Chapter 10
Gale
I could tell by the heated look in Baron’s eyes that the chicks at Sugar Babes tonight were pressing all his buttons.
The fuck-me-daddy button.
The dear-Jesus-what-a-ditz button.
The maybe-we-can-tape-her-mouth-shut button.
The chances of him actually saying anything, though, were slim to none.
Baron might grunt, but he rarely talked, especially to females.
And most of these were annoying the shit out of him.
If something didn’t change, I was going to be doing damage control before the night was over, sure as God made little green apples.
I snapped my fingers in his face, grabbing his attention. “Hey. Did we ever get a roommate for that fourth room in our quad?” I asked, referencing a notice we’d gotten a week ago letting us know that another roommate was a possibility.
Our final year at Chandler U was well underway, and so far the fourth and final room in our quad dorm remained empty, taunting us with the potential of a stranger coming in and upsetting the perfect balance we’d crafted over the past three years.
We were friends and allies, had seen each other through one-night stands and longer, drama-filled relationships, grueling athletic seasons, and classes we thought would break us.
None of us had the bandwidth to break in a newbie at this stage in the game.
“Not that I’m aware,” Baron answered, frowning. “I’m hoping they just forget the room’s empty. We don’t need anyone else.”
Ezra, our third roommate, peered across the table at me and took a swig of his beer. “Maybe we could turn it into a sex room.”
Ezra had been spacey all night, looking all over the place for one girl in particular and on edge because he wasn’t finding her.
Baron snorted. “Fuck that. I’m off women for a while.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “I have a hard time seeing you turn celibate just because of a break-up.” Baron had dated a girl for most of our junior year, only to have her dump him in spring semester.
He was being philosophical about it, and he was well-aware she was a money-hungry bitch, but I think it had hurt him more than he was letting on.
He rolled his eyes my way at my statement. “I didn’t say anything about being celibate. I just said I’m off women.”
“Uh…” Ezra scratched his head.
Baron drew in a deep, impatient sigh. “I just mean I’m happy to fuck ‘em, but… fuck ‘em , you know? No dating. No getting close or any of that other shit girls like. They can get that somewhere else.”
“Ah.” I nodded. “Whatever.”
“No texting all hours of the day, or meet the parents, or anything else.”
“Mm.”
“I mean it.” His gaze grew distant as it snagged on something at the other end of the bar. I followed its trajectory.
Or someone, rather.
Baron’s attention had been caught by one of Sugar Babes’ waitresses, a fun-sized blonde with pink-tipped hair. I met Ezra’s eyes across the table and tipped my chin at her with a wry grin. “So, it’s bros before hoes, right, Baron?” Ezra’s gaze found the girl and sharpened, growing intent.
Ah. This must be the one.
“Hmm?” His beer sloshed over the rim of the glass as he turned back to us with a start.
“Dicks before chicks. Let’s make a pact.”
“What kind of pact?”
He was still sober enough that the question emerged with all suspicion. I didn’t blame him. I was far chattier than usual. Alcohol always loosened me up a little.
I leaned forward, resting my forearms on the table.
“Relax. I’m not suggesting that we don’t fuck when the need arises. I’m just saying we keep our eyes on the goal this year. Avoid the R word.”
“And the R word is?” Ezra asked, leaning forward in his chair.
I huffed a laugh. Ezra was probably the most intelligent of the three of us, but his genius lay more in math and statistics than linguistics. “Relationships, dude.”
“Ah, yes.” Baron nodded. “Okay, that’s cool. I can do that. If I had to give up fucking, that would be a total no-go, but relationships? Sure.”
“Ez?” I swung my gaze to him. “You in?”
He shrugged, still staring at the waitress. “I mean, I’m definitely going to be fucking. But that’s kind of been my life for the past three years anyway. Don’t see why anything needs to change now.”
“So, what are we gonna do if Chandler sends us a roommate?” Baron asked.
I squinted. “That has nothing to do with this. Unless he wants in, of course, and then he’s welcome.”
“We could always be dicks?” Ezra offered. “Try to make his life so miserable he just leaves?”
Baron raised an eyebrow. “The idea has merit…”
“I’m always a dick,” I said.
“This is true,” Ezra said. “You carry on as usual.”
My gaze drifted back to the pink-haired pixie.
She leaned over a nearby table, collecting empties and replacing them with new bottles of brew.
One of the guys sitting at the table leaned back in his chair to blatantly check her ass out, stretching his hand out to slide it as close to her skin in its tiny plaid skirt as he could get without actually touching her.
Asshole.
Something about his smug, entitled leer and his greedy hand hovering near the girl’s pretty stretch of barely visible cheek and thigh made me want to smash his face in. In my lap, my fist clenched on air.
“You cool?”
I looked over at Ezra’s question, relaxing my hand. His eyes were too knowing.
Get it together, Gale.
“I’m fine.” I was done with fighting with my fists.
I used my words now. Raised in the foster care system, I’d been a scrapper until I met Baron, and his family took me in.
It had taken a while until I’d relaxed enough to trust I could be done with that and settled into pursuing academics and sports.
I shook my head and stood, tossing a few bills onto the table. I wasn’t going to blow it now with a fight over some chick I didn’t even know.
“I’m gonna head back, guys.” They protested, and I raised a hand, stopping them. “Nah, I have a paper to write. Stay, enjoy yourselves. I’ll see you later.”
With a wave, I headed out.
The last thing I needed was some pink-haired pixie making me feel shit I didn’t want to feel.
Find out what happens when that pink-haired pixie turns out to be the new roommate mistakenly assigned to Baron, Gale, and Ezra's quad dorm in Bad Neighbors .
Will their loose pact to avoid relationships tighten or fall apart? And will Jude be able to trust anyone ever again after her past betrayals?