Page 62 of Vacancy

He groaned and opened his mouth to respond, but a guy’s voice from two or three aisles over interrupted us, shouting, “Yo, Arch! Where’d you go, man?”

In front of me, Damien flinched and dropped his hand.

“Archie…?” A different male voice sang. “Oh, Archer…”

Rocking a step backward, away from me, Damien started to shake his head as if denying what he was hearing.

So I felt extra inclined to lift a finger. “Uh… I believe someone’s looking for you.”

“No,” he said, lying pathetically. “I don’t think so.”

“Archer!” both voices called this time.

Grimacing through a painful wince, Damien said, “They’re probably looking foranotherArcher. Someone whose first name is Archer, I bet.”

“Damien Archer…” The voices were getting insistent now.

Eyebrows high, I kept my lips pressed firmly together to hide my smile, which didn’t work at all, and I hummed out an amused, “Mm-hmm. You sure about that?”

“Fuck,” he muttered, looking defeated just as two college-aged cuties wheeled crazily around a corner down the far end of the aisle, briefly tilting the shopping cart they rode to the side on two wheels before they started toward us, one pushing while the other rode inside the basket with his arms and legs dangling over the sides.

“There he is!” the pusher shouted, setting one foot on the lower tray before pushing off with the other as if he were riding a skateboard.

“Archer!” the rider cried jubilantly, lifting his arms and sending us the sign of the rock horns. “What’re you doing, man?”

“Oh…my God,” I murmured, completely fascinated by the show.

“Dude,” the guy inside the cart scolded as they drew near and the driver put one foot down to skid them to a stop right in front of us. “We’re supposed to beshopping, not picking up chicks.”

But as the cart came to a complete halt, he hopped out and landed directly in front of me.

“Howdy,” he greeted with a big flirty grin and a cocky, I-bet-you-want-me bob of the head. “I’m Keene. Rhymes with peen.” Holding out a hand for me to shake, he added, “Otherwise known as the star in your next wet dream. And you are...?”

I couldn’t help it; I laughed.

The boy was handsome, there was no doubt about that. He had a great, athletic body, dark, spiky hair, perfect mouth and nose, a yummy amount of scruff on his jaw, and sexily expressive eyebrows, like Charlie Sheen’s inFerris Bueller’s Day Off, but shaped way better and without the drugged-out look.

Yet the poor guy did absolutely nothing for my libido. He was a hoot, though, and I totally dug that.

Before I could respond, however, the other one hip-checked him out of the way, making him stumble off balance to the side.

“Sorry,” he apologized as he stepped in front of me and wiped a headful of rich, dark curls off his forehead. “He’s a moron.”

This one was tall, taller than Damien even. He had to be a good six feet and six inches, and he had the bluest eyes I think I’d ever seen.

“I’m Alec,” he started in the most adorably goofy manner that immediately made me want to hug him and ruffle that crazy, curly hair. “And I have no idea what your next dream is going to be about, but you’re definitely going to star in mine.”

“Oh my God,” Damien groaned from the side, pressing a hand to his forehead and clearly embarrassed to be associated with either of them. “Please make it stop.”

“Dude, whatever,” Keene said cheerfully as he smacked Damien in the stomach. “You know you love us. Now, please give us hope that you haveanyskill whatsoever, and say you’ve already scored her name and number.”

Amused by the whole byplay but mostly by the horrified look on Damien’s face, telling me how badly he wished he could just crawl under a rock right now, I folded my arms over my chest and nodded to Keene. “Oh, he definitely has.”

As his mouth fell open in disbelief, Alec cried, “Sweet!” He wormed his way between Keene and Damien, bounding back into the conversation. “Way to go, Arch.”

Damien gave a short, harassed sigh and then motioned toward the other two as he glanced at me. “Roommates,” he explained before turning his attention to them and nodding his head in my direction. “This is Oaklynn.”

“Well, it’s nice to—Wait…” Keene paused dramatically, then pointed at me. “Did he say Oaklynn?”

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