Read Online Beautiful Disaster 02 Walking Disaster by Jamie McGuire - Free Book Online

and my heart began to pound in my chest.
    “Night, Abby,” America called from Shepley’s room.
    “Night, Mare.”
    I had to laugh. Nightmare was right. Shepley’s girlfriend had introduced me to my very own form of crack. I couldn’t get enough, and I didn’t want to quit. Even though I
couldn’t call it anything but an addiction, I didn’t dare sample even a crumb. I only kept her close, feeling better just knowing she was around. There was no hope for me.
    Two small knocks brought me back to reality.
    “Come in, Pidge. You don’t have to knock.”
    Abby slipped in, her hair dark and damp, in a gray T-shirt and plaid boxer shorts. Wide eyes wandered about the room as she decided different things about me based on the bareness of my walls.
It was the first time a woman had been in there. That moment wasn’t something I had thought about, but Abby changing the way the room felt was not something I expected.
    Before, it was just where I slept. A place where I’d never spent much time at all. Abby’s presence made the white, clutter-less walls obvious, to the point where I felt a lesser
version of embarrassment. Abby being in my room made it feel like home, and the emptiness no longer seemed right.
    “Nice pj’s,” I said finally, sitting on the bed. “Well, come on. I’m not going to bite you.”
    Her chin lowered and she raised her brows. “I’m not afraid of you.” Her biology book landed beside me with a
thud,
and then she stopped. “Do you have a
pen?”
    I nodded to the night table. “Top drawer.” The second I said the words, my blood turned cold. She was going to find my stash. I readied myself for the impending death match that
would quickly follow.
    She put one knee on the bed and reached over, pulling open the drawer and fishing around until her hand lurched back. In the next second, she grabbed the pen and then slammed the drawer
shut.
    “What?” I asked, pretending to scan over the words in the biology book.
    “Did you rob the health clinic?”
    How does a pigeon know where to get condoms?
“No. Why?”
    Her face twisted. “Your lifetime supply of condoms.”
    Here it comes. “Better safe than sorry, right?” She couldn’t possibly argue with that.
    Instead of the yelling and name calling I expected, she rolled her eyes. I turned the pages of the biology book, trying not to look too relieved.
    “Okay, we can start here. Jesus . . . photosynthesis? Didn’t you learn this in high school?”
    “Kind of,” she said, defensively. “It’s Biology 101, Trav. I didn’t pick the curriculum.”
    “And you’re in calculus? How can you be so advanced in math and behind in science?”
    “I’m not behind. The first half is always review.”
    I raised an eyebrow. “Not really.”
    She listened while I went over the basics of photosynthesis, and then the anatomy of plant cells. It didn’t matter how long I talked, or what I said, she hung on to every word. It was easy
to pretend that she was interested in me and not a passing grade.
    “Lipids. Not lipides. Tell me what they are again.”
    She pulled off her glasses. “I’m beat. I can’t memorize one more macromolecule.”
    Fuckin’ A. Bedtime. “All right.”
    Abby suddenly looked nervous, which was curiously soothing to me.
    I left her alone with her nerves to take a shower. Knowing she had just been standing naked in the same spot made for some arousing thoughts, so for the five minutes before I got out, the water
had to be ice cold. It was uncomfortable, but at least it got rid of my hard-on.
    When I returned to the bedroom, Abby was lying on her side, eyes closed, and stiff as a board. I dropped my towel, changed into my boxers, and then crawled into bed, flipping off the light. Abby
didn’t move, but she wasn’t asleep.
    Every muscle in her body was tense, but they tightened even more just before she turned to face me.
    “You’re sleeping in here, too?”
    “Well, yeah. This is my bed.”
    “I know, but I . .