No Strings Attached | ✓ 18+

sixteen .ೃ࿐

"Room 307." Clay read as we arrived at my hotel room. "What a memorable name. It bothers me that it's an odd number."

"It is quite the bother, isn't it?" I sighed, pushing the hotel door open after scanning my room key. "Let's go get my shit."

The thing that took us the longest was the fact that I had to pack everything back up. I will admit, I was messy. Hence the reason I left the 'Do Not Disturb' sign on the door, so that nobody would have to go through the pain of cleaning up my mess. 

Throughout the entire tidying and packing process, I tried my hardest not to look at Clay. I knew he was there alongside me, busy packing things up, but I just couldn't face the reality of the situation. I was going to be rooming with him. Not just rooming, but literally staying in the room directly across from his. 

It's like a rom-com waiting to happen. Not that I was waiting for it to happen, of course. I just came out of a long-term relationship...that only really meant something valuable to me. 

"Pardon me, but this is quite the thong you've got laying out here." I felt my cheeks heat up in embarrassment and I didn't even have to turn around. I knew exactly which thong he was holding up. "I bet if you dropped it in the bottom of the ocean, you'd still be able to see it from a bird's eye-view."

When I turned to him, I snatched the thong out of his hand. "Shut up. I got it from a stand at a music festival a few years ago. It happens to be the most comfortable thong I own."

The thong in question, was a disgustingly bright, lime green color. I'm pretty sure if you left it under a lamp for long enough, it'd glow when you turned off the lights. No, it wasn't very sexy, but it was comfortable and that's what mattered. 

He smirked at me. "Do you have a matching bra too, love?"

I shook my head. "You're a pervert. I'm starting to regret saying yes to staying with you."

He feigned hurt while he put his hand on his heart. "Ouch." His lips were in a mock pout and it was hard not to stare at them. The corners of his lips turned up in a slight smirk when he caught on to my struggle. "Close your mouth, love. You'll catch flies."

Bringing my hand up to my mouth, I glared at him. Cocky bastard. 

[ ♡ ]

It took Clay and I approximately an hour and twenty minutes to get everything from my hotel room to his car. Not because I had a lot of stuff, but basically because I was slow and the elevators were even slower. 

My room was set up nicely, Clay offered to change the sheets, (though they were clean), but I declined. He left after, to give me space to get comfortable. 

I won't admit it out loud, but I felt slightly lonely when he left the room. Yes, it was nice of him to give me my space...but I liked his company. I didn't realize how alone I've been since Gina and I split up. It was essentially work then home, every day. Not really much room for social interaction.

A few of my things are placed on the nightstand, some of my clothes hung in the closet he showed me. It was one of his, but he moved all of his things to one side so that I could get my stuff in there. 

I walked over to the floor-length mirror and tied up my hair. Afterward, I checked my phone for any new notifications and it came up blank, (no surprise there). 

The Gina situation hadn't completely blown over for me mentally, I could still feel the sadness in my heart. I can't say that I didn't give her a second chance. I definitely did things that a lot a people wouldn't have done if they were in my situation. Maybe I was a little bit of a pushover when it came to that. 

The text messages stopped coming and my mind couldn't help but wander to the fact she could be sleeping with somebody else. Probably the same woman who left her lacy thongs in my home. 

I felt my eyes water. Not today, I decided and exited the bedroom, trying to avoid any other thought that could potentially spoil the rest of my day. 

Of course, I didn't want to be in Clay's space so I decided to have a shower and freshen up before I offered to order us take-out. I'm not big on fast food, but it's been a long day and buying Clay some dinner is the least that I can do. After all, he literally gave me a place to stay. 

When I reached the bathroom, I opened the door and almost wish that I didn't. Or that I'd actually paid attention. 

Amongst the warm steam and a fresh make-you-weak-in-the-knees scent, was Clay, standing there with nothing but a loose towel wrapped around his waist. I hate to be dramatic but seriously, there were fresh water droplets running across his skin and oh my god there was a gorgeous, shining v-line leaving the rest to your imagination. 

Well fucker. He was hot. 

When he met my eyes, I wanted to hide in my bedroom and never come out. My cheeks were red with embarrassment.  To make matters worse, he caught me ogling him. 

His smirk was quick to show. "Hey, love. It's been a minute."