Vacancy, page 9
“Wait…you saw what?” Raina broke in with a dismayed laugh. “Was it some kind of stunt?”
I rolled my eyes. “No. It was just a trick of the setting sunlight, I think, since no one else saw it.” When her eyebrows rose in question, I lifted a hand and hurried to add, “I was three-sheets-to-the-wind drunk is what Jay always fails to mention when telling that story.”
“Ah…” Raina started to nod only to tip her head and frown. “During your high school’s homecoming game?”
With a wince, I admitted, “Yeah… I was a bit of a party animal back then.”
“She was fun back then,” Jaylani put in, hooking her arm through mine as we left the student union behind.
“Ah, yes.” Sighing sadly, I leaned my face to the side so I could rest my temple along hers. “And now I’m boring and responsible, determined to be a good girl so I don’t flunk out of Haverick my first semester here.”
“Sounds smart to me,” Raina started, only for me to glance past her and spot a familiar figure exiting the history building.
“Oh my God!” Jarring to a halt, I grabbed Raina and Jaylani on either side of me to stop them as well. “Y’all won’t believe this.”
8
OAKLYNN
“What?” Jaylani asked, already glancing around. “What do you see?”
“Ooh, please tell me it’s a headless horseman charging across the quad,” Raina whispered excitedly.
“What?” Sputtering out a laugh, I shook my head. “No! It’s just…him.”
“Who?”
“Damien…my landlord.” Shaking both ladies’ arms, I added, “Thalia’s brother.”
Jaylani gasped and gripped my arm right back. “He followed you onto campus?” Sending me an arch glance, she demanded, “And you say he’s not a stalker?”
I rolled my eyes. “Relax. He’s a student too.” At least, he appeared to be. I guess I didn’t know that for a fact. He’d never actually said as much to me, but he had a book bag hooked over one shoulder right now, and he was on campus, so he had to be a student.
Right?
“Which one is he?” Raina asked, squinting across the courtyard.
“Right there.” I pointed. “The drop-dead gorgeous one.”
“I don’t—Oh! Oh my… Wow.” She twisted to lift her eyebrows at me in question. “Do you think he could stalk me too?”
As I refrained from growling at her, she began to fan herself. And all the while Damien walked along, clearly unaware that he was being scrutinized.
“I’m telling you,” Raina said. “If that was my new landlord, I’d be calling him over nightly with a leaky water problem. Oh, Mr. Landlord, sir! Come quickly. It’s just so…wet over here.”
“No,” I groaned. “Please stop.”
But Raina was apparently on a roll. “I really need you to get in there and…snake my pipes.”
“Yeah, I will most definitely not be saying that to him,” I assured.
Raina shrugged. “Suit yourself. But…”
She didn’t finish the sentence because, across the courtyard, someone behind Damien called his name.
Damien turned and then paused to wait for the other guy—some blond who wasn’t too shabby-looking either—to jog over and catch up with him.
“Fine. So maybe his name is Damien,” Jaylani relented regretfully. “I still don’t trust him any farther than I could throw him.”
Only for Raina to whimper. “Dear heavens. He knows Foster Union.”
“Who?” I started to ask only to grow distracted and utterly captivated by watching the two men clasp hands and pull each other in for a mini hug. “Gah,” I groaned out a needy whimper. “Isn’t it just so hot when guys bro it out like that?”
“They definitely make it look hot,” Raina agreed, bobbing her head distractedly in agreement.
Jay rolled her eyes, not impressed.
The two men spoke for another few seconds before Damien motioned in the direction he’d been walking and the blond motioned the other way. Then the blond patted Damien companionably on the back of the shoulder and started off away from him.
And as the two men went their separate ways, Damien glanced in our direction as if he could feel us gaze-molesting him.
His eyes met mine, briefly, only for him to do a double-take and squint slightly as if questioning whether he was seeing me correctly. He must’ve decided he was because his eyebrows rose in surprise. Then he waved, his hand lifting slightly with his index finger going higher than the rest of his fingers in one of those super-masculine half-waves that made a majority of the organs in my body shut down so blood could rush to my reproductive system and prepare for some serious baby-making action.
I think my nipples grew hard enough to cut diamonds.
Swallowing thickly, I waved back, and his lips lifted in one corner, not a full smile but something so much sexier. And I could be totally wrong, but I swear that smug look was saying, you’re going to give in any minute now and call, begging me for sex; I know you are.
He didn’t slow his pace or veer toward us but kept walking along as if he had somewhere to be, then he was out of sight and gone, and I felt as if I’d just been ridden hard by an entire ball team of guys.
“Dear God,” I uttered hollowly, gripping a hold of both Raina and Jaylani on either side of me for support. “But I really want that man to snake my pipes.”
“You and me both, sister,” Raina agreed, only to gasp and grip my arm. “Wait! Wait a freaking minute. Is your boy one of the…seven?”
“The seven?” I echoed cluelessly. “Who are the seven?”
“Ooh, I’ve heard of those guys,” Jaylani spoke up, tugging on my other arm now. “Aren’t they supposedly the hottest men on campus?”
“Uh...not supposedly,” Raina answered, already on her phone and tapping buttons. “It’s a hard fact. And in my opinion, they’re, hands down, the finest specimens to walk the planet.”
I lifted my brows in interest as she concluded with, “And…there he is. I was right. He’s one of the seven.”
She turned her phone to show me the screen. When I first focused on it, I saw that it was Foster Union’s Facebook account, but then Raina tapped on one of the pictures, and I noticed Damien was in the photo with the guy he’d just been talking to on the quad. They were both shirtless and sweaty and grinning at the camera with their arms looped around the other’s shoulders and medals hanging from ribbons around their necks.
The caption read: Look who talked me into running a 10K with him today. Never again.
And it tagged one Damien Archer.
“There’s no denying his name’s Damien now,” Raina concluded.
I rolled my eyes. “Well, I already knew that.” Though, secretly, I was glad to have proof after the way Jaylani and Raina had made me question it.
“This is so cool,” Raina uttered as she turned the phone to gaze at the screen herself. “You’re renting a room from one of the seven.”
“Okay…” I nodded, still lost. “But who are they?”
“They’re the seven,” Raina repeated with more emphasis as if that should explain it better. “Just seven of the hottest men on campus. Though, they probably wouldn’t be that well known if it weren’t for Foster Union. He kind of put the other six on the map since they’re his best friends.”
Furrowing my brow with more confusion, I asked, “Except who the fuck is Foster Union?”
Raina blinked at me once before saying, “You’re joking.” She glanced toward Jaylani. “Please tell me she’s joking.”
“What?” I started, only for Jaylani to grip both my shoulders from behind and manually turn me toward a building we were standing next to.
“Oh sweetie,” she said in a sympathetic, you’re-too-clueless-for-your-own-good voice.
I opened my mouth to ask again what they were talking about when I finally noticed the huge billboard posted against the side of the wall. It showed a full-body, head-to-toe picture of the blond who’d just been talking to Damien. He was standing between two other guys—all three of them wearing football jerseys—and each had a title under them. The one under Damien’s friend read Foster Union, Quarterback. He was grinning out at me and holding a football in my direction with one hand. The other half of the billboard congratulated the team for being the National Champs the previous year.
“So… He’s a football player?” I guessed slowly.
“A football player?” Raina gaped at me as if I’d lost my mind. Then she glanced at Jaylani and shook her head. “A football player, she says. Oh, Oaklynn.” She sighed in defeat as she turned back to me. “He’s not just a football player. He’s a freaking legend. A god. He took our team to the national championships last year. And he was only a sophomore! He’s probably going to do it again this year, too, with the way their season’s going.” She shook her head, exasperated. “How can you not know any of this? I thought you were a journalism major.”
“I’m still new,” I muttered, offended. “And I don’t cover sports.”
I was still learning the names of all my professors. I hadn’t gotten around to memorizing notable students yet. Jeez.
Raina patted my back. “It’s okay,” she assured. “I’ll let it slide this time. But to catch you up to speed… Last year was the first time HaveU had ever won a national title in football, and it was the first time in fifteen years that we’d even made the playoffs. Foster has a passer rating of 168, which put him in fourth place as the most efficient quarterback in all of divisional college football, the big six included.”
“Wow,” I murmured, impressed by Raina’s knowledge but not so much by some guy’s football stats, since I had no idea what a passer rating even was. “You really like football, huh?”
“Uh...” Raina’s smile faltered. “No, not really. I don’t exactly know how the whole game works.” Then she shrugged ruefully. “I’m just a Foster Union fan.”
“I guess,” I said, nodding my head slowly.
“I heard he was, like, super friendly, too. Not arrogant or rude at all. Like the sunny, sweet, boy-next-door type of pure and nice.”
“Huh,” I said, thinking I preferred the dark, mysterious type better.
There had just been something thrilling and addictive about Damien’s enigmatic way that gave me a danger rush. Like parachuting or bungee jumping, where you weren’t a hundred percent sure if the cord would hold or the chute would open. That intense expression in Damien’s eyes made me question whether he was thinking of kissing me or strangling me. It was hot as fuck.
I shivered as excited goosebumps pebbled my skin.
“And get this,” Raina was saying, still going on about her pleasant, agreeable, boring football player. “He works as a humble pizza delivery boy at Duke’s Pizza Palace.”
“Let me guess,” I said, growing amused. “You eat a lot of pizza these days.”
“Three or four times a month,” Raina admitted miserably. “And I still haven’t gotten him as my delivery guy yet.”
“Isn’t there porn that starts just like that?” I mused more to myself as Jaylani suggested, “Maybe he works at Finch’s Pizzeria instead.”
Raina gasped. “No way! Does he really?”
Jaylani shrugged. “I have no clue. It was just an idea.”
“Oh my God. Don’t freak me out like that.” Raina shoved at her arm aghast. “I’m, like, ninety-five percent sure it’s Duke’s.”
I laughed, only to check the time and shriek, “Shit! I need to get to class. Guys, I’ll catch you later, okay?”
“Yeah, okay.” Jaylani waved me off. “I’ll call you.”
“Great. See ya. Bye.” I blew her a kiss and then waved at her study partner. “Raina. It was nice to meet you. We totes need to hang out again.”
“For sure.” She waved me off with a friendly smile. “A monthly lunch thing maybe?”
I walked backward as I sent her a thumbs-up. “Definitely.”
With all our farewells said, I pivoted forward and hurried off, only to catch sight of the championship billboard again with Damien’s smiling friend on it.
He was super attractive, no doubt about that. But he looked one hundred percent like the wholesome, gee-shucks, thank-you-ma’am Texas boy that Raina described. And the mystique around Damien screamed, you can either take your own panties off or I’ll rip them off you, which was an intensity that drew me in the most.
Not that I’d be doing anything with either man since I’d sworn off all of them.
But still. I wished I could test drive Damien just once to see how extreme of a ride he really was.
Then, I could go back to—Wait a tick.
What was wrong with just one time with him?
I’d sworn off becoming a party animal. I hadn’t decided to become completely celibate. So maybe…if I just gave in only once, it wouldn’t be so bad.
Honestly, it’d probably help me get back to focusing on my schoolwork again. Thoughts of him were already breaking into my studies. And that wasn’t supposed to happen.
I needed to flush this guy from my system once and for all.
And that’s when the plan formed.
9
DAMIEN
After five days of not hearing from Oaklynn, I finally accepted the fact that she’d rejected my offer to finish our kiss.
Which was honestly just as well because I’d also decided she wasn’t a scammer, liar, or con woman out to get me. And since she was merely some innocent coed renting a room, I had a feeling I should clear up a few facts that she had wrong about her new living situation.
Yet, I had no idea how to actually break the news to her. I was not the type to finesse my way through complicated conversations. And this one would probably be the most tangled I’d ever had.
So… I hadn’t even tried.
And every day that passed, when I ran by her front door without going up to knock and explain everything, the idea of telling her grew more and more difficult to do.
I mean, surely she’d figure out the truth for herself soon enough.
But when she did, would she hate me because I hadn’t been the one to reveal it?
Or would she hate me for being the one to tell her since, obviously, she had no idea she could see and talk to dead people?
No matter how things went down, this was going to flip her entire world on its head.
And no matter what I did, I felt fucked. I couldn’t imagine that she’d be willing to help me find Thalia’s killer when she found out. Or that she’d be willing to kiss me again.
A fresh wave of guilt swirled over me as I approached the brownstone this morning. Dodging puddles from rain the night before, I wiped the morning sweat from my eyes and focused on the big bay window in the hopes of seeing her just one more time.
It took me a moment to notice that someone was sitting on her front steps, and then another to realize it was her.
I faltered a step, and my mind immediately emptied of...whatever I’d just been stressing about.
From that point on, there was only her.
Oaklynn was barefoot, wearing a T-shirt and shorts and sipping from an enormous mug with steam rolling from it.
When she saw me, she straightened and lowered the cup so she could wave.
I waved back, mesmerized by her dimples. And as I reached the corner post where I always took my break, I twisted in her direction to get another look.
She was still watching me. After setting down her coffee to pick up a bottle of water that was on the step next to her, she lifted her eyebrows in offering.
And my system went haywire because, fuck, she’d been sitting there waiting specifically for me.
I gave into temptation basically immediately and started forward to accept the drink.
“Good morning,” she said brightly, and my body responded to her voice, rippling pleasure down my spine.
With a brief jerk of the head, I nodded back to her. “Morning,” I managed to rasp before I took the bottle. “Thanks.”
“Of course.” She smiled and started to rub her hands along the outsides of her bent knees as if chilled. Or nervous. Then she motioned vaguely toward the trail. “I’m not messing up your run, am I?”
“Nah.” I waved out a dismissive hand before wiping the back of it across my mouth after taking my first drink. “I usually pause for a break here, anyway. Gives me a chance to check out the apartment and make sure it’s still standing.”
“Ah, nice.” She bobbed her head in approval. “Well, as you can see, we weathered the rain last night just fine.”
“Good.” I nodded, not sure how else to answer.
When she simply continued to watch me, I propped my shoe on the step next to her and leaned against the railing. “So what’s up?” I asked. “Having plumbing problems?”
Color immediately infused her face and she coughed before she stumbled out a hesitant, “Uh…no.” With a wince, she added, “No.”
“Oh?” I straightened from the wrought iron railing, growing eager.
But this was it. Bye-bye, two-year raincheck. Hello, sexy times.
Oaklynn looked vaguely uncomfortable as she cleared her throat and then forced a tense smile as if she was going to ask for my kidney or something before she blurted, “Do you eat tacos?”
I squinted one eye, wondering where the hell that question had come from. “Tacos?”
“Yes, sir.” Still sitting on the step, Oaklynn nodded encouragingly. “They’re having a Taco Tuesday over at the student union on campus tonight. Two for a dollar, and there’s no way I can pass that up. But I don’t really want to go alone, except I only know, like, four people in Westport so far. Five, including you. And I haven’t seen Thalia in days. Then my best friend, Jaylani, is at work, and I don’t think her girlfriend likes me all that much.” Leaning toward me, she lowered her voice confidentially before confessing, “Honestly, I think Scarlett’s kind of jealous of my and Jay’s friendship even though she has nothing to worry about there. And I have no idea how to even reach Raina, who I’ve only met once, but—”
