Chapter Eight EVERLEIGH

Chapter Eight

EVERLEIGH

“You need to meet Coop’s sister,” Frank says as he leads me into the kitchen, my hand clutched in his.

“Okay,” I say, my head still spinning after all the introductions to the various guys filling my new living room. They’re all big and burly and very attractive. Like, the entire room is overloaded with testosterone, and I swear it’s having some sort of weird effect on me. Like I’m all frazzled and anxious, but that could also have to do with everything I’ve gone through in the last twenty-four hours too.

It’s either from that or from the scorching look Nico gave me a few minutes ago, right when Frank wedged himself between us. The heat blasting from Nico’s eyes. The blatant way he checked me out.

Not sure why, but I’m still a little shaky over it.

“Hey, Sienna, have you met our new roommate, Everleigh?” Frank asks a tall, striking redhead with a big smile on her face. I remove my hand from his, not wanting to give the wrong message. I definitely noticed the way she took in our linked hands, her brows shooting up for the briefest second.

“Not yet, but I’ve heard all about her from Coop. Hiiiii,” she greets before pulling me into a crushing hug.

I have no choice but to hug her back, immediately put at ease by her welcoming presence. She pulls away, keeping her hands on my arms as she smiles down at me. “I’m so glad you moved in with them. Now I have a friend to hang out with here beyond my brother and his annoying roommates.”

“Hey,” Frank protests, but Sienna just laughs, slipping her arm around my shoulders and keeping me firmly planted at her side.

“Don’t be so sensitive, Frankie. Now go hang out with your bros and let me and Everleigh get to know each other. Alone.” Sienna makes a shooing gesture with her hand.

“Nico is right behind you,” he points out.

Sienna barely looks in Nico’s direction. “Oh, please. He’s flirting with the blondes. He’s not paying attention to us.”

Frank leaves, albeit reluctantly, giving us both puppy dog eyes before he stomps off like a little kid who didn’t get his way.

The moment he’s out of hearing distance, Sienna is dipping her head closer to mine, her voice lowering. “Is he flirting with you?”

“Who?” I immediately think of Nico.

“Frank. He’s a sweetheart and he means well, but he’s desperate to find a girlfriend. All the guys give him endless shit about it too. Poor dude.” Sienna mock pouts, her gaze going to where Frank currently sits on the couch next to Cooper. “I saw the way he was holding your hand.”

“It was nothing.” I smile, trying to dismiss it, because for me, it really was nothing.

“Not to him it wasn’t. That’s his problem. If he could learn how to play it cool for once, he’d have women chasing after him instead of the other way around,” she explains. “I mean, look at Nico.”

I don’t want to. He’s too pretty. “Right,” I say weakly, making her laugh.

“He’s hot, isn’t he?” Sienna looks around me and right at Nico, fanning herself. “And I hear you two are sharing a bathroom?”

“Who told you that?”

“Cooper. He tells me everything. Well, mostly everything.” Her eyes are sparkling with mischief. “By the way, if you catch Nico coming out of his bathroom naked, please, for the love of God, take a pic and send it to me. I hear his dick is ginormous.”

She bursts out laughing, and I really hope she’s joking.

“Oh my God.” My cheeks are burning, and I shake my head, freaking out at the mere thought. “I really hope I never see his—dick.”

A skeptical look crosses her face. “Come on, now. You’ve met him, right?”

“I can’t let a guy distract me,” I tell her, my tone earnest because it’s the truth. “It’s been one crisis after another since I got here. I need to get my car fixed. I have to find a job. I need to buy a whole new wardrobe—”

I clamp my lips shut, hating how on edge I feel just thinking about everything I need to do. It’s overwhelming and I have no help. Well, it was my choice not to reach out to my mom and ask her for some advice or even a little money, but I know what she’s going to say.

No.

And I don’t want to hear it.

The skepticism switches to sympathy in an instant. “Aw, Coop mentioned all of your troubles to me too. I’m so sorry about .?.?. everything. I can give you some clothes if you need them. I have a couple of bags of things that don’t fit me anymore—I was planning on asking my roommate if she wanted any of it before I donate it.”

The dismissive noise leaves me before I can stop myself. “Please. You’re at least five inches taller than me.”

“I have bad luck when it comes to clothes. I buy something, wash it, and it shrinks on me more often than not. The laundry rooms at our apartment complex are the worst. So yes, I have a few things I can give you,” Sienna says. “You can try them on, see if they’ll work.”

“I could pay you—”

“No way,” she interrupts, shaking her head. “I’d just give it to my roommate, and she doesn’t deserve it. That ho is so annoying.”

I burst out laughing, my entire body seeming to relax. “She’s a ho?”

“Not really. But she is annoying.” Sienna tucks a few strands of hair behind her ear. “Look, I know we just met, but I mean it. If I can help you in any way, let me know. I’ll bring over a bag of clothes tomorrow afternoon.”

“I’m not sure if I’ll be here.” I grimace. “I have to go on a job hunt tomorrow.”

“You should try the café down the street,” she suggests.

“That’s where my car got broken into.”

“Oh. Well, maybe that’s bad luck, but they’re hiring. I saw the sign in the window. It’s fast paced because, like, everyone goes there, but it should be fun too. I’ve known a few people who work there, and they say the owner is super accommodating to class schedules,” Sienna explains.

“I’ll have to check it out.”

“What’s your major?” Sienna asks.

“Nutrition. I think I want to be a nutritionist.”

“Oh.” Sienna makes a face. “That takes a lot of science, huh?”

“Yeah, it does.” I’m nodding. Even laughing. I like her a lot. She’s so friendly and welcoming.

“I’m a business-and-marketing major. I can’t do science.” She leans in closer, her expression serious. “Is that why you agreed to cook these guys meals? I told my brother it was completely sexist of them to put that expectation on you, but he reassured me you were okay with it.”

“I’m fine with it. I would’ve agreed to almost anything to get this room,” I tell her.

A devilish gleam lights Sienna’s eyes. “Anything?”

Nico had the same reaction earlier. Does everyone around here have their minds in the gutter?

Maybe.

Probably.

“You know what I mean.”

One of the blonde girls starts laughing outrageously, and when I glance around Sienna, I see she’s standing extra close to Nico, her boobs practically resting on his arm. He doesn’t seem to mind. When she tosses her head back, her laughter seems never ending, and I wince. Even the other girls standing with her appear annoyed, like they wish she would just shut up.

“It’s always like this,” Sienna says when I return my attention to her.

“Always like what?”

“Nico and Gavin. They flirt with the girls constantly.” She rolls her eyes.

“Who’s Gavin?”

“The team’s quarterback. He should be here soon. Hopefully.” Her gaze shifts to the door. “He’s best friends with my brother and Nico. But he doesn’t live with them because he comes from money, and he always gets his own apartment. Which is like .?.?. unheard of around here.”

“Must be nice.” I glance toward the door like I’m waiting for it to open too.

“Right? Gav hangs out here all the time, though, so prepare yourself.” She lowers her voice. “He’s really hot too.”

“Great. They’re all hot,” I say with disgust, shaking my head.

Sienna laughs at my reaction. “Not Coop.”

“You’re only saying that because he’s your brother.” Coop is definitely attractive in that big, quiet way of his.

“Well, yeah. Duh.”

“Nico isn’t my type,” I add, because it’s true. I think of Brad. Little emo Brad and his faded band T-shirts and skinny jeans. The beat-up black Converse he always wore, and how he smoked cigarettes “ironically”—direct quote. He smoked too much weed, ate too much junk food, and had zero ambition. I don’t know why I wasted so many years on him.

“Nico is everyone’s type. Right, Nico?” Sienna calls to him.

“You talking to me, Annie?” He’s grinning, and I realize he’s got a blonde under each arm, the third one watching them with a massive pout on her face.

“Annie?” I ask Sienna.

“They used to call me Little Orphan Annie when I first came here, which is so stupid.” She grabs a chunk of her red hair and waves it at me before turning to face him. “Come up with something more original, why don’t you?”

“Aw, don’t get your panties in a twist. You know I’m just teasing.” He even winks at her, his gaze shifting to mine, but I look away quickly, not wanting to get caught staring.

The door swings open at that precise moment, and a guy walks in with the face of a Greek god—all chiseled angles and sharp lines, softened by his plush mouth and the way it curls into a one-sided smile.

The moment he’s spotted, every guy in the room starts cheering, shouts of “QB!” ringing in the air.

“There’s Gavin.” Sienna’s voice is wistful, her gaze locked on him and no one else.

The third blonde abandons Nico and runs over to Gavin, greeting him by wrapping her arms around his neck and delivering a smacking kiss to his cheek. He laughs, but the sound is uncomfortable as he places his hands on her waist and sets her away from him.

“Does that normally happen?” I ask Sienna, noting the subtle fury glimmering in her eyes.

“What, women throwing themselves at Gavin the moment he walks through the door?” She doesn’t tear her gaze away from him and the blonde, who is still trying to talk to him. “Not usually, only because they don’t have girls over that much.”

“Really?” I find that hard to believe. “That’s surprising.”

“I think Frank invited the blondes so you’d have someone to talk to. But clearly, that’s not happening. They’re too busy trying to get with Nico.” Sienna hooks her arm through mine. “At least you have me.”

I glance around the room at the multitude of football players casually hanging out on the couches, the coffee table littered with empty beer bottles and cans, a football game playing on the TV without the sound on. There are no other women in this house besides me and Sienna and the blondes, and I’m starting to think she wasn’t exaggerating when she said they don’t have women over often.

“Is that why you’re here?” I ask her. “To keep me company?”

“Coop did reach out and ask what I was doing. He knows I’m always down to meet someone new.” She unhooks her arm from mine, her smile fading. “Look, it’s hard for me to make friends.”

I’m frowning so hard my face hurts. “Really? But you’re so .?.?. friendly.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t trust that easily. Most people just want to be my friend because of who my brother is.”

“What, is Cooper a big deal?” A little laugh escapes, but Sienna doesn’t laugh along with me. At all.

In fact, her face is dead serious.

“Wait a minute. Is your brother really a big deal?” I whisper.

“Every single guy in this room is a big deal. The majority of them have won a national football championship.”

I stare at her blankly, shaking my head like I don’t know what she’s talking about.

Because I actually don’t know what she’s talking about.

“Everleigh.” She grabs hold of my shoulders, her gaze locking with mine. “You’re roommates with some of the most popular guys on this entire campus. The UC Santa Mira Dolphins football team is a big deal. Huge. They’re all elite athletes. Some of these guys are going to go on to become professional football players. My brother might, too, though he’ll deny it every time you ask him.”

I scan the room once more, noting the rippling arm muscles, since the majority of them are wearing T-shirts or tank tops. The thick thigh muscles on display. Their low, deep, masculine voices as they chat and laugh and give each other shit. How casually confident they all are.

Every single one of them.

“These guys are really elite athletes?” I ask, my voice weak when I return my gaze to Sienna. “But they look so normal.”

It’s a lie. None of them look like regular dudes. They’re all tall and broad and muscular. It’s clear they work on their bodies regularly. Maybe even obsessively.

“Please. They’re not normal. Not even close. They’re beasts on the field. I’ve heard some of them are beasts in bed, too, but I’ve never been lucky enough to test that theory out.” Sienna’s smile is wry when I give her a bug-eyed look. “Hey, I can’t lie—there are a couple of them I wouldn’t mind hooking up with, but I know they’d just break my heart.”

“Right. I’m sure.” I nod, my gaze returning to them. Trying to imagine them out on a football field, crushing the opposing team.

Sounds like I need to do some serious googling later tonight before I go to bed.

“You really didn’t know they were a bunch of national-championship-winning football players, did you?” Sienna sounds surprised, and when I glance over at her, I notice that her eyebrows are up. “No wonder they were okay with you moving in.”

“Why is that so surprising?”

“Every girl they encounter usually only wants one thing from them. The fame of knowing, of hanging out with, of having sex with one of the university’s football players. It’s the main reason why I’m allowed to hang out with them, besides being Coop’s younger sister. I’m not an over-the-top fangirl. I don’t view them like that.” She nudges my side with her elbow. “Apparently, neither do you.”