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21 - THE TEXT
Last Updated:
2025-01-28 02:02:16
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The Roomie Complex 22 - NIGHT TRIP
Cheryl’s POVThe moment Aiden looked up from his phone and said, “It’s my mother, Evelyn,” I swear my brain short-circuited.We just stood there, frozen in this ridiculous silence, like one of us was waiting for the other to pull a rabbit out of a hat. Finally, Aiden blinked down at his phone again, his brows knitting together in a way that was both adorable and maddening. “She wants to talk,” he said, his voice quiet, like he was still trying to convince himself. “She says she’ll tell me everything.”Everything.My mind did a quick sprint through all the possibilities of what “everything” could mean, but instead of settling on something profound to say, I just stood there, gaping like a fish. Smooth, Cheryl. Real smooth.Before I could recover, his phone pinged again, and his eyes flicked to the screen, then back to me. “She sent an address.”“Well—?” I prompted, crossing my arms as I studied him. Aiden looked... lost. Like a man who’d been handed the key to a locked door he wasn’t s
Last Updated : 2025-01-29The Roomie Complex 23 - ONE BED
Cheryl’s POVThe words hung in the air like an unfinished thought: One room left.I turned to Aiden, hoping he’d do the decent thing and sleep in the car, or better yet, vanish into thin air. But there he was, standing behind me, hands shoved into his pockets, a small, self-satisfied smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. Of course, he’d find this funny.“Well, this is awkward,” I muttered, my voice tinged with the kind of humor people use when they’re seconds away from losing it.“Awkward?” Aiden raised an eyebrow, clearly enjoying himself. “Relax, Cheryl. It’s just one room. I promise not to snore.”Snore? That was the least of my concerns. The thought of being cooped up in a small space with Aiden Scott—the same Aiden Scott who’d bullied me all through high school and was now inexplicably hot and annoyingly smug—was enough to send my stress levels skyrocketing.“Fine,” I finally said, trying to sound unfazed. “We’ll take it.”The receptionist slid a rusty-looking key across the c
Last Updated : 2025-01-29The Roomie Complex 24 - BATHROOM INCIDENT
DAMON’S POVI could feel her absence before I even realized she was gone.Even as I stood in the circle of dull conversation, listening to balding Williams tell a joke that was blatantly sexist if you actually thought about it, something about the air around me felt… off. Cheryl wasn’t here. Neither was that roommate of hers. My fingers tightened around my wine glass, forcing a tight-lipped smile as the men around me chuckled at the crude punchline.Where the hell did she go?I let my gaze flicker across the room, scanning through the sea of tuxedos and sequined gowns. Nothing. A slight frown creased my forehead. Cheryl wasn’t the type to just up and disappear without saying a word. Was she in the restroom? Outside getting air? The thought of her slipping away, vanishing into the night without so much as a goodbye, sent an unfamiliar irritation slithering through my chest.A second later, I’d had enough. “Gentlemen, excuse me,” I said smoothly, stepping away from the group without wai
Last Updated : 2025-01-30The Roomie Complex 25 - THE AFTERMATH
AIDEN’S POVI wasn’t expecting much when I pushed open the motel door. Maybe the faint smell of cheap air freshener and Cheryl sprawled out on the bed, tangled in the thin sheets.What I wasn’t expecting?Cheryl. Naked.Dripping wet.Frozen mid-step like some kind of forbidden masterpiece I was never meant to see.My brain glitched. My breath caught.And for a full second—maybe two—I didn’t move.Her eyes widened in sheer horror, and for once, I wasn’t the one in control.The motel’s crappy lighting flickered above us, but it didn’t matter. I saw everything. Water trailed down her collarbone, over the curve of her waist, disappearing between her thighs. Her wet hair clung to her skin, droplets catching on her lips, which were slightly parted like she’d forgotten how to breathe.Same, sweetheart. Same.Something burned in my chest, something dangerous, something I couldn’t afford to feel. I should’ve turned away. Looked at the damn ceiling. Covered my eyes.But my body had other plans.
Last Updated : 2025-01-30The Roomie Complex 26 - SHOCKING NEWS
Aiden’s POVThe door creaked open, and there she was.Cheryl stood in the doorway, freshly dressed in the T-shirt and shorts I’d bought for her, her damp hair tied into a messy bun with a few strands slipping free to frame her face.And she wouldn’t look at me.Her gaze skittered to the side, lingering on the carpet, the walls—anywhere but me. The air between us was thick, humming with something undeniable and unspoken.God help me.I clenched my jaw, forcing myself to stay still, but my mind was already betraying me—Flashes.Of her.Naked. Wet. Dripping.The curve of her hip.The way water had slipped down her skin.The way her lips had parted in shock, her cheeks burning red when she realized I was standing there—Fuck.I needed to shut this down. Now.I opened my mouth, desperate to break the tension, but my tongue refused to cooperate. The words came out in a stuttered mess."We… w-we need to start going."Jesus. Christ.I didn’t wait for her to respond. I turned sharply, pushing
Last Updated : 2025-01-31The Roomie Complex 27 - BARGER
"That's odd because the patients are not allowed access to phones. And even weirder because Evelyn Scott died in her sleep last night."The words felt like a hammer to my skull. A dull, echoing thud that didn’t register at first. The wretched-faced nurse was still standing there, looking between Cheryl and me like she had just announced the weather. Casual. Indifferent. Like she hadn’t just told me that the woman I spent years searching for was now nothing but a cold body."No," I said. It wasn’t a question. It was a rejection.The nurse frowned. "Excuse me?""No. You’re lying. That’s not possible."Something primal burned in my chest, a slow, spreading fire that threatened to consume me whole. I had been so close. A few goddamn hours."Aiden—" Cheryl’s voice was soft, but I wasn’t listening."You expect me to believe that she just happened to die the night before I came looking for her? That’s bullshit."The nurse sighed, already annoyed. "Look, I’m sorry, but it’s the truth. She was
Last Updated : 2025-02-01The Roomie Complex 28 - MOVE OUT
Cheryl’s POVAiden’s head snapped sideways from the force of the punch, and I froze.My breath caught in my throat as I stared—horrified, stunned, completely unable to move.Damon’s fist was still clenched, his knuckles already turning red from the impact. Aiden barely reacted at first, just rolling his jaw like he was testing if it was still intact. But then—he smiled.Blood stained his lips as his smirk grew, his tongue darting out to taste the metallic tang of his own blood like he was enjoying this. His eyes darkened, glinting with something dangerously close to amusement."To what do I owe this pleasant surprise?" Aiden sneered, his voice dripping with mockery, the smirk on his face infuriatingly smug.Damon still had him by the collar, his chest heaving, his muscles coiled with rage."You stay the hell away from her," Damon snarled, his voice rough and commanding, his grip on Aiden’s shirt tightening.Aiden let out a low chuckle, completely unbothered. "How can I do that? We liv
Last Updated : 2025-02-02The Roomie Complex 29 - SILENCE
Cheryl’s POV"I need you to move out."Damon’s words knocked the wind out of me. I blinked, half-expecting him to take it back, to laugh and say he was joking, but his expression remained set in stone. He wasn’t joking. My stomach twisted uncomfortably, a mix of shock and... something else.I folded my arms, forcing a scoff. “Excuse me?”“You heard me,” he said, his voice firmer this time. “You need to move out, Cheryl.”I shook my head, laughing dryly. “You can’t be serious.”“I’m very serious.”I searched his face for any trace of doubt, any sign that he was just being dramatic because he’d walked in on me and Aiden looking like we were about to—God, we really almost kissed, didn’t we? I mentally shook the thought away and focused on Damon’s clenched jaw, the way his hands curled into fists at his sides. He was pissed, but this? Kicking me out? That was extreme, even for him.“You’re overreacting,” I said, trying to keep my voice even.Damon exhaled sharply through his nose. “I don’
Last Updated : 2025-02-02
Latest chapter
The Roomie Complex 35 - I ALREADY PAID FOR IT
CherylThe hospital air felt suffocating.I stepped out of the room, exhaling a breath I hadn't even realized I was holding, pressing a hand to my chest like I could physically loosen the tight, inexplicable knot forming there.It made no sense.Why did it feel like I was the one left behind?Aiden hadn't looked at me once. Not when he spoke to Molly. Not when he walked out. Not even when I left the room. I could have been a ghost, and it wouldn’t have made a difference.I let out a bitter chuckle. He didn’t need me.And I wasn’t sure why that hurt.The vibration of my phone startled me, dragging me out of my ridiculous thoughts. I pulled it out of my pocket, and Damon’s name flashed across the screen.I hesitated.I had texted him earlier that there was an emergency, but I hadn’t told him the emergency was Aiden. I let the call ring out, waiting for it to go to voicemail.Seconds later, my screen lit up with a message."I found a place for you."My fingers hovered over the keyboard,
The Roomie Complex 34 - ANOTHER CONFESSION
AidenHospitals had a way of making you feel like a kid again.Like you were small. Like you didn’t belong. Like every bad memory you ever tried to bury clawed its way up to remind you that you weren’t as grown as you pretended to be.I moved through the lobby with long, purposeful strides, the fluorescent lights overhead buzzing like an unwanted thought in the back of my mind. I could hear Anika’s heels clicking against the tile behind me, but I barely registered it. My focus was on one thing and one thing only.Her.She was here. She was alive.And she was dying.The irony wasn’t lost on me.I barely noticed the people around me, barely noticed the nurses bustling from one side of the room to another, barely noticed the smell of antiseptic clogging my nostrils. But then, I noticed her.Cheryl.She stood near the waiting area, arms wrapped around herself, her body slightly hunched forward like she wanted to fold into herself and disappear. The second she looked up and locked eyes wit
The Roomie Complex 33 - THE ACCIDENT
CherylI was already late.Like, ridiculously, embarrassingly late. Damon who was both my boss and somehow a lover was going to have my head, but in my defense, it wasn’t entirely my fault. Okay, maybe it was. Just a little. But what was I supposed to do? The second I left that stupid insurance building, my brain had started spiraling.Had Aiden gotten the message? Had he even seen it yet? Was he going to call me? Was he going to ask me to come with him?Did I want him to?Of course, I did.And that was the problem.The tension between us wasn’t something you could just wave off. It was heavy, electric, the kind that wrapped itself around your throat, making it impossible to breathe. The kind of thing neither of us ever acknowledged, even though it crackled in the air every time we were near each other.So, instead of driving straight to work like a responsible adult, I stopped at a café to grab a sugary drink and tame the ridiculous rush in my head. Caffeine would’ve just made things
The Roomie Complex 32 - PHONE CALL
Aiden's POVThe moment I stepped into my office, the heavy silence greeted me first. It was the kind that pressed down, thick and oppressive, like the weight of the past refusing to stay buried. I swallowed it down, forcing my focus on the only thing that could keep me sane—work.Numbers. Contracts. Emails. Anything to drown out the thoughts clawing at the back of my mind.But then I saw her.Anika.She was sitting on the couch near the floor-to-ceiling windows, legs crossed at the knee, a picture of effortless confidence. She didn't glance up right away. No, she made sure I saw her first. Her lips parted slightly, her jaw moving slow and deliberate as she chewed her gum, the glossy pink sheen of it catching the morning light. Then, with an almost practiced sensuality, she blew a bubble, holding my gaze as it popped.My grip tightened around the handle of my briefcase.I hadn’t invited her here.Hell, I hadn’t even seen her since the benefit that night. Hadn’t texted. Hadn’t called. A
The Roomie Complex 31 - NOT MY CIRCUS, NOT MY CLOWN - EXCEPT MAYBE IT IS
CHERYL'S POVI woke up to a house of blessed silence.No awkward run-ins. No tense, unsaid words hanging in the air like ghosts. No Aiden.I took a deep breath, inhaling the relief like it was freshly brewed coffee. The air had been thick ever since last night—ever since I dropped the bomb that I was moving out. If tension could be bottled and sold, our apartment could’ve been a freaking factory.And let’s not talk about the fact that after I thought he had disappeared into his room—with that blonde he dragged home—I had gotten up for a glass of water and almost face-planted into him in the dimly lit kitchen.Talk about bad luck.There we were, standing in a painfully awkward silence. Him, grabbing a juice carton. Me, clutching my glass of water like it was my emotional support beverage. I could barely meet his eyes, and he didn’t even try to say something stupid, which somehow made it worse. I should have just abandoned the water and walked right out, but nooo, I stood there, like an
The Roomie Complex 30 - LIES
Aiden’s POV"I’m moving out."The words hung in the air like cigarette smoke, thick and suffocating.I didn’t say anything at first. I just stood there, staring at Cheryl as my mind tried to process what the hell she’d just said. There was an odd feeling in my chest—a twinge, small but sharp, like the moment you realize you left something important behind but can’t remember where.I turned slightly to the blonde still clinging to my arm, barely registering her presence now. She looked up at me with big, expectant eyes, but I wasn’t in the mood.“Give us a minute,” I murmured, barely sparing her a glance.She huffed, clearly annoyed, but still unlatched herself from my arm and strutted off toward the living room.I let out a slow breath and turned back to Cheryl. “What do you mean you’re moving out?” I asked, keeping my voice casual, stripping it of the edge that wanted to creep in.Cheryl hesitated. Just for a second.“You know, I always said I was going to move out,” she started, her
The Roomie Complex 29 - SILENCE
Cheryl’s POV"I need you to move out."Damon’s words knocked the wind out of me. I blinked, half-expecting him to take it back, to laugh and say he was joking, but his expression remained set in stone. He wasn’t joking. My stomach twisted uncomfortably, a mix of shock and... something else.I folded my arms, forcing a scoff. “Excuse me?”“You heard me,” he said, his voice firmer this time. “You need to move out, Cheryl.”I shook my head, laughing dryly. “You can’t be serious.”“I’m very serious.”I searched his face for any trace of doubt, any sign that he was just being dramatic because he’d walked in on me and Aiden looking like we were about to—God, we really almost kissed, didn’t we? I mentally shook the thought away and focused on Damon’s clenched jaw, the way his hands curled into fists at his sides. He was pissed, but this? Kicking me out? That was extreme, even for him.“You’re overreacting,” I said, trying to keep my voice even.Damon exhaled sharply through his nose. “I don’
The Roomie Complex 28 - MOVE OUT
Cheryl’s POVAiden’s head snapped sideways from the force of the punch, and I froze.My breath caught in my throat as I stared—horrified, stunned, completely unable to move.Damon’s fist was still clenched, his knuckles already turning red from the impact. Aiden barely reacted at first, just rolling his jaw like he was testing if it was still intact. But then—he smiled.Blood stained his lips as his smirk grew, his tongue darting out to taste the metallic tang of his own blood like he was enjoying this. His eyes darkened, glinting with something dangerously close to amusement."To what do I owe this pleasant surprise?" Aiden sneered, his voice dripping with mockery, the smirk on his face infuriatingly smug.Damon still had him by the collar, his chest heaving, his muscles coiled with rage."You stay the hell away from her," Damon snarled, his voice rough and commanding, his grip on Aiden’s shirt tightening.Aiden let out a low chuckle, completely unbothered. "How can I do that? We liv
The Roomie Complex 27 - BARGER
"That's odd because the patients are not allowed access to phones. And even weirder because Evelyn Scott died in her sleep last night."The words felt like a hammer to my skull. A dull, echoing thud that didn’t register at first. The wretched-faced nurse was still standing there, looking between Cheryl and me like she had just announced the weather. Casual. Indifferent. Like she hadn’t just told me that the woman I spent years searching for was now nothing but a cold body."No," I said. It wasn’t a question. It was a rejection.The nurse frowned. "Excuse me?""No. You’re lying. That’s not possible."Something primal burned in my chest, a slow, spreading fire that threatened to consume me whole. I had been so close. A few goddamn hours."Aiden—" Cheryl’s voice was soft, but I wasn’t listening."You expect me to believe that she just happened to die the night before I came looking for her? That’s bullshit."The nurse sighed, already annoyed. "Look, I’m sorry, but it’s the truth. She was
