Lily tried not to look guilty as she returned Mandy’s hot-tempered glare while Sean scrambled around the room to put on his clothes. She also tried not to compare herself to his gorgeous ex-girlfriend, who was black-haired and fierce looking. They were the total opposite of each other. Lily had always thought her girl-next-door look appealed to most guys’ fantasies, but now she felt naive and small next to the sophisticated Mandy, who gazed down her nose at her. Lily also tried not to feel too jealous when she realized that this was the girl who must have gotten him into all that dom-sub stuff he was always talking about.
“Who are you?” the girl demanded, crossing her arms.
Behind her, a guy appeared in the doorway, looking curiously fascinated by the sudden turn of events. Lily assumed this was Sean’s roommate Patrick.
“I’m Lily.”
“What are you doing with my boyfriend?”
“Ex-boyfriend,” Sean interjected. “We broke up a few weeks ago, remember?”
“We didn’t. We were just going through a rough patch.”
Lily thought she heard a catch in his voice, like he was desperate to get Mandy out of there. He kept glancing at Lily, gauging her reaction. She didn’t know how she felt about the whole thing. Sean wasn’t exactly her boyfriend--they were just sleeping with each other. At the same time, she wouldn’t be too comfortable with the thought of him sleeping with another girl either.
“You know we weren’t, Mandy,” Sean said through a sigh.
She gasped suddenly and pointed at his arm. “What is that? You got a tattoo? Is that my name?” She rushed forward and grabbed his elbow, giving a loud shriek. “Oh my God! You hate me?” She scratched at the tattoo as if she could rip the words out with her fingernails. It was already starting to fade from the laser treatments, but the words were clear and couldn’t be misunderstood.
Sean pulled his arm back. “The tattoo was a mistake. I was really drunk.” His voice was soft, letting her down easy. They stood only a few inches from each other, looking like a loving couple going through an intense argument that would easily be punctuated by a round of awesome make-up sex.
Lily had no idea why her stomach clenched with jealousy. It wasn’t like Sean was her boyfriend. She took a deep breath. Clearly this wasn’t her argument to win. Maybe she could slip out of the room without anyone noticing. They obviously had some shit to cover, and she would be better off letting them deal with their problems on their own.
She’d only taken a few steps when Sean’s voice stopped her. “Where are you going?”
“Leaving,” she said, not looking back. She gave Patrick an apologetic smile as she slipped out the door. He grinned back at her appreciatively--though she wasn’t sure if it was her he was appreciative of or the entertaining drama that he’d been observing.
“Wait. Lily.”
She grabbed her shoes and didn’t bother slipping them on. She’d have a better chance of getting away quickly if she were barefoot.
Sean chased her out of his apartment, barefoot and still shirtless. “Hey,” he said. He grabbed her hand and stopped her. They stood facing each other in the empty hallway. “What--you’re not even going to say goodbye before you leave?”
“You had a lot on your plate.” She tried to pull away. When he didn’t let her go, she met his gaze finally and forced a reassuring smile on her lips. “I’ll see you around.”
He scowled. “You’re angry because my ex burst in on us?”
She shook her head. “Why would I be angry because of that? That wasn’t your fault, you didn’t ask her to come over.”
“Yeah. Exactly.”
She shrugged. “You should go back and talk to her though. It seems like she’s confused about how things...ended.” And there was no way Lily wanted to be involved in that sort of relationship. She had enough distractions in her life and too many things going on to invite more drama into it. She’d already let her guard down way too much by sleeping with Sean and letting him get into her head.
“She’s not confused, she knows exactly how things ended. She’s just being difficult.”
She pulled her hand out of his and took a few steps backwards. “That’s not my problem, Sean.”
He sighed. “Lily.”
“I’ll see you around,” she repeated firmly. She raised a hand in goodbye as she walked away.