Brazen and Breathless (Untouchable #6) - Heather Long Page 0,25

more impressed every day that you let me hear you sing, because that’s terrifying.”

He chuckled and reached over to snag her wine glass for her when she finished off that piece of pizza. “You made it easy. Hopefully, I can do the same for you.”

“You are,” she said with a sigh.

Coop quirked a brow, but I shook my head. This wasn’t our fight…yet. He nodded, and Archie just tipped his beer back to drain it. “So,” he said after setting the bottle down. “Let’s go down the schools we’re all in, who we’re waiting to hear from, and then pros and cons.”

She lit right up at that, and I bit back a smile. Did we know our girl? Yes, yes we did.

So for the next hour, we batted them back and forth. We had three schools total that we were all in. NYU was the one we circled back to time and again. But Frankie kept latching onto MIT. She wanted Archie and I to have that opportunity.

Don’t get me wrong, MIT was a killer school.

“If you say it’s not where but who…” Frankie scolded as she stood with her hands on her hips. We’d dragged out the white board from her room and it was leaning against the TV stand, and we had a list going in different colored markers. NYU was winning by a landslide. “I’m going to kick all of you out and sleep by myself.”

“I’ll just sneak in after you’re asleep,” Coop said without an ounce of irony or shame.

“The fuck you will,” Archie countered. “My date night.”

“And we’re making it up to you,” I pointed out. “You two deserve your night out, but not one where she’s stressing about this.”

“Fair point, so I’ll take the hit for us,” Bubba said with a slow smirk. “I’m sure I can keep her distracted.”

“Right.” I thumped him in the arm, and he flashed a grin at me. “I think it will depend on who gets there first.”

“Oh, I like those odds…” Archie leaned forward. “Where are we on the screaming orgasm chart?”

“Boys,” Frankie snapped, hands on her hips, but despite her stern tone, her lips kept twitching. “There’s plenty of room in there for all of us, thanks to someone. We were discussing schools?”

“We were,” I agreed. “But right now, NYU is in the lead. So let me ask you this…” Because I’d been thinking about it. “Do you need this internship if we go there? Or will your current scholarship cover it all?” Because she had the huge one from Mason’s. Mental math said the one I’d gotten would cover about eighty percent of mine. I could do the rest with loans that would mean I wouldn’t have to lean on Dad’s GI Bill benefits and leave it for the girls.

Perfectly fine by me. The less I owed him, the better.

She chewed her lower lip, then considered the board.

“Did you find out where you were interning yet?” Coop asked. “Weren’t they supposed to email you today?”

“Yeah, but I didn’t get anything earlier,” Frankie mused. “I mean, I think it would more than cover the tuition, the books, and probably living expenses. But New York’s really pricey. And I don’t know about their rules for living on campus as freshmen.”

“That we will be working around,” Archie said. “Even if the four of us have to get a shared dorm, you just move in with us.”

“It’d be cozy,” Coop said with a slow grin. “But we can make it work. Though Archie on campus with just a room and a bunch of beds will be hilarious.”

“Yeah, fuck off. Grandpa has a place in the city, so we can always just crash there on weekends too. The point is, we have options, on campus or off. If it’s on, then you can save on housing expenses by staying with us.”

Frankie chuckled. “You guys have an answer for everything.”

Bubba leaned back on his hands. We’d all but finished the pizza. Ice cream would be the next thing I grabbed, but she wasn’t upset at all anymore. In fact, her mood was far more thoughtful and, dare I say, excited?

“If Rachel ends up at the same school, I need to room with her,” she said. “Even if I stay with you guys.”

“Right,” Coop said. “Because Rachel.”

Yeah, deal with that later.

“Where has she applied?” Archie asked, and though he didn’t quite grit his teeth, he did look like he’d swallowed a lemon.

“I’ll ask,” Frankie said after a beat. “She doesn’t talk about herself