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“I tried to stop him,” Knox says.
“Me, too,” says Nash.
“That girl is nothing but trouble,” Knox adds with fire in his tone.
“You never liked her,” I shoot back. “So, I don’t want to hear it.”
Harker slaps his hand on my back. “It wasn’t a bad idea, Colonel.”
Drake narrows his eyes. He doesn’t get our military references.
“You guys are weird,” Drake says, kicking his big foot up on the coffee table.
Only Knox, Nash, and Harker know how I feel about Briana. I never told the other guys in the house because it’s none of their business, and also because I’m not as close to them as my friends from boarding school. Those guys know me better than anyone else. Even when I tried to pretend my breakup with Briana didn’t bother me, they all knew. They saw through the bullshit and lies I told them. That’s why Harker agreed to help me out. Sadie won the auction but not fair and square. With a little help from Harker and a few of the sorority girls, Sadie’s bid was going to win no matter what. And she did. She doesn’t need to know it. I figured I owed her one for helping me get Briana’s attention again.
Jamie steps into the living room with an apron around his neck that says Kiss the Cook, the front of it full of spaghetti sauce splatters. Judging by how much food is on him, I can imagine what the kitchen looks like.
“You guys ready to eat?” Jamie asks, looking tired as hell.
“Starved,” a few of us say in unison.
And that ends the conversation about the auction. For now.
Chapter Six
Briana
Working at a coffee shop sucks balls. No matter how hard I try, I can never get the smell of coffee out of my hair and clothes when I get home from work. On days like today, when I have to pull a double shift, switching between Broad Street Beans and Rizzo’s Bakery, I come home smelling like coffee-flavored pastries. Sadie loves the smell. She takes a big whiff of my hair every night when I come home just to see if I’ll laugh at her. Most of the time I do. It’s hard not to.
“We’re getting slammed,” Sam says, sliding a few drinks down the bar in front of me.
“Yeah, this is crazy. It’s like we’re giving out free drinks.”
I have a lot in common with Samantha Marchand. We both attend Strickland University with the help of grants and scholarships that force us to keep our grades up. Like me, Sam works several jobs and will do anything to keep her head above water. She started dating Tucker Kane, one of Julian’s teammates. Tucker and his twin share a room down the hall from Julian in the hockey whorehouse.
After tutoring the hot hockey player, she fell for his charms. It’s not hard to see why. But I never expected a girl like Sam to mess with a guy like Tucker. But I guess the same could be said about Julian and me. We’re from two different worlds, and yet somehow, we found enough commonality to make it work… for a while.
“Orders up for Kelly, Savanna, and Tracy,” I call out as I set the mugs on the bar in front of us.
“This line hasn’t died down since my shift started,” Sam groans. “I think my fingers will fall off if I have to make another cappuccino.”
I laugh at her comment and take the top off the espresso maker to add more beans. A few of them fall onto the counter that I sweep up with my hand and deposit into the trashcan behind me.
“I have to work at Rizzo’s after this,” I tell her.
“I have to tutor one of the guys on the baseball team after this.” She sighs as she reads the drink order from the side of the cup.
“I promised myself no more jocks after Tucker.”
“It pays good, right?”
She nods. “Yeah, after Tucker, I upped my rate to fifty bucks an hour and these rich idiots will pay it.”
We both laugh.
“I wish I could make that kind of cash per hour.”
“You could,” she offers. “You’ve got the grades to tutor people.”
