Page 86 of Rebel Romeo

“Maybe we can double date sometime,” Duncan said, his words making me freeze, key fob still in my hand.

I turned slowly back to him and took the cigarette out of my mouth exhaling the smoke and watching it twist and disappear in the night air. “Double date?”

I took another drag of my cigarette, inhaling, then blowing the puff of smoke from my mouth. As it clouded around my head, I examined Duncan’s button-down shirt. Nice dress slacks. His black leather shoes that looked recently polished.

Oh, fuck. Please don’t tell me Addison had gotten her little claws into him.

His cheeky ass grin widened. Damn, I hated to admit it, but that mother fucker was a good looking dude. “Jill,” he said.

“Katherine’s roommate?”

He nodded.

Fuck. That was worse than Addison. At least when things with Addison imploded, the shrapnel wouldn’t damage me or Kate. But I had no doubt Duncan was going to fuck this up royally and somehow Katherine and I would be caught in the crossfire.

“Dude—”

“C’mon, she’s hot. You know what they say about redheads?”

“She’s a freshman,” I said, ignoring his implications about redheads.

“So is Kate,” he countered. And I couldn’t even argue because dammit he was right.

“Don’t you remember what happened with Bailey?”

He snorted. “Cautionary tale. But she was still in high school and she lied to us about her age.”

I shrugged. That night was more my fucking fault than Duncan’s. I should have been more careful, but I’d been too drunk, too wild, too interested in getting my dick wet. But the moment I found out she was eighteen, I kicked her out of our party so fucking fast. My shirt had still been off, my pants unzipped when I ushered her out of my room and into an Uber.

“Duncan,” I said, taking him by the shoulders. “Please hear me. You cannot fuck Jill. For the sake of our friendship, please, please, keep it in your pants. I like Katherine. A lot.”

His goofy, golden retriever-esque demeanor stilled. His smile fading slightly as he stared back at me. “But what if Jill’s the one?”

His words made my heart stutter. I’d never heard my best friend talk like that. Ever. “... is she?” Holy shit. If he felt even a fraction of what I felt for Katherine, then who was I to stand in their way?

The somber look on his face disappeared faster than a snap of his fingers and he punched my arm. “Nah, I’m just fucking with you. But seriously, you just have to trust me on this… even if you see Jill and me together, it’s not anything you need to worry about.”

Fuck. I couldn’t believe I fell for his bullshit. “Dude?—”

“Seriously, don’t worry. There’s a billion pussies on campus that want Duncan to Dunk ‘em. Jill and I are… we’re just friends.”

Friends. Wasn’t that what I’d said about Katherine for the last several weeks?

He spun and headed for the front door I’d just locked. “Hey,” I called after him. “If you did really like her, that’d be okay too, ya know? I just… fuck, she’s a nice girl. And you’re a nice guy… when you want to be.”

A smirk twitched on his face but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. Our whole lives both Duncan and I had these parts to play. Me, the brooding asshole. Him, the sexy goofball party boy. But I knew better than to believe either of us were solely these stereotypes. Despite having a different girl every weekend, I saw how lonely Duncan was. And how much he resented his parents after their divorce.

“Dude, seriously, it’s fine. She’s just a girl. There’s like twenty others right behind her.”

That was what I was afraid of.

Before I could say anything else, he disappeared inside the condo. Despite the fact that it had looked like he was on his way out. Despite the fact that he looked like he was dressed for a date.

Willow Tavern was only a few blocks away from Katherine’s dorm on the riverfront. Even though I’d offered to drive, it was a nice night and she insisted that we walk. And since walking meant more time with her, holding her hand, I didn’t object.

After dinner, we strolled along the river until we turned back toward her dorm, each scanning our student IDs at the door and waving to the bored security guard who barely gave us a second glance.

Curfew my ass. This guy didn’t give a shit.

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