Chapter Six

Leah

If I thought living with five guys was going to be easy, I was fucking wrong!

I’ve been here for nearly two weeks and my dorm won’t be ready for at least another two to three weeks. Saint has a different girl over every night, Corvin is sloppy and doesn’t pick up after himself. Crue is forever brooding and hiding out in his room, blaring music whenever Saint gets home. Beck and Darius are actually okay, well beside the fact that Darius hates me and makes it known whenever we cross paths. The bastard has even resorted to childish pranks like switching the sugar for salt, using all the hot water or dumping my stuff in the toilet in our bathroom. He swears it wasn’t him but the laughter that follows proves he’s guilty.

Which is why I am currently sitting here in the kitchen on a Friday afternoon waiting for him to come back from the gym. They left about twenty minutes ago and I know it won’t be long before he comes running through that door heading straight for the bathroom, that he will find locked. As if the thought of him summons him, he crashes through the door with the shouts of the others following him as he races up the stairs toward his room.

3…2…1…

“Leah!” he shouts my name so loud I cringe, and bite down on my bottom lip to tamper my laughter. I hop off my stool and wait at the base of the stairs ignoring the stares of my brother and the other three at the front door as I stare up at a red faced Darius who is clutching his stomach. “Unlock the fucking doors, now!”

I feign shock. “What do you mean? Is something wrong, darling?”

“ Darling ?” I hear Corvin spit but ignore him. Darius’s eyes are blazing with anger then within a split second his face contorts and he hunches over in pain.

“You fucking did this!” he accuses me. I place a hand over my heart and shake my head.

“I have no idea what you are talking about boo boo.” The sweet sultry tone of my voice grates on his nerves.

“Fuck!” he screams, before dashing down the hall to Corvin’s room and slamming the door behind him. I roll my lips over my teeth to keep my smile at bay as I turn to Corv and the others, then smile sweetly before dashing up the stairs to my room.

Leah – 1

Darius – 0

Since I didn’t know we were having a prank war until yesterday, his previous points don’t count. I skip into my room and fish the keys for the bathroom doors out of my dresser before going about unlocking them. I decide to take a shower now while Darius is… busy. At the thought of him shitting himself I crack up, unable to contain my laughter any longer, tears streaming down my cheeks from laughing so hard.

I wrap my wet hair in a towel before stepping out and wrapping another around my body, the mirror is fogged up thanks to this bathroom having no ceiling fan and the doors being shut. I slide the door to my room open and freeze at the sight of Darius sitting on the edge of my bed with an angry look on his face. I bite my lip as I make my way over to my dresser, if I look at him I know I will laugh and that will just piss him off further,

“Clever, Goldie, real fucking clever.” I peer over my shoulder at him and bat my lashes.

“No idea what you are talking about, Halfback. ” At the use of my old nickname for him, he stiffens. We stand here staring at each other for what seems like hours, but in reality is more like mere seconds before he stands and comes toward me. I turn to face him and back up until my back hits the dresser. He crowds my space, the scent of him invades my senses and it takes more control than I want to admit to not close my eyes and bask in his scent. He cages me in, placing his arms on either side of me as he white-knuckles my dresser.

“You know what this means, right?” His voice is barely above a whisper. I shake my head causing him to narrow his eyes. “I need the words, Goldie.”

“No?” It comes out more like a question but I can’t help it. Whenever he is this close to me, my brain short-circuits and all rational thought flees. He leans down until his lips ghost over mine causing my heart to thump so hard in my chest, I fear he can hear it.

“You just started a fucking war that you will never win!” he spits before exiting my room without a word, leaving me standing here, strung out and needy. I really need to give myself a orgasm tonight or I risk doing something stupid like throwing myself at Darius and begging him to help get me off like only he can.

“Oh my God!” I cringe at the shriek that comes from Cody and the shouted words from Katie. “You fucking put laxatives in Darius Lockhart’s protein powder?” I give her a toothy smile and nod. Katie howls with laughter, Cody joins a second later. I knew he would never suspect me of tampering with his shakes so I thought it would be the perfect prank and it was. I heard him all night groaning and rushing to the bathroom, it was fucking glorious.

“Okay, okay. So now what?” I finally caved and told Katie and Cody about me and Darius and swore them to secrecy—they both agreed. I may have only known them for a short time but I trust them. A measure of time has no say on when you can trust someone so I went with my gut, which told me these girls are trustworthy.

“Now, I guess we wait and see if he softens toward me.” Cody and Katie have spent the whole day trying to help me figure out what could have gone wrong between Darius and me, but we came up blank.

“Well until then, get ready,” Katie says.

“For what?” I ask.

“We’re going to a beach party!” Excitement thrums through me at the prospect of swimming in the ocean.

“I didn’t bring anything with me,” I say. Cody rolls her eyes and leaps off the bed in their makeshift dorm room that they are staying in until ours is fixed. She reaches into her drawer and pulls out a bathing suit for me and chucks it at me. I hold it up and can’t keep the shock from my face.

“I’m just full of surprises, right?” Both Katie and I chuckle. I never thought I would ever see Cody wearing a suit like this but hey, YOLO and all that. After we all change into our bathing suits, I slip my cut-offs back on and slide my feet into my flip flops. Katie clambers over and yanks the elastic from my hair saying I need to leave it out because it adds to the look . I don’t know what that means, but I also don’t argue either as I follow them out of the dorm building. The sun beats down on me and I smile wide, what a perfect way to spend a Sunday. Hanging with my girls and going to my favorite place. I love dancing more than anything but I love the beach just as much. Something about the ocean calls to me. When I’m sad or going through something, like Darius breaking my heart, I would escape to the beach and dance in the sand for hours until my body was so exhausted that my mind couldn’t focus on anything else except sleep.

The beach is only a short minute walk from campus. On the way the girls and I chat, they ask me questions and I do the same. They are shocked to learn that Corvin and I are only eleven months apart and are the same age for two weeks out of the year. When we hit the sand I take my flip flops off and carry them in my hand. The moment we hit the shoreline, music can be heard and students can be seen on the bank, the water and some even play volleyball! I squeal in excitement, I love playing beach volleyball.

“Let’s enjoy this last day today before our training really kicks in next week.” Both Cody and I agree, Katie is right. Come next week, we will be training hard for nationals. CHU has one of the best hip hop programs and has won the state championship two years in a row, our coach, Mrs. Telford, wants to make it three years in a row and has threatened to cut anyone who slacks off from the team. When we reach the party, some of the girls I know from the team greet us but when Chelsea saunters over I can’t help the anger that sparks inside me at the sight of her. As she reaches us, her smile appears so fake when she looks at me and before I can call her on it, a shadow falls over me. Turning around and seeing who it is I beam at him before wrapping my arms his waist, hugging him tight.

“Well hello to you to, beautiful.” I blush as I pull back. “Ladies,” Garrett says to the girls around me. Unlike my brother and his friends, he doesn’t preen at the attention the others shoot him, his focus is on me. I know Garrett likes me and I feel bad for him. I’ve made it clear since we started hanging out that I’m not looking for anything right now. He assured me he understood and hasn’t asked me out again since. We still meet up three times a week so he can tutor me. I know he and my brother don’t get along but as far as I am concerned that is not my business. “Wanna go play some volleyball?”

“Ye–”

“No, she doesn’t.” I look to my side to see Corvin and Darius standing there with scowls on their faces. I sigh as I face my brother.

“Corv, we talked about this. Garrett is my friend and you’re just going to have to deal,” I say with a shrug.

“You fucking him?” My eyes widen at Darius’s crass words, while Garrett splutters beside me. Corvin’s eye twitches telling me he is pissed Darius asked that but he won’t go off at him because he wants to know the answer as well. I look to Darius and my anger soars when I find his glare trained on me. I straighten my shoulders and hold my head high as I say,

“Wouldn’t you like to know.”