Page 76 of Whistle

Bodhi took the cup.

Wes seemed relieved and held up a box of donuts. “Donuts are kinda a tradition too, but that’s because Jamie likes them.”

Almost as if he smelled the food, the door across the hall opened and he appeared. “They say you are what you eat, and if that’s the case…” Jamie said, flipping the top of the box open to grab a glazed donut and shove half in his face. “Bro, I am one hundred percent delicious.”

His lips smacked, and he shoved the rest of the donut into his mouth and reached for another.

“I thought you were going to dinner,” I said.

“We are. This is a snack,” he answered, chewing loud.

“I got you a trauma latte too, Coach,” Wes said, holding out the other cup in his hand.

Surprised, I looked at it.

“Seemed rude to not get you one too,” Wes supplied.

“What he means is we’re concerned about your blood sugar level,” Jamie mused. “You’ve been a little cranky.”

I gave him a look.

He pushed a donut under my nose. “Pastry?”

I took the coffee. “Thanks, Sinclair.”

“You’re welcome, Coach,” Wes replied.

Bodhi was watching me, and I gestured to his cup. “Drink that.”

God only knew if he’d been eating. Following that thought, I snatched a donut out of Jamie’s hands just as he was about to take a bite, and I laid it on the lid of Bodhi’s latte. “Eat that too.”

“Rude,” Jamie quipped, already helping himself to another.

Ryan came out of Bodhi’s room. “Everything all good?”

“Finally.” The kid whose face I’d punched appeared in the open doorway. “I was about to head to the dumpster.”

A bag sailed out into the hall, hit the floor, and skidded against the wall. Another bag followed. A couple colorful scraps of fabric were flung out next, and Bodhi tensed. I glanced down at the closest one… Was that lace?

The mental image that lived rent-free in my head of that damned Bangr picture flashed into my mind. More specifically, the slinky little straps riding on the guy’s hipbones.

No way.

“That’s my laptop.” Bodhi’s angry voice snapped me back just in time to see him rush to the doorway to snatch a messenger bag from his roommate’s clutches.

His sudden burst of movement knocked the donut off the lid of his coffee, and it landed in the middle of the hall.

“Five-second rule,” Jamie called, scooping it up and shoving it between his lips.

“I told you not to touch my stuff,” Bodhi said, voice tight.

“What the hell is your problem?” Ryan asked.

“My problem is a bunch of mermaids are camped out in my room and I’m sick of it. If you want your shit, get it and get out.”

Bodhi shouldered into the room, disappearing from sight, and a fissure of panic tightened my chest. I thought about the last time he was out of my sight and shifted forward. The roommate moved like he would block the door, so I shoved my coffee into Ryan’s hands and grabbed the kid by the shirt with both hands.

I lifted, my arms trembling with the effort, pulling this guy off his feet and rotating to drop him in the middle of the hall. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll stay the hell out of my way.”

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