Co-Ed(6)

Alexa snorted. “The woman cans sardines at the fishery, on her feet, in the dark, smelling like fish. Yeah, it is that bad — trust me — but to her, totally worth it. You should see her drugged-up face when she comes back. Rumor has it they use drugs to keep people coming back, but they swear everything they do is legal.”

“My ass,” I teased, though every part of me had felt drugged by one fingertip, so who was I to judge? Slater was right. Stay away. Far, far, away.

“Anyway…” she shrugged. “…I’ll just get over it the old-fashioned way.”

“Darcy, chocolate, and ice cream?”

“Hell, yes!”

My muscles screamed accusations of physical trauma, and I started to wince as my last fifteen seconds rolled around.

I dropped to the floor as soon as I could and slammed the plate against the rubber mat, giving my coach a dirty look while he was turned.

“Saw that, McKenzie,” he yelled.

I just groaned and started to stretch.

I had a lot of warming up to do.

And a lot of pain to endure if I was going to stop thinking about the guys across the living space. Besides, our games didn’t start for another month, and during that month I’d be working my ass off trying to build muscle, get into shape, and not flunking out of Human Anatomy.

“Squats!” Coach blew the whistle, much to the dismay of every woman in the room.

I stood on wobbly legs and realized it had completely worked.

Exercise had taken my mind off the Ponies.

And the embarrassing shower situation. Besides, it was not like I would see a lot of them, since they did all of their business in their room.

I shuddered.

Drugs. It had to be illegal drugs.





“So…” Alexa fell in stride next to me as we walked over to one of the coffee shops to grab some food. “…you got a boyfriend?”

I rolled my eyes. “Between sports, school, and trying to find a part-time job, when would I even have time?”

“You’re telling me,” she sighed, and I could tell she was sad; she was even walking like she was trying out for the part of Eeyore.

“Look.” I opened the door to the shop and let her in. Warm air immediately comforted the chill on my arms. “He wasn’t your lobster — that’s all you gotta worry about. True lobsters stay together forever, and it sounds like he was more worried about himself than you.”

She blinked away another tear.

“Why don’t you come over tonight? We can watch a few movies? I’ll even order pizza or something.”

Alexa sniffled. “Why are you being so nice to me? You don’t even know me.”

“Single ladies have to stick together.” I winked. “Besides, I’m new, and it would be good to have a friend who isn’t my male roommate.”

She frowned, confusion registering in her eyes. “Wait, how did that happen?”

“Long story.”

“Tell it, and I’ll pay for our drinks.”

“Deal.” I smiled as we both put in our orders.

Alexa went to the bathroom while I found a seat by the window.

I was just starting to dig into my bacon gouda sandwich when I smelled it.

Or him.

Not really an it.

Aftershave that held the hint of rain and cedar mixed with mint, and something so damn sexy I had no choice but to look up. I was suddenly lucky I hadn’t taken a bite. I would have choked, he would have saved my life, and I would have still died of mortification.

“This seat taken?” It was one of the Pleasure Ponies. Yeah, I wasn’t going to survive one day if they kept pestering me.

I cleared my throat. It was one of the guys who’d come out of the room first. Not the one who was scary attractive. On a scale of one to ten, would I sell my parents for this guy? No. Would I send them to Siberia for a year and let him kiss me in every secret place?

Yes.

So, yeah, on the hot scale? Still pretty damn hot.

“Yes,” I finally spoke up. His chocolate eyes crinkled at the sides as he ran a muscled hand — yes, even his hand had muscle — through his cropped, honey-blond hair.

“Really?” He leaned those same hands against the table, casting a shadow over me with his massive body.

The aftershave hit harder. A hundred bucks says they discovered a way to put crack in cologne and were selling it on the black market.

“No, I’m lying,” I said with a straight face. “Yes, really.”

“I’m Finn.”

He didn’t hold out his hand.

So I didn’t offer mine. “That’s nice.”

He bit down on his lower lip, showing me nice white teeth from a smile that would make a whore turn in her own pimp. “You live across from us, right? The girl with the pretty hair.”

Aw, he’d said my hair was pretty! My heart might have stuttered bit as I mentally did a hair flip and winked like I had game — which I didn’t.

Calm down! Focus!

Mental slap.

And another one for good measure.

I smiled. “That’s me.”

“With the guy’s name?”

“Like Finn is any better?” I said sarcastically. “Is it even short for anything, or were your parents just not very creative?”