2. Hailey
2
HAILEY
My jaw dropped open as I stared at the skimpy dress Bennett held aloft. No words came to me as my pulse pounded in my temples, my brain shut down from shock. He couldn’t be serious, right? It had to be a joke.
“You’ll need to provide your own fishnet stockings,” Bennett said with a smirk.
Grant’s smile was equally smug. “If you can’t afford them, I’ll be happy to pay… if you let me watch you try them on.”
My mind was still reeling, but somehow my body knew what to do. I pushed up off the couch, getting shakily to my feet. I’d been wrong, so wrong, about these guys. Desperation could do that to people, but I’d rather sleep on a park bench than parade around in a costume like that for their perverted entertainment.
“I think—” That was as far as I got. The rest of the words seemed to get stuck in my throat. I held onto the arm of the couch for balance as I turned toward the front door. Before I could make a move toward it, it swung inward.
A new man strode inside, his arms swinging until he spotted us and stopped short. “Oh, hey. Is this the woman who’s going to rescue us from a diet of takeout food this summer?” He smiled at me.
“That remains to be seen,” Grant said.
The new guy walked over. He had dark, rather ruffled hair and a short beard. His eyes were dark when he was inside the doorway, but as the sun from the bay windows reached his face, they turned light grey. It was a little disconcerting… he had one of those gazes that appeared to look right through you. But as he was the only one of the three who hadn’t smirked at me so far, I attempted to return his smile.
“I’m Theo.” He held out a hand and I shook it. Even with every cell in my body screaming at me to get the hell out of here, I couldn’t help noting his tan, muscular forearms. “Third year architecture student.”
Wow. He didn’t look like an architect. Or, I guess I’d never met any, come to think of it. But he was better looking than I would’ve expected one to be.
Which wasn’t the most pressing matter.
His gaze had already fallen on the most pressing matter. “What’s that?” His forehead wrinkled slightly as he stared at the French maid costume.
My voice returned. “M-my new uniform.” Except it wouldn’t be. No way would I take a job here now.
Theo from me to the skimpy little dress a few times, and then he burst into laughter.
He moved between the cousins, slinging an arm around each of their necks. “Very funny, guys.” His chuckles filled the room before he shook Grant’s shoulders. “You’re supposed to haze the new recruits, not the summer help.”
For once, Grant didn’t look cocky. Whoever this new guy was, Grant didn’t want to be an arrogant ass around him. “We?—”
“He’s the pledge master, you know,” Theo told me before snatching the costume out of Bennett’s hands. He held it out in front of him and ran one finger down the black satin. “Where did you even get this?” He shook his head and let out a low whistle. Then he winked at me. “Not that you wouldn’t look great in this, but these guys are just giving you a hard time. You’ll get used to them.”
He elbowed Bennett. “No more pranking our new friend here.”
A prank.
He was convinced that was all it was. But the other two frat brothers sure hadn’t acted like it was. I watched them as first Bennett, and then Grant gave reluctant smiles. They were acting like Theo was right, that it had been a joke all along.
But I didn’t think it had been. In fact, I was pretty sure that, among the four of us, only Theo believed that.
“We couldn’t resist,” Grant said, more to his buddy than to me. Bennett gave me a curt nod, but his eyes were cold.
Very cold.
Theo tossed the little black dress on the coffee table, seeming to dismiss it from his mind. Easy for him to do, I thought, as he turned to me. “So,” he began before interrupting himself. “Sorry, I didn’t catch your name.”
“Hailey,” I said.
“So, Hailey, are you joining us for the summer?”
No. No, no, no. Every neuron in my brain shouted that one syllable, over and over. Except where was I going to sleep? And how could I afford that, let alone food and basic necessities? If I took this job, I’d have food, a place to stay, and ten times more cash than pet sitting could provide.
Any woman with an ounce of sense wouldn’t trust Grant and Bennett any farther than she could throw them—and they were big, strong guys. I doubted I could even nudge one a few inches.
Theo’s gaze was still on me, and his smile was open and friendly. He didn’t seem like a jerk or a threat. Maybe the other frat brothers staying here this summer would be more like him and less like the President and his cousin?
At least I hoped that was the case.
Grant cocked his head to the side, raising an eyebrow at me, but it was Bennett who spoke. “Well?” His clipped voice echoed the tone of every toxic boss I’d ever had.
But what choice did I have?
“Yes,” I said, biting back a small sigh. “I’m in.”
“You didn’t!” Tori said an hour later after her literature class. We were in the student union—it had the cheapest coffee.
“I did.” But it hadn’t truly sunk in yet.
“Hailey, those guys are…” She trailed off. She hadn’t been to a frat party any more than I had. But we’d both heard things. If I told her about the French maid uniform, she’d go through the roof. “There’s got to be something else you can do.”
“There’s not.” I’d been applying for work for months, with a short break to study for my final exams.
“Can’t you do food delivery again?”
“How, on a skateboard?”
“Oh, yeah. Sorry, I forgot.”
I’d had to sell my car a few months ago. It was the only way to get enough money to finish out the spring semester. My scholarship only covered tuition, not living expenses. So unless I wanted to set up a tent out in the woods, I needed to find a place to stay.
“Look, let me talk to the girls again. You really weren’t bothering anyone staying on our couch.” She was also a scholarship student, but she’d had enough funds to rent an apartment with three other students. Those kinds of places were few and far between in a town like this.
“Tori, they reported me to your landlord.” It was true that I’d worn out my welcome by staying there for a couple of months, but I’d done my best to help out. Tori and I were pretty much the only ones who ever cleaned and did the dishes there.
Tori nodded reluctantly. “They’re such hypocrites, though. Janna’s boyfriend sleeps over all the time,” she said. “I wish you and I could afford a place together.”
“Me too.” I stared aimlessly around the small cafeteria. Since it was summer, it was pretty empty.
“What about your friend? The one who lives with all those hot guys, the former baseball players?”
“Naomi. And no, I’m not going to show up on her doorstep.” As nice as Naomi was, I hadn’t known her for all that long. She’d done some massage and physical therapy at the nursing home where my grandfather spent his final weeks. I’d never met Naomi’s boyfriend, but I knew that she lived with him and his two best pals, for some reason. It sure didn’t sound like they had room for a random acquaintance, and I didn’t know her well enough to ask.
Tori broke her chocolate cookie and slid half of it over to me. “You’ve already paid for your class, right?” I nodded. It had taken the last of my money. “So you just need a place to stay. There’s got to be somewhere.”
“There is.” I didn’t look at her as I took a bite of the cookie. “The Rho Kappa Alpha house.”
“I really don’t think you should.” Concern lit her face. “It's just not a good choice.”
“Actually, it’s the best choice.” I tried to put as much determination into my voice as I could.
“How can you say that?”
“Because it’s the only choice.” I sighed. “If there’s only one choice, then it’s automatically the best one.”
Tori took a sip of her coffee, sympathy in her eyes. “That also makes it the worst choice, you know.”
I nodded, staring off into the distance. “Yeah, I know.”