Antilove

Uno

CAPITOLO PRIMO

a prelude to great odds

***

ROSE KAUFMAN HATES HER roommate—who also happens to be the-one-she's-been-seeing-lately. Gray Marten said he'd be in Phoenix for the weekend which is why Rose has Alexander Lee over as company. For your disclosure, Alex Lee is the best type of visitor but one that many wouldn't approve of.

    "Don't give me a hickey," Rose gasps out when his head drops to her neck.

    Alex raises himself with both hands propped on the sides of her rising chest and gives her a look through his hooded eyes. He licks his lips.

    "I do what I want," he says.

    Even while it's burning in the room and Rose finds it hard to breathe, the tone of his voice manages to send a quiver down her bare back. His nose bumps against her jaw and she feels him sigh by the air blown across her throat. Soon enough, her hands bury themselves in his thick brown hair.

    They finish up half an hour later and Rose is the first to detangle herself from her burgundy sheets.

    "You wanna go take a shower, big boy?"

    Alex likes being called that because he's an animal made of teeth, bones, and ego. His tanned skin looks drowned against her bedspread, glowing dewy in the dim light of Rose's room. There aren't any sounds coming from him so she heads to the bathroom herself, not fully shutting the door in case he decides to get up.

    Her chest is rosy, matching the pink on her cheeks and her lips, and she can see small bruises forming on her sternum and she decides that she looks beautiful this way, body holding more love than Gray had ever given her. The water coming from the shower head pelts against her skin and she cranks the heat higher until the vapor clouds her vision. Her knees tremble a bit, no doubt from the aftermath and the skin around her elbows are thin. She inhales, not out of lust but of fatigue.

    It's a common feeling she's grown accustomed to each time Alex spends the night or stays the afternoon. He never stays long—she doesn't want him to. Gray knows about him, she's sure, because while she begged for him to keep hushed and gentle, Alex only made it harder for her to hide their noise. There were also pairs of boxer-briefs snuck into the laundry that Gray knew nothing about. The arrogance will kill Alex one day, Rose always tells him. She knows about Andrea too, the only reason Gray would go to Arizona.

    The water downs away the last of the suds and Rose slips into her bathrobe, combing her wet hair out of her face. She hears Alex in the kitchen—he's always hungry after. There's a cardboard carton in his hands and he ruffles through the contents with a plastic fork, taking a bite of the salad.

    "What," he mumbles and his brows come together, "who even eats kale?"

    "Gray," she replies and pries his fingers from the container, throwing it in the trash.

    "You really need to kick that cheater out," Alex says. He's leaning against the countertop, no space between them, in all his glory.

    "That's rich of you to say," she laughs.

    "It's true. I wouldn't be here if he wasn't." He shrugs. "He cheated on you so you're doing me now. I don't see why you just don't kick him to the curb. C'mon, let's go get some real food."

***

    They're parked outside In-N-Out and Rose is in the passenger seat as Alex gets them cheeseburgers and fries. She also wanted a chocolate shake. The radio is humming with one of Alex's default playlists and her eyes are closed as the song reaches the climax when the door to the driver's side opens.