“Maybe you would’ve known that if you’d bothered to contact the guy who pretended to be you for an entire semester,” Sophia added, making me smile internally. Other than offering to help me out by letting me stay at Brody’s, it was the first bit of concern for me she’d shown since I’d left. I hoped it wouldn’t be the last.
“Oh. Sorry to hear that, man,” Brody said, standing to brush the crumbs off his sweatpants. “I actually did try texting you a few weeks ago, you know to say Merry Christmas and whatnot, but I didn’t hear back.”
“My phone broke in the crash,” I explained.
Brody’s eyes widened. “Dude, that blows.”
“Yup, pretty much everything about the past month blows. I’m hoping the beginning of the new year will be better than the end of the last.” I raised an eyebrow at him hopefully. “So…is it cool if I stay here?”
“Oh, yeah, sure. Sorry. Totally should’ve said that earlier. Though I’m not sure my style of living will be conducive to healing.”
Laughing, I said, “Well, I don’t have many other good options. After I left your apartment, I was working on getting a place of my own, but the accident happened before I could find anything. I could still stay with my parents, though, if—”
“No! No friend of mine is going to stay with his mom and dad,” Brody said, as if the idea were akin to suggesting I board at a dog kennel. “You’re more than welcome to stay here. I’ll…”
He looked around at the disaster surrounding him—clothing, dirty dishes, and so many pillows and couch cushions in strange places, it looked like he’d been trying to build a fort to entertain himself. I actually wouldn’t have been surprised to hear he’d done that at some point. “I’ll clean the place up and put some sheets on the bed for you.”
“Thanks, Bro.” I had no idea Brody considered me a friend, but I wasn’t exactly in a position to disagree. If he was okay with sharing his apartment with me, I certainly wasn’t going to stop him. “But I can take the couch.”
Sophia looked at me. “But where am I gonna sleep? Not with Brody.”
“Fire escape? Bathtub? Coffin?” Brody chimed in. “Who cares? Why would you even stay here? Didn’t you just spend all last semester talking your way back into the sorority house?”
“You know I did.”
“And what better way to prove your devotion to that ho train than to desert them again? They’re so lucky to have you.”
Sophia looked like she was trying to compose herself before she jumped on him and clawed his eyes out like a cat on PCP.
“Drew needs someone to help take care of him,” she finally said, “and I don’t think someone who looks like he hasn’t bathed since Thanksgiving is up for the task.”
Brody looked more confused than insulted. “You say that like I was volunteering to give him his sponge baths or something.”
Brody and Sophia were firing shots at each other so quickly, I felt like I was watching a Ping-Pong match. Who was going to get smashed in the face with the ball first? Carter appeared thoroughly entertained. And though it was technically entertaining, it also made me feel like complete shit. Which was really saying something, considering the fact I spent the better part of the last month downing hospital food and painkillers.
If it weren’t for me, Sophia wouldn’t even have known Brody was here. She could’ve gone on with her sorority life, and Brody could’ve gone on with…whatever the fuck he’d been doing.
“So you were just volunteering to let him waste away on the couch?” she asked.
“I never said I’d let him waste away. There definitely isn’t a shortage of food here. And he was the one who said he’d take the couch. I offered to give him the bed.”
“Oh, my mistake. Let me notify the Vatican so they can canonize you.”
“You have to be dead for that, Dumbo,” Brody replied.
She glared harshly at him for a moment. “Give me ten minutes.”
It was like they had reverted back to what they’d probably been like as kids.
Brody’s arms had been crossed, but he dropped them with a deep breath. I took it as a show of surrender, but I couldn’t be sure. I’d only met the guy the handful of times he’d come into the bar.
“Fine. You can stay, too,” he told her. “You did me a solid last semester, even if it didn’t work out exactly as I planned.”
Sophia rolled her eyes, but I could tell it was more for show than an actual representation of her true feelings.
“Maybe that’s because you never actually plan anything,” she said, but the spunk she’d had a few moments ago had evaporated with Brody’s offer.
Brody smiled at the halfhearted jab before tossing one of his own out. “And you can? I’m guessing your crystal ball didn’t tell you you’d get kicked out of a club you had to pay to be a part of in the first place.”
“As soon as I can go back to work, I’ll be outta here,” I promised, hoping that my comment would divert their attention away from each other for a bit.
“You still working at Rafferty’s?” Brody asked.
“Yeah.” Which reminded me that I still needed to update my boss at the bar on my plans to return. “Or I will be eventually.” Sean was a good guy and I’d known him for years, so he’d assured me there would be a job for me whenever I was ready to come back. “Unfortunately, the same probably can’t be said for the warehouse I started working at right before my accident.”
They hadn’t exactly fired me—most likely because firing someone who’d almost died would’ve looked extra shitty—but there was no way they would hold that job for me when I couldn’t even walk without assistance. “I’m sure once they find out I’m not in any danger of dying, they won’t feel guilty about letting me go.”
Brody’s head jerked back like that surprised him. “Seriously? That’s so fucked up.”
I shrugged. “It is what it is. It’s a physical job. I can’t blame them for wanting someone who can actually lift things.”
Brody was already throwing random trash into a garbage bag he’d grabbed from the kitchen. I had a feeling it was the most he’d moved since he’d gotten back from Italy.
“I’ll do it,” he said.
“Do what?”
“Fill in for you until you can go back. You think they’d let me?”
“I doubt it. I’m sure they already hired someone to fill my shift. They’re probably just holding off on actually telling me.”
Sophia was quick to interject. “I wouldn’t let Brody take over for you anyway. He’s never worked a day in his life.”
“And you have?” Brody said, looking genuinely insulted.
“I have a work ethic, at least. You avoid anything that requires brain cells or physical exertion.”
Brody crossed his arms, and Sophia mirrored him, her eyes narrowing to a harsh glare. But since he really couldn’t disagree, the two remained in some sort of silent standoff until eventually Sophia seemed to get irritated enough that she gave up and turned away from him.
“Yes!” Brody said, thrusting his arms into the air in victory. “I win that every time.”
Living with these two is going to be a fucking blast…
…said no one ever.
Chapter Five
D R E W
Unsurprisingly, Brody went back to the couch as Carter and Sophia unpacked some of my things and tried to make them easily accessible from Brody’s bed, where I’d probably be most of the time.
I tried to do what I could, but the outcome wasn’t quite representative of my effort.
“You need anything else before I take off?” Carter asked, stretching his arms over his head.
I couldn’t wait until I started seeing significant progress from my rehab. I still had to go to physical therapy once a week and had my own exercises I was supposed to do at home, but it would be a while before I got back to the shape I’d been in before the crash. Seeing Carter made me feel even worse about my current physical condition.
; “Nah, I’m good. Thanks for everything, man.”
“Of course.” Carter reached a hand out to me but then seemed to rethink it and leaned in to give me a hug instead. Which would’ve been fine if it hadn’t turned into an awkward fumbling of hands around my neck like we were at a junior high dance trying to find a position that didn’t make us both crawl out of our skin.
After he gave me a hard pat on my back—most likely to make his embrace seem manlier—he pulled away quickly.
“That was…weird. Next time I’ll just wave, I guess.”
Laughing, I said, “That’s probably best. Though we did kiss in the middle of campus, so this isn’t even close to the most awkward encounter I’ve had with you.”
All of us laughed, including Sophia, which was nice to see.
“Dude,” Brody yelled from the couch. “No wonder my parents thought I was gay. Why the hell were you kissing random guys in public?”
We didn’t even know he’d heard us.
“Who you calling random?” Carter yelled back in defense.
We laughed even harder, and I pressed a hand against my ribs to keep them from moving too much. Until I’d cracked a few of them, I’d never realized how important ribs and the muscles surrounding them were to everyday movements. I also realized I hadn’t laughed this hard in a really long time. I’d missed it.
Even if I was far from being back to my old self again, it felt good to have some of my old life back. And a large part of that life included Sophia.
Carter said bye to Brody and Sophia, and then it was just the two of us in Brody’s room. It occurred to me that the last time we’d been in here alone had been the day I’d left, and I suddenly wanted to wrap her up in my arms and tell her that all of it had been a mistake. But there was so much she didn’t know about what had happened.
Or maybe she did. I didn’t actually know what she knew and what she didn’t, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to ask.
I doubted it mattered anyway. The hows and the whys were unimportant. All that mattered was that I’d left. Left her. And the memory of it had me feeling sorrier for myself than I’d felt in a long time, which was really saying something, considering I’d spent the holidays in intensive care.
“I’m okay,” I told her. “Don’t feel like you have to stay.”
She looked me over like the idea of leaving was about as responsible as leaving a toddler unattended.
“I swear, I’m fine. I’m just gonna rest. Cody’s supposed to be coming over as soon as he gets off work.” I looked at the watch on my wrist that wasn’t covered by a cast. “He should be here soon actually. He asked to leave early.”
“Oh, that’s good. Then I guess I’ll head over to the sorority house and grab the rest of my things. I also need to tell Aamee and the girls that I won’t be around as much.”
“Good luck with that,” I said.
She picked up a pair of balled-up socks and chucked them at me. “Thanks a lot.”
“Hey, you shouldn’t assault someone who’s already wounded.”
“I don’t think tossing socks at someone counts as assault.” She smiled as she threw another pair at me before heading for the doorway. “I’ll be back in a little while.”
“I’ll be here,” I replied cheerily. Where else would I be?
And I was looking forward to it.
S O P H I A
I’m not sure what possessed Brody to offer to help me pack up what I had at the sorority house, but when he suggested it, I couldn’t turn him down. Especially since he had a car, which meant I didn’t need to call an Uber or ask one of the girls to help.
Once I finished helping Drew get settled, Brody was already showered, shaved, and dressed. Maybe he was trying to prove he wasn’t a worthless bum.
“So how many girls live here?” he asked as we approached the house.
Or maybe Brody was just being Brody and he was trying to get laid.
“Not enough that you have a chance with any of them.”
He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans, looking casual as we walked up the five steps to the porch.
“You really have such little faith in me.”
“Obviously.”
He reached out to open the door, but I stuck my arm out to stop him from entering the house, his solid body almost breaking my arm when they came into contact. How the guy still maintained his physique despite doing nothing but snacking and relaxing for the past month, I had no idea. Once guys gained muscle, it seemed to stick to them easily. Even Drew had managed to not look emaciated—just leaner than he’d been.
“Seriously, though, I don’t need you trying to bang any of these girls. Just come in, help me, and leave without speaking. You spent time in another country, so why don’t you just pretend you don’t speak English?”
“You realize I don’t need English to get laid, right?”
“I hate you,” I said as I smacked his hand from the doorknob so I could be the first one inside. “Just don’t embarrass me.”
“No problem. You can do that easily enough yourself.”
Glaring at him in a way that I hoped sufficiently warned him I was serious, I pointed up the stairs. I could hear voices coming from the kitchen, but I figured I’d head down there once Brody was in my room packing things up.
As we crept—well, I crept because Brody had the stealth of a rhino on acid—the floors creaked beneath our feet. Once we made it to the top, I led him to the room I shared with Gina. I knew she was at work, and since I’d already told her I planned to stay at Brody’s for a bit to help a friend recover, I could get the rest of my things without bothering her.
“What stuff are we taking?” Brody asked as he eyed the small room.
Two twin beds sat close together, with various old furniture surrounding them, including two dressers that didn’t even begin to hold Gina’s and my clothes. The rest of our things were stuffed in Rubbermaid containers and shoved under our beds.
I slid one out toward Brody’s feet.
“There’s one more of these under there,” I said, “and then I guess I’ll take my bedding and pillows and stuff.”
“Yeah, you’ll need that since you’ll be on the floor.”
“Um, I’m not going to be sleeping on the floor.”
“Well, then, where are you planning to sleep? With Drew?” He laughed. “I mean, I know you guys were…whatever you were, but Mom said that was done, so I didn’t think you’d wanna share a bed with the guy.”
“When did you talk to Mom?” I asked, choosing not to address the idea of sleeping with Drew.
Brody shrugged as he pulled my sheets off and began balling them up instead of folding them. “I don’t know. I didn’t mark the date on my calendar. Like a couple of weeks ago, I guess. Near Christmas.”
“Wait, does she know you’re home?”
“No! And you better not tell her, or I’ll tell her you’re helping Drew!”
“I already promised I wouldn’t tell her,” I said defensively. “And you don’t need to mess with Drew just to get back at me.”
Not that I fully understood why I was even threatened by his statement. It wasn’t like helping a friend was a punishable offense. Though I knew with the way Drew had spent a semester impersonating Brody while he flitted around Europe, which involved him sharing an apartment with me that my parents were paying for, Drew wasn’t high up on their list of people they’d want to help. But I couldn’t help feeling irritated by it anyway.
It wasn’t like it was Drew’s fault that Brody found it impossible to maintain any type of responsibility. Brody would’ve done that shit regardless of who was filling in for him. And Drew hadn’t done anything to me that should make my parents dislike him.
I was saved from having to think more about it by the sound of the door to my room being shoved open. Even in the colder weather, it still seemed to stick enough that we had to really put some muscle into it. I looked over to see Aamee making an entrance that made me wonder if she wa
s auditioning for the part of Kramer in a Seinfeld remake or something.
“Oh, hey,” I said, hoping she picked up on my lack of excitement.
“Hey. Were you going to say hi or just sneak up to your room and hide out all day?”
“I’m actually leaving for a couple weeks. I’ll be in and out, but I won’t be sleeping here. So don’t worry, I’ll be out of your bleached hair soon.”
“Perfect,” she replied with a fake smile. Then she nodded toward Brody. “Planning to have a guy stay the night so you’re kicking yourself out this time. How noble of you.”
“Ew, no. He’s not spending the night.”
Aamee moved closer, her short skirt riding up a bit as she approached my brother.
“That’s a shame,” she said.
The way her eyes moved over him, taking him in one inch at a time, made her look like she was sizing him up like some sort of a dessert she was contemplating eating for a bedtime snack.
And Brody looked like he couldn’t wait for Aamee to put her mouth on him.
The whole thing was gross.
Eventually she must’ve decided that the caloric intake wasn’t worth it, so she extended her hand to him. “I’m Aamee, sorority president,” she said with a seductive smile as Brody took her hand. She really had no shame.
Brody smiled back. And because he was an impulsive asshole who thought with his dick, he said, “I’m Brody, Sophia’s brother.”
Aamee’s head panned to me, her lips pressing together in what looked to be satisfaction, before she focused her attention back on Brody. “You certainly are.”
Chapter Six
S O P H I A
“Oh, you’ve gotta be kidding me,” I said, holding back the vomit that threatened to make its way up my esophagus at the sight of the two of them. If eyes could fuck, theirs would need a room.
“Um, I think you’re the one who was kidding all of us for the last few months,” Aamee pointed out.
And though I couldn’t disagree, I rolled my eyes anyway.
Truth or Dare You (The Love Game Book 2) Page 4