LILY
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 would 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 Lily, 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 would clutter up your bathroom with skin-care products. Clog your drain with hair, and then I would—"
"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.
"I'm in," I said, my grin as wide as it's ever been. A single tear streamed down my cheek. I didn't even try to stop it.
"Good!" Hunter said, rising from his chair.
"Finally!" Brandon added, picking up his fork again and sticking it into a meatball.
I glanced at Colin, who balled up his napkin and threw it at me playfully.
"Oh by the way… tonight's your turn to do dishes