Making sure he saw where I was going, I headed to meet her on the floor. Kitty moved away, making room for me in their makeshift little circle. I spotted Nina on the couch. Blaze was sitting next to her, still wearing a toga, and he had the pony keg this time. She looked ready to launch into outer space. He put his arm around her, and I started to laugh. She grabbed her legs, as if forcing herself to stay on the couch.

I had a feeling things with this group of people were going to be okay.

Step one was done.

I made some friends.

MASON

“You’re dragging, Kade.”

I was doing sprints, and I stopped, heaving for breath, as Drew came over and lined up next to me. He was right. I was.

Sam crawled into bed with me the night before, and I’d loved every minute of it, but an hour later, we’d both decided she should wake up in her dorm room. The whole commitment to staying in the dorms for the first month was going to be taxing on both of us, and that meant another hour of being awake because I’d driven her back. I walked up with her, and for another fifteen minutes, we’d stood outside her door before she went inside. I was dragging, but I didn’t care.

Remembering Sam as she’d straddled me, leaning back and letting her hair fall down so that the tips of it grazed my legs, gave me enough of a boost, so when Drew and I both took off, racing each other now, I pulled ahead halfway.

I was waiting at the end as he finished his sprint. I drawled, grinning at him, “Who’s dragging now?”

He grunted, bent down, and tossed a towel at me. “You’re a smart-ass.”

I used the towel to wipe my face. “Someone has to be. Matteo’s gone.”

Drew sobered as we walked to the side bench for water. The first part of the morning was spent running around the track. Afterward, we were herded into the locker room for a quick talk with the assistant coaches, and then they’d let us back out to do individual drills. Mine had been sprints. Drew caught me at the tail end of doing thirty. I’d have to go back and do another thirty before calling it quits and going to class.

Walking with me around the track, he said, “Matt called last night. He said his dad was hit by a drunk driver.”

“Does he have to miss school?”

Drew’s mouth tightened. “I don’t know. He says so. He’s got to take care of the family until his dad is out of the hospital and rehabbed enough to start working again. They come from old values. The man takes care of the family and all that jazz. With his dad out of commission, it falls to his shoulders to take over and work for the family. He’s got little siblings still, and their mom’s a housekeeper somewhere.”

It sucked all around. It just sucked.

Drew glanced sideways to me. “Coach talk to you yet?”

I nodded. An anchor fell to the pit of my stomach. “I’m benched for the first two games.”

Drew cursed. “You serious?”

“I missed the first month of training.”

“That wasn’t on your part. That was the school’s decision.”

“But because of my involvement with Sebastian, the blame has to be on me.”

Drew didn’t know about the house. No one did, except for Nate, Logan, and Sam. I was innocent in everyone else’s eyes. That anchor turned inside of me, digging into my sides and making me feel some guilt. Drew’s tune would be different, but I didn’t regret what I had done, not after what Sebastian tried to take away from me first—my future in football.

Drew swore again. “Whatever. The whole thing is fucked up, but I am happy you put him in his place. When that fraternity fell, that was a big deal on campus. I know you made Matteo proud and Lane, too, with how Sebastian could’ve helped with his scholarship two years ago and didn’t, letting it get stripped from him after being injured. Sebastian’s a greedy bastard. He’s slime.” There was a warning in his voice. “Just watch your back. You know he’s looking for payback.”

My jaw clenched. Drew didn’t have to remind me. I more than knew the stakes at hand.

“Football, school, and my family—those are my priorities.”

“Good. We’ll watch your back. You know that.”

“Thanks.”

We were coming to the end of our first circle around the track.

“Kade!” a coach shouted from the bench. “Finish your sprints and take off. You got class to attend.”

Drew nodded to me, veering to the left, as I crouched back down for another sprint.

SAMANTHA

The smell of coffee woke me up, and I was greeted with the image of Summer coming in the door, dressed to the nines in a flowy, white top that slipped off one of her shoulders and hung past the middle of her thighs. It looked like a dress she could wear to a nightclub. She was wearing skintight jeans underneath with high heels. Her bracelets jingled against each other as she placed a cup of coffee on my nightstand.

“Ruby has a latte machine in her room.” She inhaled a whiff of her latte, and a dreamy smile came over her face. “I’m in love with our RA.” She pointed at me with her cup as she sat at her desk. “She’s in love with you. A little Blaze bird was gushing to her about your stepbrother sometime this morning, and she wants to meet his obsession.”

I cringed. “Really?”

She watched as I climbed out of bed.

I grabbed the latte first. My robe was second. I had priorities. Even before slipping on the robe, I had to take a sip. It was caramel heaven. “Thanks for this.”

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