Antilove

Due

CAPITOLO DUE

prelude to another intro

***

IF THINGS HAD TURNED out better, it wouldn't be this way. There wouldn't be a stranger banging on Rose's front door if her birth mom never made a deal to live longer or if her adopted mom never had a heart attack.

    He's saying, "Let me in. I have nowhere to go."

    "Let me get a shirt," she replies and runs to her room.

    Rose slips on a thin cotton top and opens the door for him, where he brings his duffel bag in and drops it near her feet. There isn't anything covering her bottom half except for her boyshorts but she's never been shy in terms of her body. His eyes don't linger for more than a second even while Rose would think that a guy like Lucien would make snider remarks than Gray.

    "Which room do I get?"

    "None, actually, I didn't think you'd actually stay here," she says.

    Lucien Serafino's green eyes glint and his jaw tightens, crossing his arms to look more intimidating.

    "How about that one?" He nods to Gray's closed door.

    The door to his room is closed because Gray Marten spends more time in Rose Kaufman's room when he's present and she turns this concept over in her head. Maybe Alex was right and she really needed to get rid of him. Lucien has a wicked grin now, rubbing his jaw the same way his father did. There was no doubt that his dad told him all the details and he saunters over to open the door.

    "I think that's arrangeable. He's been behind on rent the day he moved in."

    This is how at near midnight, Rose lugs away Gray's cheating belongings out to the living room and sends him a breakup text. She hopes Andrea would welcome him. Lucien doesn't say a word the entire time and kicks the floor a bit with his boots as they stand, looking at their handiwork.

    "Did he do something to you?"

    "Yeah. I did something back so it's even. Don't act coy, I know you know," Rose replies and heads off to sleep.

    By the sounds coming from the hallway, Lucien spends a while settling in and she hears the sound of matches being struck. It's idealistic of her but she can taste the small flame igniting the corners of his face and the slight tilt on his mouth as he does so. Hopefully he's lighting candles but by the look of him, he's likely a pyromaniac or a smoker. Nothing confirms this theory as the window shuts close and he closes his door loudly before leaving the apartment. Far too quick for a smoke.

    The pillows swallow up her head as Rose tosses in her fresh bedsheets. The scent of Alex still lingers on cloth and Gray would be an absolute dolt to not have noticed before. Before sleep catches up to her, she cuts loose a laugh, imagining his expression.

***

    Lucien is leaning over her when her eyes focus, gold necklace tickling her chin. There's an expanse of bronzed skin over her and she almost traces the lines on his torso out of second habit. But Lucien isn't Gray or Alex; he's Lucien. It seems as if he notices the sigh caught in her throat or her restrained hesitation because his lashes drop down so that he's memorizing the lines of her lips.

    "I'd love to continue this but I think your boyfriend's having an existential crisis outside," he whispers.

    Rose gives a soft curse and throws on a silk robe.