Page 17 of Frat House Fling

Was Bennett a slob? He seemed too… uptight for that. Like he always needed to be in control.

I felt uneasy as I made the bed. Had he purposefully left it undone? Maybe he liked the thought of me touching his sheets. Or he just liked making me do menial tasks. It was part of the job, yes, but none of the other guys had left their beds unmade.

Then again, young men weren’t known for their housekeeping skills. Maybe it was surprising that more of them hadn’t had unmade beds.

Still, I was glad to be done. I gathered up my stuff and headed toward the entryway. But when I rounded the corner from the dining area, I stopped dead.

There was something hanging on the back of the door—something I hadn’t noticed when I’d come in. I moved closer, but I already knew what it was. Bennett had obviously left it here for me to find.

It was the skimpy little French maid costume.

7

THEO

I knockedon Nelson’s door, but the sound of gunfire—simulated gunfire from a game—didn’t lessen.

Which wasn’t much of a surprise.

“It’s Theo. Open up.”

Nelson wasn’t my favorite guy ever. We didn’t have much in common, and I hadn’t spent all that much time with him. But this was a fraternity. That made us brothers. And it was time to get my brother to haul his ass out of his room.

“What?”

Fumes assaulted me as he opened the door. Most were from the pot he constantly smoked, but there were some other scents that I didn’t want to think too much about. Nelson’s room was full of clutter—it was pretty much the opposite of Ian’s room. “It’s time for dinner.”

“Thanks, Mom.”

I grinned. If I were his mother, the first thing I’d do would be to order him to clean his room. Hopefully Hailey would be smart enough not to set foot in here and do it for him. “Come on, Hailey made dinner.”

“Who?”

It took everything I had not to roll my eyes. “Hailey. The girl Bennett hired to cook and clean this summer.”

“Oh yeah.” The gears in his brain started slowly turning. “Is she hot?”

“Her food won’t be, not if we don’t get down there,” I said. The answer to his question was yes, but it wasn’t my job to point that out to him.

“I’m not hungry.” His eyes were red, and his beard was growing in unevenly.

“Come join us anyway. Hailey went to the store and cooked the meal for us. So at least come with us. If nothing else, you could use the fresh air.”

He blinked. “Are we eating outside?”

“No.” I left it to him to work out that the air in the dining room was much fresher than the air in his room. “Let’s go.”

He grumbled but followed me down the hall. Matt was easier to wrangle. He answered after the first knock and seemed surprised to see Nelson in my wake.

Matt was eager for dinner. He was on Langley’s baseball team and had a huge appetite, but he warned us that he couldn’t stay for very long. He was going to see his girlfriend right after dinner, which was a newsflash to no one because he spent seventy-five percent of his time at Tonya’s apartment.

It was kind of surprising that he still paid for a room here. Too bad Nelson didn’t have a girlfriend nearby.

The others were waiting at the table when we got downstairs. I took a seat next to Ian and was glad that Nelson sat across from me, not next to me. Bennett was at the head of the table, of course. He played up the president thing whenever he could. I’d known him since we were kids when I’d first become friends with his cousin, and I’d swear on a bible that his ego had gotten bigger each year. Grant, who didn’t exactly have a small ego either, sat next to him.

Even with six of us, we barely took up a third of the table. I missed the big meals with all of us together last semester. It was loud and chaotic, but fun. They were good guys—for the most part.

Hailey appeared, looking nervous as she carried a big serving bowl to the table. I didn’t blame her. A young woman like that serving food to six guys, six strangers—that couldn’t be a comfortable situation for her. But Bennett and Grant had made that call. Apparently, we couldn’t be trusted to look after ourselves for six months. Or couldn’t be bothered, perhaps, in some guys’ cases.

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