Vacancy, p.10
Vacancy, page 10
“I eat tacos,” I cut in quietly, making her stop talking abruptly and give me her dimples.
She sat up straighter as she smiled. “You do?”
I nodded, charmed by how awkward she’d gotten before asking me out. It was obvious she was too proud to admit that she’d changed her mind. But I was completely willing to let her keep her pride and pretend that she hadn’t.
Just as long as I ended up inside of her because of it.
“I could pick you up here,” I offered. “Say, seven…six o’clock?”
Oaklynn drew in a deep breath before she exhaled and bit her lip. “Six,” she answered after a moment. “And let’s meet there. By the Stetson statue?”
I nodded, knowing the spot. Haverick’s mascot was a humanized stallion named Stetson the Stormin’ Stallion, and there was a ten-foot-tall stone statue of him standing in the center of a circular fountain decorating the main entrance of the university’s student union.
“I’ll see you there at six,” I confirmed with a nod.
“Alright. Great,” she said with a smile as she scooped up her coffee and pushed to her feet.
I stepped back from the railing, realizing our encounter was drawing to a close. “Thanks again for the water,” I said, lifting the bottle in farewell.
Her smile was personal and intimate. Full of dimples. “You’re welcome.”
Then, she turned away and went inside.
Once the door shut behind her, I blew out a heavy breath and glanced at the bottle in my hand. My gaze lifted to the apartment building, and the goofy smile on my face froze as a cold ache spread through my stomach because, shit, I’d forgotten to tell her about Thalia. Again.
Great. Way to dig yourself into an even deeper hole, Archer.
I’d been so involved in the idea of getting to spend more time with Oaklynn that nothing else had crossed my mind.
Now I really, really needed to tell her everything. And soon.
10
DAMIEN
My hands were shoved deep in my pockets so I wouldn’t be tempted to check the time on my wrist again, even though I knew it had to be about five minutes until six...since I’d just freaking checked the time ten seconds ago.
I glanced up at Stetson’s stone face to make sure he wasn’t sending me a judgmental leer and rested a foot on the base of his statue, wondering how Oaklynn was going to react when I told her about Thalia.
The student union loomed behind me. Groups of people had already gushed past, intent to reach the cafeteria before all the food ran out. Facing away from the building, I glanced around the rest of campus, only to spot a solitary figure strolling toward me.
From that moment on, my mind emptied so completely that it could only focus on watching art in action.
But fuck me, she’d dressed up.
She wore a short jean skirt, a sleeveless floral top that hugged her chest, and sandals with heels.
High heels always made me think of sex, and this was no exception. An intense vision lit up the inside of my head where I picked her up, my hands gripping her ass, and pressed her against the side of the student union while she wound her dark, bare legs around my waist and dug the sharp heels of her sandals into the base of my spine.
A flush of raw heat prickled its way along my flesh.
I felt way too underdressed in my worn jeans and plain brown and yellow HaveU shirt to be around her.
“Hey, you made it,” she greeted happily with both her dimples on full display as she drew close, which did nothing to dampen the semi-aroused state I was already in. But then she opened her arms for a hug, and my body went into hypersensitive overload.
“Wow, you look great,” I admitted, returning the hug and gritting my teeth as the scent of peaches flooded me.
Her breasts felt particularly soft and lush against my chest. It made my head flood, my blood thicken, and my cock harder.
“Mmm, and you smell good,” she returned before pulling away. Her voice slid along my nerve endings like a hot tongue.
And when my gaze caught hers, her dark, dark brown eyes did things to me.
I wanted her. I wanted her with an intensity that made everything else unimportant.
“Thanks again for agreeing to keep me company tonight,” she was telling me as she ran a hand over her glossy, dark hair. “I feel like I should know way more people in town than I do after being here for over a month, but classes and my part-time, student-employment job have been kicking my ass. After I get home and finish all my homework and research, I usually just want to curl up in a ball and sleep.”
“Yeah, it’s no problem,” I answered. “Like I said, I eat tacos.”
“Great.” She smiled, pleased by my answer as she clasped her hands in front of her. “So…do you want to head inside and eat now or…?”
“Whatever you want,” I answered as I silently hoped we’d get food first. The other option seemed like I’d have to talk more, and I didn’t want to admit that I wasn’t the best conversationalist. I’d gotten better over the years, but no one would ever call me chatty.
The hot, achy look Oaklynn sent me seemed to say she wasn’t all that interested in food or talking.
But then a horde of fraternity-looking guys came piling out of the student union, and their arms were loaded with tacos.
After widening her eyes at them, Oaklynn returned her attention to me. “Maybe we should eat first to make sure we actually get some food.”
I nodded, saying, “Sounds good.”
Oaklynn took my hand and held onto my fingers as she led us inside.
“Is this your first semester at Haverick too, or have you been here a while?” she asked as we found the end of the line that led to the tacos.
“I’m a junior,” I said. “So… This is my third year on campus.”
“Man, you must know your way around town like a pro,” she guessed, sounding jealous.
I shrugged. “Well, I was born and raised in Westport, so…yes, ma’am, I do.”
“Were you really? Ugh…” She nudged my arm with hers. “You’re so lucky. I bet growing up on the coast was sweet. I’m from the Dallas area. Just north of there actually, in Plano. So I was basically surrounded by a concrete jungle my whole life.”
My eyebrows lifted. “That’s quite a ways away.”
With a nod, she blew out a long breath. “Yeah. It’s a six-and-a-half-hour drive, at least. But I’d been dying to get into the Journalism program here since high school when I saw my first Have U tried Haverick ad.” With a self-deprecating roll of her eyes, she added, “And it only took me until my junior year of college to finally get accepted.”
“So you’re a writer,” I concluded, already telling myself to get a copy of the school newspaper so I could hunt for an article from her.
But she said, “I’m more of a talker actually. I’m specializing in broadcast journalism.”
My eyebrows lifted, impressed. “A television reporter. Wow.”
“Yeah.” Oaklynn smiled out her gratitude and squeezed my fingers. “What about you?”
I winced, already sure she was going to think my career goals were…odd. “I’m a Forensic Psych—”
“Wait,” she broke in, holding up both hands. “Wait, wait, wait. You just told me you were a junior, right? But I thought Thalia told me she was a junior.”
Before I could respond, Oaklynn stopped frowning in confusion and slapped a hand to her forehead. “Oh…” she said as if realizing something. “You’re twins. That must be why she’s always making such a big deal about being older than you and trying to make you sound little and young. Because she came out, like what…two minutes before you. Likes to lord that over you, I bet.”
I opened my mouth to reply. “Actually…” But I never got the chance to say more.
“How many?” an impatient guy behind the counter asked, stealing our attention and jolting me into realizing we’d already reached the beginning of the line.
“Uh…” Oaklynn froze for a moment before darting a quick, guilty wince my way and hissing, “Please don’t judge.” Then she turned to the food attendant. “I want four.”
My eyebrows lifted because I was impressed that she seemed to be willing to actually eat in front of me. But four didn’t seem like that many, so after the server slid a tray across the counter toward her that had four tacos on it, and he turned his attention to me, I answered, “Same.”
Oaklynn beamed up at me, and we lifted our separate trays together.
At the pay station, I leaned past her to hand the cashier enough money to cover eight tacos and two drinks.
“Hey, you didn’t have to pay for me,” she scolded while looking wholly pleased that I had.
I only shrugged. “Two tacos for a dollar? I have a feeling it won’t break me.”
She laughed. “Well, thank you.” And then she turned her attention to the rest of the cafeteria, glancing around at the seating. “What about over there?” she asked, nodding with her chin. “We can set these down, then get our drinks.”
I nodded. “Works for me.”
I started that way, only to hear a familiar voice call, “Yo, Arch!”
Glancing over, I caught sight of Parker at a nearby booth. Someone was with him but they were tucked deeper into the shadows so I couldn’t see who it was. Thinking it had to be another one of the guys, I gave a little groan and nodded my head in greeting.
Before heading over to say hi, though, I turned back to check on Oaklynn and make sure she seemed okay with the side trip. When her gaze brightened with interest, my stomach only burned hotter.
Because why the hell would she want to be here with me after meeting Parker? He was the witty one who could always come back with some kind of clever comment. The rich one. The confident one. Probably better-looking than me, too.
Girls had always flocked to Parker, thinking they could fix him.
I really didn’t want to introduce her to a better prospect.
Plus, now all the guys were going to learn I’d gone out with the girl they thought was my crazy, scheming tenant. And I was not in the mood for their razzing.
But Oaklynn had already started in that direction, so I hissed out my reluctance and went as well.
“Hey,” he greeted, settling for a wave when he noticed how full my hands were. “What the hell are you doing out and about in public when you don’t have to be?” But even as he asked, his speculative gaze slid toward Oaklynn, and more questions filled his eyes, the biggest being, who is THIS?
“Taco Tuesday,” I answered the obvious, only to tip my head in her direction. “This is Oaklynn.”
“Howdy,” he greeted her with another bob of the head. “Parker. It’s nice to…wait. Did you say Oaklynn?” His gaze flashed back to me. “Isn’t Oaklynn the name of the chick who…?”
“Yes,” was all I could think to answer when he didn’t even bother to finish asking the question.
All the while, Oaklynn glanced between us in open curiosity.
Parker’s eyebrows spiked with surprise. “No shit?” he murmured before shifting his gaze to her once more for a thorough inspection before he asked, “How’s the brownstone treating you?”
The question jolted her. She glanced at me first, clearly wondering how this stranger knew what place she’d just moved into, and then she turned back to Parker. “Uh, it’s great actually. I still can’t believe I was able to snatch it up before anyone else did.”
“Yeah…” His eyebrows lifted as if he didn’t buy that answer at all. “Lucky you.” Then he watched her with untrusting eyes as he reached into the inner pocket of the jacket he was wearing and pulled out a silver flask.
As he took a drink, still staring intently at Oaklynn, I drilled him with my own glare, trying to get him to stop. But the person next to him that I’d completely forgotten about shifted up against him so I could see her face as she pointed at me and said, “You’re…Damien, right?”
“Uh…yeah.” I pulled back briefly, about as startled to see Parker here with a lady as he’d been to see me with one. Then I squinted at her face, trying to place her because I had no idea whatsoever who she was.
“Last week…” Parker spoke up, trying to jog my memory as he tucked the flask away and waved a hand. “Guy’s night... Rizzo’s…”
“Oh!” I blurted, finally remembering who she was: one of the three girls who’d wanted to take a picture with Foster. This must’ve been the one Parker had hooked up with.
“Yeah…hi,” I told her vaguely. “Again.” Only to send Parker a pointed glance.
And from that one look, we had an entire conversation.
Me: Seriously, you’re still with her?
Parker was not at all the type to give a woman a second night.
And his rueful shrug answered, What? I was bored. Shut up. Besides, I’m not the one here taking out my crazy, lying fraud of a tenant.
To which my return scowl growled out a defensive, Shove it, asshole.
“Well, we better get all this food to a table,” I said aloud, glancing at Oaklynn to make sure she was okay with that idea.
She nodded uncertainly and then sent Parker a tense smile. “It was nice to meet you…both.” Her gaze strayed a little more questioningly to the girl she hadn’t been introduced to at all.
The girl smiled back cheerfully, clearly oblivious to all the underlying awkwardness. “Yeah. You too.”
And next to her, Parker lifted his chin. “Yep,” he agreed. “Later, Dimples.”
When he shot me an amused, knowing glance that seemed to say, I should’ve known she’d have dimples, I purposely ignored him and guided Oaklynn the rest of the way to the table.
After we’d gotten our drinks and settled in for the meal, sitting across from each other, she pointedly asked, “Did you not like that guy or something?” as she picked up her first taco.
“Who?” I asked, glancing up in surprise. “You mean Parker?” When she nodded, I blinked, totally confused by the question. “No, of course, I like him. He’s one of my best friends.”
“Oh…” She furrowed her brow as if also bewildered.
“What made you think I didn’t like him?” I had to ask.
She shrugged. “I don’t know. You cursed under your breath when he first called you over. Then you seemed reluctant to say hi and super eager to get away again.”
“Oh.” Damn, she was more perceptive than I thought.
My brain stalled for an explanation.
But before I could come up with an answer that wasn’t as embarrassing as hell, Oaklynn straightened as if offended. “So… I just don’t rate high enough yet to meet one of your closest friends?” she guessed.
“What?” I gaped in disbelief and lifted my hands. “No! That’s not the case at all.”
“Then…?” She lifted one eyebrow, awaiting an explanation.
I felt my face heat. “Okay,” I yielded, lifting my hands to stop her thought process right there. “I guess there were two reasons why I didn’t really want to introduce you. But neither of them had anything to do with me being ashamed of you. Not at all.”
“Okay,” she said, sounding relieved but also intrigued. “I’m very curious to hear what both reasons were, then.”
I gnashed my teeth, not wanting to actually share them. But she was staring and waiting.
“You’re really going to make me admit this, aren’t you?” I tried, hoping she’d have mercy and drop it.
But she lifted her eyebrows, letting me know her answer.
“Okay, fine,” I reluctantly mumbled. “I was being selfish, I guess, and I didn’t want to share your time and attention with anyone else. I…wanted it all to myself,” I concluded, glancing away miserably.
Oaklynn was quiet for a few seconds before she rasped, “And the other reason?”
I huffed out a breath and slid my gaze to her. “I didn’t want you to compare me to him and find me…lacking.”
Lifting an eyebrow as if she didn’t buy it, she said, “For real? You think I’d prefer him?”
I let out a strangled laugh and glanced around us before returning my gaze to her to admit, “I’m not sure why anyone would make up that kind of admission.”
“True.” After a brief shrug, she stared into my eyes for the longest moment before she murmured, “Huh.” She took another bite of her taco before she chewed and swallowed, lifting a finger. “Do you remember last week?” she asked. “When you were at my apartment…”
I crinkled my eyebrows in confusion because I was pretty sure I’d never forget that very memorable encounter. “Which part are you referring to?”
“The kiss,” she said bluntly. “Or actually…your offer afterward.”
I took my own bite and watched her squirm in her seat uncomfortably. Then I wiped my mouth and sat back in my booth. “I kind of thought that’s why we were here right now.”
“It is,” she assured readily, only to wave her hands. “I mean, I have no time for dating or any of that right now.”
“Right…” I said slowly, getting confused. “So you said before, and that hasn’t changed? Has it?”
“Well…” She swallowed audibly as she dropped a nervous gaze to the tabletop where our two plates of half-eaten tacos sat ignored.
“I worked really hard to get into Haverick,” she went on with another one of her explanations that didn’t make me feel any less rejected than the first time she’d told me all this. “It took me two years of community college before I was even accepted here as a transfer. Now I have student loans out the wazoo, and I can’t do anything to ruin this hard-earned opportunity. And I certainly don’t need the kind of distraction that you’re causing for me.”
“Okay,” I started slowly, not sure what I was supposed to say to that accusation. Sorry?
“But you’re distracting me, anyway,” she went on. “Even after five days of keeping my distance, I wake up thinking about that kiss, and I go to sleep with the same exact ache in my blood. I can’t get you out of my head. And it just…blows my mind that you can even think some other guy stands a chance in hell of possibly competing with you.”
