by Lily White
Although I should have given a shit that Professor Thornton would notice my behavior, I was too irritated to care.
My fingers kept a death grip on the strap of my bag as I stormed from the classroom to wait in the hallway.
Clayton met me by the door a few minutes later, apology written into the expression of his face.
“It was a no go,” he said, an arm reaching out to catch me around the waist and pull me toward him.
“Thornton said the assignments were computer generated, completely random, and every student is stuck with whatever senior they were assigned. I couldn’t get into the program to attempt to manually change it. They have this particular project locked down tight.”
The universe hated me apparently.
Melting against his strong chest, I breathed in the scent of his cologne, wishing like hell that it would jumpstart my heart.
I should have wanted Clayton, should have been thrilled to be dating a man that was walking into a bright future, but still there was only a tiny burst of speed in my pulse to be near him. Nothing like what I felt anytime Tanner snuck into my thoughts.
What the hell was wrong with me? How was I going to work side by side with a man I wanted, but at the same time hated?
“Thanks for trying,” I finally answered.
Clayton kissed the top of my head, finally letting me go enough that he could look down at my face.
“He’s not that bad. And I doubt what he did at the bonfire will happen again. Tanner doesn’t pay attention enough to remember any girl, even the ones he’s slept with. I doubt he’ll remember yelling at you the first night you met, or what happened at the gauntlet party. Just give him a call and see if you can schedule to meet in public, if that will make you feel better.”
The only thing that would make me feel better was to be assigned to another senior partner, but considering that wasn’t going to happen, the only option I had was to call Tanner and get this over with.
Saying goodbye to Clayton, I walked out of the building into the bright sunshine and took a seat on a bench beneath a tall maple tree, its leaves a brilliant array of color now that we were edging into the fall season.
Winter would be coming soon, the temperatures dropping as quickly as the leaves from the trees.
Pulling my phone and the slip of paper with my assignment from my bag, I dialed Tanner’s number, a deep sigh blowing over my lips as I brought the phone to my ear.
At the sound of the first ring, my heart jumped into my throat, anxiety riding my body so hard pain shot across my muscles and bones.
“What?”
A deep tenor voice cut across the line in answer, annoyance obvious in his tone.
My first instinct was to hang up, quit the class and possibly change school just to escape the asshole who couldn’t be bothered with a polite greeting when answering his phone, but I’d be damned to give up my future over a man who enjoyed treating people like crap.
If Tanner wanted to play who could be the biggest asshole, I was ready to straighten my spine, roll back my shoulders and show him I wouldn’t be just another person he could intimidate.
I’d fight back.
Because, seriously, fuck that guy.
“Hi, Tanner. This is Luca Bailey. I’m calling because –“
A huff of breath blew over the line before, “Be here at six tonight.”
The line went dead after that. I pulled the phone from my ear to look at the screen, my eyes blinking several times as I processed what happened.
Apparently, Clayton had been wrong. Tanner did remember me, not just by face, but by name as well. He didn’t sound too happy to be assigned to this project with me.
That made two of us, and even though I wanted to call him back and refuse to show up at his place at the time he’d demanded, I thought better of it.
Starting a battle with him was a bad idea on its own, but to do it while having to work with him on a project I needed to ace in order to keep up my perfect GPA was just plain stupid.
I wasn’t sure how I was going to work with him, but I’d figure something out.
Pushing up to my feet, I headed toward my dorm, definitely not thinking about what I would wear to see Tanner, because it didn’t matter, right?
Right.
That’s the lie I told myself.
. . .
I arrived at the Inferno mansion a few minutes before six. Punctuality was one of my brags in life, a habit I adhered to thanks to having been raised in the South.
Being early or late was considered impolite, and even being here with time to kill awoke my mother’s admonishing voice in my head about my upbringing and manners.
Normally, I would have hung back and busied myself on my phone in order to pass the time until I was due to arrive, but I knew manners were a foreign concept in the Inferno house. I wasn’t about to extend the courtesy to Tanner when I knew he had no plans to extend the same courtesy to me.
Dressed in a pair of skinny jeans that defined the curves of my generous hips and ass, and a black pullover sweater that kept the chill out while hanging low enough to highlight the dip of my collarbones and just enough cleavage to still be modest, I ran up the large steps of the front entry and stalked toward the wooden doors.
The doorbell inside chimed as soon as I hit the button, my foot tapping with nervousness and impatience while I waited for someone to answer.
As soon as the door swung open, a man I didn’t recognize stared down at me with the scent of pot smoke wafting out from behind him. I locked eyes with him and wondered who he was. How it was possible that every man I met in this damn place was absolutely gorgeous?
I remembered from my comparative religion classes in undergrad that Satan was believed to present himself as the most beautiful man in existence. I had no doubt that was true. Tanner fit the bill perfectly. But I was beginning to learn it was also true that his demons were just as beautiful.
Taller than me by several inches, he had broad shoulders and a trim waist, the white shirt and loose jeans he wore doing nothing to hide his athletic physique. With dirty blond hair that was a mess around his face, and brown eyes flecked with gold, he glared at me as if annoyed I’d dared interrupt whatever the hell it was he was doing.
I gave him the friendliest smile I could manage.
“Hi. I’m Luca Bailey. I’m here to see Tanner. We’re working together on a-“
The guy grunted out a laugh and swung the door open wider, his body spinning on his heel to walk away without one word in response to my introduction.
Swinging out an arm, he pointed to the left, as if I should know what he was telling me, and stalked off in the opposite direction.
While he disappeared into a room on my right, music blasting from that direction interlaced with several deep voices, I hung a left, feeling hella uncomfortable wandering the mansion by myself.
I tried to ignore the way my shoulders ached with tension and my damn heart rate was jumping so high I suspected I was dangerously close to having a stroke. The last thing I wanted to do was turn a corner and walk into a room where I was neither invited nor wanted, but this was the direction the nameless guy had pointed, so I assumed Tanner had to be found in one of these large rooms.
The house was a maze as I slowly crept down a long hallway with rooms opening up on either side of me.
Traveling deeper into the heart of the home, I eventually found myself standing in a large kitchen, designer steel appliances glimmering beneath the bright inset lighting.
Over the large center island, a grouping of pendant lights hung from the ceilings, their glass shades all different colors that offset the white cabinets, black countertops and deep red-brown of the wood flooring.
All by my lonesome in the room, I turned around and returned the way I came, my eyes peeking into several rooms as I passed them, confusion clouding my thoughts because there wasn’t a single person to be found on this side of the house.
Eventually I made it back to th
e entry foyer and decided to head in the direction of the music, hopeful that one of the men I could hear talking from that direction would give me a better idea of where to find Tanner.
Turning a corner, I stopped in place when I found four men seated on a cluster of couches, their faces partially concealed by the heavy smoke that was lingering in the air, four sets of eyes turning in my direction as soon as I stepped closer to them.
Standing in the room was giving me a contact high.
“Uh,” I stammered, instantly recognizing two of the men as Ezra and Damon Cross. Remembering Clayton’s warning to stay the hell away from them, I turned to the guy who’d answered the door with the hope that he could give me better directions than the swing of his arm and a dismissive grunt.
“I’m looking for-“
“Who do you belong to?”
The surly voice belonged to the fourth man sitting in the room, his grey eyes giving me the once over before returning to my face. I didn’t recognize him at all and wondered if he was one of the group who lived here, or a friend who just happened to stop by.
“I’m looking for Tanner,” I said, my voice not as strong as I’d hoped it would be. “And I don’t belong-“
Doorguy spoke up in response, his eyes tiny slits, the whites bloodshot from the pot they were smoking.
“I told you where to find him.”
They all looked at each other and back to me, their brows pulling together between their eyes like I was some random idiot who had wandered into their home to disrupt their lives.
It was pissing me off.
“Actually, you didn’t. I went in the direction you pointed, but that side of the house was empty.”
Silence met me, their stares locked to my face as I fidgeted in place. I let out a heavy sigh. I needed to speak to someone who knew me.
“Is Gabriel around?”
Why was it that Gabriel could pop up at the most inconvenient times around campus, but wasn’t anywhere to be seen in the moment I actually needed him?
“You belong to Gabriel? I thought you were looking for Tanner.”
“I’m looking for…wait…okay, first, I don’t belong to anyone…” What the hell did that even mean? “And second, I’m looking for either of them.”
They all looked at each other again, a smirk stretching the lips of the guy I didn’t recognize.
Seeing that this was getting me nowhere, I asked, “What about Jase? Is he around?”
“Damn, girl. Jase too?”
This time it was Ezra who spoke up, his dark brown hair slicked back from his face.
Turning to his twin brother, he asked, “Since when do the three of them share?”
Damon turned to me without answering his brother.
“At the same time?”
My eyes opened wider when I understood what he was asking.
“What? No. Not at the same time. None at a time. I’m just looking for someone that can tell me-“
I hadn’t noticed that Doorguy had pulled out a phone.
“Hey, Gabriel. There’s some chick here claiming she’s looking for you, Tanner and Jase for a foursome. Since when do you fuckers team up?”
Aggravation rolled down my spine, my teeth grinding together as my eyes snapped to the asshole on the phone.
“I’m not interested in a foursome, I’m here because-“
“It’s impressive she can take on all three at once,” Ezra bumped Damon’s shoulder, a look exchanged between them before they both turned to stare at me.
Having those two sets of eyes locked to my face caused instinct to flare to life inside me, the instantaneous reaction of knowing you were being faced down by two predators.
Turning to them, I ignored the way the hair lifted on the back of my neck, my skin bristling with apprehension. Despite the reaction, I wasn’t happy with the assumption they were making.
“I don’t do anything with all three of them at once. I’m here because –“
“Doesn’t it hurt after a while?”
“Maybe not,” Ezra answered for me. “Porn stars do that shit all the time.”
My left eye twitched, my gaze snapping back to the guy on the phone.
“Can I talk to Gabriel?”
“What the fuck is going on in here?”
At the sound of a deep tenor voice behind me, I spun on my heel, hating the fact that I actually felt relief to lock eyes with Tanner.
Despite my best efforts, I wasn’t able to ignore the way he leaned against the doorframe, a white towel draped over his neck, his chest bare as beads of sweat slid down along the ridges and dips of the most impressive body I’d ever seen.
His black athletic shorts hung perfectly from his hips, revealing a set of oblique muscles that had me licking my lips without realizing what I was doing.
Shaking myself of the reaction, I lifted my gaze back to his face to discover a disgusted sneer curling his lips, one brow above his eyes arching as if to say he’d caught me peeking.
I forced a friendly smile and blew out a breath.
“Hey, Tanner. I was just-“
Before I could finish the statement, he pushed away from the wall, closed the distance between us with three long strides, and stood so close to me that I had to crane my neck just to look up at him.
“Who the fuck are you? And why do I keep finding you in my house?”
Okay, so maybe he didn’t remember me…
Shock tore through me at the annoyance in his voice, my mind racing to remember my name, my heart pounding so fiercely in my throat in reaction to his presence that I couldn’t find my voice to answer.
Tanner
She was cute, I’d give her that, but more than anything, this girl was an annoyance I’d rather have nothing to do with.
Her mere existence was making my life a living hell and for that I reason, I had every intention of spreading the pain around, inflicting as much damage on her as she was unknowingly inflicting on me.
Was it fair to her? Fuck no. But I couldn’t be bothered with specifics when I had a problem to solve and a person to destroy just so the puppet masters who pulled my strings would lay off for a change.
Staring up at me like we were a pair of warriors with swords drawn, ready to battle to the death, a sheen of red spread across Luca’s cheeks, her eyes dancing over mine as her expression tightened and a muscle ticked above her eye.
Focusing on the jumping muscle, I smirked, pleased to see it happen again. I was getting to her and, without meaning to, she was letting me know it.
“I’m Luca Bailey. You’re my senior advisor for my tort project. I called you earlier today and you told me to be here at six. I’m also the girl you…”
Her voice trailed off before her expression twisted with apprehension and she shook her head.
“None of this rings a bell?”
All of it rang a bell, in fact. But it was more fun pretending it didn’t.
“Can’t say that it does. All I see is a stranger standing in my living room claiming she has sex with three of the men who live in this house.”
“At the same time,” Damon called out from the couch, knowing good and damn well everything we were doing was designed to push Luca to her limits. “How does that work anyway? Seems like it’d be a tight fit for all that dickage. Do your cocks touch? Like rub together or some shit?”
Luca’s cheeks were on fire and I smirked.
It wasn’t her fault I was stuck playing this game, but just because her presence was pissing me off, she would bear the brunt of my aggravation.
Blowing out a breath, she swung her bag to her chest so she could unzip a pocket and pull out a folded sheet of paper. I almost laughed when she slammed it against my chest and practically growled, “Just look at the damn assignment.”
My brows shot up. I wouldn’t have guessed she had so much spine given how she fled when I yelled at her the first time we met, and how she’d melted when I kissed her in front of the bonfire.
Plucking
the sheet from her fingers, I grinned when she yanked her hand away and stepped back, her eyes still locked to my face as she put distance between us.
Holding her angry stare for another few seconds, I flipped the paper open, glanced at the assignment and bit the inside of my cheek to keep from grinning.
Taylor, our resident hacker, had done an excellent job of ensuring the random assignment worked out in my favor.
“So,” I said, my eyes lifting to meet hers again, “what do you want me to do with this, exactly?”
Taken aback by the question, she reached to pull the paper from my hand, but I held it up high enough where she would have to jump if she wanted to get it back.
Given her state of mind, I wouldn’t have been surprised if she tackled me for it.
“I expect you to work with me on the project. I’m not thrilled about this, but it is what it is.”
Slowly lowering the paper down so that she could snatch it from my hand, she had to tug a few times before I finally released it.
I studied the way her face twisted with annoyance. My eyes dropped to her lips, my mind returning to the night I’d snuck up behind her to claim a kiss she hadn’t offered.
I didn’t want to admit my body had reacted to that kiss regardless of the fact this girl was nothing more to me than a problem that needed to be managed.
Three weeks ago, Daddy Warbucks had called in his demand about this girl, not giving a fuck that all of us were sick of his shit and the way he believed he could control us.
The crap he was doing to Ezra and Damon was especially fucked up only because it had changed them over the years, had driven so much rage inside them that I feared they would never recover.
Our entire lives had been planned out for us with the intent that we would one day take over for our families. Yet we’d reached an age where we felt nothing but resentment for our power hungry fathers, indifference for our gold-digging mothers, and hatred toward every person around us that had normal families that weren’t carrying the same burden as us.
People like pretty little Luca here, a girl whose father was presenting a significant challenge for a reason I didn’t give much of a fuck about.