed or something?”
Biting the inside of her cheek, Ali debated whether to tell her friend about her current living arrangements. Kim would read something into it that wasn’t true. As much as Ali had tried to downplay it, her best friend could read her like a book. She knew Ali had feelings for Daniel. “No. I didn’t get ear plugs. I sort of...found somewhere else to stay for a while.”
Again, she was met with silence from the other end of the line. “Ali, what’s going on?”
Closing her eyes as if that would somehow shield her from whatever Kim’s reaction would be, she spat it out, “Daniel saw me yawning when we were helping you move on Sunday and...”
“And?”
Ali turned her head toward the door. Daniel was in the kitchen, cooking for her. For them. She closed her eyes and answered her best friend. “I’m staying at his house for a while. Just until I can find something else.”
Silence.
Not exactly the reaction Ali was expecting. “You still there?”
“Yeah. I’m still here. I’m just trying to decide if I heard what I thought I did.” She hesitated. “Did you say you’re at Daniel’s house? As in sleeping under the same roof as he is?”
She choked out her response. “Yes.”
“Girl, you need to spill and be quick about it.”
Ali shrugged, even though her friend couldn’t see her. “There’s not much to tell. I told him about my neighbors, and he offered to let me stay in one of his spare rooms.”
“One of his spare rooms?”
Sitting up, Ali leaned against the headboard. “Yes.”
“And where is he sleeping?” Kim’s voice dripped with suggestion.
“It’s not like that.” What Ali had dubbed the milk incident came to mind. She’d replayed that scene in her head hundreds of times. What if she’d opened her mouth, inviting him to slide his cock inside when she’d been on her knees in front of him? Would he have guided her mouth to him and let her suck him off?