Page 4

I hated it when he was nice to me. It made my crush worse, and I didn’t want a crush on him. Brennen Tate was out of my league, and not just because he was a hockey player.

Well, obviously that was part of it, but the bigger part was how effortlessly cool he was.

He smiled at everyone, and they all smiled back at him.

I’d never met anyone who didn’t have a good thing to say about him.

And all that niceness came off as genuine.

It was super annoying in the ways that made me feel bad for even thinking negative thoughts about him.

Brennen had been born under a lucky star.

On the other hand, I stammered and desperately tried to think of something not dumb to say whenever he was around. It was super annoying, but the worst part was that if Brennen knew I had a crush on him, he’d be absurdly nice about it. Humiliating across the board.

“Are you homeless or something?” Brennen’s voice was concerned. Ugh.

“No, I just couldn’t stay there last night.” I thought I had said again under my breath, but Brennen’s head whipped up.

“What does ‘again’ mean? Is someone hassling you there?”

“It’s just stupid roommate stuff.”

“Have you talked to the RA about it? It’s quite literally their job.”

“The year is almost over, so housing will just tell me to figure it out for a couple of months. And I will.”

“Can I tell you a secret?” Brennen rose from his crouch and plopped down on the couch next to me. He crossed one ankle over his knee and dropped his arm across the back of the couch. His fingers were dangerously close to touching me, and I forgot to breathe a few times.

“A secret? If you want to, I guess.”

“My mom says I’m like a grandma with a grudge. So now that I know something’s going on with your living situation, it’s going to bug the shit out of me until I figure it out.”

“I bet you annoyed the heck out of your parents at Christmastime.”

“I still do.” Brennen’s sunny laugh was deep and friendly. But it stopped when he went back to watching me. And waiting. And waiting some more. The silence stretched for decades. The time-lapse might have been more like thirty seconds, but it was definitely a long time. Evasion was best.

“I checked my alarm three times to make sure I was out of here.” I picked it up from the cushion next to me and turned it over and around in a faux inspection.

“Maybe it’s broken. I should get it checked out to make sure, so I don’t oversleep again.

I try to get up on time, but it’s so hard.

I probably just shut it off.” In my attempt to distract Brennen with chatter, I waved my hand too close.

He snagged my phone out of my hand and inspected it himself.

“Looks like you might have forgotten to take it off silent.”

“Ugh.”

“Or maybe switched it off instead of snooze.”

“Possibly. Good guesses, Tate.” When I called him by his last name, like everyone else did around here, he frowned with a hint of furrowed brows. I swallowed the ridiculous urge to apologize. We lapsed into silence again. He watched me without looking away, and it was…intense.

“My roommate is really into this girl, and he wants to bring her back to our room all the time. But he doesn’t want me there while they are doing whatever. It doesn’t usually matter, but he’s really into this one.”

“He locked you out?”

“Asked me to leave with a lot of whining. I ought to be able to stand up for myself.”

“That’s some bullshit.”

I’d never had so much of Brennen Tate’s undivided attention. I was a nervous wreck.

“He said…”

“He knew you needed to study?”

“Yeah, but…”

“Sorry for interrupting.”

“He said if I ever got laid or had friends, he’d clear out for me.”

Oh my god, Ellis, shut up.

In cartoons, they always show what it looks like when someone gets mad. The air around them changes and the red of their temper creeps up their neck before the top of their head explodes. Brennen was already there and the vein on this temple pulsed.

“Pardon?”

“To be fair, I said we were good after he said it.”

“To be fair…”

“That’s a good Canadian accent,” I offered helpfully.

“Not the point, Ellie.”

Who the heck was Brennen Tate calling Ellie?

“ Sorry .” The golden retriever vibe I’d always associated with Brennen was gone, and this stern man, not even a boy, was in front of me.

I didn’t recognize him. I wasn’t frightened, but it was a significant shift in vibe.

It made me think thoughts I had no business thinking. Daddy and little thoughts.

“You can’t stay there.”

“He did apologize. Sort of.”

“His apology doesn’t mean shit.”

“Oh.”

“I think you’re right about housing telling you to just deal with it. It’s only a couple of months before the end of the term. At best, they’ll send you guys to mediation or whatever.”

Brennen wasn’t saying anything I hadn’t already figured out, which was a bummer.

It was one thing for me to imagine housing’s solution, but it was another to have it confirmed as reasonable and likely.

Bottom line? I had to figure out how to navigate the last few months of the year.

If Landon’s new girl dumped him, it would solve all my problems.

“Yeah, sounds like. I’m glad you agree I’m cooked.”

Brennen remained pensive while he sat on the couch, looking like a snack.

“I didn’t say that.” Brennen pulled his phone out of his pocket, sent a text, waited for a response, responded, and then put it away again.

Afterward, he slapped his thighs like an old man and pushed himself off the couch.

I was more than a little sad his hands were no longer within touching distance.

He hadn’t actually touched me—other than my shoulder—but he could have, and that counted for something.

No one was more shocked than I was when he reached back and offered me his hand after he got to his feet.

I was stunned enough to take his offered hand. “Let’s go.”

“Are you about to turn me in to Coach or security?”

“Nope, we’re going to get some boxes and pack your stuff.”

“Pack my stuff?”

“Yeah, you’re moving into my spare room today.”