“I’m out, Mr. Zarelli. Here are the keys,” she coolly tells him, the keys dropping into his palm.
“Don’t let the door hit you on the way out, Ms. Castillo.” I’ll never understand how this guy can be so cruel to a woman he already evicted with no notice. Her eyes flashwith anger, and her fists clench, but she just huffs and turns on her heel to speed walk back to her car. I hang back to get right in his face and talk low enough that she can’t hear. My jaw is starting to twinge from clenching it so hard.
“You’re a real big, tough man, kicking her out over an accident that she would have done whatever she could to remedy. She hardly has anyone,” I tell him through gritted teeth, my anger barely tethered. His gaze sharpens on me, and immediately he smirks.
“Not my problem, but thanks for the sob story. Seems like she has you and you’ll take real good care of her. Have fun with that,” he drawls.
“You’re goddamn right I’ll take good care of her, no thanks to you,” I bite out, fighting every urge to wipe the smirk off of his face. I glare at him one more time before I leave and jog to catch up to Tania. She turns to look at me with questions in her eyes about what my hold up is. I give her a wink and shrug, playing innocent. She hops into her car with a shake of her head, and I have her follow me to her new home. Nerves flood me as we pull in and I lead her to the front door of my place. I’ve had a lot of interesting experiences and adventures in my life, but having Tania Castillo live with me might just be my biggest adventure yet.
Chapter 5
TANIA
I take in the sparse, but clean space of Carlo’s apartment. It’s the textbook bachelor pad. Leather couches and a big screen TV dominate the living room. A handful of sci-fi and fantasy books are on the coffee table, and he has a couple of gaming systems hooked up to the TV. There’s a small table and two chairs off of his galley kitchen. Down the hallway, there’s a laundry closet and the full bath on the right, with the two bedrooms on the left. A narrow linen closet separates them. I spot several pictures throughout the space of his mom, a man who is obviously his dad, and three gorgeous women that could not be anyone but his sisters. It’s as if his mom hit copy and paste with her daughters. In what are clearly the most recent ones, there’s another tall woman with her arm looped around the waist of one of his sisters. All of the pictures radiate pure warmth, the smiles so happy. In the hallway there’s a collage of pictures with a guy around his age but not related. They range from when they’re obviously teenagers in braces, filled out and holding beers, to acouple of recent-ish looking selfies, one that has a pretty woman with purple curls hanging onto the other guy.
“That’s my best friend Taran, and his love Lyra. He just proposed to her, it was really beautiful. They’re basically family. I’ve known Taran since the beginning of high school, as you can tell by that too hot for words picture of us all scrawny and brace faced,” he tells me cheekily as he sidles up next to me. I can’t help but smile a little wistfully. With switching foster homes, and moving twice with my second foster family because of my foster dad’s job, I’ve never had a close friend like that from school. Someone who would come over to hang out after class, study, chat about boys, or try out makeup like I saw on TV and in movies.
“It’s special to have a friendship like that,” I reply.
“He became the brother I never had. My family loves him and Lyra to death, especially since Lyra can keep my sister-in-law humble in poker. Here, this room will be yours.” He opens the door to the left of the collage and I take in the space. It’s a good sized room with a queen bed, dresser, bedside table, and decent closet. It’s perfect.
“I put fresh sheets on last night, but if you don’t want this bedding we can switch it out.” His hand scrubs the back of his neck like he’s nervous about what I think of the room.
I shake my head, both in response to him thinking I have any issue with the bedding and in amazement at his thoughtfulness. “It’s really perfect, thank you again so much,” I tell him emphatically, lightly touching his arm without even thinking. It’s like an electric jolt goes through me as I make contact with his warm skin. When I look up at him, his eyes are glued to where my hand is still on his arm, but then angry yowls erupt from the living room tokill the moment. He clears his throat and looks at me with that lopsided grin. I take my hand away.
“You’re welcome. We should get the cats set up, shouldn’t we? They’re starting to protest being in their carriers.” That makes me snap into action, rushing over to where they’re still in the living room and cooing reassuringly to them. I let them out to start exploring while I fill up their food and water bowls. Carlo puts the litter box in the hall bath and fills it with the litter I brought. It makes it a little cozy in there, but it seems to fit ok. We’re moving around in the apartment like it’s the most natural thing in the world that I’ve moved in. I feel at ease here, and it’s surprising. We haul my suitcases into the spare bedroom and I start putting away my clothes.
After I finish that and put some basics in the bathroom, I nearly fall over when I go into the living room and see Morticia and Gomez crawling all over Carlo on the floor. They’re normally shy with the few people in my life they’ve met, but they seem to love him. Their intuition is so strong that they probably know he’s giving them a safe place to land after they got us kicked out. He clocks me watching him from the hallway and gives me the biggest smile I’ve ever seen on him. My eyes are drawn to his full lips and the dimple that pops on the right side of his mouth before I catch myself and meet his eyes.
“They’re so cute. I love their markings. How could anyone get mad at them over an accident?” I can’t help but smile back.
“They’re absolutely lucky they’re cute. I’m glad they like you so much, they’re not usually this friendly with strangers.” He gives them more pets before getting up off of the floor.
“I’m starving, want to order in something? Or I haveplenty of leftover Salvadoran red bean soup. No matter how old I am my mom loves to stock my fridge.”
“I’d like to treat you to takeout if that’s ok. As a thank you for letting me stay here. You pick whatever you want.”
“How about pizza? There’s a place that’s barely over a mile away that makes the most incredible pie with chicken, bacon, fire roasted potatoes, and roasted garlic alfredo on it.” My stomach rumbles in response, and we both laugh at the loud noise.
“Clearly that sounds good to me,” I say jokingly. Since we’re already laughing, there’s no sense in getting embarrassed about being hungry. Might as well lean into it. He pulls out his phone and taps away.
“Ok, it’ll be here in about 30-35 minutes. You don’t need to treat me.”
“Oh yes I freaking do. Here, I won’t take no for an answer,” I tell him forcefully as I pull $30 from my wallet to hand to him. He chuckles.
“Fine, then. What would you like to drink? Not sure if you’re a wine person, I wish I had some. I’ve got beer, some soda, and sparkling water.”
“Sparkling water is great, thanks. I’ll pick up some more beer for you and a bottle or two of wine for me tomorrow.” He nods, and heads toward the kitchen to get us our drinks. Forcing myself to remember that we are only roommates is getting harder, and this is only my first evening here. I’m trying so valiantly to shut up the part of my brain that wants to think of this as a date, but I can’t help thinking it feels like one. It’s cozy, and intimate in a way I haven’t experienced in a long time. I’ve lived on my own since I was 18, so this is going to be a big adjustment sharing space with someone else, let alone someone like Carlo. He comes back with a beer for himself and the water for me. We pass the time making small talk aboutwork, and watching the furballs investigate everything. Carlo throws the little catnip ball from their bag of toys, and Gomez impresses him by bringing it back so he can throw it again. I swear Gomez is part dog with the way he always wants to be near me and plays fetch. When the pizza arrives, we dig in without ceremony. The smell alone almost makes me drool, I adore the smell of roasted garlic.
“This is probably the best pizza I’ve ever had,” I tell him between bites. The tender chicken, the creamy alfredo, the flavorful roasted potatoes, and salty bacon could not be more perfect together. The crust is just thick enough to support all of the toppings and has a gorgeous char on it. I’m not the most sophisticated foodie, but I know good pizza, and this is it.
“It’s my favorite takeout, so we’ll definitely get it again sometime. Villagio Iccara is the best Italian food in the area, by far.”
“I believe it just based on this pizza.” I hum happily at how incredible the flavors and wood fired crust are, taking another generous bite. We eat in companionable silence for a few minutes, getting used to being in the same space like this. He obviously must be adjusting too, with the way I sprang staying here on him, but he could not possibly be more welcoming or nice about it.
“I promise I’ll stay out of your hair as much as I can. Two to three nights a week, I apprentice at a tattoo parlor two towns over after work. I can also go over to Ray and Diego’s for a bit if you need space. I’ll be a ghost,” I reassure him.
“For real? That’s amazing, do you want to be a full time tattoo artist eventually? You don’t need to be a ghost, Castillo. It’s nice having you here.” He gives me that grin that makes my knees weak, and I think I may need to become a ghost around here just to save myself. It’s reallyhard remembering why it would be too messy to get involved with him when he smiles at me like that and his eyes go all warm. I try to shake off my reverie to answer him, since his grin widens knowingly when he catches me staring at him like a fool.