Chapter Three

Wyatt

N iko and I grabbed boxes from Odette’s car, helping her bring everything into the house. She insisted she could do it herself several times, but there was no way we were letting her carry these herself. She already had to move once today, and from what she said about being kicked out, I doubt she had any help the first time.

I genuinely felt bad for her. She’d obviously been crying. Her eyes were still glassy, her emotions threatening to spill. She wore a permanent look of guilt like this was somehow her fault. I wished Aiden wouldn’t have used the word inconvenient earlier.

Having a female student living with us wasn’t ideal. I wasn’t worried about the legalities of keeping my job; the board knew exactly what they did. If anyone would be taking the blame if word got out, it was them.

I knew Dominic was annoyed. As we were leaving the kitchen, he pulled me aside and expressed his feelings of skepticism. We all liked our privacy, and she could very well tell the students where we lived. Not to mention, our conversations will have to be heavily filtered. I didn’t want her to hear something she shouldn’t.

What if we found our submissive while Odette was staying with us? That was the only scenario where we would have to find somewhere else for her to stay. Odette was a beautiful girl, and I wouldn’t want our submissive to get jealous or worry about another woman living with us. That was a big if.

Aiden decided to start dating a few months ago, burnt out from our never-ending search for our girl. He wasn’t serious about it like he claimed to be. He usually goes out for dinner, brings them back, sleeps with them, and never speaks to them again. He called it dating, but he was just hooking up with them, which we all occasionally did. I’d personally tried celibacy between trying to find a submissive, but I get short-tempered if I go two or three months without sex.

Niko walked ahead, leaving Odette between the two of us. I smirked at the size difference between her and the massive box she carried. She was a tiny little thing, slender and tall. Her hair was raven black, cascading down her back in tangles and waves. It ended at her waist, just above her ass, where my gaze fell.

Typically, I preferred a woman with curves and a belly, but I wasn’t picky. I cared more about a person’s values, goals, and kindness than their looks. Her legs were long, and her ass looked really good in those leggings.

No. Absolutely not.

I quickly averted my eyes, angry at myself. I knew better; my mind just slipped away from me. I’d never thought of a student in a sexual way before, and I didn’t plan to start now. There had always been a prominent moral and ethical boundary in my mind when it came to students.

My friends and I dealt with the burden of our female students throwing themselves at us. We usually ignored them or, in Dominic’s case, gave them more challenging assignments.

“This is your room,” Niko opened the door to a vacant bedroom. The three of us stepped into the room, placing the boxes down. He gestured to the bed, nightstands, and wardrobe that were nearly as old as the manor. “It has all the furnishings you’ll need; you might want to dust them off, though; they haven’t been used,” he gave her a small smile.

Odette looked around the Victorian room before turning to us. “Is it just the four of you in this massive house?” She asked, her voice small and quiet like she was weary of saying anything at all.

“The manor is owned by the university. They needed to do something with it, so we volunteered to live here,” I explained with a smile.

She raised her eyebrows. “We passed by like ten other bedrooms. Why wouldn’t they use it for housing?” She questioned.

I thought the same thing before we moved in.

Niko chuckled. “It’s big and has a lot of historical value. But, trust me, this place has a lot of flaws,” he started. “We have about three minutes of hot water before it gets cold as ice. The heating barely works, so it’s always cold. The walls are as thin as paper, so we can hear someone’s footsteps from across the house. None of the doors, including bathrooms and the front door, have locks,” he explained.

I nodded next to him. “The university refuses to put any money into fixing anything. We’re under a contract where we’re not authorized to do anything to fix it,” I added. We would’ve made the corrections years ago if we were authorized to do so.

She wrapped her arm around her torso, nervously looking between us. “The front door doesn’t have a lock?” She repeated. I almost wanted to chuckle at the worry in her tone. What? Did she really think anyone would get past the four of us? My friends and I were all well-equipped to handle any kind of intruder. Anyone who thought of breaking in had a death wish.

Niko nodded. “We’ve only had three break-ins, but the rats or ghosts scared them off.”

I fought back a grin as her round blue eyes widened in terror, Niko’s’ joke going over her head. She looked absolutely mortified, reaching for a box, ready to retreat back to her car.

I chuckled, watching Niko step forward and grab her arm, stopping her from lifting the box again. “I’m kidding, Odette. There are no rats or ghosts. And no one knows this place exists,” he comforted.

Her gaze fell on his hand for a second, an emotion I was desperate to understand in her eyes. Niko let go, noticing her... discomfort? She took a breath. “Oh,” she smiled at him. “You almost gave me a heart attack at twenty years old, you know,” she joked, relaxing for the first time since she arrived.

No, it wasn’t discomfort. So what was that look?

Fuck, she was only twenty? She wasn’t even old enough to drink. What the hell was the board thinking, sending her to live with four men she didn’t know. I was just glad it was us instead of some creeps. I didn’t care how much money her father had—the board put her in an extremely uncomfortable situation.

Niko was the youngest at 27, and Dominic was the oldest at 33.

Niko paused for a split second, the same thoughts probably running through his own mind. He shrugged it off. “I got you to smile, though,” he tilted his head with a charming smirk.

I softly narrowed my eyes on him. What was that look? I doubt she noticed it, but I did. Niko had been my best friend since I was fifteen; I knew his antics better than he did.

With an innocent touch and a smirk on his lips, Niko accidentally created a thick tension between the two of them. What was he thinking? Niko had always been a flirt, charming and seducing any woman he wanted. He would never try anything with a student... so my question still stood. What was he doing?

She was oblivious to his attempts to charm her, thank God. My only working theory was that he was trying to make her more comfortable.

Yes, that was what he was doing. He smiled at her and initiated physical contact so she wouldn’t feel uncomfortable.

She was in desperate need of a smile in his defense. The poor girl had been pushed around all day long, having no say in any decisions that were made for her.

I gestured to the boxes on the bed. “Why don’t you start unpacking while we bring the boxes up,” I decided, beginning to get hungry.

She raised her eyebrows. “I can bring the rest of them—”

Niko turned around, walking out the door. “It wasn’t a question,” he called.

She looked conflicted, but ultimately, she listened to me, staying in her room as Niko and I walked out to her car.

“It’s sick, the things people will do for money,” Niko scowled once we were outside.

“Think of this from her perspective. She’s being forced to live with four men three times her size that she doesn’t know,” I stressed. “She’s probably terrified.”

Dominic stepped out of the house and walked up to us. “This is a horrible idea. I won’t tolerate some college student throwing parties and bringing frat boys into my house,” he deadpanned.

Niko smirked. “Come on, Dominic...” he rolled his eyes. “Does that girl look like a crazy frat party student?” He gave him a pointed look.

I went to grab another box but raised my eyebrows when I saw the three worn teddy bears. She still had her childhood toys? They looked old and used like she’d cuddled them her whole life. I was willing to bet she still slept with them. She’s adorable .

Niko pulled out his phone. “She’s been in my class for two years, so I pulled her file,” he explained with a mischievous grin. That caught my attention, and I stood next to him. “She has nothing but straight A’s and a perfect track record,” he pointed. “I don’t think she does any partying,” he concluded.

I narrowed my eyes at her transcripts, seeing my class as one of her credits. “How did I not notice her?” I asked. She was eye-catching, to say the least. Her eyes were gorgeous, her lips full and round, taller than most people, and her hair would be impossible to miss. She probably had filthy college boys falling at her feet.

Niko grabbed a box. “She’s never asked me a single question or sent an email. Her head is always down, taking notes. If she was anything like that in your class, that’s why.”

Dominic and I also grabbed a box. “I still don’t like it,” he rasped.

We all walked up to Odette’s room with boxes in our hands. I heard her gasp when we were a few feet from her door. “It’s a rat, it’s a rat!” She whispered quietly to herself, obviously trying not to draw attention to herself. A faint fumbling sound was heard, like she tripped.

I shared a confused look with my friends before we stopped outside the door, seeing Aiden’s pet cat rubbing itself against her leg. That explained it. Niko must have her paranoid about rats now.

She was turned away from us, looking down at Cat. For some reason, none of us made ourselves known as we watched her. Selfishly, I wanted to see how she acted when she thought she was alone.

She crouched down. “Hello,” she cooed at him, gently petting his ears. “Sorry I kicked you...” she apologized.

Stepping into the room with a grin, I made sure to make a noise to get her attention. “I see you’ve met Cat.”

She quickly snapped back up, folding her hands behind her back like she was caught petting him. Jesus, she was so cute. “He snuck up on me,” she nodded, her eyes flickering to Dominic every few seconds before looking away from him again.

Dominic was a big guy with a permanent scowl. Those who didn’t know him—which was most people—thought he was scary . He had thick walls around him and wasn’t kind unless he genuinely cared about someone. I couldn’t blame her for being nervous.

Aiden wasn’t much different. He wasn’t brooding or intense in the way that Dominic could be. Instead, he didn’t have a filter whatsoever. If he thinks it, he usually says it. His thoughts weren’t always pleasant. I’d never met another person who could read another quite like Aiden. If you let him look into your eyes, he can see every thought you’ve ever had. Or, so the students like to rumor. He was just incredibly good at his job. Two master’s degrees in psychology help, too.

Niko set the box down and walked over to pick Cat up. “He does that,” he agreed. “Cat loves people and attention, so you’ll probably be his new best friend for the next couple of weeks,” he informed her.

She raised her eyebrows. “You named your cat Cat?”

Dominic was walking around the large room, looking at everything. I didn’t recall him ever being in this room before. He gently shook the bed frame and checked the window, the bathroom, and the door. Please tell me he wasn’t checking the structural integrity of the room. I could see it on his face; he didn’t like how dated everything was in here.

He claims he didn’t like her, yet he was making sure the bed frame wouldn’t crush her in her sleep. I tried not to smirk as I watched him stick his head out the window like she would somehow fall out of it. Caught, I thought. He didn’t dislike her as much as he wanted everyone to believe.

Niko shrugged, holding Cat in his arms. “Aiden did. He was a stray, so we always called him ‘the cat’ when he came around. One day, Aiden brought him inside, and that was that,” he explained. Niko watched her with calculating eyes. “Did you have pets growing up?” He asked, obviously wanting to pry. We knew nothing about her or her life; I think we were all curious about her.

She pressed her lips together. “Yeah.” It was quiet for a second as she reached out and gently petted Cat, still in Niko’s arms. She looked beside herself like she didn’t want to finish her sentence. She glanced at the three of us, seeing us patiently waiting for her to continue. “When I was eight, I got a puppy. He was only a few months old, so he liked to play a lot,” she added. “One day, when I had him all riled up, Charles came in and tried to pet him,” she shrugged. Did she call her dad by his first name? She took a breath, rolling her eyes. “He got a tiny scrape on his hand,” she looked at the three of us, not wanting to finish her story.

My heart sank, knowing where this was going. “You were eight ?” I asked.

She nodded, pulling her hand away from Cat. “He said because it was my puppy, I was the one who had to do it,” she whispered.

I pushed my eyebrows together, feeling upset to my stomach. What kind of man or father would make a child do such a horrible thing? “That’s cruel.”

“Charles sounds like an asshole,” Dominic deadpanned.

Odette tilted her head at him. “Yeah,” she agreed but added no other insults.

Major Daddy issues.

Niko put Cat down. “I’m sorry,” his eyes held sadness. He raised his eyebrows. “You know what? I’m making chicken noodle soup for dinner,” he expertly changed the subject. “It’ll be ready in half an hour; that gives you some time to get settled. I want you to come have dinner with us so we can properly get to know each other, okay?” He smiled.

She opened her mouth to say something, probably to politely decline. She seemed to think she was intruding, but she wasn’t. She quickly closed her mouth, realizing he phrased it as a request, not a question. She nodded, “Okay.”