She sighs. “It’s too bad he’s Darryl’s teammate. Boys tend to have codes about that shit.”
“I don’t want him anyway,” I say. My traitorous stomach flops as I think about the kiss again. “I’m not getting involved with anyone right now.”
“So, if he came up to you and asked you on a date, you’d say no?”
“Like he would.”
“You kissed him and ditched him. Guys like the chase.”
“Well, I hope he doesn’t waste his time.” I check my phone. I’m going to have to hustle if I want to get to class on time, since the building is across campus, so I stand, grabbing a napkin for the rest of my bagel. “I’ll see you later.”
“Are you going to that writing class?”
I roll my eyes. “Unfortunately.”
When I transferred to McKee, some of my credits didn’t transfer over with me, so I’ve been working double-time to finish every requirement and graduate on time. This writing class—an introduction to college writing—is the most annoying of all of them. Insulting, too—I’m a business major, I’ve written plenty of papers over the course of my college career. I’d have preferred to be working on my photography this whole time, but that’s life.
“You’ll get through it. Text me what you want to do for dinner later,” she says.
I wave goodbye and head out into the morning. It’s still way more summer than fall in terms of the weather, so after a few minutes of fast walking, sweat starts to gather on my forehead and under my arms. I hitch my backpack further onto my shoulder, lengthening my stride as I hit one of the many hills on campus. We’re only about an hour outside of New York City, so not in the mountains, but I swear it’s like McKee terraformed the place to be extra hilly. I didn’t need to bring my camera with me, but I like carrying it just in case I get inspired, and now I’m regretting it, because it keeps slapping against my hip.
I make it with a minute to spare, find a seat in the back, and take out my notebook, along with a gel pen. They’re my one school-related luxury. Something about writing notes in sparkly purple instead of plain black makes studying business when I’d rather have been a visual arts major just a tiny bit more bearable.
The professor, who, no surprise, is an old white dude, starts to talk about the importance of taking this class seriously because it sets up everything you do in college. It’s not bad advice, but definitely meant for the baby-faced seventeen-and eighteen-year-olds around me. Essay structure? Check. The importance of outlining your work? Double check. Peer feedback? Got it. The one thing I can say about this class is that it will be an easy A, and considering the five other classes I’m taking to stay on track with wrapping up my major requirements, I can’t complain.
“Let’s take a closer look at the syllabus,” the professor says. “Make sure you get a copy.”
Someone drops into the seat next to mine. I suppress a snort. Poor baby freshman. I’d bet five bucks it was an alarm malfunction.
Whoever it is, they smell really good. A bit like pine.
I look up, and my heart does a little surprised flop in my chest.
“Hey,” says James freakin’ Callahan. “Got an extra copy of that?”
6
JAMES
“Yo, Coop! Get your ass up if you want a ride!”
I keep pounding on the door as I shout. I have no idea how my brother manages to always be on time for hockey, but late for everything else. He’s like a hurricane, but the eye of the storm is always hockey.
Seb walks out of the bathroom at the end of the hallway, a towel wrapped around his waist. He snorts as he takes in the scene. “Still not up?”
“You heard him last night, right? James, we have class at the same time, let me tag along with you?”
“Yep.”
“Jesus. Cooper, I’m not going to be late for the first meeting of this stupid-ass class!”
The door flings open, revealing my brother, who looks about ready to skin me alive. His eye is actually twitching. I give him a grin and say sweetly, “There’s Sleeping Beauty.”
“I hate you.”
“You love me. I don’t know how you’ve survived college without me.”
“He barely has,” Seb pipes up, which causes Coop to give him a death glare. He looks like he’s considering violence, so I step between them swiftly. Seb might’ve been adopted after his parents passed when he was eleven, but he and Coop act like honest-to-god twins. Which means a lot of hitting.
“You have five minutes,” I tell him. “I’m waiting in the car.”
When Coop retreats to his room, Seb doubles over in laughter, shaking water droplets everywhere. “Hate living with us yet?”
“Nah, you know I love you both. I missed you when I was down in Louisiana.”
In the week or so since I moved in—specifically into the owner’s suite of this house, thank you very much—I’ve made myself at home when I haven’t been busy with football practice. I missed living with my brothers. Even though we’ve always been busy with our season schedules, living together meant we’d see each other at least some of the time. Sometimes that meant saying hi to Coop as I arrived home from practice and he was just heading out to the rink, or catching the end of one of Seb’s games after a training session. We’ve had breaks and summers since college began, but the past few years I’ve been lonelier than I’d be willing to admit aloud. I had friends at LSU, good teammates, but I’ve always been closest with my family. My parents, who are both amazing people. Coop and Seb, even when they’re being terrors. And Izzy, the best little sister a guy could ask for. Getting to live with my brothers for one last year before I graduate and go off to some city, who knows which one, to play in the NFL, is a gift.
Seb smiles. He might not be a Callahan by blood, but he’s got a smile that fits right in. A little bit of the Callahan charm. “I missed you too. Good luck today, kick butt with the class.”
I scowl as I head downstairs. “If I survive, that is.”
Coop dashes down the stairs, his Nike backpack slung over one shoulder. He shoves his feet into his sandals and follows me out the door to my car, rubbing his eyes all the while.
“What class do you have again?” I ask as I pull out of the driveway.
He steals a sip of my coffee. I throw him an outraged glance, but he just shrugs and says, “Hey, you didn’t give me time to make a cup.”
“Which brings me back to my question. Are you late to class every day?”
“Don’t tell the folks. And the class is Russian lit.”
I whistle. “That sounds hard.”
He looks glum. “Tell me about it. I kick myself every day for choosing this stupid major.”
When Dad talked Cooper out of entering the NHL draft at eighteen so he could have a guaranteed four seasons in the NCAA, Cooper tried to get back at him by picking the least practical major he could think of—English. He likes to read, so it makes sense, but he seriously underestimated all the work that would go into it, a fact that never fails to make Seb burst out laughing like a hyena.
“Maybe you’ll have something in common with Nikolai, finally.”
Nikolai is Coop’s nemesis. A Russian defenseman attending college in the States, he’s the star of McKee hockey’s biggest rival, Cornell University. Coop hates him, mostly for his dirty style of play, which is hilarious considering Coop spends time in the sin bin every game. I don’t know the ins and outs of hockey the way he does, but I’m pretty sure avoiding penalties is a priority like it is in football.
“Ha ha. I don’t think so.”
Our off-campus house is in Moorbridge, the town that entwines around McKee’s sprawling campus, so fortunately we get where we need to be quickly. I drop Cooper off at his building and make the short drive over to mine. I have five minutes before my butt needs to be in a chair, surrounded by freshmen.
Ugh.
I park in the nearest student lot and run over to the building. If I’m going to manage to wrangle a Pass out of this class, I need to make a good first impression.
I find the right room and ease the door open. Crap, this class is way smaller than I was expecting. McKee really does take the whole professor-to-student ratio seriously, I guess.
I sneak to the back, where a girl sits alone, head bent over what must be the syllabus.
When I’m about a foot from her, I freeze. That’s her. Little Miss Angel. Fucking kissed me better than anyone in my life and then left like we hadn’t just sparked like lightning.
Not to mention she’s Darryl’s ex. The very one I told him to treat with respect, oh, an hour before she kissed me. After she fled the party, Darryl got in my face about the kiss, but fortunately he believed me when I said I didn’t know who the hell she was. I still don’t, really, just that her name is Beckett, she’s drop-dead gorgeous, and she kisses like the world is burning down around her.
Oh, and she’s off-limits.