I frowned at that.
“If you think about it,” she continued. “Kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom are… free.”
Free? I didn’t like where this was headed.
And I liked it even less when Rosie’s brows met in her forehead as she inspected her ceiling, thinking really hard about something. And—
A sound must have come out of my mouth because Rosie’s attention was back on me. “Are you okay?”
Was I? “Please tell me you’re not thinking of staying here.”
She worried her lip but didn’t answer.
“You can’t stay here, Rosie.” I tried to bend my mouth into a smile but failed, judging by her reaction. In fact, I was probably scowling.
She crossed her arms over her chest, her expression one of shock. “You don’t need to worry about me. Or babysit me.”
“Rosie.” I breathed out a bitter laugh. “I’m not babysitting you.”
“I’m just your cousin’s best friend.” She thought about something. “You’ve done enough already. You’ve let me stay with you. You’ve listened to my… nonsense. And you’ve even stepped up for me with Mr. Allen, when that’s something you really didn’t need to do.”
It was my turn to look perplexed. “But we’re friends.”
“Are we?”
Before I could say anything else, a voice came from… above us. “What’s all this shouting about?”
My head jerked, my gaze going up and finding a man dressed in a checkered robe peeking down. My brows shot up my forehead, almost fusing with my hairline.
He continued, “We’re trying to have a conversation up here.”
Unable to believe what I was seeing, I took a step forward. I narrowed my eyes, inspecting the man and—
“Por el amor de Dios,” I scoffed, shivering at the sight. “There’s nothing under his robe.” I glanced back at Rosie. “Rosie. His balls are hanging free like—”
“Hi, Mr. Brown!” Rosie interjected before giving me a shrug. “I hope everything’s going okay!”
“Rosie.” I groaned. “Why…” I started, too bewildered to continue. “Jesus Christ.”
“It’s fine.” She rolled her eyes. “Not the first time I’ve seen that.”
My mouth opened, then snapped close. I didn’t even know what to say. The only thing I knew was that my flight switch had been flipped, and it begged me to grab Rosie by the waist, throw her on my shoulder, and get her out of there as soon as possible.
“Rosie,” I said slowly. Carefully. “Let’s go home.”
A tremor rocked her, and she said, “But all my things are here.”
“I’ll cook something for dinner and we’ll call it a day,” I told her, watching her closely. “Tomorrow you’ll be fresh as a rose, ready to get all the words in.”
“Sure.” She huffed with frustration, her expression turning defeated. Worn out. “Because that’s something I can do.”
That got my attention. “What do you mean?”
She shook her head.
“Why did you say that?” I gentled my voice, guessing—knowing—there was something that she wasn’t telling me. “You can trust me, Rosie.”
More of that jerky head shaking followed, her arms going around her waist.
“Rosie?” I stepped a little closer, growing concerned. “What’s wrong?”
She didn’t answer; she wasn’t even looking at me.
I tilted my head. “Hey, Ro—”
“Nothing!” she blurted out loudly, startling the shit out of me. “Nothing’s wrong!” Her voice came out high-pitched, a tremor rocking her lip and making her jaw clatter. “Everything’s fine and dandy!”
“Rosie,” I whispered, closing the distance between us faster. “Hey, cari?o, what’s going on?”
A shaky breath was plucked out of her, her shoulders now falling and her eyes getting watery by the second. “Nothing’s wrong,” she repeated, right before the dam broke. “There’s a freaking hole in the ceiling of my apartment. These stupid repairs are going to take a much longer time than I thought. I’m inconveniencing you because I’ve been lying to my dad for months and can’t stay with him. I’m pretty sure my brother is in some kind of weird business. And I have less than eight weeks left until I have to hand in a manuscript that’s nowhere near where it should because I’m stuck. I can’t write, Lucas! And here you are, witnessing the complete and utter mess that is my life. Oh, and to make everything even better, I’ve been craving Cronuts ever since I got my period this morning and when we leave here it will be too late to get them because Holy Cronut will be closed!”