Page 26 of Study Buddies

Kyle held up his hands like it didn’t matter. LikeNataliehadn’t mattered. And she hadn’t—to him, anyway. “That’s ancient history, bro.”

“It happened a year and a half ago,” Jayden pointed out.

Kyle ran a hand through his hair. “So what, you two are going to protect Tori’s virtue like nerdy guard dogs?”

“She’s had a rough time of it,” Jayden said. “She need somewhere she could feel safe. That’s what we gave her—until you showed up.”

“Are you sure that’s what she needs? Maybe she’s not the delicate flower you think she is. Maybe she needs a real man, not two little old ladies coddling her.”

Jayden shook his head, and this time, I refused to rise to the bait. “Go back to Frat Row.”

“It’s too noisy there,” Kyle said flippantly. “I do homework and shit now, or hadn’t you heard? You should respect that. Don’t forget, her grade is tied to mine.”

“What?” I exchanged a shocked look with Jayden, but I’d digest that information later. “You wouldn’t have set foot back here all semester if you hadn’t found out she was here.”

Kyle shrugged with an easy smile I wanted to knock from his face. “This house is half mine. And that’s my room, so it’s time for me to reclaim it. I already let the boy wonder stay in it for months.”

Jayden gave him a look filled with dislike. “You were fine with taking my rent money.”

“That’s right,” Kyle said, a gleam in his eye. “Watch how you speak to your landlord, son.”

“It’s half my house too,” I reminded him.

“You can have as many people as you want in your room, but mine belongs to me, and I get to say who stays there.” He slammed his shoulder into mine as he strode past me to the front door. “So you’re just going to have to deal with that, bro. And so will she.”

Jayden and I stared at each other after he went back inside, both of us glum. This was the last thing either of us needed, but that wasn’t what concerned me the most.

It was Tori. One way or another, I was going to keep my stepbrother from making her life as miserable as he did everyone else’s.

13

TORI

I frownedas I ran a finger along a dusty shelf. “Can I get rid of these?”

Jayden glanced over as he picked his way through stacks of boxes. He shrugged, because it was Lucas’s call. He was in charge of what stayed and went in this extremely cluttered basement. “Yo, Lucas!”

Lucas appeared from the back room, looking like he’d rolled around in dirt. Everything down here was old and dusty. “What’s up?”

“Do you want these old tablecloths?” I poked at the pile of old folded fabric on rusted metal shelves.

“Pitch them,” Lucas said. “Probably any kind of cloth should go.”

“Yeah, I think moths got to this.” I tossed the whole pile into the gray trashcan Jayden slid over for me.

Jayden moved the trashcan back and then scanned the dingy basement. “Are you sure you don’t want some of Great-Aunt Mabel’s unraveling sweaters?” He stopped and frowned. “What’s the opposite of that? Are some sweaters raveled?”

I giggled. That was a question I’d never considered before.

“I’ll pass,” Lucas said, disappearing into the backroom again. “Although save?—”

“We know,” Jayden said. “Anything your mom might like.”

Until this evening, I hadn’t realized that the house used to belong to Lucas’s great-aunt. I thought his mother and stepdad had bought a random place, but his mom had actually inherited a share of this one. Then she and Kyle’s dad pooled their money and bought out his mom’s siblings so that Lucas and Kyle could live here while they went to Langley.

Though, from what I’d gathered, Kyle hadn’t spent much time here last year. That wasn’t too surprising, given how much he and Lucas seemed to dislike each other, but apparently he was here to stay now. After bursting in on me two mornings ago, he showed up after class with clothes, sporting equipment, and a few duffel bags in his black pickup truck.

“Do you get the feeling we may be sorting through this stuff until we graduate?” Jayden said quietly, with a quick glance at the doorway to the backroom where Lucas had disappeared to.

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