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Realizing I’d just had my arms and boobs all over his roommates, I whirled his way as well, already wincing in apology.
But he merely lifted the phone in his hand. “Pizza’s on its way.”
“Thank God.” I exhaled in relief and skipped to him so I could include him in the hugs. “I’m starving.” Taking it a step further, I lifted up on my toes to kiss his jaw. “You’re such a lifesaver.”
He buried his nose in my hair and grabbed a handful of cloth at the back of my shirt as he returned the hug. So I stayed where I was when it ended, remaining tucked up against him with his arm around my waist.
After taking a drink from my liqueur, I motioned around the kitchen with the can. “So, uh…I love the house. For the longest time, I couldn’t understand why you rented out your aunt’s place and didn’t want to live there yourself since it’s so freaking nice. But—”
Alec abruptly started coughing after taking a sip from his own can, and Keene pounded on his back to help him out.
“You okay?” I asked in concern.
He nodded, eyes watering as he got himself back under control. “Yeah, sorry. Went down the wrong pipe.”
“Excuse him,” Keene slugged him one more time for good measure. “Rookie freshman. Still has no idea how to drink properly.”
“As ifyou’reone to talk,” Alec shot back with a mean mug. “You’re not any less of a freshman than I am.”
“Wait.” I motioned between them with my Malibu. “You’re both freshmen?” My gaze shifted to Damien with lifted eyebrows. “You’re rooming withfreshmen?”
He sighed sadly. “I’ve known them since I was eleven, and they begged to move in as soon as they graduated from high school. It would’ve felt like kicking the family pet in the gut to tell them no. But Hudson’s a junior with me, so he helps level things out.”
When someone knocked on the back door, Alec lit up and dove toward it eagerly. “Ooh! Pizza’s here.”
“What?Already?” I shook my head in confusion. “Didn’t youjustorder it?”
“Yeah, but we’ve got connections,” Keene answered as Alec braced all his weight against the door, blocking it instead of pulling it open.
“What the…?” I started to ask just as someone tried to come inside, only for Alec’s weight to make the door slap back in their face an inch later.
A little freaked out, I ducked behind Damien, seeking safety. When he reached back to take my hand, I relaxed enough to peer around his arm.
Still leaning against the door, Alec started cracking up, letting me know he was playing a prank and not actually concerned about whoever wanted to enter. His body heaved forward every few seconds as the person on the other side kept trying to get in.
Finally, the intruder laughed aloud before he yelled, “Stop blocking the door, ya immature dumbass, or I’m going to eat your damn pizza.”
“Oh, sorry,” Alec answered, opening the door suddenly in fake over-apology before the blond football god I’d seen on the billboard spilled into the kitchen with a curse before he nimbly caught himself and straightened again.
“Didn’t see you there, man,” Alec continued to gush in mockery and even grasped Foster’s arm to help him straighten only to pause and point. “Hey… Ain’t you Foster Union? Oh my God, y’all!” he cried to the rest of us as he kept pointing. “It’s Foster Union, the football star.” Turning back to the guy who was holding two boxes of pizza and rolling his eyes, Alec waved his hands dramatically, fanning himself. “This is so cool; I’m completely freaking out right now! You had such a great game this afternoon. I mean, that play at the end where you fake threw and ran in for a touchdown instead wasclassic.”
As Foster merely grinned contagiously and started to blush, Keene joined the bit, hollering, “Sweet baby Jesus, it reallyisFoster Union! Damn, man, with zero interceptions and four touchdown passes, you’re like a god.” Gripping Foster’s arm, he begged, “Can you sign my panties? Please.”
When he actually pulled the waistband of his black jockey shorts up above the belt of his jeans and flashed them at Foster, Haverick’s football god sniffed, wholly unimpressed before he laughed in amusement and said, “Put those away, junior, before you hurt yourself.”
“I know, what a moron, huh?” Alec asked, sidling up alongside Foster and folding his arms over his chest as he shook his head sadly at Keene. “Poor kid thinks he can play with the big boys.”
Foster only sent Alec a sidelong glance that ended in a big smile. “Like you have any room to talk.” Shaking his head at both freshmen in amused exasperation, he asked, “How in the world do you live with these two, Arch?”
“I charge them double the rent,” Damien answered dryly, without missing a beat.
When I laughed at his answer, the pizza guy swerved his attention toward us in surprise, only to do a double-take as I stepped out from behind Damien.
His eyebrows shot up in interest. “Well, hey there,” he said with a questioning kind of smile. “You’re new.” Then his eyes widened, and he pointed at me. “Wait. Are you…? You can’t be…Oaklynn. Are you?”
“Oaklynn?” I shot back, sounding outraged. “My name’sStacey.” Slapping a hand to my hip, I glanced up at Damien in disgust and demanded, “Who the fuck is Oaklynn?”
He opened his mouth at first, his expression blank as if he had no idea how to reply. Then he sent Foster a dark glance. “Thanks a lot, man.”
