Roommates With Benefits [BL]

•⋅⊰∙∘☾✶☽∘∙⊱⋅•✾•⋅⊰∙∘☾✶☽∘∙⊱⋅•

I stared at him for a moment.

Then I looked away because my boyfriend’s jealousy was unsettingly effective at warming my cheeks, even during a midnight revenge mission. The side of my neck felt hot under my collar.

"You know," I muttered, "if you keep talking like that, I might forget we’re supposed to be confronting a fucking bastard." The words came out softer than intended.

The car kept navigating the shadowy streets, city lights becoming fewer as we moved farther from campus. The streetlamps grew more spaced out, and the buildings shifted from the familiar campus brick to the taller, quieter outlines of the city’s wealthy area where Jeremy lived off campus. The further we went, the more the night felt like it belonged to other people—people with better decisions and fewer stalking problems.

For several minutes, silence filled the air.

I watched the buildings pass by, but my mind kept drifting back to Melanie’s revelation. The photographs. The park. The way her voice had cracked when she admitted how long it had been going on. None of it sat comfortably.

The drive stretched on for another twenty minutes before Damien finally turned into a quieter part of town. The streets here were wider, lined with well-maintained trees, and the buildings rose high with glass facades reflecting scattered traffic lights. Everything looked expensive and slightly judgmental.

I perked up. "Where are we?"

"Glennville, Jeremy owns a penthouse here."

I surveyed the buildings around us. "Of course he does." The words slipped out before I could stop them.

Of course he little bitch would live in a penthouse. The universe had a sense of humor, and it was mean.

"What’s that supposed to mean?" Damien questioned.

"Nothing. Just that I’m starting to think rich people collect fancy apartments like regular folks collect mugs." I gestured vaguely at the gleaming towers. "Except the mugs don’t usually come with blackmail schemes."

Damien parked outside a tall luxury building. The engine went quiet with a soft finality.

We stepped into the cold, the air nipping at my cheeks and carrying the faint scent of rain yet to fall. The temperature made me pull my jacket tighter.

The building was almost eerie in its quietness, the entrance bathed in soft golden light. Damien strode in without a second thought, and I trailed behind him towards the elevators. My footsteps felt too loud against the polished floor.

The lobby had a slight scent of polished stone and high-end air fresheners. Everything about this place whispered wealth without being ostentatious..

marble floors gleamed under the lights, a reception desk looked more like a sculpture than furniture, and the silence felt almost deliberate. Even the plants looked expensive.

I looked around. "I can’t stand rich people." The words bounced softly off the high ceiling.

The elevator doors opened, and we stepped inside, as the doors closed, Damien glanced at me. The soft lighting inside the car made everything feel smaller and more intimate.

"Stay close."

"I will."

"Don’t talk to him alone."

"I won’t."

"And if anything feels off—"

"I’ll tell you, dad." I kept my voice light, but my fingers found the edge of his sleeve anyway.

He nodded. The elevator gave a soft mechanical sigh and began to rise.

The elevator rose.

The silence seemed to grow heavier with each floor. The soft mechanical hum only intensified the quiet, and I could feel my pulse racing against my throat. Every number that lit up on the panel felt like a countdown.

When the doors finally opened, loud music immediately washed over us.

The bass pulsed against the walls like a heartbeat, and the air was thick with the scent of alcohol blended with something floral and expensive. The contrast with the quiet hallway was jarring enough to make my shoulders tense.

I shot a glance at Damien, he was staring straight ahead. His expression hadn’t shifted, but the set of his jaw had gone sharper.

"He’s throwing a party...?"

"Apparently."

"It’s almost past midnight." The observation felt useless the second it left my mouth.

The music grew louder as Damien stopped outside the door. The bass was strong enough that I could feel it through the soles of my shoes.

He knocked, nothing happened then je knocked again. The second knock was firmer, less polite.

After a few seconds, movement could be heard inside then the door opened.

Jeremy stood there, shirtless and clearly drunk, with just a bath towel wrapped around his waist.

His hair was a mess, his eyes slightly glazed over, and he looked quite pleased to see me. The hallway light caught the sheen of sweat along his collarbone.

Then he flashed a lazy smirk. "Hey, professor."

My stomach twisted, he leaned against the doorframe. "Didn’t think you’d come looking for me so soon." The words slurred just enough to make the arrogance worse.

I stared at him then he eyed me up and down. The look lingered in a way that made my skin crawl.

"Did you miss me? How do you know where I live?"

Before I could respond, Damien stepped in front of me. The movement was smooth and absolute, like a door sliding shut.

His voice was calm yet chilling. "Because I brought him."

Jeremy’s smirk vanished as his gaze shifted slowly from me to Damien. The change in his expression was almost comical in its speed.

Color drained from his face and Damien remained steady. The contrast between them was stark—one half-dressed and swaying, the other fully composed and radiating quiet threat.

"We need to talk, Jeremy."

For the first time, Jeremy looked genuinely scared. The fear sat awkwardly on his face, like it didn’t know where to go.

Then, from somewhere deep in the apartment, a man’s voice called out.

"Jeremy?"

Jeremy closed his eyes momentarily. A second later, another man strolled into the hallway, completely naked.

I froze in shock, rhe man glanced at Jeremy, sleepy. Not seeming to give a shit about the fact that he was butt ass naked in front of a couple of strangers at the door way. The hallway light left absolutely nothing to the imagination, and my brain short-circuited for a full three seconds.

"Sweetie, come back to bed. I’m ready for round two."

I just stood there, wide-eyed. Somewhere in the back of my mind, a small part of me was calculating the fastest route off this planet.

For a few seconds, none of us knew how to respond to this unexpected situation.

Personally, I was ready to pack up and move to a different planet. Maybe one without towels or sudden nudity. The bass from the party music kept thumping cheerfully in the background, completely unconcerned with the crisis unfolding at the door.

Jeremy’s annoyance surfaced. "Get back inside."

The man frowned. "But—"

"I said get your whore ass inside!" Jeremy yelled harshly making the guts flinch.The man’s face fell as he retreated back into the apartment. The doorframe briefly framed his exit like a very poorly timed comedy sketch.

I turned to Damien and he looked at me. His expression was carefully blank, but I could see the faint tightening at the corner of his mouth that usually meant he was filing this moment away for later psychological damage.

Neither of us spoke. The silence felt almost respectful, like the universe needed a moment to process what had just gone down. The music continued its cheerful pulse, utterly indifferent.

Jeremy cleared his throat, straightening himself up any embarrassment he had vanished behind another forced grin. The towel shifted slightly with the movement, and I made a concentrated effort to look anywhere else.

He stepped aside and opened the door wider.

"Well then..." His gaze shifted between us. "Come on in." The invitation sounded less like hospitality and more like a man trying to regain control of a rapidly deteriorating situation.

I looked to Damien, his expression was unchanged as he walked through the threshold. The set of his shoulders said the conversation ahead was not going to be pleasant for anyone involved.

I followed close behind. The bass hit harder once we were fully inside, vibrating up through the floor.

The bass from the music pulsed on as we entered the penthouse, and the air was thick with alcohol and expensive cologne. The soft lighting glinted off glass and half-finished drinks, and laughter echoed from somewhere out of sight. The place looked like money and poor decisions had thrown a party together and neither had bothered cleaning up.

Jeremy closed the door behind us. And just like that, we were alone with him. The soft click of the latch felt final.

I tightened my grip on Damien’s hand. His palm was warm and steady against mine.

He squeezed back once, neither of us took our eyes off Jeremy. If he still thought he could charm or lie his way out of this.

He was dead wrong.