Roommates... with my Ex Boyfriend (Roommates Series: Book #1)

Chapter 37

I pull Lauren out of the room and into one of the bathrooms before either of us have a chance to say goodbye to anyone. This, obviously, displeases her. We haven't spoken that much since her fit a few days ago. She doesn't seem to care, but I do; I badly miss her. I miss her smile, I miss her company, I miss the way she cuddles against me --- either when we're in bed or watching a movie on the couch.

"What are you doing?" she hisses. "You said yourself that we need to --- "

"I'm sorry that I made you look, but I had to. If I hadn't, even though I'm no longer a part of them, I would have pīssed off the other gangs and who knows what they would have done? I didn't want them to come after us and ruin our new lives," I explain.

"We're moving to the other side of the country."

"That won't stop them."

Gang leaders, especially my allies, can hold grudges for a long time and will go through anything to do what they want, including killing someone. Thousands of kilometres won't stop them from putting a bullet in someone's skull.

She glances at the door. "This can be discussed later, right now, there are people out there that we need to say goodbye to."

She grabs the handle of the door, but I stop her from opening it. I know that if I let her go, we won't be talking later on, like she said that we would. I harden my stare. "I told you, Lauren, I'm sorry. Are you seriously going to stay angry with me when I did one bad thing to keep our future perfect and safe?"

She swallows and looks down at her shoes. She's embarrassed, ashamed and filled with regret. If she was anyone else, I would enjoy seeing her like this, but since she's not, I begin to feel bad. I go to apologize, but she beats me to it. "I should be the one apologizing, Jace. You're doing so much for me and I couldn't do one thing for you. I'm being a freaking..."

My lips curl up in amusement. "You're a freaking what?"

She giggles, making my smile bigger. "You're laughing at me."

I chuckle. "You're cute when you say 'freaking'."

Lauren playfully pushes me, still laughing a little. I look down at her after we've both stopped laughing, but there are still humour in both of our eyes. I stuff my hands in my pockets. "Are we good now?"

She nods and leaves the bathroom silently.

Fūck. I should have asked for a kīss.

I'll ask for one later, when we're not surrounded by people, so I don't embarrass her. I do like to make her blush once in a while though.

Jack pokes his head inside the bathroom, looking like he's about to make some stūpid joke. "Are you going to stay in here all day or are you going to say goodbye to your best friends?"

I knew it, but he's definitely not one of my best friends. Besides Lauren, I don't think I have any. The only two who come close are Dean and Aaron. I like a few other people, I tolerate more though and there are a couple of people whom I hate, even my gang, such as Adrian. He listened to me when I told him that Aaron's boyfriend is one of us now, but he's never been nice to him or Lauren. Come to think of it, he acts as if he's above all of the girls in the gang --- which he's definitely not.

I follow Jack out of the bathroom and nod at my former gang members, as well as leaders from other gangs, in acknowledgement. Like my father and unlike our two women, I'm not much of a hugger.

I slap Dean on the back. "Take care of them and this house."

I wasn't going to give my house to some stranger, so I decided to give almost everything that belonged to me to the man who was taking my place as leader.