Page 55 of A Bossy Roommate
Ding-dong. Ding-dong. Ding-dong.
“I doubt he’ll leave. The best lawyers are the most relentless ones,” I argue.
“Fuck.”
Carter brushes his thumb across my jaw, retracts his hands, slides his tip out of me, slowly, attentively, then straightens and pulls up his boxer shorts and jeans. Next, he puts on his shirt, and after making sure that his arousal isn’t visible, he rushes out to answer the front door, while I try my best to get back into my clothes and cover up my rumpled, disheveled appearance that’s a dead giveaway of me just having had cupcake cream smeared all over my naked body, complete with a delicious strawberry, not on top, but inside of me.
You know, the usual night at the Bancroft residence.
“So, does this happen often? You know, people signing NDAs in the middle of the night?” I ask after saying hello to the lawyer, trying to inject a touch of humor into the circumstances and smooth out the awkwardness.
“Let’s just say it’s part of the job,” Mr. Vance Lombardi says matter-of-factly in a thick Italian accent. I can’t tell if he’s being serious or joking.
Just like we had with Carter’s family lawyer, we both put on our game faces and get down to business. Despite seeing the humorous side in all this, I can’t help but feel acutely aware of the situation. The lawyer had interrupted a very, uh…intimate moment between me and Carter. Mr. Lombardi seems unfazed, though, as he starts explaining the terms of the agreement—in excruciating detail. I try my best to pay attention, but all I can think about is how I’d almost broken my promise, and gladly so.
Signing the papers, I feel a tightening in my heart. While our physical connection is strong, our emotional connection is almost nonexistent. It’s just a business arrangement, and as much as I’m enjoying the oh-so-hot physical aspect of it, I know I can’t allow my heart to get any closer to him.
“I should get some sleep,” I say through a pretend yawn when Vance pulls out more papers, related to different projects he wants to urgently discuss with Carter.
Carter doesn’t look too happy, at least I think that he doesn’t, but what can he say?Sorry, Vance, get out, I have to go fuck?
“Good night, Eden,” Carter says instead, his tone of voice back to boss-mode, and Vance gives me a polite nod, immediately taking back Carter’s attention.
Once in my bed,I check my socials. More people have unfollowed me on Insta. “Good riddance.” I reassure myself that they were never true friends to begin with, though I can’t entirely dismiss the twinge of pain in my chest knowing they believe the false stories Rob is spreading about me. After he robbed me and distorted the truth about what had actually occurred, Rob simply vanished. He’s nowhere to be found, as if he has been swallowed by the earth itself.
I try to reach my sister, missing her voice. Informing her about the uplifting news Carter had conveyed over dinner will not only brighten her evening but also improve my own mood, which has been negatively affected both by finding out how many people continue to believe Rob, and by the lack of a response from the legal aid I reached out to last week.
As always, my sister’s phone rings, and rings, until it jumps to voice mail. I leave her a quick message, telling her to call me back, that I have good news. Two minutes later, she calls back, telling me that she’s packing for a short trip to see her husband’s granny who has broken her leg.
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that!” I say.
“No worries, she’s going to be fine. Just needs a helping hand for a couple of days. So how’s New York?”
In light of the NDA I have just signed, and my sister being busy packing, I opt to provide her with just a brief response. I tell her that NYC is fine, and that I’m enjoying my job at Legacy.
“How’s your boss?” she inquires with a mischievous tone, fully aware of her own tough nature.
“Carter Bancroft is determined, relentless, tough, but also so?—”
“Wait, what? Did you say Carter Bancroft?TheCarter Bancroft? The construction king of New York?”
“Yeah. How do you know him?”
“I might be a small-town girl from tiny Ellsworth, but they do have Internet here, you know? He was featured in several articles for having catapulted that Legacy Construction firm from the million-dollar mark into the billions in record time. They say he’s a force of nature, that he faces challenges head-on, moves with precision, never backs down with his unbreakable spirit, and overcomes obstacles that would make others throw in the towel. Is all that true about him?”
Oh, you have no idea.
For some crazy reason, immense pride fills my heart. On top of that, hearing the excitement in my sister’s usually much more serious demeanor gives my mood a little boost. “Yep.”
“Oh, my gosh! Why didn’t you tell me earlier? Getting to work for him, that’s like winning the jackpot!”
Wait ’til you find out that I live in his apartment, I think.And that he’s my fake husband.And that I know what he looks like naked.And what it feels like to orgasm on his tip. I’m itching to reveal that, but: NDA. However, once the contractual obligations are met, she’ll be the first person to receive the information (excluding, perhaps,allthe tantalizing details—certainberryliciousaspects are best kept between two sets of minds).
“And Carter Bancroft is expecting your call.”
“Say whaaaat?”
“I told him about your fire-resistant landscape design approach. He wants to help the company expand.”