I think we fed off each other’s powers. The perfect balance between good and evil.
Serena giggled at something Lex said. Hell, she’d probably giggle if he spelled “astronaut” correctly.
I fought the urge to roll my eyes. Don’t get me wrong, I did girls like that on a biweekly basis to blow off steam, but that’s all they were good for; the one contribution they had to society was that they didn’t care about anything beyond the fact that guys like Lex and me had six-packs and we let them touch each muscle while giggling.
“Yup.” I tossed my muscular body onto the couch and stretched out. “Final episode. Feel free to watch, girls, but if anyone talks, I’m taping their mouth shut.”
“Not yet!” Gabi ran and stood in front of the TV. “It’s a welcome party for my roomies. We have to socialize first.”
“Oh.” I nodded. “Right.”
The room was silent.
“Well, if this isn’t like a forced blind date,” I said to myself. Sort of.
Hey, it was a small living room.
“You would know.” Gabi’s eyes narrowed. And I froze. Because if there was anything we agreed upon, it was that we never talked about Wingmen Inc. It was like Fight Club, only better, because it revolved around keeping sad girls from having sex with douchebags.
Stop shaking your head. What I did in my spare time, off the clock, was totally different. I didn’t bang sad girls; I banged stupid girls. Note the difference.
“Come on, Gabs.” Lex pushed Serena away from him. “Get off it. We met the roomies, Ian brought food, and you’re still single.” He sneered in her direction, running his hand over his dark buzzed hair. “All is right in the world.”
Gabi lunged for him.
I jumped in between them and quickly pulled her body back against mine as we sank into the deep leather couch. Gabi might have been small, but she was scrappy.
“Shh,” I whispered in her ear. “You know he’s just being a prick because he hasn’t gotten laid this week.”
Lex cursed and rejoined Serena on the couch. He was a pretty easygoing guy, unless he was in the same room as Gabi. Then he lost his shit and resembled Crazy Eyes from Orange Is the New Black.
“Let’s just watch the last episode,” I suggested. “Then we’ll have dessert.”
I eyed Serena when saying “dessert.”
So did Lex.
Gabi elbowed me dangerously close to the groin.
“He already peed on her,” I whispered in her ear. “Don’t worry.”
“You disgust me.” She pressed “Play” and leaned back against me.
With a smirk, I whispered back in her ear. “You love me, little sis.”
“Sometimes I wonder why.”
“I bring up the group average by at least two points, admit it.”
“Only because you have nice hair,” she grumbled.
“That’s my girl.”
Smiling, I comfortably set her next to me, but felt like I was being watched. I turned just in time to see Blake cover her face with that giant mop of hair again and look down at her ugly flip-flops.
Huh. I wondered what her story was, but only until I heard the familiar music of GoT and was sucked back into a fantasy world that made mine look like child’s play.
Ten minutes in, I felt the staring again.
I adjusted myself on the couch and turned.
Blake wasn’t staring, but she was texting.
During GoT.
Which was the equivalent of falling asleep during a Marvel movie.
I cleared my throat.
And when she still didn’t look up, I moved away from my spot on the couch, sauntered over to her little barstool, and picked her up out of it.
She shrieked as I dumped her onto the couch and wiped my hands on my jeans. “There, now we’re all snug and together. Phones on the table.” I eyed the one in her hands. “Now.”
Narrowing her eyes at me in a sinister glare, she tossed her phone onto the table with the rest of ours and crossed her arms.
“Shouldn’t have fed him that first treat,” she whispered to Gabi.
Gabi patted her hand and whispered back. “Haunts me day and night, Blake, day and night.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Mornings. I relished mornings. Starbucks in hand, I sat in my usual spot near Drumheller Fountain, more famously known as Frosh Pond. I’d dunked many a freshman in my day, though as a senior, my maturity level had clearly grown leaps and bounds.
The morning mist was chilly—it was always chilly—but I refused to pick another spot.
I was like Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory.
The pond was my leather couch. The space right in front of Bagley Hall, my own personal couch cushion.
“Damn.” Lex yawned loudly as he walked up to me, his own coffee clearly not doing the trick. “It’s early.”
“It’s seven.” I took another sip of my drip Pike Place Roast. “It’s only early if you stayed up all night with . . . ?”