16. Hailey
16
HAILEY
The next day was surreal. My body felt like I’d given it a good workout—which I suppose I had, with all those muscles tensing and contracting. It was an unfamiliar feeling, but not an unpleasant one. It felt like I had a wicked little secret that no one else knew about.
Except one man did.
It was maddening that I still didn’t know who he was, and that made all of my encounters that day awkward.
When I passed Ian in the upstairs hallway. When Theo came over to discreetly inquire how it was going with the housing application. When Grant gave me a smile on his way down to the gym.
I was about seventy-five percent sure it was Theo. But if so, why didn’t he just tell me, now that he knew my secret? We spoke freely during the day—why all the anonymity at night?
But I had to admit that it kind of felt more intimate that way. Like we were the only two people awake at that hour. And as if real-world problems no longer existed, mostly because we didn’t talk about mine and I didn’t know about his.
Our conversation last night—and the way it’d ended—had been so damn hot. There was no other word for it. He’d turned me on. Made me moan. Made me come. Sure, it had been my hands, but he was the one pulling the strings.
So to speak.
Would it have been that exciting if he wasn’t my mystery midnight friend?
I sure didn’t know.
I’d just about finished when I heard shouts. Good shouts, not bad ones. Theo came jogging down the stairs with Ian following right behind.
Theo ran over to me, picked me up, and spun me around, making me shriek with surprise. I’d been in his arms before, but this was different. This was unrestrained and wild, and I had no idea what caused it—or why he was doing it in front of his pal.
“I got it!” he said, when he put me down. I had to grab onto the edge of a table to steady myself.
“Got what?” For a moment, I thought he meant that he’d somehow been awarded the housing stipend, but that was ridiculous. He had money, and the application window hadn’t even closed yet.
Then I saw the way Ian was smiling, the way his eyes lit up when he looked at Theo. He was proud of his buddy.
And then I realized.
“You won the architecture contest? Your concert hall won?”
“Yes to both!”
“That’s wonderful! Congratulations.”
More footsteps sounded on the stairs and then Grant and Bennett were there. Both looked happy for their friends, and for once, there was nothing arrogant about their demeanor.
Even Nelson made an appearance, trailing along behind the cousins. I had a feeling that one or both of them had dragged him out of his room.
“I knew you could do it, man,” Grant said, holding out his hand to Theo. But then that wasn’t enough, and they hugged. It made me wish I had friends so close that they felt like a sibling.
Bennett’s congratulations were slightly more reserved but then he spotted me and snapped his fingers. “This calls for champagne,” he said, and the others cheered.
I approached the frat president quickly, for once not feeling anxious to be near him. Everyone was in too good of a mood for that.
“There are a couple of bottles of champagne in the third fridge,” he said. “Go get them and some glasses.”
I hurried off, eager to celebrate Theo’s success. Quickly but carefully, I placed six champagne flutes on a tray and grabbed two of the three ice-cold bottles of champagne out of the fridge. I wasn’t sure how I was going to carry that all back, but then another thought occurred—I had absolutely no idea how to open the bottles.
I knew from TV that it involved a cork that popped out at high speed, but I also knew it sometimes took an eye out.
But then the doctor was there—the future one, at least.
Ian was still smiling when he entered the kitchen. It was great to see him so happy for a change. “I figured you might need a few more bartending lessons.”
“Yes.” I smiled, grateful to see him. “But maybe later—could you please open them this time so that we can celebrate with our friend?”
“Of course.” He located a corkscrew in one of the drawers. In the meantime, I reflected on the phrasing I’d just used. I’d called Theo ‘our friend’ and Ian hadn’t seemed to find it surprising. I’d only known them for a short time, but it did truly feel like we were becoming friends.
And I hoped they felt that, too.
Back out with the others, Ian skillfully opened the first bottle, and I laughed as the plastic cork flew across the room. Then I held the tray steady while he sloshed the bubbly liquid in, seeming not to care when it splashed onto the tray.
I handed them out, taking the last one when everyone else had one. It grew quiet, and we all looked at Bennett.
He wasn’t my favorite person, but he did seem genuinely happy for Theo. Grant did, too. Maybe they weren’t so bad after all.
Maybe.
“Brothers of Rho Kappa Alpha,” he began, and Theo interrupted.
“And our guest.”
Bennett glanced my way for a brief second and then continued on. “We’re here to toast the best damn college architect in the entire country. With this win, he’ll no doubt get offers from the top architectural firms all over the world.”
“And he’ll make the world a lot more beautiful in the process,” Ian said.
Bennett held up his glass. “To Theo.”
We all echoed his toast, and I tasted champagne—real champagne—for the first time in my life. It was delicious. Sweet, tart, and so bubbly it tickled my tongue. And my nose. I sneezed, and Theo looked over and winked.
“Admit it, you knew you were going to win,” Grant said, nudging Theo with his elbow.
“I hoped I would.”
“We knew you would, right Bennett?”
“Yep.” The fraternity president took a measured sip of his champagne. “I had no doubt at all.” He lifted his glass to the man of the hour. “We’ve always got your back, bro.”
Several glasses were empty, so I refilled them, including Theo’s. “Congratulations again.” If we hadn’t been surrounded by everyone, I would have given him a quick kiss.
“Thanks, Hailey.” He took a sip of the champagne and smiled.
But it somehow didn’t seem to reach his mesmerizing gray eyes like it had before.
Later that afternoon, I had to clean the suites on the third floor, but I felt a little more comfortable doing so now. For a short time today, we’d all been on the same page. We’d all been happy for our friend.
Still, I couldn’t say I was displeased when I found Bennett’s suite empty. As a silent thank-you for that small stroke of good luck, I did an extra good job on it.
It was a different situation when I knocked on Grant’s door. “Come on in,” he said, a bit subdued. Where was his trademark smirk?
He sat down on the large leather sofa in the seating area, his back against the arm and his long legs stretched out sideways on the cushions. Then he picked up a heavy book he’d evidently been reading.
Was Grant actually studying? I wasn’t even sure if he was taking any classes this summer. “Um, will it bother you if I vacuum in the bedroom?”
“Knock yourself out.”
I wondered about his change in attitude as I carried the cleaning supplies to his bedroom. But as I vacuumed, I couldn’t quite pin down what his actual mood was. He’d seemed so happy for Theo when we were downstairs, but maybe that was just an act? Could he actually be jealous?
He stayed on the sofa the whole time I was there. No jokes. No teasing. No innuendo. Was I in the right suite?
Since he was still out in the living room, I left the vacuum in the bedroom and carried the bucket of cleaning supplies into his bathroom. I cleaned quickly, my mind hopping from topic to topic. There was a lot to think about. The housing application. My erotic experience last night. Theo’s big win. Grant’s change in demeanor.
As I was scrubbing the sink, I had to grin when I realized that not once had I thought about my class today. That was a first.
I was wiping the mirror with a microfiber cloth when I heard voices.
Cautiously, I peeked through the slit in the almost closed door, in case it was Bennett. But it wasn’t, it was Theo.
My first impulse was to go out there and congratulate him again, but something made me hesitate.
“Tell me,” Theo demanded to Grant.
“I don’t know.” Grant sounded tired and almost a little defeated. Had I ever heard him like that before?
“Yes, you do. You’re a goddamn Forsythe, you must know something.”
I’d certainly never heard Theo speak like that before. The anger in his voice worried me.
“Talk to Bennett,” Grant said.
“I’m asking you. You know, the guy who’s supposed to be my best friend?”
Wait, I thought Ian was his best friend. But all three were close, closer than I’d realized when I first moved in and usually only saw Grant with Bennett.
Movement caught my eye, and I realized I could see Grant reflected in the mirror by the door. He was sitting on the sofa facing forward this time, his shoulders slumped.
“Just tell me.” Theo said, quieter this time.
Grant sighed and pushed himself to his feet. “Okay. I made a call to my dad, after Bennett said that during the toast. I swear to god, Theo, I didn’t know.”
Know what?
Theo sank down into an armchair like a deflating balloon. His elbows rested on his thighs as he put his head in his hands. “This is the last thing I wanted.”
Grant walked over and put his large hand on Theo’s shoulder. “I know.”
For the life of me, I couldn’t recall what Bennett had said during the toast that had sounded suspicious to Theo and Grant. But… there had been those three bottles of champagne, already cold and in the refrigerator when Theo got the news. Did they always keep champagne in there? I honestly couldn’t remember.
“Fuck,” Theo muttered, but all the fire seemed to have gone out of him.
With surprising gentleness, Grant knelt down, practically folding his huge body in half to be eye-level with his friend. “You would’ve won anyway.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Yes, I do,” Grant insisted. “And so do you”
Finally, Theo looked up. His eyes were wet. “No, I don’t. I don’t know that—and now I never will.”
He let his head drop back in his hands and Grant shook his head, looking helpless. Then he glanced toward the door, catching my eye through the mirror. We exchanged a look, and at that moment, we were on the same page. He knew as well as I did how much Theo had wanted to win this contest as a way to prove to himself that he wasn’t someone who had to rely on family connections. And then it turned out that it was the friends of family connections he should’ve been worried about.
This sucked, and my heart ached for Theo.
After that, Theo was like a ghost when he was in the house. He’d obviously told Ian, and the two of them could often be seen talking quietly in the front room. Only around Bennett did Theo make an effort to seem normal, and I realized that he didn’t want Bennett to know that someone, presumably his senator father, had pulled some strings to rig the contest.
But Ian, Grant, and I knew, and we all did as much as we could to support our friend.
But there wasn’t much. He began staying out of the house more and I didn’t know what he was doing. Studying in the library? Drowning his sorrows in a bar? Forgetting his troubles in the arms of some lucky woman?
I had no claim to him, but I hoped it wasn’t that last one.
A week passed, and Theo wasn’t getting any better. He hadn’t even asked about my application for that housing stipend, which I’d managed to turn in an hour before the midnight deadline.
A couple times, I ran into Ian when I got back to the house, and if we had time, we’d have a quick lunch together. It was pleasant, but our conversation mostly consisted of concern for Theo
Grant even talked with me a few times, without his usual swagger. The only time he said anything even remotely suggestive, it was like an afterthought. Like he was going through the motions because it was expected of him.
The third time I passed him in the hallway without those vivid blue eyes even attempting to scan up and down my body, I stopped him. “Are you okay?”
He gave a faint smile, nodding. But he didn’t look okay. I maintained eye contact until he finally shrugged.
“My family fucks everything up even when they think they’re helping.”
That was all he said, but it was enough.
Somewhat to my surprise, my late-night chats with Night Owl continued. But they weren’t as frequent or as flirty as before, and we never talked about what had happened the night he made me come.
Did that mean that Night Owl was one of Theo’s friends who was subdued because he was concerned about the architecture students? Or maybe it meant Night Owl was Theo, and that our midnight chats were the only time he could get his mind off the contest.
I wished so badly that I knew.
Still, this wasn’t my problem to fix. Those three were the ones who’d been friends for years. And it was Grant’s family, and Bennett’s, that had caused the problem. This whole thing had nothing to do with me.
And yet… I couldn’t help wondering what I could do to help. There probably wasn’t anything, but I couldn’t stand to see Theo looking so down. I thought about it so hard that I kept zoning out in class, and once I opened a can of chili instead of dog food for Sunny.
A plan was forming in my mind. It was foolish, and probably wouldn’t help, but I couldn’t shake the idea once it had taken root in my brain.
It would require a lot of courage on my part. And some risk. And there was no guarantee it would even work.
But as the days wore on, the look of pain in his eyes—when he was actually home—got to me. So I decided to take the plunge.
I chose my moment as carefully as I could. With a casual inquiry to Ian, I found out which nights this week they’d be dining at home. He revealed that he, Grant, and Bennet would be eating out with some officers from another frat on Thursday.
“With Theo?” I asked.
Ian shrugged. “If he’ll come.” We both knew he wouldn’t.
Thursday night, after they’d left, I made my preparations. Theo was in his room—I’d heard a newscast playing from some device in there earlier. I’d never heard him listen to the news alone in his room before, but I was glad he was there.
In the upstairs bathroom, I looked in the mirror one more time. Adjusted my hair. Fixed a smudge near my eye.
It was time.
I wrapped my oversized dark blue robe around me as I cautiously climbed down the stairs and made my way slowly down the hall. Then I took a deep breath and knocked on Theo’s door. “Room service,” I called out.
The silence from his room made me apprehensive. Had he stepped out when I was upstairs? I knocked again.
Finally, his muffled voice reached me. “I’m not hungry.”
I frowned, but I’d mentally prepared for this possibility. I knocked again. “Please open up.”
The wait was longer this time, but then I heard footsteps. He flung the door open, irritation on his face. “Dammit, Hailey, I’m not in the mood—” He stopped abruptly, looking me up and down.
Slowly, I untied the belt of the robe, letting it fall. Then I opened the robe. It slid from my shoulders and dropped to the floor.
Theo’s eyes widened. “What the hell?”
I met his baffled gaze. “Can I come in?”