Chapter 6
“Why are we here again?” I asked for probably the third time. It wasn’t fair, and I needed to stop. We had only been at the Omega house for the last fifteen minutes, and I genuinely needed to make the best out of the situation.
I was there for her.
Tere was crushing on someone, and as a good friend, I needed to be supportive.
“Because,” she started to say, and I could tell by the look on her face it was going to be something sassy.
My lips started to twitch in anticipation for whatever remark she was going to drop, when I noticed how she looked beyond me at the backyard in front of us.
The scent of chlorine mingled in the air from the pool.
My body stilled.
I watched in slow motion as her face changed.
I tried to process what I was taking in.
A twinge of fear, maybe worry, flashed in her dark burnt-caramel eyes before it was replaced by genuine interest and something else.
Something that felt too intimate to watch.
I glanced to see who had her wearing her heart on her sleeve, when she hardly ever even smirked at a guy.
My eyes moved in the direction and suddenly, something ugly ran through my veins when I noticed the elevator guy from today walking towards us.
Laundry guy was coming towards me.
No, not towards me. Us. I glanced at Tere to get a clue about what was going on, but that slightly hazed expression was still on her face. Ooh my god, is he walking to her? Is he the guy she has been crushing on?
A knot formed so suddenly in the middle of my throat it felt like I couldn’t take a whole breath in.
Like my lungs had suddenly filled with thick, slimy goop.
I looked away and back at her and hated how quickly the green-eyed monster of jealousy took hold of me.
Mine, the sex-depraved creature inside me protested, but I brushed her away.
I wasn’t the boy-crazy kind of girl who would ever try to steal a guy from another girl, much less my best friend and roommate.
But at the loss of it, the realization that the guy who I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about all day long could be someone else’s, another realization hit.
I’d have to watch him with her.
Oh god, that would hurt so bad! I was surprised my knees hadn’t buckled beneath me. I had no idea why the pain was so visceral, so deep. Why was I being so dramatic? It made no sense. I didn’t even know his name!
I called him Laundry Guy in my head, for goodness sake!
Feeling like I was, was not like me. Oh gosh, I was losing it. To my horror, unshed tears started to sting the backs of my eyes. Stop being such a drama queen! Geez, I had to get out of here.
“Hey, Tere, I’m not feeling good…” I started to say, hating the way my heartrate had elevated and the butterflies I’d felt all day long suddenly were sinking in acid in the pit of my gut. “I think I should—“
“Teresa,” a deeper voice called, cutting me off. That voice most definitely didn’t belong to the laundry guy. My head whipped up to see a different guy, one somehow bigger than the laundry guy, approaching Tere.
“You,” she mumbled, making a look of disgust.
Only… it wasn’t really believable.
I knew her. This wasn’t someone she didn’t like. She might be annoyed with him, but the sparkle in her dark gaze, the way it swept down his chest to his lips before making eye contact, made it obvious she was into him.
“Who is your friend?” he asked politely
“None of your business,” she said with a punch that didn’t really feel genuine.
“Really?” He chuckled, unfazed by her attitude. My eyes grew wide when instead of walking away, he tagged her hand and pulled her into him. “You don’t think your friend should meet your man?”
“My man,” she whispered, and I could have sworn steam came out of her ears. His head dropped down, and he whispered something into her ear low enough for her to only hear, then her body suddenly relaxed into his and her cheeks tinged pink.
“That’s not nice, Teresa,” he said with a smirk. My eyes bounced between them. They looked… good together. Maybe not exactly who I would have seen Tere with, but they worked. Both tanned and toned from their athletic lifestyles, not to mention beautiful.
“Sadie, meet Jeremy.” Her smile was tight, but she didn’t move from his side. “He’s my…”
“Man?” I guessed. Her guy smiled broader, and she sighed.
“Sure, he’s my something, all right,” she said sarcastically. “Huge pain in my—“ He gave her a look that made her roll her eyes. “Anyhow, Jeremy, this is my roommate and best friend, Sadie.” I blinked, not sure what was happening between them.
Her man? Her something? Oh, boy, I knew there was a story to this! Tere might have dated, but it was never anything as serious as a boyfriend.
“Nice to meet you, Sadie.” The big, beefed-up guy extended a hand to me. I was about to shake it, when I heard a growl behind me.
I turned, and there he was.
The guy of my dreams.
The one and only man on campus who made my heart flutter like crazy. My laundry guy.
“It’s you,” I whispered, and the hardness in his gaze softened.
“It’s me.” He winked. Jeremy cleared his throat.
“It was very nice to meet you, Sadie.” His voice softened. “Hope you don’t mind if I steal Teresa for a little while?”
“Tere,” she corrected. I pressed my lips together. She doth protest too much, I thought to myself.
“Tere,” he said, his voice softer than before. My brows shot up to almost my hairline as I watched as my tough-as-nails roommate literally melted into his side. “She and I are going to head inside. Wanna show my girl off. I think you can understand that.”
“Right,” I mumbled, giving Tere a look that she had a LOT of explaining to do.
“But it’s okay with you?” Jeremy added, his tone completely genuine, taking both Tere and me by surprise. “I just mean, are you going to be okay?”
“She’s perfectly safe,” Laundry Guy said, and before I knew it, Tere waved bye while mouthing she would be right back, before turning and disappearing into the huge frat house. The place was enormous. It wasn’t my first time here, but every time, the mini-McMansion took me by surprise.
Not that I was solely focused on the architecture of the frat house. Nope. I was just trying not to stare at my laundry guy so hard I might start drooling. He cleared his throat, and I turned to face him. His eyes were locked on me, a lot like earlier when he’d held the door open for me.
“Are you an Omega?” I blurted, hating how seriously terrible I was at small talk.
“No. Not really my thing.” I nodded.
“Oh, cool. Cool,” I muttered, feeling anything but. A breeze picked up, and I shivered.
“You cold?” he asked with a ferocity that took me off guard since we didn’t know one another’s names.
“Oh no.” I shook my head. “Umm, I’m—” My tongue was suddenly too big for my mouth as he, without missing a beat, pulled his hoodie up and over his head in that weird overly complicated way guys did, leaving him in a hunter-green henley that fit his upper body perfectly. Holy crap, he was built.
“Here.” He stepped closer.
Not only to hand me the thing, but to dress me in it.
I wasn’t sure how a guy his size could be that fast and graceful. Some people have all the luck, I thought to myself, almost snorting. I could barely walk in a straight line and was lucky if I didn’t end up with a new bruise at the end of the week for somehow bumping or stumbling into something.
“Let me fix the hem,” he said quietly, moving closer. It felt like the air seized from my lungs when he kneeled in front of me. With our size difference, this was the only easy way he had to dress me.
Holy shit, he is dressing me!
How the hell did this happen?!
“Oh, I can do that! Umm…” My fingers brushed his, and it felt like a zip of lightning and heat rushed through me. “Shit.” I pulled my hand back and watched as his jaw clenched, but his eyes were no longer on me.
“I’m sorry, did I shock you?” The words slipped past my lips before I could think to stop them. He simply grunted, pulling the hoodie down and fixing the hem that went lower than the brown corduroy skirt Tere had picked out for me to wear. Still kneeled in front of me, he caught my eyes with his.
“Better?” he asked, and I nodded.
“Are you sure I didn’t hurt you?” I asked, but he simply shook his head, and something came over me.
This overwhelming need to talk and keep some kind of conversation plowed through me.
“It could be because of the metal from the, umm, grommets of the pull ties of the hoodie.” I patted said grommets.
“That right?”
“That with the pool and the grass, well, the turf. Static electricity and what not.” I sounded like a rambling, bumbling idiot.
But for some reason, he wasn’t looking at me like he thought I did.
Nope. He looked at me like he thought I was cute. I glanced down at myself and frowned. He probably thinks I’m cute in the way otters and puppies are cute. Great.
His sweater was massive on me. I probably looked like a kid wearing their parents’ clothes. If you saw me from far away, I was pretty sure it looked like all I was wearing was a Diamond Serpent baseball hoodie. Did that mean he was a baseball player?
“Better?” He stood up to his full height, and I had to take a deep breath to get my bearings.
“Yeah, thanks. That was really nice of you.” My stupid nervous energy got the better of me.
“I’m Jason,” he introduced himself, taking my hand in his without asking permission. Naturally, I shook it back.
“I’m Sadie.”
“Sadie.” He said my name with a reverence I wasn’t sure could be faked. “You want a drink, Sadie, or—“
“Umm, I have this. Thanks, though.” I lifted the red Solo cup in my hand, and he nodded.
Not that I was going to drink it. My cheeks flushed with heat.
As much as I didn’t want to leave and really wanted to get to know Jason a little better, maybe ask if he played for the baseball team since that’s the sweater he’d put on me, I needed to get out of Dodge before I said something nerdy again.