Additional Suckage
Lavender
Present day
THE NEXT MORNING I get up early and make a stop at the student housing department so I can get myself on the list for a dorm room.
It might be a long shot, but it certainly won’t happen if I don’t try.
Turns out, there’s a pretty extensive waiting list, but if I don’t mind shared accommodations, I have a better chance.
At this point, I’ll take about anything other than a cardboard box.
Unfortunately, when I head over to the registrar’s office right after, I’m even less successful.
Apparently I need the macroeconomics course, and switching it to next semester isn’t an option unless I’d like to lose my elective.
At least it’s only once a week. I guess it’s a good thing I stuck around for the quiz, although I don’t have much faith that I’ve managed to pass it.
As the week unfolds, I’m glad to report that the rest of my classes are awesome. So the upside is that I get macroeconomics out of the way at the beginning of the week. The downside is that the coursework for that is going to take me more hours than I would like to complete.
On Friday, the house starts filling up with random people early in the afternoon. It’s a gorgeous day and still gloriously warm as we approach the last week of August. By three o’clock, girls upon girls in skimpy bikinis are draped all over my brothers and their hockey and football friends.
Fortunately, I have plans to meet Josiah for coffee, and Lovey and Lacey are still trying to persuade me to come to their party. I pass through the kitchen, stopping to toss a few snacks in my backpack on my way out the door.
Two of River’s teammates—they immediately announce that they’re football players—start chatting up my boobs. Granted, I’m wearing a sundress that draws attention to them, but still, they don’t even attempt to keep their eyes above my neck.
The beefcake on the right belches loudly and skims one of my straps. “You got a bikini on under there?”
I shake my head and shift away from his unwelcome contact. His nails have dirt under them, which is nasty. I glance around, hoping one of my brothers will appear and tell this guy to back off. I usually keep to myself and my room when they have a lot of people over.
Instead of Maverick or River coming to my rescue, Kodiak pushes his way between the two beefcakes and slings an arm over each of their shoulders. A beer bottle dangles from his fingers and his eyes slide over me, expression full of disdain. “Who let you out of your ivory tower?”
I roll my eyes and flip him the bird.
The football players laugh, and the one on the right smirks at his friend. “I like this one.”
Kodiak’s lip twitches. “There’s a do-not-touch policy on this one, so find another set of tits to eye-fuck.
” He tips his beer back, draining half of it in one long gulp, his gaze still trained on me.
He swipes the back of his hand across his mouth as he steps forward, into my personal space.
My heart rate kicks up, and my breath gets trapped in my lungs—like I’m stuck underwater.
Kodiak’s hard glare stays locked with mine as he bends down, our noses almost brushing.
His breath smells like beer and more faintly of something sweet.
His fingertips glide up my arm and wrap around the back of my neck, his thumb sweeping up the side, causing goose bumps to rise on my skin.
He tips his head, bringing his mouth to my ear.
“Still such an attention seeker, aren’t you?
You should leave before you embarrass yourself. ” He drops his hand and steps back.
“I hate you.” I spin around and head for the front door.
“Keep telling yourself that until it’s true,” he calls after me.
In the driveway, I run into River, who’s arriving home from practice. He nods to the backpack slung over my shoulder. “I thought you didn’t have class today.”
“I don’t. I’m meeting a friend from my costume and set design class, and then I’m probably going to meet up with Lovey and Lacey.”
He rubs the scar under his bottom lip, which almost matches mine.
Except his teeth went through his bottom lip when he was playing football.
Mine is from a childhood panic attack during which I bit my lip hard enough that I should have had stitches.
But I’d already been so traumatized, my parents didn’t want to risk taking me to the hospital.
“You’re gonna stay there tonight?” he asks.
“Maybe.” I hadn’t planned on it, although I also hadn’t planned on dealing with Kodiak, either, so I’m leaving my options open.
“Okay, might be a good idea. Based on the noise level already, it’s gonna get rowdy here, and Lovey and Lacey’s place is chill.”
In other words, he won’t have to worry about making sure I’m okay or comfortable.
River takes my bag and unlocks the car door. Sometimes he can be ridiculously kind and thoughtful. He pulls me into a hug so tight, it’s nearly suffocating. “I’m sorry about the party. Message later so I know you’re safe, okay?”
“Yeah, of course.”
He waits until I pull out of the driveway before he goes inside.
What the hell have I signed up for this semester? And how much of Kodiak can I tolerate before I break?
I meet Josiah at the quad. He greets me with a hug and huge smile. “How was your first week?”
“Goodish. Good. I made it through, so that’s what counts.”
His right eyebrow lifts above his black-rimmed glasses. “Uh-oh, goodish sounds more like not good.”
“It was okay.” Cue internal eye roll. No one likes a Negative Nancy. “Living with my brothers is an adjustment.”
“Ah, right. Maverick seemed all right, though?” It’s posed as a question.
I fall into step beside him. “He’s the easier of the two for sure, but he plays hockey for the school team, and my twin plays football, so it’s jock central there right now.”
Josiah makes a face. “Oh man, that sounds like the opposite of your jam.”
“Uh, yup, pretty much. The dudebros are bad enough, but the girls are the worst. It’s desperation nation over there. When I left, there had to have been about twenty girls in thong bikinis wandering around the backyard.”
“What about the shirtless jocks?” He waggles his brows.
“They’re nice to look at, as long as they don’t open their mouths and speak to me.” My cheeks flush at the memory of River’s football friends chatting up my chest before I left.
“There has to be at least a few of them who aren’t total dirtbags, though, right?”
“Probably—not that it matters. There’s zero chance I’d ever date one of those guys.”
“Who says you have to date?” He gives me a knowing smirk.
I scrunch my nose. “You mean hook up with one of them?”
“Sure. Why not? Those guys have great bodies and wicked stamina.”
“My twin would murder any of his teammates who so much as looked at me the wrong way, so a hookup is out of the question, and also not my style.”
“Hmm . . . I can see how that might be a problem, then.” Josiah opens the door to the Identity and Inclusion Center. It’s marked with a safe space symbol. “Well, if you ever need a wingman at one of those house parties, you let me know. I’ll be the Goose to your Maverick.”
“Oh my God, you did not reference Top Gun.”
“The opening was there. How could I not? My mom watched that movie all the freaking time.”
“So did mine.”
“I used to fantasize about Goose and Maverick hooking up in the locker room.”
“But Goose’s mustache.” I scrunch my nose.
“A little tickle for your pickle.” Josiah waggles his brows and I burst out laughing.
“Anyway, I was obsessed with that movie for a while, and fighter planes, but mostly with young Tom Cruise.” He makes a heart with his fingers and holds it up to his chest.
“Here’s an interesting fact: My mom was on a Tom Cruise kick when she was pregnant with Maverick.”
“So she named him after the character in the movie?”
“That she did. There are conflicting stories about who picked mine and River’s names, but he most definitely drew the short straw. I mean, River Waters?”
“River?” His eyes flare and he coughs once before he says, “That’s a movie star name.”
“He’s pretty enough to be one, and moody too.” I take in the very cool, very open lounge area. Students congregate in small groups, seated on couches and chairs.
A group standing by the pool tables waves Josiah over, and I’m introduced to his friends. They’re easy to talk to, welcoming me in. Which means I’ve made my first genuine friends here.
That night, I stay over at Lacey and Lovey’s.
The sleepover is both a good and bad idea.
Good, because it means I don’t have to deal with my brothers’ jock friends.
Bad because I end up getting drunk and developing a horrible case of verbal diarrhea.
I’m almost positive I bitched about Kodiak to some random guy who may or may not have been flirting with me.
Post-night with Lovey and Lacey, I do everything I possibly can to avoid running into Kodiak.
It’s not all that difficult. I can hang out with Josiah and his friends between classes.
I spend time with Lovey and Lacey at the café.
I study anywhere but at home, which means I find all the best, quietest spots in the library, and I eat an unprecedented amount of dry cereal and granola bars as a result.
It’s hellishly inconvenient, but it also means I don’t have to deal with my brothers or any of the other shit that comes with living with two guys who throw a lot of parties and have a constant rotation of embarrassingly desperate women in the house.
Regardless, I’m managing, and I’ve made a few friends of my own, so those are all wins and what I’m trying to focus on—at least until I get the pop quiz back from macroeconomics class.
Of course I’ve failed. With 25 percent. The note at the bottom of my test suggests I visit student services and set up tutoring to help me with the basics, since this test is the foundation for the rest of the semester.