Page 4

Chapter

Two

HADLEY

Mom: I hope it’s okay, I boxed up some of the stuff you left in your bedroom.

Hadley: Why? I didn’t peg you for a craft room type.

Mom: It has great lighting. It will be perfect for shooting my fitness videos.

“You’ll never believe what happened.” I flop on my extra-long twin bed and turn on my side to face my roommate.

Kendall spins from the mirror where she is inspecting her forehead. She points to a non-existent line above her brows.

“I want to hear about it. But first—do I have a wrinkle here?”

Kendall and I met at Freshman Orientation this summer and instantly hit it off. We both like reality TV, running, and romance novels. She promised to be a neat freak, and she made me laugh. Roommates have been picked for less, and I won the jackpot because so far, she’s as awesome as I expected.

“No way, babe. But if you want, we can do a face mask while I tell you about my day.”

“Okay.” She smiles and digs two options out of her vanity, holding up a tube and two packets. “Charcoal or sheet masks?”

I need to keep my finger dry, so I point to the sheet masks.

“Perfect.” Kendall grabs a headband out of another drawer to keep her wild curls out of her face.

When we met, she had long braids but now she’s wearing her black hair in a fluffy halo around her head.

Her skin is flawless, probably thanks to her love of beauty products, and her brown eyes twinkle beneath long false lashes.

A fan of bold colors and athleisure outfits, she’s gorgeous and upbeat, but not in an annoying way.

I secure my long blonde hair with a ponytail holder and open the packet she gives me. I smooth the slightly slimy sheet over my skin and lay back on my bed.

“Remember the guy I told you about?”

Kendall gasps and sinks onto her bed. “Mystery Guy?”

I confessed everything to Kendall a few nights ago over canned margaritas we bought with her fake ID. Turns out, tequila makes me chatty.

“Yeah.” I didn’t know his name at the time, so in my head, that’s what I called him.

Because I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about him since the night we met. I’d stumbled out to that hotel patio, ready to find a rebound guy and move on from Zane.

Instead, I found Mystery Guy. With dark curly hair I wanted to touch and the sweetest smile that made my heart skip a beat. He was easy to talk to, easier to kiss. And it turns out, he’s worse than Zane, because he lied about his true nature.

I shake my head. “He’s scum.”

Kendall frowns, or she would if she didn’t have a sheet mask on. But her eyes show her indignation. “What? How do you know?”

“He’s worse than scum. He’s a jock.”

Instead of taking my side, she tsks. “You’ve got to get over that. You’re missing out on a whole swath of the college population—a really attractive swath, I might add.”

“Nope. Jocks can’t be trusted.”

“Just because you dated one guy who was a cheating jerk?—”

“But it’s not one guy. All the guys my mom’s been with, including my dad, are totally unreliable. They’re always traveling, never there when you need them. And who knows what they get up to when they’re gone?” I growl the last bit as shame floods me.

I thought Zane was different. Boy, was I wrong. As a basketball star, he could have a different girl in his bed every night. And apparently took advantage of that, all while I was clueless. But no one will fool me like that again.

Especially not Jonas.

“It gets worse,” I tell Kendall. “He’s on the hockey team with my brother.” I gulp. “And they are roommates.”

“What? Spill!”

I detail everything that happened, from my shock to the broken glass, my embarrassment at almost passing out, and the capable way Jonas took care of me.

“Girl, he sounds pretty amazing.”

I try to banish his dark puppy dog eyes from my memory. The way his soft fingers gently cared for me. The magnet between us, pulling my lips to his.

I shake it off. “You’re missing the point. When we met, he listened to me talk about how awful jocks are and let me think he was just a hockey fan.”

Kendall peels off the sheet mask and raises a brow. “Maybe that’s why he didn’t tell you. You immediately bashed jocks and put him in a weird position.”

I ignore the little niggling voice that says she might be right. “Speaking of a weird position, it doesn’t matter. Because like I said, he lives with my brother . And I’ve told you how overprotective he’s been lately, right? He’d never let me near his teammates if he thought I was interested.”

“Which is a shame.” She clicks her tongue. “Because they are fine. How do you think he feels about introducing your roommate to the hockey team?”

Kendall smirks, and I throw my Winnie-the-Pooh bear stuffed animal at her head. She ducks at the last minute and Pooh lands harmlessly on her bed.

“You’ve read too many hockey romances.”

“I’m telling you—hot!”

“Yeah, it’s probably better in a book than in reality.”

Kendall shrugs. “Most romances are. But don’t ruin my dreams.”

Her dreams stink. But I don’t tell her that. “I’ll stick with my rockstar and billionaire fantasy life, thanks.”

“To each her own.” She throws Pooh back neatly in my lap, and I remove my sheet mask. “Be honest—are you disappointed?”

I bite my lip. “That Mystery Guy is not as amazing as I’d built him up to be in my mind?”

She nods, and I confess, “Yeah, a little. We had a real connection—or so I thought. But if he lied about being a jock, what else was a lie?”

“That makes sense.” Kendall gives me a sympathetic look that morphs into a smile. “I know what you need.”

“What?”

“A reminder that there are plenty of fish in the college sea. Let’s go to a frat party tonight!” She bounces on her bed.

I giggle. “Why not? Getting dressed up and going out sounds fun.”

“Girl, we’re going to slay this year.”

Kendall is right. My first week of college has gone pretty well, all things considered.

I have a great roommate. It’s fun to see my brother more often.

I solved the mystery behind Mystery Guy.

Sure, that turned out to be a dead end, but Harrison is full of amazing guys. I won’t give Jonas a second thought.