Page 66 of Vacancy

His brows furrowed with confusion before he said, “I did.” Then, he shrugged as a haunted look entered his eyes. “Mostly, anyway.”

“And you…” I motioned to the front yard where the grass was neatly trimmed. “You don’t have any bad, traumatic memories here?”

“No,” he answered slowly, growing confused. “Am I supposed to?”

“Of course not. I’m sorry. It’s just…” I laughed a little at myself and waved a hand to apologize for all my questions. “I had this thought stuck in my head that you had this traumatic childhood, and that’s why Thalia was avoiding you now. Because seeing you again would hurt too much and remind her of the bad past you shared.”

“Oh,” he murmured, only to shake his head slowly. “Well… None of our bad memories happened here. Life here was good. Our parents were good. And our childhood was…ninety-nine percent good.”

My lips parted with the need to ask about that other one percent, but for some reason, I knew it wasn’t the right time.

“Oh. Well…good.” I pressed my hands against my heart and nodded gratefully. “That’s good. So are mine. I have good parents, too, I mean. They’re still home in Plano right now.”

He nodded along with me, and I could see the tension grow in his eyes because he must’ve sensed that my curiosity about him and his past was mounting. But I didn’t ask.

Instead, a horn honked, and I yelped in surprise, nearly jumping out of my skin.

“Jesus,” Damien breathed, shaking his head as if he’d been startled too.

A Jeep Rubicon screeched to a halt in the driveway next to us, and I could already hear Keene and Alec through the window as they hopped out.

Sending Damien an arched-eyebrow glance, I blew out a breath and announced, “Well, here we go again.” And I threw open my door to climb out.

“Your groceries, my lady,” Alec was announcing as he reached in and extracted two grocery sacks.

“Thank you,” I answered, only to add, “and I can really pay you back for these, you know. You didn’t have to—”

“Zppt!” Keene cut in, silencing me as he pulled out the paper towels. “We got you.” Then he lifted his voice, calling, “Yo, Arch! Catch!”

Damien easily snagged the rolls from the air and tucked them under his arm. Then he waited for me to put my sacks in my car before he led me to the door near the garage rather than the main entrance.

The side door spilled straight into the kitchen, where the other two followed us in and dumped their groceries on the countertops, which were remarkably clean for four dudes living there.

As Damien started to put things into the refrigerator, Keene and Alec turned their attention to me.

Alec was even rubbing his hands together in glee. “Tour time,” he announced. “We should begin in the living room.”

So that was where they led me, leaving Damien alone to put the groceries away.

I glanced back at him uncertainly, only to pause and blink as soon as I reached the front room.

A television that was nearly as big as one wall hung facing two enormous couches that sat in an angled V-shape, while behind that stood a foosball machine.

Okay,nowwe were starting to look more like a bachelor pad.

“I’ll be right back,” Keene called, dashing off down the stairs to the lower level and disappearing, leaving me alone with the tall one.

There was little decoration in here. Most posters on the wall supported Haverick University and its football team, but there was one of a bull rider that advertised the previous year’s world championships junior rodeo.

Squinting at the rider’s face, I pointed. “Is that…Keene?”

“Yep.” Alec slid his hands into his pockets and grinned proudly. “He won two years in a row.”

My mouth dropped open. “Keene’s a freaking bull rider?”

With a wince, Alec shrugged. “Not anymore.”

Ooh, there had to be a juicy story there, but it didn’t seem like a good time to ask. So I vaguely murmured, “Hmm,” and turned my attention to the one shelf in the room. After reading Keene’s name on the two championship trophies on the top shelf, I picked up a five-by-seven picture of Alec and a girl with their cheeks pressed together. They had the same dark, curly hair and blue, blue eyes. Their smiles were even similar as they grinned.

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