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  Stationery had always been a weakness of my mine, and I’d gotten all giddy while packing it with the prospect of scoring a roommate who got as excited about it as I did. A contented sigh escaped me when I thought about the girl I hadn’t even met yet.

  Spotting a parking space up ahead near the administration buildings that weren’t too far away from the freshmen dorms, I waved excitedly at a few students crossing the street when I stopped to take the space. They looked at me funny, but hey, I was excited and some of them might even become my friends. If I wanted to make good first impressions, I had to start right away.

  As soon as I climbed out of my faded blue clunker, I dragged in a breath of the fresh, cool, autumn air and smiled again. If it wouldn’t have earned me even more strange looks, I’d have thrown my arms out to my sides and turned in a slow circle while possibly humming a tune from a princess movie.

  That was how happy I was. For the first time in possibly my whole life, I was filled with pure, unadulterated joy.

  Deciding it would be better to do the humming I so badly wanted to do under my breath, I kept it down while grabbing my backpack from the passenger seat. After slinging the tattered pink strap over my shoulder, I headed toward the queue I thought I had to join only to find out an hour later it wasn’t the right one.

  Shake it off, I told myself firmly, joining the queue I’d been pointed toward. While I was waiting, I watched the returning students and freshmen more familiar with the lay of the land confidently moving around, and I immediately looked forward to the day when I would be able to navigate this place like that.

  For the remainder of the time I spent waiting in several lines, I watched the other students and daydreamed about classes starting. Once I’d done what I needed to, I went back to my car and stared down at the campus map I’d been issued.

  A few wrong turns later, I arrived outside my new home. The dorm I’d been assigned to was in Edgewater Hall. It was another one of the red-brick buildings that characterized pretty much the entire campus, but it was surrounded by newer structures that I knew had been renovated more recently.

  Even so, I was excited to be living in one of the classic, older dormitories. It had a sense of history oozing from it that I fell in love with immediately. As I opened my door to climb out of my car though, a loud voice shouted, “Watch it!”

  I slammed the door shut again, only to be met by a few people glowering at me from outside the window as they carried a mini-fridge that I’d apparently almost just hit. Raising my hand, I gave them an apologetic wave and smile, then waited for them to pass before trying again.

  It would’ve been nice to have had some help lugging my stuff to my room, but I perked up again when I realized that there was no rush. I’d be living here now, which meant I could take the rest of the year to move it all in if I wanted to.

  But I didn’t want to, so I slung the strap of my biggest duffel bag over my shoulder and gripped the handle of the case with some of my stationery in it. It seemed fitting that it should be one of the first things I moved into my dorm. My roommate might even want to see it right away.

  Another surge of excitement passed through me. Fishing the printed sheet that contained my room number out of my backpack, I clutched it in my hand as I headed for the short staircase that led to the front doors of my building.

  I felt a little like a pack mule carrying my backpack, duffel, and my case when I pushed through the doors, but since most people were moving in, I didn’t attract any strange looks this time. Even if I was one of the only people who were moving in alone.

  My parents had wanted to come, but my dad was the only employee at his computer repair store and he couldn’t afford to close his doors for the day. Mom had tried to convince me that she could come, but it would mean missing her shift at the department store and spending a bunch of money on gas for another car. It just hadn’t seemed like the wisest thing to have either of them take the day off just to help me move in.

  There was an elevator in front of me, but there were also lots of my dorm mates already waiting for it. Right then, the stairs it is.

  Joining the crowds entering the stairwell, I clumsily made my way up to the fourth floor. The strap of my duffel kept falling off my shoulder and I wondered if my mother had replaced the stationery in the case with rocks since it weighed a ton by the second floor.

  Other students rushed past me, but none stopped to ask if I needed help. Maybe my roommate and I can give each other a hand.

  With renewed determination at the thought, I gritted my teeth and kept going. When I finally arrived at my room, huffing, puffing, and covered in a layer of sweat, I took a second to catch my breath.

  The highly anticipated moment of meeting my roommate had arrived. Since the door was ajar and I caught sight of the bent knee of someone sitting on a bed through the crack, I knew she had to have gotten here before me.

  As I pushed the door all the way open with my shoulder, I plastered a smile on my face and entered the room. It wasn’t huge, but it was more than big enough for two of us.

  A twin bed stood against the wall on either side of the space. There was a large window on the back wall above the beds and a simple dresser, wardrobe, and desk for each of us against another. My mattress and walls were bare, but the other side of the room already had posters up of what appeared to be human anatomy notes and other medical-type things.

  On a bed covered in whiter than white bedding sat a girl around my age. She had earbuds in her ears and a textbook propped open on her lap, but she looked up when I walked in.

  Unlike me, she wasn’t smiling. She sighed when she saw me, her pale green eyes sweeping across the bags I carried before pulling one earbud out of her ear.

  “Hey,” she said. “Try to keep it down while you bring your stuff in, will you? I’m trying to get a head start on my course material.”

  Well, that wasn’t the welcome I had in mind. I nodded, then widened my smile and dropped my bags before walking toward her and extending my hand, hellbent on being friendly. Maybe I can get us back on track.

  “I’m Hadley Sage,” I said, “but you can call me Haddie.”

  She glanced at my hand with what seemed like exasperation bleeding into her gaze, but then gave it a quick shake before reaching for a bottle of hand sanitizer next to her bed. “Ruby Sprite. Listen, I’m pre-med, so once classes get started I won’t be here very often except for when I’m sleeping. Don’t snoop through my stuff when I’m not here, okay?”

  I swallowed hard, not really knowing whether I should be offended by the fact that she felt like she even needed to tell me that. “Sure. No snooping. I got it.”

  Her blonde ponytail bobbed as she nodded, her eyes lingering on mine for a second before she dropped them back to her textbook. “Good. In that case, as long as you keep your shit on your side of the room, we’ll get along just fine.”

  Clearly, she hadn’t been daydreaming for the past however many years about meeting her roommate. Ruby seemed completely uninterested in anything but her textbook as she popped her earbud back in and returned her full attention to her work.

  Disappointment tried to creep up on me, but I took a deep breath and shoved it down. So what if that didn’t go exactly as planned? It’s bound to get better from here.

  This was college. It was the time of their lives everyone dreamed about and here I was at one of the best universities in the country. Nothing was going to bring me down. Even if I would have to work a little bit harder at making a best friend out of my roommate.

  Chapter 3

  DAXTON

  The rest of Friday went by in a blur. Solo cup after solo cup had been pushed into my hands back at the house. I’d drained every last drop of beer given to me, and by the time we left to attend a party at a sorority house on the next block over, I was on the wobbly side of trashed.

  It’d been a fucking good first day so far, though. Most of it had been spent bonding with my new boys, and now we were surrounded by ho
t girls in skimpy clothing. It was exactly what I’d always wanted the college experience to be.

  And it’s only my first day.

  Although I was swaying slightly on my feet, I couldn’t wipe the smug grin off my face as I leaned against the wall in the kitchen. A group of girls standing around the counter kept glancing at me while they talked, heads bent together as they giggled and tried not to be too obvious about the fact that they were discussing me.

  “You’re a hot commodity,” Ryker, another freshman at Sigma Xi Delta, said as he slid in beside me. “It’s got to be your last name. Everyone around here knows the name Breyer.”

  Yeah, he’d know all about that. As a legacy himself, he was in the single next to mine at the house and had a last name that was equally well known. We’d already earned ourselves a nickname as a unit, even though we’d only just met a few hours ago. The Inbred Bastards.

  Apparently, the inbred was because of our fathers’ involvement at the frat. I had no idea where the bastards had come from, but I supposed they’d hit the nail on the head with it.

  I smirked at him. “Nah, it’s my great body. I’ve spent years honing it on a surfboard. Obviously, that’s what they’re after. They don’t give a fuck about my name.”

  He scoffed out a laugh, flicking his head to flip his long brown fringe out of his eyes. “Whatever it is, a lot of the guys here want to be you because all the girls want to fuck you.”

  Another body slammed into the wall next to me. It was Andrews, the sophomore who’d helped me with my stuff earlier. He rolled his bloodshot eyes at both of us, slurring almost just as much as we were.

  “You guys might want to keep it down if you don’t want people overhearing you talking shit,” he said. “You’re both wrong anyway. It’s because you’re new blood.”

  “Yeah, but I’m not a surfer boy from Hawaii.” Ryker pretended to pout, but the corners of his mouth kept twitching up. “That’s why I’m not in as high demand.”

  I punched his shoulder, laughing even though it wasn’t really all that funny. “No, asshole. That’s because you’ve told them all you have a girlfriend and that you plan on being faithful to her.”

  He shrugged but then punched me back and winked. “You can thank me any time for removing myself from the competition.”

  “Whatever.” I snorted, suppressing a laugh as I took another sip of my beer. “I’m always down for a little friendly competition. Anytime. Anywhere. Anything. Bring it on. You’re probably just going to have to ask for your girl’s permission before you can take me up on the challenge.”

  “I wouldn’t do that,” he sneered derisively before thrusting his chin in the air. “I’ll take you up on any other challenge, though. Name it.”

  Another one of our brothers had joined the conversation at some point. He exchanged a glance with Andrews, then stepped forward to size us both up. I’d been introduced to him earlier, but I still had to check the name stitched onto his sweater to remember who he was.

  Callum Xavier. Junior. Jock. Studying journalism.

  “You should both try out for the row team,” he said, head still cocked as he looked us up and down. “It’s super competitive and any guy who wants to be anyone on campus at least tries out. I’m the co-captain this year. I can help you with the sign-up for the tryouts.”

  I rolled my lips into my mouth. The Row Team was a big deal at Edgewater. It always had been. My father had encouraged me to get on it, but even signing up to try out was a process.

  “I’m in,” I said as I released my lips with a pop. “It sounds like fun. I’m a fan of anything physical and on the water.”

  Ryker tapped his mouth as he considered the offer, then gave a curt nod. “I’m in, too. I’ve rowed a little before. I’m a shoo-in for the team.”

  Callum’s head and shoulders dipped back as he laughed. “We’ll see about that. Enjoy your night, boys.”

  He opened his arms wide as he walked away backward, and several girls who’d come into the room while we’d been talking swarmed around him immediately. Winking as he draped his arms around two of their shoulders, he turned and allowed the girls to drag him to a table where some of the others were doing shots.

  Andrews had drifted away from us a few minutes ago, and his tongue was now buried tonsil deep in a perky blonde who’d been ogling us since we’d arrived. Ryker nudged me in the ribs with his elbow, using his cup to point at the cluster of girls still gathered around the counter.

  “You going in?” he asked. “Just remember to bag it before you tag it. You don’t want to lose half your future paycheck before you’ve even started earning it.”

  I rolled my eyes at him and pounded a fist over my heart. “It’s so good to know that you care.”

  “I don’t,” he replied, grinning as he waggled his eyebrows at me. “I’d just hate to see you drop out to take care of baby Breyer before we’ve even gotten to compete in anything.”

  I faked a shudder but inclined my head in agreement. “Thanks for caring, but you don’t need to worry about me. I won’t be sharing my paychecks with anyone for a long time. There won’t be any babies for me. I’m religious about wrapping it.”

  He held his cup up to mine. “Cheers to that, then.”

  “Cheers.” I whacked my cup against his, laughing when some of the beer sloshed out at the force that I’d used when I smacked the plastic against his. “I’ll go get the refills.”

  “Nah.” He drained what was left of his beer, then handed his cup over to me and lifted his wrist to check his watch, his eyes squinting as he tried to focus. “I’d better get back to the house. I’m pretty fucking wasted.”

  “So am I,” I argued. “Why does that mean we have to leave?”

  “You don’t,” he said, sighing as he pulled his phone out of his pocket it and waved it in front of me. “I’ve already got a girl though, remember? I don’t need to try to chat one up here. I’ll just go talk to mine.”

  “I still can’t believe you came to Edgewater with a girlfriend,” I groaned, giving my head a shake. “Who does that?”

  “People who actually know life is about more than just random fucks,” he suggested before clapping me on the bicep. “You’ll figure it out one day.”

  This time, I didn’t have to fake the shudder that slid down my spine. “You’re way off base there, bro. I’m not wasting a second of the next few years on a relationship.”

  I raised my fist and forced my features into a solemn expression. “I’m committed to being single until graduation. At the very least.”

  “Uh huh.” He smirked at me like he knew something I didn’t. “Good luck with that, bud. I’m putting money on it that you’ll be pussy whipped before the end of the year. Guaranteed.”

  “How much are you willing to lose?” I asked, offering him my hand. “I’ll double it, but I guarantee you’re going to lose your money. There’s no way I’m going to be in a relationship by then.”

  He arched a brow at me but slapped his palm into mine. “Since this is just a friendly bet, let’s make it a thousand. That’s two grand to me if you lose.”

  “Done.” I gave his hand a firm shake, then said goodbye after he checked his watch again.

  Once Ryker was gone, I joined Callum for shots and quickly gained a girl on either side of me, vying for my attention while we drank. The edges of my vision were going blurry by the time I left the table and stumbled into the living area.

  My hand was grabbed by some random who pulled me onto the makeshift dance floor, but I didn’t resist. Snaking my arm around her bony waist, I pulled her to me and let her grind away while I rocked to the rhythm of the music.

  Usually, I was a decent dancer but I was too drunk to care right now. Although I couldn’t see her properly, the girl seemed hot enough, and from the feel of it pressing into my chest, her rack was respectable.

  Some of her friends joined us, and soon I was the meat in a sorority-girl sandwich. I closed my eyes and dropped my head back, going with th
e flow as unfamiliar feminine hands roamed over my body. Lips met my skin, trailing up my neck to my jaw while fingers twined into the hair at my nape.

  I leaned into the touch, but my stomach lurched viciously when I opened my eyes and tried to see who I was potentially getting it on with. My mouth filled with water and I suddenly couldn’t really feel my legs.

  Fuck. It’s time for me to get out of here.

  I murmured a few incomprehensible words, dodging the writhing bodies on the dance floor as I fought against the rising waves of nausea and vertigo. As soon as I hit the fresh air outside, I nearly fell down the stairs in my attempt to get to the sidewalk without puking.

  Several hands steadied me, but I shook them all off as I focused on making my way back to my new home. The asphalt rushed at my face a few times, but I managed to keep myself from falling as I walked in the direction of the frat house.

  It had gotten cool while I’d been at the party. The bite in the breeze helped clear my head enough that I knew I was going the right way at least. I was going to have a monster of a hangover in the morning. The mere thought of it sent a stabbing pain through my head in anticipation of what it was going to be like when I woke up.

  Totally worth it, though.

  As I rubbed my forehead, a flash of light from the corner caught my attention. I narrowed my eyes to try and make out what it was, then wished I hadn’t when I realized there was a burly security guard shining his flashlight at me.

  Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

  The last thing I needed right then was to get busted for underage drinking. While it probably wouldn’t come as much of a surprise to my parents that I’d gotten drunk on my first day here, it wasn’t drama I had time for or wanted to deal with.

  The guard glowered at me as he beamed the light into my eyes. “Stop right there, son.”

  “I’m not your son,” I spat at him, raising my hand to shield myself from the bright light. “What do you want?”