Roommates With Benefits [BL]

I got off the bus a few stops early and made my way to the park, pulling my jacket tighter around myself as the night air settled in.

The cold bit at my ears and made me wish I’d worn something thicker, but the walk gave me a few extra minutes to wonder what on earth Melanie could possibly need to say that required an in-person meeting after dark.

The university was quieter than usual; the paths were illuminated by spaced-out lamps casting warm light on the trees and empty benches.

Somewhere in the distance, I could hear students laughing, blissfully unaware that anything could go wrong even at that point in their lives.

Their voices floated over like they belonged to a completely different planet...one where the biggest problem was a late assignment and not a growing collection of secrets.

I sat on a bench and pulled out my phone to text Damien.

Me: Yeah, I’m going to be home a little late.

His reply came almost immediately.

Damien 😈: Why?

I hesitated, then typed the truth. Boyfriends aren’t supposed to keep things from who they were with after all, right?

Me: Melanie called. She wants to talk.

This time, there was no quick response.

I stared at the screen.

Five seconds.

Ten.

Twenty.

Then my phone rang.

Yeah...it was Damien.

I answered nervously and awkwardly, "Hey, how’s it going?"

His voice was low and controlled. "Why does Melanie want to talk to you?"

I smirked a bit. There it was...his tone whenever something irritated him, and he was trying hard not to let it show.

The quiet kind of tension that usually meant he was already three steps ahead in his head and didn’t like the destination.

"I don’t know."

"Oliver."

"I genuinely don’t, she just asked to meet me here."

"Are you meeting her alone?"

I surveyed the empty park. The lamps made little golden circles on the pavement, and the rest of the space felt swallowed by shadow.

"Apparently, but we’re in public though."

There was a silence...then Damien said, "You could come home."

I laughed softly. "Damien, are you jealous?"

I could almost hear his exhale through the phone, slow and controlled. "Yes."

I held back a smile, he didn’t even deny it. "Wow."

"Don’t sound so pleased with yourself."

"I am extremely pleased with myself."

His voice lowered. "I don’t like her meeting you alone...or at all really."

I leaned back against the bench, watching my breath fog in the chilly air. "Damien, we’re just talking."

"I know."

"Then what’s the problem?"

"She was fucking someone else before you even got the chance to end things with her."

My smile faded a bit. "I know, but it’s not like I was completely heartbroken."

"True...but now she’s suddenly calling you at night asking to meet privately?"

"When you say it like that, it sounds extra suspicious."

"Because it is suspicious."

I laughed again. "You know, you’re really sexy when you’re all jealous and shit."

There was a pause.

"Oliver."

"What?"

"You’re enjoying this, what of she wants you back?"

I smiled. "I get that I’m seeing my ex, but it’s not like she’s gonna snatch me from you."

I could practically hear the warning in his tone. "She did it once already."

My teasing fell away, I swallowed. "Oh..."

"But, I trust you," he continued, his voice calming down, "but I don’t trust her intentions."

"I’ll be careful."

"Promise me you’ll call me when you’re done."

"I will."

"And come straight home."

I smiled. "Yes, sir."

"Oliver."

"Okay, okay. I’ll come straight home."

There was another pause. Then, much softer, he said, "I love you."

A warm feeling settled in my chest. "I love you too."

"I’ll see you when you get home."

"Deal."

Just as I was about to hang up, I noticed someone walking towards me from across the path.

Blonde hair and dark coat wrapped around her, my smile vanished.

"She’s here."

Damien’s voice sharpened immediately. "Oliver—"

"I have to go."

I ended the call before he could finish. The phone felt heavier in my hand all of a sudden, like it knew something I didn’t.

Melanie slowed as she approached, her footsteps hesitant against the snowy pavement as if each step forward was a struggle.

She looked smaller somehow, folded in on herself against the cold.

She looked drained, not just tired.

Her eyes were red, her face pale, and she kept twisting her fingers together nervously, making me sit up straight. The closer she got, the clearer it became that whatever this was, it had already cost her something.

"Hey," I said quietly.

"Hey."

She stopped a few feet away, and for a moment, neither of us knew what to say. The park felt suddenly too quiet, like the trees themselves were listening.

I gestured to the empty space beside me. "You can sit."

She sat carefully, perched right at the edge of the bench like she wasn’t sure if she was allowed to be comfortable.

Her coat looked too thin for the weather, and she kept pulling the sleeves down over her hands.

I studied her, worried. "What’s going on?"

My first thought was if Travis or Trevor had found some way to release the video if him and her... because that would mean I had to go hunt him down for doing such a horrible thing to someone.

She met my gaze briefly, then looked away. "I didn’t know how to tell you."

"Tell me what?"

Her fingers tightened around her bag strap. "I’ve been trying to figure out what to do."

My stomach dropped. "Melanie."

She took a shaky breath. "I k...know I should have told you sooner."

"Told me what?"

She looked at me again, and there was something in her eyes that sent chills down my spine. "I can’t do this anymore."

I frowned. "Do what?"

Her lips trembled. "I’m sorry, Oliver."

She reached into her bag, and I watched as she pulled out a large brown envelope, shaking so badly that the paper rustled. The sound was too loud in the quiet park.

My confusion deepened. "What is that?"

She didn’t answer, instead, she held it out towards me with both hands. "I should have given this to you before at the flower shop."

I stared at the envelope. "Melanie, you’re seriously making me nervous."

"I’m sorry."

"Why do you keep apologizing?"

Her eyes filled with tears. "Because I know what this is going to do to you."

I didn’t move, my stomach sinking, her hands were shaking.

"Just open it." She swallowed hard. "Please."

I took the envelope. It felt heavier than it should have, not in a physical sense.

Just the way she was looking at me made it feel like I was holding something dangerous.

I glanced at her one last time before sliding my finger under the flap.

The paper tore quietly.

I opened the envelope, and a photograph slipped out first.

It landed face-up in my hand,.for several seconds, I couldn’t wrap my head around what I was looking at.

Then it clicked and my breath caught in my throat.

It was Damien and me.

The photo had been taken from afar, but there was no mistaking who it was...I stared.

My fingers tightened around the edges. "No."

I pulled another photo from the envelope, then another, and another. My heart began to race.

They were everywhere, dozens of photographs...private moments.

My stomach dropped.

I looked at Melanie, and she was crying silently now, tears streaming down her cheeks without her wiping them away.

"Where did you get these?"

She didn’t answer.

I pulled another photo out, shaking so badly that a few slipped and scattered across the bench between us.

The same photos, the same ones the Lockwoods had shown me.

The same images used to blackmail Damien’s family, the same photographs that had already cost Damien his inheritance.

I looked back at Melanie, and she stared back at me with red, terrified eyes.

"Why do you have these, Melanie?"

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