Chapter 6
Bennett
The purple bed set causes me to pause as I walk into my room. Uh, what the hell?
When I left, Easton’s bed was bare. Now it’s covered in a girly, pastel purple comforter. If I had to guess, I’m assuming it was Taylor’s. Maybe he borrowed it until he could get one of his own?
I roll my lips together, trying not to laugh at the image of six-foot-tall Easton curled up in all that purple.
But hey, a color is just a color. I like pink things, so who am I to judge?
I go about my business, stripping my bedding and tossing it in my dirty hamper. Today is the only day I can get my laundry done before another busy week consumes my life.
I head down to the laundry room, surprised to find it occupied. Laughing gets my attention when I see it’s Easton and his girlfriend, Taylor.
They look happy, laughing, and smiling as they dance silly to the music playing on someone's phone.
They both stop and look over at me when I enter the room. “Don’t mind me,” I grunt, striding to one of the free washers.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Easton pull Taylor into his arms, her back to his front. He kisses her on the cheek, making her giggle, and whispers something in her ear.
I don’t bother separating things and shove everything into one washer. I should be fine if I use cold water.
“I’ll see you later tonight,” Easton says to Taylor as she starts toward the door.
“Later. Love you!” She waves before taking off, leaving the two of us alone.
I try to ignore the way his eyes track my every move, my skin is tingling under his intense stare.
“Can I help you?” I mutter, not bothering to look his way.
“Just wondering why you need so much detergent for one load,” he grunts.
I pause and curse, realizing I wasn’t paying attention to how much I was pouring.
Shooting him a quick glare, I cap the container and use the water filling the machine to rinse off my hand before closing the lid.
Normally, I just sit in one of the chairs and play on my phone while I wait for my clothes to be done, but I’m not sure if I want to be in the same room as Easton longer than necessary.
After all these years, how the hell did we go from hardly seeing one another, mutual hatred from afar, to being roommates? Fucking roommates. Does the universe have a sick sense of humor?
I snort a laugh to myself, shaking my head.
“What's so funny?” he grumbles.
I look his way and shrug. “Just thinking about the fact that we went eight years hardly seeing each other, not uttering a word between us. I’ve seen you more in the last twenty-four hours than in all those years combined.
And now we’re living together.” I shake my head.
“It’s fucked up.” I look away, leaning against the washer as I fish my phone out of my pocket.
“Well, I’m sorry that my house burned down and I lost everything,” Easton growls. The shift in his mood makes my eyes snap his way. “Sorry, we don’t all have Mommy and Daddy to fall back on.”
My lips part, and a wave of guilt hits me. “I didn’t mean–”
“Save it, Tatum. I don’t like this any more than you do. Although you could easily fix this situation all on your own.”
“How?” My brows furrow.
“Move back home. Your parents live a ten-minute walk away. Why are you even living on campus? Give the space to people who actually need it,” he scoffs.
Is this guy for real?
“I have every right to live in this house. It’s the damn hockey house.” My anger begins to rise.
“And now it’s housing football players. We need the room more than you do.” He shrugs, sits down on the chair near him, and pulls out his phone.
“I was here first,” I growl. “It's my room. My space. And you're lucky I’m willing to let you stay there. I could easily have you moved.”
He looks up at me casually. “What are you going to do, go running to your daddies?” He snorts, shaking his head, and returns his attention to his phone. “Must be nice to have half your family running the school.”
My jaw grinds. He knows nothing about me and how hard I worked to earn my spot here, just like everyone else.
I could tell him that and defend myself, but I’m not going to waste my time on this asshole.
“Neither of us likes the situation we’re in. I have no issue sharing the space. If you do, you’re welcome to find another place to stay, but I’m not going anywhere.”
“Neither am I.” He shrugs, still not bothering to look at me. His easy dismissal pisses me off.
He acts like I’m the bad guy when I’ve done nothing to him. Nothing to warrant his cold behavior toward me.
So I kissed him? It was my mistake, but I was a kid. He needs to get the fuck over it.
“Fine then,” I huff.
“Fine,” he mutters.
My nostrils flare, and my fists clench. I’m normally not someone who's easy to get to. I don’t overreact to small things, and I don’t focus too much on the little things. It’s draining.
But with Easton, everything he does pisses me the hell off, and I hate that he gets this reaction out of me. I hate that he makes me feel anything.
He's nothing to me. Someone from my past.
And now he’s your new roommate.
Unable to stay around him longer than needed, I leave my clothes to wash and trek upstairs. I don’t need another workout, but it helps, so I head to the small gym we have on site.
After enough time has passed for my clothes to be washed, I head downstairs, a sweaty, panting mess, and change things over to the dryer.
I use that time to shower, get changed, and sneak in a few minutes of studying before I have to grab my clothes and bring them up to my room.
Easton isn’t there, thankfully. I haven’t seen him since I left the laundry room the first time. Not sure where he went, and I don’t care.
He just better not stumble in here at all hours of the night. I like my sleep, and I don’t need some asshole fucking with it.
Once my clothes are folded and put away, I head to my parents’ place.
As soon as I step through the door and hear the happy chatter of my favorite people, all the negative thoughts and feelings about my living situation drift away.
Easton can make fun of my family and me, but the fact is, they’re the best people on earth. Loving, caring, strong, and loyal. They will be the first people at your side to fight along with you, no matter what it is.
I’m lucky to have them. I wouldn’t trade them for the world.
“Benny!” Lilly smiles widely when she sees me, rushing over to give me a hug.
“Hey, Lils. Do they know?” I whisper as I kiss the side of her head.
“Not yet.” She pulls back, looking nervous. “Do you think they’re going to be okay with this?”
I snort a laugh. “They’re going to be over the moon.”
“Really?”
“I’m sure of it.”
We head into the kitchen, so I can say hi to my dads and moms.
“Where are the twins?” I ask, looking around but not spotting the two hormone-riddled devils.
They were a handful when they were younger, always getting into trouble. But as they got older, their interests changed, and they began to drift apart. While Isaiah gravitated to hockey like Toby and me, Raiden became more of a bookworm like Mom and Lilly.
Raiden doesn’t have an athletic bone in his body. He'd rather spend hours with his nose in a book, researching something interesting to him, than break a sweat playing a sport.
Even though he doesn’t have a lot in common with Isaiah, Raiden is still his best friend. If anyone messes with him at school, Isaiah has his back.
Isaiah has been in trouble for protecting Raiden far more than my parents would like.
“Game room,” Chase says, sneaking a kiss on my mom’s cheek before snatching a cookie off the plate in front of her.
“Those are for after supper!” Mom scolds him. Chase dances away, a big smile on his face as he bites down on the cookie, giving her a wink.
Chuckling, I shake my head and head down to the game room.
I hear Isaiah right away, yelling at whoever he’s gaming with online.
“Hey,” I greet Raiden. He’s sitting on the couch, reading something.
“Hey.” He smiles up at me. “When did you get here?”
“Just now.” I take the spot on the couch next to him.
He closes the book and puts it on the table. “You okay?”
“Huh?”
“You look... off. Something wrong?”
At Raiden’s question, Isaiah takes his headset off and looks over.
“What's wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong.” I huff out a laugh.
“Something's totally wrong,” Isaiah argues. “Alright, spill.”
I look between my brothers, deciding if I should say anything. With a sigh, I give in. I always want them to come to me if something is bothering them, and for them to trust me, I need to trust them.
“Do you remember Easton?”
“You mean the jackass who punched you in the face for kissing him?” Isaiah grumbles. “Yeah, we remember.”
“I’m sure you heard about the football house.”
Raiden’s face falls. “Yeah, Dad is upset. He really cares about the guys on the team.”
“Maybe not that asshole Easton, though,” Isaiah mutters.
“Be nice. He’s still one of his players,” Raiden scolds him.
“They had to find housing for the team until their dorm is rebuilt. Some of the scholarship kids were moved to the hockey house.”
“I heard about you getting a roommate. Who did you end up with? I hope it’s not that slimy ex of yours.” Isaiah scoffs.
“Liam isn’t there on a scholarship. No need to worry about that.”
“Wait... You mentioned Easton. Please don’t tell me it’s him.” Raiden gapes at me.
“Then I won’t,” I mutter.
“You have got to be fucking kidding me!” Isaiah hisses. “They can’t do this.”
“It’s not that big of a deal. I’ll get over it. Hopefully. It’s just that he’s annoying as hell. And it’s kind of a weird situation.”
“Talk to Brody or Theo. I’m sure they can move him,” Isaiah says.
“For what?” I ask. “Punching me one time eight years ago?” I shake my head. “I’m not making a big fuss over it. As much as it sucks, it’s not the end of the world.”
“You’re gay. He’s homophobic. That can’t end well,” Isaiah argues.