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I shake my head, not sure if I'm in shock or too tired to function.
"Can I crash in my old room?" I ask.
"Like you even have to ask," Tahani says.
We sit in silence for a long moment. I close my eyes and rest my head on her shoulder again. The last week of my life has been a whirlwind. After graduating and packing up the entire apartment, exhaustion runs deep, all the way to my bones, I think.
"You know he's going to show up here," Tahani warns me.
"I know."
"Are you going to talk to him?"
"Nope. I have nothing else to say to him."
"What are you going to do?"
What am I going to do? Just this morning, I had a boyfriend, a job, and a plan. Now, I'm single and unemployed. As if that weren't bad enough, with Tahani moving to Sacramento with her boyfriend in a matter of days, our shared apartment has already been rented to someone else. I can't move back in here permanently, so I'm officially homeless now, too.
"You can come with me to Sacramento," Tahani offers.
"No, I can't." I shake my head in denial. "I love you for offering, but you and Trent don't need me underfoot."
"You know he won't mind. He adores you."
"I know, but still." Trent Bianco, Tahani's boyfriend, plays professional basketball. He was just traded from the Golden State Warriors to the Sacramento Kings. This will be their first time living together since we graduated. As much as I love her for offering to let me stay with them, they deserve time to themselves.
Besides which, finding a publisher in Sacramento willing to take me on would be next to impossible. There simply aren't that many of them there. There aren't many in Berkeley either. More than likely, I'll be moving to Los Angeles.
"Maybe I'll grab a hotel room until I find something," I tell her.
Luckily, I won't end up living on the streets. I'm not rich, but my mom's parents were close to it. When I turned twenty-one, I received a hefty inheritance from their estate. I've barely touched the money in the year since.
"My best friend is not living in a hotel," Tahani says, narrowing her eyes to glare at me.
"It'll be fine," I say with a shrug. Living in a hotel for a few weeks can't be much worse than living in a tiny dorm on campus for two years, right? We survived that until we moved into this place at the end of our sophomore year so she would be closer to Trent.
"Hell no." Tahani hops up from the couch and strides toward the front door before bending down and grabbing her purse from the floor. She digs around for a minute before walking back to me. "Here," she says, dropping something in my lap.
"What's this for?" I ask, holding up a silver key on a plain keychain.
"My dad's condo in Santa Cruz. You can stay there until you decide what you want to do."
My stomach flips at the mention of her dad.
"You can't just give me the key to your dad's condo," I protest. I've spent a lot of time around Roman Gregory over the years I've known his daughter, and I don't think he'd appreciate having me take over his condo. I'm not sure if he just doesn't like me or if he knows I've always had a thing for him, but he rarely speaks to me. I've never quite figured him out.
He's sexy as hell, with messy black hair, piercing hazel eyes, the same gorgeous olive skin as his daughter, and a body that should be illegal. He's covered in the most beautiful tattoos. He's also massive, towering over just about everyone else. Tahani definitely didn't get her diminutive size from him. He's honestly a little intimidating. Not just in size, though that's impressive enough, but in the way he looks at me like he can see every dirty thought I've ever had and hasn't decided what he wants to do about them.
The way he watches me…I think maybe he hasn't decided. Or maybe that's just the cop in him. Either way, he's scary-hot and formidable as hell. He intrigues me even though he shouldn't.
I spend far too much time thinking about him. But that's a secret I'll take to my grave. He and Tahani are the closest thing to a family that I've had since my mom died. It’d kill me to lose Tahani, and I'm pretty sure she'd hate me if she ever found out that I've been crushing on her dad for the last four damn years.
"Why not?" Tahani asks. "He's working a big case in LA, so he won't be getting away anytime soon. The condo is just sitting there. Use it until you find something. He won't care."
I hesitate, torn.
I don't want to take over Mr. Gregory's condo, but she's right. He works for the ATF and rarely ever gets away from Los Angeles. Except for when he comes to visit her, the place is vacant the rest of the year. And Damien will never think of looking for me there. I don't think he even knows about Mr. Gregory's condo. Plus, it's on the beach. I can clear my head, get my shit together, and figure out a new plan for the rest of my life. One that doesn't involve a cheating liar like Damien.
