get off the phone with Mr. Peters, you can help me haul the heavy boxes on the porch up to my new room. I’ll wait.”
All I had going for me at the moment was false bravado… and a signed lease.
However, if I didn’t put up an unbreakable façade, I knew I would cave and let these two send me running with my tail between my legs. And that just wouldn’t do. I’d put everything on the line in order to stand exactly where I was right now. I was sick of scheming and sacrificing. Of lying and evading.
When things changed this summer and I finally found an inch of freedom, I took every risk imaginable to stand on this very doorstep. I hired a private investigator to track down these boys and get every bit of information on the three of him he could. I changed schools. I emptied secret bank accounts. I left behind the only home I’d ever known and escaped the crushing hold that nearly killed me. I hadn’t put those things in motion without suffering a huge, tragic loss. Instead of spending my time grieving, I decided to take back control of my life. To do that, I needed to be here.
These two gatekeepers weren’t even the ones I was worried about.
Oh no.
The biggest obstacle wasn’t home yet, and I knew once he finally showed up, I was going to have the real fight on my hands. So, refusing to cave under the weight of the football player’s glower was nothing more than practice. The big guy growled at me again and stormed off with his cell pressed against his ear. Once he was gone, I wanted to let out a sigh of relief, but I couldn’t. Curious gray-green eyes were peering at me like I was some kind of scientific experiment, and he was ready to dissect me on the spot.
Harlen Danvers definitely had the brawn part of this friendship group covered. He was big and imposing in all the right ways. It was well known on campus and in college football circles that he took no shit from anyone. He was loyal to a fault and would gladly break the knees of anyone who crossed his friends. That went double for the young man standing in front of me.
If ever there was someone suited to the term ‘pretty boy,’ it was Vernon Banks. He also happened to be an actual genius. He was younger than I was, but just about to graduate from college. Vernon had the ‘brains’ in the friendship the three remaining boys in this house shared. He was so smart it was scary. He was also undeniably beautiful.
He was about an inch taller than I was, which would put him around five nine, give or take a few centimeters. He had lovely golden skin, and wide, dark eyes that lifted just slightly at the outside corners, hinting at a touch of Asian heritage somewhere in his lineage. He had thick, well-groomed eyebrows, one decorated with a silver barbell. His naturally dark hair was bleached a startling white, giving him an anime vibe that I knew the girls on campus went bananas over. They all wanted him to help them with their homework or to help them get naked. However, Vernon was known to be shy and reserved around the opposite sex and strangers in general. He was far more interested in video games and grades than dating.
Which was the exact opposite of the boy standing behind him. From what I knew, Harlen Danvers was a ladies’ man through and through. He hadn’t had a steady girlfriend since he started school here, but he never lacked for company. He wasn’t the most talkative type. However, he didn’t need words when his perfect smile was enough to have half the campus fall to their knees for him. Harlen was tall, way taller than me, and he carried his bulk well. He had dirty blond hair, which had a slight wave. He kept it longish, but it was a good look for him. It kept him from looking like a stereotypical college athlete. He had pale blue eyes that were responsible for making a hundred different girls hand over their hearts to him without question. He had a smattering of freckles across his nose, which were only visible if you got up close and personal. He was ridiculously good looking, but not pretty in the way Vernon was. They made a dynamic duo, and