BRANDON
My alarm split the morning silence at exactly 5:30. Way too soon. It was going to take a while to get used to it — practicing before and after classes — but it was nothing I hadn't done before. Nothing I couldn't—
A spike of pain shot through my back. Why the hell was I sleeping on the floor? Did I fall out of bed?
I looked up at my perfectly made bed. Too perfect. Whoever was responsible had even tucked in the corners.
Ahhhh… that's right!
It came back to me all at once. Last night. The rainstorm. Lily, showing up crying. It all made sense.
I checked the entire upstairs for her before heading down. Voices in the kitchen told me Colin and Hunter were both up.
"Hey," I said, stumbling in. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes. Looked around.
Still no Lily.
"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. "Lily 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. "Lily 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 Lily'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 Lily 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."