Page 203 of Love Me in the Dark

“Yeah, how to say, ‘he’s probably not that into you,’ or ‘he got the cookie, and he’s good now?’”

I winced. As harsh as it was, men liked the chase. I mean, they liked the sex, too, and wouldn’t turn it down. But at the end of the day, they wanted to feel like they were winning a prize. “Are there more?”

Ezra continued scrolling. “Tons. This promises endless entertainment.” He glanced up at me. “I wonder who Casanova is? Probably someone in the psych department, wouldn’t you think? They would have to have a good understanding of human nature.”

I nodded. “That makes sense, yeah.” I shoved his shoulder lightly. “Definitely wouldn’t be anyone in the math department.”

“Ha, ha, very funny.” Ezra stood up. “Let me take a shower, and we can get moving. You can call Gale and see what his plans are. I’m starving.”

I pulled my own phone out and with a few taps, opened up the Casanova app and returned to the earlier message. I had played dumb, but I had seen the app before.

I had invented the damn thing.

10

Gale

Icould tell by the heated look in Baron’s eyes that the chicks at Sugar Babes tonight were pressing all his buttons.

The fuck-me-daddy button.

The dear-Jesus-what-a-ditz button.

The maybe-we-can-tape-her-mouth-shut button.

The chances of him actually saying anything, though, were slim to none. Baron might grunt, but he rarely talked, especially to females. And most of these were annoying the shit out of him. If something didn’t change, I was going to be doing damage control before the night was over, sure as God made little green apples.

I snapped my fingers in his face, grabbing his attention. “Hey. Did we ever get a roommate for that fourth room in our quad?” I asked, referencing a notice we’d gotten a week ago letting us know that another roommate was a possibility.

Our final year at Chandler U was well underway, and so far the fourth and final room in our quad dorm remained empty, taunting us with the potential of a stranger coming in and upsetting the perfect balance we’d crafted over the past three years.

We were friends and allies, had seen each other through one-night stands and longer, drama-filled relationships, grueling athletic seasons, and classes we thought would break us.

None of us had the bandwidth to break in a newbie at this stage in the game.

“Not that I’m aware,” Baron answered, frowning. “I’m hoping they just forget the room’s empty. We don’t need anyone else.”

Ezra, our third roommate, peered across the table at me and took a swig of his beer. “Maybe we could turn it into a sex room.”

Ezra had been spacey all night, looking all over the place for one girl in particular and on edge because he wasn’t finding her.

Baron snorted. “Fuck that. I’m off women for a while.”

I lifted an eyebrow. “I have a hard time seeing you turn celibate just because of a break-up.” Baron had dated a girl for most of our junior year, only to have her dump him in spring semester. He was being philosophical about it, and he was well-aware she was a money-hungry bitch, but I think it had hurt him more than he was letting on.

He rolled his eyes my way at my statement. “I didn’t say anything about being celibate. I just said I’m off women.”

“Uh…” Ezra scratched his head.

Baron drew in a deep, impatient sigh. “I just mean I’m happy to fuck ‘em, but…fuck ‘em, you know? No dating. No getting close or any of that other shit girls like. They can get that somewhere else.”

“Ah.” I nodded. “Whatever.”

“No texting all hours of the day, or meet the parents, or anything else.”

“Mm.”

“I mean it.” His gaze grew distant as it snagged on something at the other end of the bar. I followed its trajectory.