Page 20 of Dark Things (Payback Duet #1)

Stafford

I t’s taking everything in me to not sit next to her.

The whole duration of this math class, I watch her instead of focusing on what the professor is saying.

I couldn’t tell you what the topic is and what the assignment is, but maybe it’ll give me another reason to talk to her.

I could pretend like I don’t know the topic and ask for help?

I can’t get the image of her dancing last night out of my head.

It’s been so long since I’ve been attracted to a woman that I almost thought I was fully into guys.

No one since Belle has made me feel this excited, this turned on.

I might have spent the night jerking off to the image of her grinding on Haunt.

Of course Haunt is sitting next to her, so I’m not sure how he’d react to my interest, but something tells me he’s not the typical straight jock and that makes me even more intrigued .

Once the professor allows us to leave I jump up, ignoring the rest of the students around me, and follow behind the couple moving out into the hallway. It doesn’t take me long to reach them in the courtyard.

“Hey guys,” I say. Not the most eloquent, but it gets them to turn around.

Haunt’s arm is slung over Reb’s shoulders and he’s gripping her bag in his hand. She stiffens as I approach, and for a moment I hesitate on whether this was a good idea or not.

“Staff, what’s up?” Haunt asks. He doesn’t seem pissed off, so I go for it.

“I’m looking for study partners for this class. Any chance you guys are interested?” I ask. I shift on my feet and hike my bag higher. I don’t know why I’m so damn nervous.

Haunt studies me for a moment before turning to Reb. Her mask is firmly back in place this morning. Last night I saw her let loose. She was so carefree, but this Reb’s edges are all hardened and sharp.

“What do you think, gioia mia ? Want to spend time with the runningback?” He picks up a piece of her hair and twirls it around his finger while still holding onto her.

She studies me for a moment, the tick in her jaw a little too obvious. She looks up at Haunt and something passes between them before she turns back to me .

“We can do Thursdays at four, after practice. Library, not the house.”

Haunt pouts for a moment, and my whole body tingles with anticipation. Reb rolls her eyes and hip checks him a bit before he changes his expression and chuckles.

“That works for me. We can meet in one of the private rooms on the fourth floor. It’s quiet, and we’ll be left alone,” I say.

My words seem to echo around us even though we’re standing outside. I want this so bad, I can taste it.

“Don’t get any ideas, pretty boy. Studying, that’s it. We aren’t looking for a third right now,” she says before turning away, swinging her hips. I stare, momentarily caught in her web.

Haunt’s hand grips my shoulder and gives it a little shake. I look up into his impossibly blue eyes and get lost for a moment. “This is going to be fun,” he says, winking before he takes off after her.

Right now.

Right now.

It’s on repeat through my head as I walk to my car. I get in and start the engine before leaning back in the seat and close my eyes, head tipped up to the roof.

She knows exactly what I’m doing, and yet she agreed. It wasn’t a shutout, but a time out. This could go the exact way I’ve been dreaming of since the moment I saw the two of them together. No fuck that, since the first day of math class when she challenged my answer.

Beautiful women are one thing. I appreciate their beauty even if they don’t do anything for me, but smart and beautiful…Jesus.

I’m going to have to go home and take care of the raging hard-on in my pants.

When I come in the front door, Colter and Brooks are sitting in the living room, the football game on the TV. They both have beers in front of them, and they look up when I enter.

“Good class?” Colter asks, pulling out his phone. “We’re ordering pizza. The usual?”

“Yeah, sounds good.” I put my bag down and toe my shoes off before sitting opposite them on the couch. Colt goes back to his phone, and then slips in his pocket before turning to me.

“You seem a little frazzled, Staffy babe,” Brooks says, a smile on his face. I roll my eyes before spitting it out.

“I asked Reb and Haunt to study with me for Math,” I say, taking an unopened bottle from Brooks when he hands it to me.

“What? Why would you do that? You’ve never asked anyone to study before,” Brooks says.

I run my hand through my hair and notice it’s time for a haircut. “I don’t know what came over me. One minute they were walking out of the door to the classroom and then I was running to catch up to them in the courtyard. It just sort of came out.”

Both guys pull their attention from the screen and look over at me. Brooks startles back, but Colter’s face is more stoic. I could never hide anything from them, but even I can’t explain what I was thinking.

“You do know they’re together, and as much as I think she’s fucking hot, Haunt doesn’t look like the type of guy who shares. I wouldn’t let the nice guy act fool you. You’ve seen him play,” Colter says, a scowl on his face.

I inhale for a moment and then let the conversation wash over me. “You’d think, but when I mentioned the study rooms on the fourth floor, she said not to get any ideas because they weren’t looking for a third right now.”

“Right now? You mean implying they usually have a third?” Brooks asks, eyebrows raised.

Colter shifts in his seat and takes a sip of his beer before turning his gaze out the window, seemingly lost in his mind.

“I can’t say for certain but, yeah, it sounded like they do. The thought has crossed my mind too. Both of them are fucking stunning, and there’s just something about her,” I reply.

“That’s…wow. I don’t even know what to say, except let me know if a fourth is needed. I could keep Reb bu sy while the two of you work out the tension on each other,” Brooks grins, a devilish smirk playing across his lips.

“It’s just studying. I mean, if it changes, yeah, I could see it. What about you Colt? Interested enough to make it a quintuple?” I ask, amusement crossing over my lips.

Colt’s gaze turns back to us as if he’s realized that we’re still talking. He looks between the two of us, shaking his head, but it’s more to clear his mind than a ‘no.’

“There’s something about her that I can’t shake. She seems so familiar but at the same time a stranger. Sure she’s beautiful, but it’s the way she carries herself, the way she acts. I have this feeling,” he says, picking the label off his bottle.

I glance at Brooks and see he’s agreeing with Colt. “I feel the same and while I told you guys about what happened with Mary, I didn’t tell you all of it. Part of me thinks I misunderstood, but now that you mention it, Colt, I can see something, too.”

This gets my full attention. “What happened?”

“I spoke to her yesterday morning at the cafe in the quad. She slammed the door open and it caught my attention. I had to speak to her…like, it was a compulsion. She was her snarky self, but that wasn’t what made me question her.

I saw her racing over at Jimbo’s track. She’s good, really good, and the horse she was riding was Black Caviar out of Kentucky, which is a mi llion dollar horse.

And then at the diner when I was telling her Mary wasn’t worth getting into trouble for, she called me BK. ”

My whole body goes still. A rush of adrenaline goes through me. My mouth goes dry and I lean back in my seat, mouth gaping. There’s no way. No one calls Brooks BK, not since we were sixteen.

“Impossible,” I whisper, looking between the guys who have always had my back, my brothers. But now it’s as if my whole world has just tilted.

“I know what I heard, Staff. It’s not some wishful fucking thinking. She called me BK, and it was while she was holding Mary’s fucking head on the table. Spur of the moment shit.”

Colt runs his hands over his face, but before he can answer the doorbell rings, and he jumps up to get it. I hear the door open, murmured conversation, and then the slamming of the door before he sets down four boxes of pizza.

“You got an extra pizza?” I ask, pulling the first box over to me and flipping the lid open. It’s my meat lover with spicy sausage. I pull out a slice and take a bite before turning to look at the guys. Colt is staring down at his box, his face white as a sheet. “You okay?”

Colt flips the whole box open and sitting inside is a pizza in the shape of a heart with toppings on it I know none of us ordered, and it’s not pineapple. It’s a white pie with sopressata and honey .

“You ordered that?” Brooks asks, his own pizza forgotten.

“No, dipshit, I didn’t order it. I ordered our usual, didn’t even change the order from the food app, just clicked express reorder,” Colt says, still staring at the pizza like it’s going to change by power of mental persuasion.

“Then why the fuck do we have Belle’s pizza in our house?”