by Caisey Quinn
Skylar is entirely too calm, looking aroused and sleepy at once.
“She is,” he says. “The epitome of class, as you say. Far too good for me.”
“Good for her.” I nod towards the door. “You should get to it then.”
“Actually, I was going to ask if you wanted to go to my friend Jax’s apartment with me. His place is empty because he’s trying to sublet it and hasn’t yet.”
I don’t even bother to hide my shock. “Me? Why?”
“Because I enjoy your company and constant rejection so very much, obviously. But if you’d rather stay here and enjoy the sounds of our roommates dry humping all night…don’t let me stand in your way.” He holds up his phone. “Jax said the place is ours for the night if we want it.”
I swallow hard. “That sounds…” Dangerous. Stupid. Tempting as hell. “Okay.”
Before Skylar can respond, Landen slides the partition between the rooms open. Both he and my roomie look a little disheveled to say the least.
“You okay?” I ask Layla.
She nods and I notice her cheeks are flushed and her eyes are a little glassy.
“Hey, um, so I have a buddy with a studio apartment nearby and he’s out of town. This has been a shitty night for all of us so Corin and me were thinking maybe we’d go crash there. It’ll give you guys some time to talk in private.”
Landen nods but Layla shakes her head. “No, it’s fine. We can sleep out here and Skylar can have my bed.”
“No offense,” I tell them both. “But as much as we enjoyed that little interlude, uh, we’re going.” If I have to lay on a bed beside Skylar all night and listen to her and her man grinding all over each other in the next room, I will probably spontaneously combust. Pass. I grab my purse, and Skylar pulls himself up off the futon. “Besides, it’s too damn hot in here and Skylar’s friend has working AC.”
At least I hope he does.
“Okay…but can I talk to you for a sec, um…in the hall?” Layla directs the question at me—looking seriously concerned that Skylar might try to gobble me up like the big, bad wolf.
Jesus, Connelly. Do not think about him eating you in any way, shape, or form, if you want to remain sane.
“Layla, I know what you’re going to say. And it’s fine. I have it handled. Promise.” I hug her and whisper, “But be careful. You know where the condoms are,” in her ear before I leave.
“Um, you be careful too,” she says, as I step out into the hall.
I roll my eyes at Skylar when he closes the door.
“You sure you to waste your night in an empty apartment on me? You know I’m not going to give you any.”
Skylar puts an arm around me as we exit the dorm. “Who needs sexual gratification when they can have snarky insults and blatant rejection?”
But he’s smiling, so I guess he doesn’t consider time with me a waste after all.
Jax’s studio apartment is above a pizza place and it’s not a long walk from the dorms. He went to my high school and graduated with my sister, Katie. He works for a music executive and travels so much his apartment is empty most of the year. If I wasn’t an athlete and didn’t have to spend freshman year in dorms, I’d be all about living in Jax’s bachelor pad.
I use to key he gave me when he found out I was going to SoCal and Corin and I step into the darkened apartment. A black leather sectional and flat screen television take up one half, while a California king-sized bed occupies the other.
“Bathroom is back there,” I inform Corin in case she needs to go. “Behind the bar area.” Beside the bedroom is a sleek granite countertop that borders the stainless steel fridge and a matching stove.
“Good to know,” Corin says, setting her purse down. “So, um, I can sleep on the couch.”
I pull an annoyed face. “Don’t be ridiculous. You can have the bed. I can handle the couch.”
She doesn’t argue, just moves her purse to the bed. “I didn’t exactly bring pajamas.”
“Neither did I.” I walk over to an armoire and grab a pair of navy blue and gray plaid flannel pajamas. “I’ll take the bottoms. You can have the top.”
Corin nods, looking more nervous than I’ve ever seen her. “Um, thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
It’s been a long fucking day and she looks as exhausted as I feel. “I’ll be over here, on the couch. If you decide you need an orgasm or two, let me know. Otherwise, I’m just going to crash.”
“Hold your breath until that happens,” she tells me before slipping into the bathroom to change.
I strip down quickly before yanking on the pants. When she steps out of the bathroom, I nearly lose my fucking breath. Which, literally never happens to me.
Her bare creamy toned legs peek out from the bottom of the button down pajama top. Damn those legs would look fantastic wrapped around my waist. Or my neck, thrown over my shoulder while I—”
“Skylar?”
I do my best to talk my dick down but he is actively staging a protest. “Yeah?” My voice sounds like I’m being strangled. I might as well be.
“You think Layla’s okay? I mean, do you think it’s okay that we left them alone? I got the feeling she wanted me to stay.”
I do my best to clear my lust-fogged brain in order to form actual sentences. “Yeah. I got the impression she was more worried about you than herself.”
Corin nods. “Maybe she was.”
“Care to share why that may be? I know I say a lot of shit, but you’re not afraid of me or anything are you?” If all my running my mouth has made her think I’m like a date rapist or something, I’m going to feel like the scum of the Earth.
Corin laughs, easing my concerns. “No. Not at all. I think she was just worried about me. Worried I might be too tired to battle your consistently clever wit and would give into one of your innuendo-laced invitations.”
“Would that be the worst thing in the world?” I get it. She’s not an easy lay. But they’re acting like I have genital warts or something. I get tested. I use condoms. I’m fucking fantastic in bed and I would make damn sure she had a good time.
“Goodnight, Skylar,” is all she says before climbing into bed.
I flop onto the couch and lace my hands behind my head.
“Hey, um, Sky?” I hear her soft voice call out just as I start to fall asleep.
“Hm?”
“The way Landen and Layla are—so in tune with one another—so completely crazy about each other to the point I think they might actually be crazy…you ever feel that way about anyone?”
The face of a girl I dated my senior year of high school comes to mind briefly. But as much as I cared about her and wanted to help her with her issues, it wasn’t anywhere near the level of intensity of what I can see Landen feels for Layla.
“Nah. Not really. Why? Have you?”
She’s silent for a moment before she answers. “No. Not even close.”
She’s East Coast and I’m West Coast, but maybe Corin Connelly and I aren’t all that different after all.
When I wake up the next morning, Corin is gone and the top to my bottoms is folded neatly on the bed. Along with a note.
Thanks for letting me crash. Had an early class. –Red
I smile at the use of my nickname for her.
The day blurs by me and I’m warming up for the scrimmage before I realize I just spent the night with a girl for the first time since I hit puberty without getting laid.
Huh. And yet, I enjoyed myself.
I don’t know what to make of this exactly.
It’s not until I see her and Layla coming down the bleachers that I realize how truly fucked I really am.
She has this glow around her that makes everyone else pale in comparison. And I can honestly say, I’d rather spend the night just hanging out with her, waiting to hear what smart ass thing she’ll shut me down with next, than sleeping with a random I don’t care to see the next day.
I’ll be damned.
After the game, the four of us hit up a nearby diner for milkshakes and cheese fries. Well, the girls do. Landen and I stick more to the lean protein side of the menu since we’re in season.
I make a joke about watching my girlish figure and Corin laughs and pokes me in the side.
I feel Layla’s eyes on us and I can tell she’s wondering what happened the night before.
That makes two of us.
She’s also looking a little wary of me and protective of Corin, but surely she knows by now Corin Connelly can take care of herself as she is fond of reminding me.
Our waitress comes to take our order and she’s cute enough. Short and curvy in an athletic sort of way. I can’t help myself. I have to know if Corin would care if other girls flirt with me and vice versa. I’m a vain bastard, what can I say?
I pay extra attention to her ass as she leaves and there’s a disturbance on the other side of the table but Corin isn’t involved.
“He’s doing it on purpose,” Landen tells his girlfriend. “To make her jealous.” I want to growl at the jackass. How does he know me that well already?
Corin is still completely oblivious and is busy fiddling with sugar packets.
Something Layla says makes Landen laugh.
I look away from the waitress after she sets our food down to glare at them. “What’s so funny?”
“Layla is getting upset because you’re working so hard to get Corin’s attention.”
I smirk at my asshole of a roommate. “Nice, man. ‘Preciate it.” I decide I don’t care about my athletic dietary restrictions and shove a handful of cheese fries into my mouth. “Fucker,” I mutter to Landen across the table.
Corin rolls her eyes and shakes her head before diving into her own food. Maybe she really isn’t into me and could honestly give it a shit about what I do or don’t do with other women.
“Well I hardly think undressing the waitress with your eyes is the way to get Corin’s attention,” Layla huffs at me with all the fury of an angry kitten.
“It’s okay. I can get her number for you, if you’d like,” Corin offers nonchalantly.
“I manage just fine on my own, thanks,” I mumble. I am so over this entire conversation. I devote my full attention to my food.
Corin and Layla jump into a conversation about classes and notes and comprehensive exams. I offer my two cents about the ridiculousness of certain classes but mostly I keep quiet.
For most of the meal, Layla and Landen are too lost in their own world to remember that we exist. I clear my throat and Layla jumps, which makes Corin laugh.
“It’s like eating a meal with dogs in heat,” I whisper to her.
The waitress returns and flirts with Landen, so clearly I’m losing my touch. Hanging out with Corin is going to be bad for my mojo. I can feel it already. And yet, I invite her to go to study hall with me after we eat because I am apparently a glutton for punishment.
It’s obvious our roommates are going to want time alone, which is probably why Corin agrees. But I don’t give a fuck about study hall or the fact that I need to log some of the mandatory hours required by my coach. I need answers, dammit. And tonight, Corin is going to give them to me.
I hope.
“Skylar’s got study hall for athletes at the library, so I think I’m going to join him. My Calc class is a bitch, and the professor speaks zero English, so I’m going to see if there’s a tutor available to meet with me.”
Layla frowns at me like I’ve said something wrong.
“Kind of late for a study session, isn’t it?” Landen asks, arching a brow at his roommate.
“Relax, Mom and Dad. We’ll be home by curfew,” I tell them.
Skylar glares at Landen but doesn’t respond.
“Corin, you can stay out as late as you need to. I’ll go to Intro tomorrow and get the notes.” Layla responds with enough enthusiasm that I know she’s okay with more alone time with Landen.
“Fuck Intro,” Skylar declares, nearly scaring the waitress to death as she hands us our checks and Layla a to-go cup for her milkshake. “Dean and Mike can go the rest of this week. We’ll take next week. This every other day shit is for the birds.”
“Agreed,” Landen says, adding a few bills to the twenty Skylar left. I notice there’s a phone number scrawled on the ticket and I can’t help but wonder which guy our waitress left it for. Neither of them take it.
“Hey, can I get a ride to the body shop this weekend? My truck should be fixed, and I need to run downtown to pick it up or the bastards are going to start charging me for leaving it parked there.”
While the boys launch into a conversation about picking up Landen’s truck, Layla turns to me. “Hey, run to the ladies room with me?”
I nod and we tell the guys we’ll meet them outside in a few.
As soon as we enter the ladies room, Layla pins me with a look that says we’re in here to handle more than bladder relief. “Please be honest with me. I’m not an idiot, and I highly doubt the boys have mandatory study block right after a scrimmage. Where are y’all really going?”
“I love when you say y’all, Georgia.” I wink at her but she narrows her eyes at me.
“Geez, Lay, relax. It’s not mandatory. It’s just a blocked off time where the athletes get to use the Arts and Humanities library and it’s closed to everyone else. Tutors are available and they give free help. I mentioned I was going to get a job to pay for a tutor since I’m probably going to bomb Calc, and Skylar invited me along—says I can say I’m on the girls’ soccer team and the tutors don’t really check to verify.” I hold out my hands in a gesture to let her know I’m telling the truth. There’s nothing shady going on other than me using the student athlete perks. “There’s an assignment due tomorrow that might as well be in Japanese. Actually, that’s the only language my professor speaks and unfortunately I don’t.”
Layla sighs. “Sorry to get all in your face, but I don’t want to be that roommate.”
“Um, okay. What roommate? Far as I know, you’re the only one I got.” I glance at the mirror above the sink and check my makeup. I got a little sweaty at the soccer game—purely due to the weather of course, not because watching Skylar block damn near every goal got me all hot and bothered—so I’m surprised my eye makeup isn’t smeared.
“The one always running you off so I can be alone with my boyfriend,” Layla clarifies.
“You’re not, trust me. If you were, I’d totally tell you to get a room. I really do need help with my homework, and if I can scam a free tutor…then hell yeah. Who knows? Maybe hanging with Skylar will be beneficial after all.”
“Yeah, looked like y’all were negotiating some benefits earlier.”
I see my chinks pink in the mirror. So, okay, I’m attracted to the cocky punk. I’m human.
I say nothing but Layla isn’t finished with her assessment of the situation. “Seriously, you can tell me to mind my own business, but what’s the deal with you two?”
I smile at my reflection—thankful that I don’t have food in my teeth. “If I knew, I would tell you. But honestly, I have no idea. He knows he’s not going to get a hook up from me, so I don’t really know what his deal is. I’ve told him I’m not playing, that I’m serious about not sleeping together. No matter how much I like him, that I’m not going to change my mind.” I find the new lip-gloss I bought at the drugstore in my purse and put some on. “If he’s pursuing me because I’m a challenge, then he’s an idiot who’s wasting his time. But if I can get help with Calc and a place to hang occasionally so you and Landen can have some privacy, then I don’t see the harm.” I shrug one shoulder. “His friend’s studio apartment was pretty bad-ass, by the way, so everybody wins.”
“Well, everybody except Skylar.” Layla shakes her pretty blond head. “I mean, all you can do is be up front with him I guess. But Corin, be careful. He doesn’t strike me as the type of guy who gets turned down a lot.”
I can’t help but grin. No, he probably never gets
turned down. Except by me, but for some reason, he still wants to hang out with me. His words play again in my head. Who needs sexual gratification when they can have snarky insults and blatant rejection?
“Deal. And hey, if you ever don’t want to be alone with Landen, you can, like, signal me or something, and I’ll just refuse to leave the room.”
Layla looks horrified at the thought of not wanting to be alone with Landen. “Um, actually—”
“Yeah, that’s what I figured.”
“You guys ready?” Layla asks the boys as we approach them.
Something is going down though because Skylar and Landen are toe to toe with shoulders squared.
Layla and Landen do that thing where they forget the rest of the word exists and Skylar and I walk outside.
“What was that all about?” I jerk by head toward our dinner companions “You and Landen looked ready to throw some bows.”
Skylar shrugs. “Landen always looks like that. He’s an intense dude.”
I frown. “True, but he seemed pissed at you specifically this time. What happened while we were in the ladies room?”
He side eyes me as we walk. “He was warning me to not push you into anything. To behave myself, I guess.”
“Really? Have to admit, I didn’t know O’Brien cared so much.” But I know it’s mostly because he cares about Layla and she cares about me, so I get the Landen O’Brien concern in an indirect sort of way.
He doesn’t comment, just holds the enormous library door open for me.
The library smells like hundred-year-old paper and dust. But I love it. It’s peaceful. Like a church—minus the judgment.
Skylar watches my face as we enter, and I pretend not to notice. But I know what he sees. My mouth dropping at the sight of the cathedral ceilings, my eyes brightening as they scan sky scraping towers of books.
“This place is really getting you off, isn’t it? I can’t help but wonder if you’d look this worked up after a raging orgasm. Let’s find out, shall we?”
I ignore him. I’ve gotten used to his in inappropriate banter. Mostly. When he whispers dirty things to me in public, and especially in close proximity to our roommates, I still blush. And worse, used to it or not, Skylar Martin affects me. My stomach tenses at his request. He’s only half kidding, maybe not even half. My heart beats a little heavier against my chest and I work hard to appear unfazed.