Doll House: Book Two

seven | espresso

The sound of wind chimes woke Winter up in a peaceful manner. Hazel, on the other hand, was not fazed by the alarm she'd set which was clear by the aggressive way that she rolled over to press snooze. Winter didn't blame her, who wanted to get up knowing that the day would be spent cleaning up after a raucous party and escorting unwanted guests out.

Which was what Winter had to do at the moment. So she slid out of the bed and shuffled to her bedroom, knocking twice on the door as to not intrude on the lifeless body that she'd quartered.

When Winter didn't hear a reply, she walked into her room to find a small folded stack of clothes on an empty futon. Had he left earlier in the morning? No, those were his clothes. Unless he was roaming the streets of New York naked and shameless. Or did he steal her clothes and leave? Maybe he was into that.

"Shit!" Winter quickly turned, upset at the possibility of being robbed by someone she'd tried to help.

However, in a split second a man entered her room with a pink towel wrapped around his waist and his black hair wet as he ran his fingers through it. He paused as well, as if she were the intruder.

"Morning." Winter cocked an eyebrow. "Nice towel"

"This is your room?" He asked and she nodded. "So you put me in here when I was passed out?" He tilted his head and stepped further into the room.

"Well, Hazel helped me, but yeah." She tried with all of her might to not stare at the perfectly sculpted figure before her. She hadn't had much direct naked male contact in a while so this moment was truly unique. It also didn't help that this guy clearly hadn't skipped a day at the gym since adolescence.

"Ellis." He held his hand out.

"Winter." They shook hands but he held onto hers and nodded.

"The 'freak'." She looked up at him and laughed.

"How do you know?"

"Everyone knows when there's fresh meat in the Doll House." He smirked. "Thanks for taking care of me last night."

"It was worth it since I get to see-this at ten o'clock in the morning." She joked but deep down soaked in the lusty image before her.

"Really?" Ellis released her hand. "Then I hope you don't mind that I showered here." Winter shook her head.

His voice was at a neutral level that could convince the most stubborn individual and soothe the most anxious. It wasn't often that a voice could be tranquil, firm, and deep without lacking emotion.

"Uh-come with me, I'll make some coffee." She said as she walked past Ellis who followed her through the second floor and down the stairs.

"So why did you do it?" He asked when they reached the ground floor. Winter stopped by the fireplace and turned to look at him.

"Do what?" She asked.

Ellis walked closer to her causing her to press her back to the fireplace wall. He placed his arm on the wall space behind her. She wasn't sure if it was a sexual gesture or just a way for them to address each other in the narrow space. But either way, Winter consciously forced herself not to look down at the towel for fear that she would tear it off of him in an uncontrollable fit of horniness.

"You're not obligated to take some drunk asshole into your room. So why did you?"

"Because I've been there and I would've wanted someone to help me too." They looked at each other for a moment. "Also, you're clearly not an asshole." She added which caused both of them to slowly smile.