Series: Cobalt Empire Series by Krista Ritchie
Total pages in book: 234
Estimated words: 226965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1135(@200wpm)___ 908(@250wpm)___ 757(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 226965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1135(@200wpm)___ 908(@250wpm)___ 757(@300wpm)
Austin gives me a friendly wave and takes a gentlemanly sidestep away from his girlfriend. “Hey, Harriet. How’s pre-med stuff?”
“It’s going well so far,” I say into a nod.
Eden rocks on her feet. “I thought you were volunteering at the Urology department tonight.”
“Nephrology,” I correct her. “And that’s on Monday nights.” It’s not an adrenaline-fueled position. I mostly just restock gloves and emesis bags in patient rooms and then wait in the nurses’ station for any other basic tasks an undergrad can fulfill. At least the nurses are nice enough to make small talk with me when they could so easily just pretend I’m wallpaper.
Eden winces and whispers something into Austin’s ear. His gaze slides down the length of her in a slow, propositioning onceover that makes me look away. Good for Eden. At least one of us is getting dicked down in this apartment.
“So Harriet.” Eden walks to the front of the couch while Austin disappears into her bedroom. “I have a teensy, tiny favor to ask.”
I’m already grabbing my backpack off the ground. “I can give you the apartment for the night.”
“Really?” Her brows hike in surprise. Maybe she thought I’d put up a stink or something.
I tuck my Twizzlers under my armpit and sling my backpack over my shoulder. “Yeah, no problem.”
“You are the best. Thank you.” She almost goes in for a hug but stops about a foot short and then slides her hands down her skirt to cover the slip up. Shit. It must be my face. I’m scowling, or else why would she abandon a hug midway through committing?
An awkwardness flits between us. “I’ll just…go.”
She nods. “Thanks again.”
I want to tell her to have fun, but maybe that’s too forward for our roommate relationship. So I just grab my bed pillow out of the closet and leave.
“You’re not sleeping at your apartment?” Ben’s voice causes me to jump.
“Fuck,” I curse, totally forgetting he’s still on the phone with me through my earbuds. “You scared the shit out of me.”
“Sorry,” he says. “Where are you headed?”
“Harold,” I say the name of my Honda.
“You’re going to sleep in your car?”
“I did it for two years. One more night won’t kill me.”
“Just come here,” he says. “Stay with me for the night.” His words are so casually cool that you would never think Ben Cobalt just invited me to spend the fucking night! I’m freaking out, and my feet decide now is the time to lose momentum.
I stop in the hallway, my boots frozen beside a stain on the ugliest purple carpet I’ve ever seen. “In case you’ve forgotten, Friend, you sleep on a couch.”
“It’s a pull-out. I can take the floor.”
“No, see, car trumps floor.”
“Then we can share the pull-out. It’s big enough for two people.”
I grumble a noise of disbelief, but my cheeks are likely fire-engine red. I am set ablaze at this idea.
“My legs fit on it, Fisher. What does that tell you?”
“That you’re curling up in the fetal position at night.” I chew on my lip, feeling the start of a smile.
He laughs. “Jesus. What do I need to do to convince you? Do you want me to video call while I pull out a tape measure?”
My lips tug into a bigger smile. My heart pounds so deeply. “That’s unnecessary—” He’s video calling me.
When I click into it, his face fills the frame. Tendrils of his hair swoop over his forehead, and his blue eyes are so captivating that I wonder how many girls he’s charmed into bed. Ten? Twenty? Is our body count even similar? Friends probably shouldn’t actively want this information. Maybe that makes me an overly curious friend. I can live with that.
“Harriet Fisher,” he says, all too seriously. “Please spend the night at my place.” Spending the night with him, even as friends, does beat sleeping in a car ten times out of ten. Resisting is futile, but I do have questions.
“Are your brothers okay with it?” I ask.
I haven’t seen any of them since that night at the escape game a month ago. In truth, I have been full-on avoiding. They’re intense and truly the first people to intimidate me who don’t have an M.D. after their name. But I know being friends with Ben means I will run into his brothers sooner or later.
“If they weren’t okay with it, they’d be the biggest hypocrites on the planet.” Oh, his brothers bring home hookups.
That is…information I never thought I’d have. He flips the camera to a long camel-leather couch that honestly looks like it might’ve been picked out of a designer showroom.
It must be made of eco-friendly leather. Ben has told me there are a bunch of different kinds made from things like mushrooms, teak leaves, and even cacti.
So I can’t see Ben sleeping on cow hides, especially after he asked if my jacket was authentic leather. I almost laughed. It is 100% pleather. No way could I afford the real deal, not that I had a big desire to anyway.