“Are you deaf?” I snapped out, my nostrils flaring as my anger continued to climb. “I said get out!”

She jumped at the spike in my voice and hurriedly threw her shirt on. Her face was red from embarrassment as she slipped her flats on. Angrily, she stood up and looked down at Carter. “You’re an asshole, Carter Matheson!”

Yeah, yeah, we’d heard this how many times before?

Then she was shoving past me to get to the window. She climbed out clumsily and I listened to her footsteps scurrying away. Now that she was gone, I crossed my arms and turned to him. If I was attempting to look intimidating I was failing spectacularly because Carter was amused. His blue eyes glanced at my face and his mouth opened up into a wide grin.

“God, Leah, you are being over the top,” he remarked.

“I’m being over the top? How could you do this to me? Sneaking girls into our room –”

“It’s my bedroom, Leah –”

“You knew I was coming around!”

He shook his head, disagreeing. “No, I didn’t. It’s after midnight. Since when have you ever shown up this late? I didn’t think you were going to come around, so I called Pomposa up.”

I froze. The hell did he just call that bowling ball chested girl?

“Pomposa?” I snarled out with disgust. “You chose a girl with the name Pomposa over me?”

“I didn’t choose anybody over you.”

“You did with Pomposa.”

He burst out laughing, and the infectious sound already began to warm me up. I swallowed back the smile twitching at my lips. It only took Carter to laugh to make me forget why I was so angry.

He motioned to the bed. “Come on, Angel. Get in.”

“No,” I refused.

“Come on. Don’t make me beg.”

“Would you really beg?”

“For you? Absolutely.”

God, he did things to my heart.

I stood my ground for a measly ten seconds, and then I went over to him and collapsed next to him so that we were shoulder to shoulder. I stared up at the ceiling and shook my head in disbelief.

“Why didn’t you come to my window?” I asked, my voice giving away my disappointment.

“I did,” he answered. “But I heard your uncle moving around. I thought he was going to be up for a while and that you wouldn’t be able to get away.”

“You should have said something. At least then I’d have known you were there. Even if it was something little. I would have told you I was coming.”

He sighed again. His face turned in my direction, and I could feel how hard he was staring at my profile. I kept my eyes pinned to the water stained ceiling, ignoring the way my heart hiccupped in my chest at his attention.

“I’m sorry,” he said softly. “I didn’t think it was that big of a deal.”

I was too stubborn to let this go. I turned my head to him and stared into his eyes as I retorted, “How would you feel if I brought a boy into my bedroom?”

Without skipping a beat, he replied, “That’s not my business. You can do what you want. I’m your moral support, the shoulder you cry on when the piece of shit breaks your heart.”

I studied him carefully, waiting for signs he was lying in that statement. He appeared amused still, but I thought I could feel his body stiffening beside me. Maybe it was in my head because nothing in his face spoke of the same jealousy that probably showed in mine. I swear I heard a piece of my heart snapping. How many more years of being his best friend would it take for him to look at me any differently?

“Fine,” I whispered to him, turning away before he could see the glossy look in my eyes. “Well, I’m going to tell you never to do that again.”

“Never do what again?”

“You know what. Never bring a girl into this room. You do it one more time and I’m never going to step foot in here again. This is our place. I’m not going to share, Carter. You wanna do the nasty, then do it in a ditch.”

“How am I going to convince a girl to kiss me in a ditch, Leah?”

“Oh, please. You can take her to a laundromat and she’d think it was the most romantic place ever.”

“Are there any laundromats around?”

“There’s one down the road, but you should carry a knife with you when you take her there. Some shady people lurking around.”

“I’ll consider that when I take the next girl there,” he joked.

“See? I can be helpful.”

When he didn’t respond, I glanced at him. He was smiling wistfully, and I would have given an arm and a leg to know what he was thinking. What the hell was putting that smile on his face? Why was he so difficult to read?

It wasn’t fair how much he kept his thoughts to himself. I might have to train myself to do the same thing.

“Is Russell still checking up on you?” he then asked, that smile morphing into a frown.

“Yeah,” I answered. “He checked up on me twice tonight. I don’t know what his problem is.”

“He knows you’ve been seeing me. I bet you he’s trying to catch you in the act. Be careful with him. I don’t trust him at all.”

“I don’t trust him either, but he’s never been all that bad to me.”

“Never underestimate what certain people are capable of. If he’s not good to anybody else, it’s only a matter of time he won’t be good to you. Just keep an eye on what’s happening around you and let me know if anything ever happens. I’m here for you. You know that, right?”

He was being extremely clear about this, and I nodded my head immediately to cool off whatever anger was brimming at the surface in him in regards to my uncle. It was like he knew something I didn’t, and I would have asked if I had a chance at getting a straight answer. But Carter would have told me by now if he wanted me to know.

“Good,” he muttered under his breath.

We’d lain there for a while in silence. It was never uncomfortable. His anger faded away quickly and he was grabbing at my hand now and squeezing each finger. It was something we’d been doing for years, and it felt damn good.

I stared at him as he did it. His face was relaxed, his lips curling just a tad at the end. He was so beautiful to me, but I was still hurt at what I witnessed.

“Did you sing to her?” I wondered out loud as he squeezed my middle finger.