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“Not even close.”
I let out a deep, shuddering breath. “Then what do you want?”
The thin line that was Hunter’s mouth curled up at one end. I had to blink twice, to make sure.
What was he doing? Smirking?
“See you at dinner,” he replied, then turned away.
I could only sit there, watching them go.
Twenty
CLAUDIA
I couldn’t concentrate all day.
I still went through the motions, though. I taught my classes, read some essays, drew up some new lesson plans I’d been procrastinating on. Physically I was kicking ass. But mentally?
Mentally I was hardly there.
Hunter’s last words had haunted me all day. That’s not what we want. So what exactly did they want? Because apparently, they all wanted something.
I tried keeping as busy as possible, but constantly checking the time only made the day drag on. I left town for a few errands. Hit some traffic on the way back. Returning to campus, I was relieved to see it was finally five-thirty.
Relieved, but also frightened.
Ultimately I decided to rise above my fear. When you boiled it all down, I hadn’t done anything egregiously wrong. Some heavy flirting, some harmless kissing… and hey, it wasn’t like I was trying to pit any of the guys against each other.
At six o’clock I burst through the door, stormed into the kitchen, and dropped my bag on the counter. The guys were already there, already seated. Drinking beer from the bottle. Laughing with each other and joking around.
“Okay,” I said loudly. “Out with it.”
They looked at me, then at each other. An entire conversation passed silently between them, one that I was fiercely jealous I wasn’t a part of.
“Sit down Claudia,” Colin said. “Let’s eat first.”
“No,” I countered. “I can’t eat. I can’t even think. I can’t do anything until you tell me what it is that all you want.”
They stared at each other some more, then nodded to Hunter. Apparently he was taking the lead.
“What we want,” he said simply, “is you.”
My mouth opened, then immediately closed. It was the last fucking thing I expected.
“Me?”
“Yes,” said Hunter. “You’re gorgeous. Intelligent. Sexy and fun. You’re every guy’s dream girl, and individually, we’ve all wanted you. We have since the day you moved in.”
Brandon twisted the top off a fresh beer and handed it to me. I took it mechanically, without even looking.
“The problem is there’s only one of you. And if any one of us dated you, the other two would always resent it. The jealousy would drive us crazy, especially with you living here. And yet…”
“And yet we can’t not date you either,” Brandon added. “We talked about this all last night. We imagined leaving you alone, and then having to hear about you dating someone else.” He wrinkled his nose. “Watching you bring guys back here, right under our noses. Listening to you screwing around in your bedroom, with some new boyfriend…”
Their admissions were unbelievable. Totally surreal. And yet for all the talking, I still didn’t know what they wanted.
“We realize now we made our pact not for your benefit, but for ours. We wanted to keep ourselves sane. Rather than looking out for your interests, each of us wanted to prevent the others from getting you.”
