“What the fuck were you thinking?”

I glared at my friend, shaking my head, which was a bad idea because the hangover came back with a fucking vengeance. I grimaced gripping the coffee mug tighter.

“Nolan,” I growled into the mug, narrowing my eyes at him.

“The fuck was I supposed to do?”

“Literally anything but bring her here.”

His jaw tightened. “She needed help, man.”

“So you call her some help.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

I snorted a bitter laugh, looking away from my friend. I’d been awake for a whole thirty minutes, and the guy had decided now was the time to mention that he’d brought one of his damn students to the house the night before, “because she needed help.”

Christ, at least he hadn’t fucked her, not that I thought Nolan was the kind of guy to do that.

“Well I know she’s your student,” I growled at him. “I know she’s fucking beautiful, and would have been just your fucking type eighteen years ago.”

He raised a sharp brow at me. “Beautiful, huh? So I guess I’m not the only one looking at students, or noticing her, for that matter.”

I shot him a look. “Fuck you.”

I could see that humor in his eyes, but I knew it was only because it was me. I knew how my friend got. If it’d been anyone else saying “yeah I scoped out that chick too,” he’d have laid me out already. Even if it meant confirming that I thought this whole thing was more than him just “wanting to help her.” But it wasn’t like that between us. Not between any of us. He and Max and I were all too close for petty jealousy shit like that.

“Yeah, I know who she is,” I muttered. “Fuck off Nolan, I’m not going to pretend to be a monk. She took a survey class of mine last year.”

He smirked.

“I looked, I didn’t fucking take her home.”

“I didn’t ‘take her home,’ Jesus, man. She needed a place to stay, and that fucking little prick…” he growled, shaking his head. He’d told me about what he’d seen, with that Matt kid slapping her around, and thinking about it got my blood running hot.

“I could’ve fucking killed the kid, but I took her away from there instead.”

“To here, your house.”

“Let it go, asshole,” he hissed. “She’s here.”

I looked away.

This was how Nolan and I always sparred. It was how all three of us did, really. It was probably one of the reasons we were all still best friend and hadn’t killed each other years ago. We were always honest with each other — we spoke our minds. It was still funny that somehow we were all back together again, and even more hilariously, that the three of us were all under one damn roof. Melanie, my train-wreck of an ex-fiancée was trying to pull all sorts of legal gymnastics to try and keep the house she and I had bought a few months back. I mean, I knew damn well I could have stayed there — it was my house. But then, there was also a pretty real chance of me going to jail when she inevitably brought her new boy toy home and I inevitably threw him through a window.

But fuck all that anyways. I didn’t need that sort of shit where I slept and lived. And here Nolan was with a huge damn house right off campus, so the move had been easy.

Max was the wildcard, as ever. He’d been out of the NFL for six months after that knee thing at the playoffs, and it was clear he wasn’t going back. The man had more money than he knew what to do with, and even if retiring at thirty-two maybe wasn’t his plan, it’s not like the guy was ever going to be hurting for money. But still, I think after the team had moved on without him, he’d just gotten fuckin’ bored out there on the west coast. Naturally, Nolan and I had invited him out, and a weekend visit had turned into a month.

But like I said, Nolan had a huge damn house, and the three of us were all basically brothers anyways.

But fuck.

Yeah, I knew who Cora was. I knew exactly who she was. I’d been teaching a long time, and before that, there’d been the Navy and officer training, and then years as the attaché to the US Secretary of State. I’d seen the world, I’d lived it, and then I’d come back to what I wanted to do: teach. My dad had been a science teacher, and man, I’d always had respect for that.

But Cora? Shit, yeah, she stood out. She was beautiful and sexy as hell, but not like the other college girls who were all always trying too hard. C’mon I wasn’t an idiot. I knew I kept in great shape, had a nice smile, and a full head of hair. And college girls aren’t exactly known for their subtleness. I heard the whispers, and saw the knowing winks. I’d even gotten the flat-out offers before.

But fuck that noise. I’d wanted nothing to do with any of them. Well, until her.

Until Cora.

She was beautiful without trying — almost in that way where you weren’t quite sure she even knew how much of a knockout she was. Plus she was smart as hell, and eager for knowledge in a way not all college students were. I didn’t know her, but you could see she’d fought through some shit to get to where she was. And you knew Gilman college wasn’t just “some place” she decided to go. She’d worked hard to get here, and she’d probably pinched every fucking penny to do it.

So yeah, I’d seen her, and if we’re being honest, I’d lusted over her too, for all those reasons. But the Navy had taught me discipline — something Wall Street sure as fuck hadn’t taught my best friend. I wasn’t sure what I’d have done if I’d seen some little prick slapping Cora round though, I will say that. I wanted to say I’d have done it differently than taking her home, but fuck, would I have?

I sipped my coffee, my mind wandering. I pictured her lying upstairs in his guest room — her dark brown hair splayed out across the white sheets, her soft lips parted in sleep. I pictured the sheet slipping over her shoulder, showing her pure, supple, unblemished skin. I pictured her opening her eyes, looking right at me, and biting her lip as she crooked her finger for me to join her…

God help me, my cock throbbed. The blood roared in my ears, and I could feel my balls swelling with cum.

Fuck, here I was doing what I’d just given Nolan shit for — fantasizing about damn student like the cliched creep of a teacher.

“Morning, assholes.”

We both glanced up as Max came shuffling in, almost looking worse than I felt. His pretty-boy blond hair that Nolan and I always gave him shit for was all tousled up, and his eyes looked like they were dealing with the same hangover I was.

He grumbled, raking his nails over the stubble across his jaw. He sipped his coffee, and then frowned, turning to raise a brow at the two of us.

“Awfully fucking quiet in here, gents.”

Nolan glared at me and shook his head. Max just grinned.

“Soooo, what are we talking about?”

“We have a houseguest,” I grumbled.

Max snorted. “Dude we are the houseguests.”

“No, we have another one,” Nolan growled.

“And this one's barely legal.”

Max froze, his eyes darting to me. “What?”

I cleared my throat, smiling thinly. “Yeah, someone brought a student home.”

Max whirled to Nolan, who snarled at me. “I told you to stop fucking saying that. It's not like that,” he growled to Max.

“And it’s like…how exactly?”

“She needed help. Some asshole — her boyfriend or whoever, was slapping her around. She’s got nowhere else to go, so yeah,” he glared at me. “I brought her here.”

Max turned and gave me a look. “So what's the trouble then, asshole?”

I chuckled darkly, shaking my head. “The trouble is, you haven’t seen her yet.”

Max frowned. “I haven’t— oh.” He turned and raised a brow at Nolan. “Oh it’s like that is it?”

“Fuck you two,” he spat back. “No, it’s not.”

“Keep telling yourself that,” I grumbled. I eyed him, the wheels turning inside my head. I knew my friend, and he wasn’t telling the whole story here. He was hiding something and holding something back. Maybe it was something small — a little detail or whatever — but him not telling the whole truth had me trying to look inside his head.

Because this could be bad. The problem was, this wasn’t just a problem for Nolan. It was going to be a problem for me too.