Page 35 of Dark Things
I run my hand through my hair and notice it’s timefor a haircut. “I don’t know what came over me. One minute they were walking out of the door to the classroom and then I was running to catch up to them in the courtyard. It just sort of came out.”
Both guys pull their attention from the screen and look over at me. Brooks startles back, but Colter’s face is more stoic. I could never hide anything from them, but even I can’t explain what I was thinking.
“You do know they’re together, and as much as I think she’s fucking hot, Haunt doesn’t look like the type of guy who shares. I wouldn’t let the nice guy act fool you. You’ve seen him play,” Colter says, a scowl on his face.
I inhale for a moment and then let the conversation wash over me. “You’d think, but when I mentioned the study rooms on the fourth floor, she said not to get any ideas because they weren’t looking for a third right now.”
“Right now? You mean implying they usually have a third?” Brooks asks, eyebrows raised.
Colter shifts in his seat and takes a sip of his beer before turning his gaze out the window, seemingly lost in his mind.
“I can’t say for certain but, yeah, it sounded like they do. The thought has crossed my mind too. Both of them are fucking stunning, and there’s just something about her,” I reply.
“That’s…wow. I don’t even know what to say, except let me know if a fourth is needed. I could keep Reb busy while the two of you work out the tension on each other,” Brooks grins, a devilish smirk playing across his lips.
“It’s just studying. I mean, if it changes, yeah, I could see it. What about you Colt? Interested enough to make it a quintuple?” I ask, amusement crossing over my lips.
Colt’s gaze turns back to us as if he’s realized that we’re still talking. He looks between the two of us, shaking his head, but it’s more to clear his mind than a ‘no.’
“There’s something about her that I can’t shake. She seems so familiar but at the same time a stranger. Sure she’s beautiful, but it’s the way she carries herself, the way she acts. I have this feeling,” he says, picking the label off his bottle.
I glance at Brooks and see he’s agreeing with Colt. “I feel the same and while I told you guys about what happened with Mary, I didn’t tell you all of it. Part of me thinks I misunderstood, but now that you mention it, Colt, I can see something, too.”
This gets my full attention. “What happened?”
“I spoke to her yesterday morning at the cafe in the quad. She slammed the door open and it caught my attention. I had to speak to her…like, it was a compulsion. She was her snarky self, but that wasn’t what made me question her. I saw her racing over at Jimbo’s track. She’s good, really good, and the horse she was riding was Black Caviar out of Kentucky, which is a million dollar horse. And then at the diner when I was telling her Mary wasn’t worth getting into trouble for, she called me BK.”
My whole body goes still. A rush of adrenaline goes through me. My mouth goes dry and I lean back in my seat, mouth gaping. There’s no way. No one calls Brooks BK, not since we were sixteen.
“Impossible,” I whisper, looking between the guys who have always had my back, my brothers. But now it’s as if my whole world has just tilted.
“I know what I heard, Staff. It’s not some wishful fucking thinking. She called me BK, and it was while she was holding Mary’s fucking head on the table. Spur of the moment shit.”
Colt runs his hands over his face, but before he can answer the doorbell rings, and he jumps up to get it. I hear the door open, murmured conversation, and then the slamming of the door before he sets down four boxes of pizza.
“You got an extra pizza?” I ask, pulling the first box over to me and flipping the lid open. It’s my meat lover with spicy sausage. I pull out a slice and take a bite before turning to look at the guys. Colt is staring down at his box, his face white as a sheet. “You okay?”
Colt flips the whole box open and sitting inside is a pizza in the shape of a heart with toppings on it I know none of us ordered, and it’s not pineapple. It’s a white pie with sopressata and honey.
“You ordered that?” Brooks asks, his own pizza forgotten.
“No, dipshit, I didn’t order it. I ordered our usual, didn’t even change the order from the food app, just clicked express reorder,” Colt says, still staring at the pizza like it’s going to change by power of mental persuasion.
“Then why the fuck do we have Belle’s pizza in our house?”
14
Rebelle
As soon as we get home from school, I take the bottle of Indigo’s Hour from the bar cart and make my way into the stables. I need a moment to get my shit together before I explode and someone dies.
The past week has been one trip down memory lane after the other, and I can’t stand it. I’m never this unraveled. I pride myself on my cold exterior and my polished merc persona. It’s why so many people fear me. Nothing ever affects me like this anymore, except for the three fucking guys I hate more than anything in this world.
I take a big gulp from the bottle and walk through the stables until I find Rex and Peanut. I open up the stalls, and they both follow me out. I pass by Midnight and reach in to scratch his nose before making my wayout of the open doors into the open pasture behind the barn.
Peanut catches up to me and nudges my shoulder before giving me a horsey huff to the side of my neck. I pat his head and lead us further into the pasture before plopping down in a grassy area. Both horses lose interest in me soon enough, and I’m trapped with my thoughts and a bottle of the best bourbon I’ve ever had.
“I could beat you in math in my sleep,” Staff taunts.
