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At the end of that bite, but with food in her mouth, she said, “I thought your family bred Great Danes.”
I felt my lips twitch with amusement. She’s a funny girl, but not intentionally. Ignorant is more accurate, but she doesn’t really grasp where she is. This college is not in the bustling city she came from. It’s old as time. Crossbow started out as a private religious college. It then turned into a private…well, religion is a matter of perspective, so maybe it still applied, just not like it had back then. “My mother does. It’s her passion project. The men in my family are primarily lawyers. One cousin broke off…became a dentist.”
She nodded, “Every family has that one you can’t talk about, right?”
I felt a real smile tug at my lips, and I nodded. I also picked up the contract and looked through it. I read this thing a hundred times before this school year started and at least fifty since. We had to give it time. The rest of the members had to move into the new locations, settle, then execute the plan. Tituss, due to his past with this particular girl, was not interested in any of it. Still, he had a responsibility to fulfill and a legacy to create, so he was stuck with it. If he had been able to escape as he was almost able to, he could have avoided all of this nonsense. Like me, Crossbow had become a burden and a blessing.
I asked, “What about this section here? You think that is okay as it stands?”
She was on the last bite of that burger, so she leaned a little and took a look. She shrugged. Again, mouth full, she said, “I guess.”
“You’re saying you are fine opting in for this method of birth control and fully aware that if you forget to take a pill, get pregnant by one of us, you are agreeing to carry that child to term and hand it over.” My brow was trying to climb up, but I maintained a trained, even expression instead.
“What?” She almost choked on the burger. “I’m already on the pill, so that didn’t seem like a big deal. Where is this baby swap language?”
“In the small print at the bottom. See the asterisk?” I pointed out. “Maybe amend that one?”
“Well, fuck me in the ass on a Monday and call it Tuesday. What the hell else am I signing away without realizing it?” She was serious, but I had never heard that expression before, so it took a decent amount of discipline not to laugh. She looked up, “Not even a chuckle?”
“Where did you get that turn of phrase?” I waited. She rolled her shoulder. “Just made it up?”
“I was trying to lighten the mood.” She took the document and the ink pen and noted the margin. “Anything else I should be aware of?”
“Tituss has authority over you. You do need to know that because even if you say yes to every man in this house, he can still say no. I have a feeling, given your shower and his…issues where you are concerned, you may be signing up for a rather celibate year. You should be aware of that.” I was aware of that. I was aware I might need to negotiate for some of her time. She was interesting. I sort of wanted to take her home so she could talk with food in her mouth at a really prim and proper meal just to horrify my parents and siblings.
“So another year of life.” She snorted and signed the rest of the pages without really reading them. “I’m a mess, Dane. Just an FYI. Since meeting Tituss, the best thing that ever happened to me, I became the worst thing that could ever happen to a guy, and that has pretty much made guys resistant to wanting to be around me. No one wants to be accused of raping a girl.”
“They didn’t rape you.” I knew that. Knew Tituss well enough to know he was not capable of that. We were both at the party where Dougie brought his girlfriend downstairs and turned what may have been her fantasy into a bit of a nightmare. That idiot violated a few of us that night with his situation, but he definitely violated her, and so did a couple of the graduating seniors, three seniors in the current senior house, and at least two guys living in that junior house, including my older brother. I was disappointed frequently by that particular bother, but that night was the worst.
“No. I didn’t say they did.” She puffed out a breath. “But apparently, no one cared what I said.”
“Well, once you shake a hornet’s nest, they don’t want to settle down right away. Hornets won’t think it was an accidental bump. No, they want to sting, attack, defend. People get off on the attention. Good and bad.” I looked at her. “You get off on attention, too. Good and bad.”
“You get off.” She stacked the papers.
“At least once a day.” I considered this a moment. “Twice. Probably statistically more accurate to say at least twice a day?”
She snickered. That’s how I knew she was different. This was not some odd, gross, inappropriate comment I was making. It was just me talking about sex, and she didn’t even mind.
Harper said, “I need this job. I need the money. He knows it. I’ll try to stay on the good side of the attention.”
“You’ll fail.” I picked up the papers. She gawked up at me. “I’m not really good at lying to people to spare their feelings. Hence the reason you have that skirt to put on. So, now that you are fed, you have signed all the documents, I will be sure to scan them and send an encrypted copy to you since you do not have a legal team to handle them.” I held them up and tapped the papers. A part of me was thrilled at the prospect of Harper becoming a house bunny. A part of me was disappointed. Without the bunny status, I could do a lot of things with her. Teach her things I’d been learning I liked. She wasn’t the sort of girl to shy away from a bit of adventure. With the true admission into this program, on the other hand, she had to earn that place in my life like the rest of them. I had to convince Tituss to share a part of her with me. Maybe even give her to me so he could be done with her. I almost shook my head at the thought. He would never be done with her.
I looked at her digging the last fries out of the bag and said, “In the meantime, I think it’s about closing time on the first day. Tituss has the schedule up in the kitchen. Don’t be late.”
Chapter Five
Harpy
After settling into my dorm room after a strange day, I had one more thing to do before I could go to sleep. I looked at Cassidy and said, “Hey.” She didn’t say anything. “He’s not here. We can talk outside of that house, and I promise I won’t tell anyone you spoke to me.”
“You don’t get it, do you?” she asked. My eyes must have conveyed the truth. No. I did not. “This isn’t a game, Harper. This is a real opportunity. They are building something with this, and we are on the ground floor. That girl may have suggested the idea, but they capitalized on it, and now, who knows? I may just find the man I want to marry sooner rather than later. No sorority shenanigans involved.”
“You were there when that girl sucked him off this afternoon, right?” I thought that was about as pledge shenanigan as it could get and worse than anything I thought a sorority might. Even the dick downing OBDs didn’t have a rep of sex in front of a live audience.
“What the hell were you doing there at all?” she asked.
“Besides watching my best friend spread her legs for my ex?” I sat on the edge of my bed. I could barely contain my urge to snatch her off her bed, where she was all curled up and ready to sleep, and stomp on her fake boobs until one exploded.
