Chapter 9: Morning After

I woke up alone in my bed, with the sheet pulled to my shoulder.

My whole body was sore in places I hadn't known could be.

There was a smell of frying onions coming through the door.

I put on Maddox's gray T-shirt from the floor and followed it.

He was at the stove in sweatpants, with his back to me and a spatula in his hand.

His shoulders were bare, and I could see three red lines across them.

I had put those there.

"Morning," I said.

He turned around too fast and almost dropped the pan.

"Morning." He looked at the T-shirt. "That's mine."

"I know."

"Keep it."

I sat at the table and he put a plate in front of me, eggs and toast.

He went back to the stove without saying anything else.

"You're quiet," I said.

"I'm trying not to say the wrong thing."

"What would the wrong thing be?"

"Anything."

I laughed, and the corner of his mouth went up.

The apartment door opened, and a key turned in the lock.

"Breakfast!" Teddy bellowed. "I brought doughnuts, I come in peace, I did not bring anyone else, I swear..."

He stopped in the kitchen doorway.

He looked at me in Maddox's T-shirt.

He looked at Maddox's back.

He looked at the three red lines.

"Ohhhh," he said.

"Teddy," Maddox said.

"I'm not here. I'm a ghost."

"Put the doughnuts down."

"It's the happiest day of my life."

Teddy put the box on the table with great tenderness.

"Roxanne, I've been waiting a year," he said. "A full year. You have no idea."

"Out," Maddox said.

"He's never had anyone up here, you know. Not one person. Ever."

"Teddy."

"Leaving! Good morning, ma'am!"

The door shut.

It was very quiet.

I picked up a doughnut and did not eat it.

"What did he mean?" I asked.

"He talks."

"Maddox. The whole team calls you Filthy."

He set the spatula down.

Keep reading free with an account. Start My Hockey Roommate's Filthy Desires from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.