by Krista Wolf
“Hey yourself,” Hunter said. Was there a hint of sarcasm in his voice?
Colin squinted at me suspiciously over a bowl of oatmeal. That was his daily routine: oatmeal, sometimes with fruit. Never with sugar. Never with milk. It was his way.
“You uh, got anything to tell us?”
“Yeah,” I muttered. “But coffee first.”
I reached for the coffee pot. I saw two.
“Fine,” I said. “Claudia showed up here last night and—”
A pair of hands grabbed me by my shoulders and threw me up against the kitchen wall. Hunter jammed his face forward, his nose an inch from mine.
“We saw her leave,” he growled. “She said she slept in your room!”
I knocked his hands away. It was easy, even as strong as he was.
“She did.”
His expression was all anger. Rage. Jealousy.
Jealousy?
“We talked about this!” he screamed into my face. “We all agreed we wouldn’t hit on the pretty landlord, remember? Much less—”
“I didn’t!” I cried out. “I swear!” I winced as I moved a hand up to rub at my very stiff neck. “I slept on my own floor!”
“Yeah, sure you did,” sneered Colin, just as I glanced to him for help. The look he returned me was nothing but malice. “We know how you operate!”
I pushed… hard. Hunter went sprawling away from me, just as I took a step back to put some distance between us. Fraternity brothers or not, I was all through being nice. In fact—
All of a sudden Colin’s face cracked into a smile. He burst out laughing.
“Holy shit,” Hunter swore at him, totally incredulous. “Why the fuck did you do that? We had him!”
I stepped back again, wholly confused. They were both laughing now. Neither one of them realizing how close they’d come to getting swung at.
“We’re messing with you bro,” Hunter finally admitted. “Claudia told us everything about last night. Including her sleeping in your bed… alone.”
Relief crashed through me. My heart rate was still way up there though. My first workout of the morning.
“Next time wait until I’ve had some coffee,” I said grumpily, reaching for the pot with the dark stuff in it. I poured myself a big tall mug. “You could get yourself killed otherwise.”
“Yeah right,” Colin said, cracking his knuckles. His fading smile wasn’t convincing though. He knew the truth.
I glanced out the window, and saw that Claudia’s car was gone. “So where is she?”
“She ran home,” Hunter said. “To grab some clothes.”
“And you let her go by herself?”
“Relax big guy. Her ex works a double shift today. He’ll be gone by the time she gets there. We made her promise she’d turn around if he wasn’t.”
It might be true, but I still didn’t like it. I wished someone could’ve gone with her, especially after the condition she’d arrived in last night. Still, Colin had swim practice. I had endurance training. And Hunter had—
“She’s coming back tonight,” Colin said. “We invited her to stay another evening.”
That part made me happy. I liked Claudia a lot, and I absolutely loved the idea of having her in my bed. Even if I wasn’t in it.
“Sounds like she’s going to need more than just another evening,” I said.
Colin and Hunter looked at each other. Something passed between them, wordlessly.
“We were thinking the same thing,” said Colin. “In fact…”
“We were talking about asking her to stay here,” Hunter finished. “At least until she gets a place of her own.”
If they were trying to sell me on the idea, they sure didn’t have to. I was already more than sold.
“Of course,” I nodded. “Makes sense.”
“After all,” said Colin, “we do owe her.”
“She can stay in my room,” I volunteered. “I could—”
“No need,” Hunter smirked. “We cleared out the master, remember?”
Oh yeah…
My heart, which was soaring only a minute ago, took a little bit of a dive.
“Besides, why should you get her?” Colin quipped. “Why should she—”
“No one gets her,” Hunter jumped in. His eyes had gone dark now, his face deadly. “Seriously, no kidding. We need to be absolutely sure on this, before we do it.”
I wasn’t crazy about his tone, but the sentiment seemed genuine. It was a shame though. A damned shame.
“If she lives here with us we have to make her totally comfortable,” Hunter went on. “And that means no hitting on her. No sleeping with her. Nothing.”
“What if she hits on me?” I joked. But of course I was only half joking.
“NO bullshit,” Hunter warned sternly. As President of our fraternity, I knew he was used to being obeyed. I wondered how long it would last now that we were disbanded. “I mean it,” he went on. “If she decides to stay — which she might not — she’s completely off limits. Even more so than before.”
Colin and I looked at each other. Eventually we shrugged.
“Fine,” he said at last. “Platonic only. We’re all agreed?”
Hunter nodded. I nodded. Colin put his hand forward, palm down.
“Swear it with me,” he said. “We’re making a pact.”
“Pact,” said Hunter. He put out his hand.
“Pact,” said Colin.
I rubbed my chin. Winced.
“Brandon?”
My head was spinning. I could live with this girl. I could be good around this girl. But there’s no way I wasn’t flirting with this girl.
They didn’t have to know that, though.
“Alright,” I sighed finally. Reluctantly I thrust my hand forward and placed it over theirs. It was big enough to dwarf them both.
“Pact.”
Ten
CLAUDIA
Going back to the house was surreal. Like being at a stranger’s house. Like sneaking in, or breaking and entering.
It shouldn’t have felt that way. After all, it’d been less than 24 hours since I’d tearfully agreed to move out. Hell, I could go back on the promise if I really wanted to. Tell Garrett and his skeevy fiance to go fuck themselves.
No. You know that’s not the answer.
I entered slowly, calling out to make sure no one was home. Garrett’s car was gone, but I wasn’t sure about Chastity. As I moved from room to room, I felt like a catburglar. An interloper… in my own damned house.
All the more to reason to leave, the little voice in my head said. And the voice was right. This place hadn’t felt like my home in a long time.
I gathered my clothes first, stuffing most of my outfits into an over-sized bag. I took some shoes, a few coats, and anything personal. I grabbed my laptop from my office, and one or two trinkets from my little desk there. Then I hit the bathroom for my essentials.
I froze in the doorway. My stuff was gone.
Everything… from my toothbrush, to my flat iron, to my shampoo and conditioner in the shower stall — all of it was utterly gone. In its place were Chastity’s things; everything looking somewhat like my stuff but totally different. She’d moved in immediately. Taken my place. Garrett had let her sweep me off the bathroom counter and into the garbage — or wherever my stuff went — in less than a single day.
I wanted to cry.
Clenching my jaw, I got angry instead. I threw open the drawers, which only contained more of her stuff. Finally, at the very bottom, I located my makeup case. I took the small victory, noticing that she’d even swiped a few of my eyeliners and mascaras… shit, even my lip gloss.
Gross.
As I left the room my gaze shot back to the sink again. I could grab the hot pink handle of Chastity’s toothbrush. Scrub the fucking toilet with it. I could do Garrett’s too, get double the fun out of it.
In the end though I only walked away, taking the high road. Cleaning the toilet with that bitch’s too
thbrush would’ve been cathartic to say the least, but unfortunately, it just wasn’t in me.
I wandered back through the house in a daze, looking at everything one last time. The kitchen, where Garrett and I had hosted fun dinner parties. The living room, where we’d lounge around on Sundays binge-watching shows on TV. Memories flooded back; recollections of happier times filled with hope and ambition and what I always thought would be a future together. A life.
A lump formed in my throat.
Let it go…
In the end, closing the door was easier than I thought. There was nothing for me there anymore. Nothing but ghosts. I got in the car and wiped at my eyes. There were hardly even any tears.
Good.
I drove away blasting the radio, listening to the most cheerful station I could find. The lump in my throat slowly subsided. By the time I got back near the campus, I actually felt good. Strangely light and unencumbered.
With no classes to teach, I took the first half of the day to run errands. With the second half, I looked for a new place. The apartments complexes near the University were beautiful but expensive. Way out of my league. There were a few cheaper alternatives — renting out a single room, or the basement of a house — but those were too depressing to consider. At least on day one.
In the end I had a lot of information, phone numbers, and people to call back tomorrow. For tonight though, I wanted to relax. At least as much as someone homeless and nursing a bad breakup could relax, anyway.
It was dark by the time I turned back onto the campus. Pushing on the shiny new door handle I entered a house that was warm and welcoming — not at all like the construction site it had been these past few weeks. And clean too! Whatever my helpers were doing, they were certainly doing a lot of it.
The guys were waiting for me in the living room when I arrived. I found them lounging on a new set of leather couches, watching a large flat-screen television.
“You got the cable working!” I exclaimed happily.
They smiled warmly, each of them getting up to greet me with a hug. Brandon took my coat. Hunter handed me a glass of wine. It felt incredible, the human contact. Being around people who cared for and appreciated me, especially after the day I’d had, almost brought me to tears.
“TV’s all hooked up,” said Brandon. “And the internet.”
Colin pressed a piece of paper into my hand. “That’s the wi-fi password.”
“Uh… thanks.”
“We also got the locks changed,” said Hunter, “front and back.” He handed me a small ring of keys. “Here you go. We already made copies.”
They guided me over to one of the couches, which were soft and comfortable. Brandon sat on one side, Hunter on the other.
“You hungry?” asked Colin, clapping his hands together.
I couldn’t believe I hadn’t noticed it before; the delicious smell of something wafting in from the kitchen. Meat? Spices? Whatever it was, it set my mouth watering.
“Yes!” My stomach rumbled. I came to the odd realization hadn’t eaten all day.
“Good,” he winked, before disappearing into the kitchen. “Ten minutes!”
I sat there for a little while, just answering questions about my day. I was stunned by their hospitality. Overwhelmed by how nice they were being to me. Maybe it was just because they knew my predicament, but even if it was I didn’t care. It had been years since anyone had paid me this much attention. Much less three college hunks with gorgeous bodies, square-cut jaws, and just the right amount of stubble.
“You alright?” Hunter asked, when my wine glass was more than half empty. He placed his hand over mine.
“I am now,” I smiled.
“We were kind of worried about you,” said Brandon.
“Don’t be. I’m gonna be just peachy.”
They smiled back — genuinely rather than placatingly — as they refilled my glass. Already I could feel the heat from the wine flush in my cheeks. Sometime since I’d arrived, my head had stopped spinning. Being around the boys, my heart had stopped hurting too.
“Let’s eat!” Colin called out loudly from the other room.
Eleven
CLAUDIA
The meal was Italian — an entire, beautiful spread of steaming hot food. There was spaghetti with meatballs, garlic bread, salad, and some kind of sauteed pork that fell apart on the tines of my fork. Everything was absolutely delicious. I inhaled the meal rather than ate it, finishing almost my entire plate before wondering what I must look like.
“She wasn’t kidding,” laughed Brandon. The giant football player had already eaten about twice what I had. “Look at her go!”
Hunter frowned at him, probably more familiar with the etiquette of pointing out when a girl was chowing down hard in front of her hosts. But in truth that’s exactly what I was doing. There was really no hiding it.
“So you looked for a place?” Hunter asked, as more of a statement than a question.
I noticed he’d barely touched his food. And that he’d only taken a tiny portion of everything on his plate.
“I did the preliminaries mostly,” I replied. “Gathered some numbers. But the real search for a new home starts tomorrow.”
Hunter cleared his throat. He put down his silverware before folding his hands in front of him. “It doesn’t have to.”
I looked up. All three of them had stopped eating. They were staring at me now. I dropped my fork.
“What do you mean?”
“It’s simple,” said Hunter. “You live here.”
My eyebrows knitted together. I let out a tiny laugh of disbelief. “Yeah, right.”
“We’re serious,” Colin added. “You need a place, and we have a spare bedroom.”
I tiled my head in confusion. “The master?”
“Yup. All cleaned up. All cleared out.”
Brandon leaned forward. “We even threw in together and got you a bed,” he said with a grin. “Although the linens look like they were picked out by three fraternity brothers with the least amount of money possible.”
I gasped. Literally gasped. This was too much.
“I— I couldn’t…”
“Why not?” Hunter countered. “This is your project. The University wouldn’t care one bit that you stayed here while finishing it up.”
“It’s not that,” I said. “It’s—”
“Us?”
I grabbed for my wine and missed the glass. It almost tumbled over… but Brandon’s hand shot out and caught it just in time. His reflexes were amazing.
“Easy,” he smiled.
“You were gracious enough to let us stay here when you really didn’t have to,” Hunter continued. “The least we can do is return the favor. That is, if you wouldn’t mind living with three guys.”
Mind living with three guys? My stomach dropped into my feet just thinking about it. I looked from Hunter to Brandon to Colin. Holy shit.
“We can get a little messy at times, and Brandon stinks like hell when he gets back from practice…”
“He stinks like hell before practice,” Colin jumped in.
“But for the most part—”
“It’s not any of that,” I said quickly. “Not at all. It’s just…”
“What? Spit it out, then.”
“It’s just…”
“You’re a teacher?” Brandon offered. “And you can’t live with your students?”
“It’s not that either!” I said quickly. “I’m an adjunct professor, contracted privately. I can live with whoever I want. Not that any of you are in my classes anyway. Hell I could date all three of you and they couldn’t say sh—”
I stopped mid-sentence, realizing what I’d just said. All three guys were smiling at me. Grinning like Cheshire cats.
“Oh please,” I laughed, trying to lighten the mood. “The three of you couldn’t even handle me.”
“Yeah right,” Hunter smirked. He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms confidently. It was a sexy
confidence too. “But please. Go on. You were about to tell us why you can’t live here with us.”
Yes Claudia, the little voice chuckled. Why exactly can’t you live with these three handsome young gentlemen?
I drew in a long, deep breath. “You wouldn’t want to live with me,” I said. “I’d only cramp your style.”
All three of them looked at each other quizzically. “Did she just say ‘cramp our style’?” Colin laughed.
“I think so,” said Brandon. “I haven’t heard that phrase since—”
“You know what I mean,” I told them. “I’m a girl. You’re three fraternity guys. Do the math.”
“Ex-fraternity guys,” Brandon pointed out.
“Fine, ex-fraternity. It’s still the same. You wouldn’t want me here. I’d clutter up your bathroom with skin-care products. Clog your drain with hair, and then I’d—”
“Oh stop it,” Hunter said, letting his chair crash forward again. “No more bullshit. You want to keep looking for another place while you stay here? That’s fine. But for now you’re taking the master bedroom, and that’s that.” He uncrossed his arms and pointed at me, one corner of his mouth curled into a grin. “Like it or not, you’re one of us now.”
His assertiveness knocked me back a little. I found myself suddenly eager to obey.
“The displacements?” I joked.
All three of them laughed. “The displacements!” They looked at each other merrily. “Holy fuck, that’s good.”
“Thanks,” I blushed.
“The displacements it is,” Hunter said decisively. “Besides, living here keeps you right on your project. You’ll finish the house even faster this way. And we’ll help.”
A warm, contented feeling surged through me. Part of it was relief at actually having a place to stay. A place to recover.
The other part was the sheer, unadulterated joy of being wanted again.
“Y—You really got me a bed?” I asked, the lump back in my throat again. Suddenly I was all choked up.
“Pillows and everything,” Brandon winked.
“Wait ‘till you see it,” Colin smiled.
I swallowed hard. Looking out over the food, feeling the warmth and camaraderie between the three of them, I could suddenly see the appeal of being in a fraternity. Of having brothers. Family. People who look out for you.