Page 30 of Project: FU (Longwood U #3)

NOLAN

If the world needed further proof Kelsey was only ever going to be concerned about herself, she immediately returned to school that night and proceeded to tell everyone that her father and I were fucking.

I know that she was doing it to try to force some repercussions against me, but she jeopardized her father’s career.

Skye called me Tuesday night, and when I answered, he didn’t speak.

He just had me listening to the yelling match that was taking place.

Hannah’s voice was still the loudest of all as she laid into how shitty a person Kelsey was for risking their dad’s job while she threw a tantrum.

However, it was the first time I’d heard Rachel and Tavis yelling, too. Sure, yelling at Hannah to stay out of it and Hannah telling them ‘ fuck no .’

From what I’d managed to glean from the yelling match, Tavis had been called in to speak to the Dean of the athletic department, only to find that a whole slew of important people were there.

It was a long meeting in which words such as probation, suspension, and release from his job were thrown around.

In the end, Tavis pointed out that one, there’s no clear-cut rule on not getting involved with students unless they’re students in a class you teach or they’re in your department. And two, I have nothing to do with the athletic department. Never have, and I definitely won’t in the future.

I’m a loophole.

Needless to say, I still felt like shit.

However, Kelsey has been kicked out of her parents’ house.

The theme of the argument I witnessed via the call from Skye was that it was time Kelsey learned that there are consequences to her actions.

Hannah threw in that maybe she needed to think about what it meant to be family, too.

It’s been a couple of weeks since then, and I’ve had several meetings with some HR people, a counselor, and the Dean of my department, all asking me the same questions—Do I feel safe? Do I feel preyed upon? Do I feel targeted? Do I feel pressured?

At the last meeting, I kind of lost my cool and said that the only people I’m feeling targeted and harassed by are these constant barrages of questions, in which my answers weren’t changing. The only shitty person in this situation is Kelsey. End of discussion.

Thankfully, those meetings have stopped. Tavis assures me that his job is safe. I would lose my damn mind if he’d been fired. I might have even unleashed Kole. Fuck knows she’s salivating to sink her claws into Kelsey with each new bullshit move Kelsey makes as she tries to save face.

I shove the shirts I’d just pulled from my clean laundry basket into my drawer and then shut it. However, I can’t even walk away as I cringe, knowing I’m going to open that drawer to a mess every single day. Sighing, I pull it open again and begin folding my clothes.

I’m not obsessive about cleanliness, but I hate clutter. I hate the look and feel of mess. Even since I was a kid, I’ve always hated mess. My room was probably the neatest room a four-year-old ever had.

My phone pings, and I pull it out, already smiling.

Especially since I’ve changed his name to Tavis in my contacts now.

He’s been sending me pictures of places he’s looking at.

He and Rachel are currently decluttering the house to get it ready to go on the market.

She’s already put in an offer on a much smaller house further outside of town.

A two-bedroom. Big enough for her and Hannah.

Skye hasn’t decided where he’s going to go yet, but he assured Rachel that she didn’t need to get the three-bedroom to accommodate him. I think Tavis will get a three-bedroom so his kids can come over any time they want.

This text message opens with a picture of a large backyard. It’s beautiful.

Me

All that room!

Tavis

You’re missing the fact that the whole yard is a slope. We’d never be able to use it. I’d spend more time mowing it than actually being able to use it.

This bouncy, giddy feeling fills my chest. We . It’s always we.

The Saturday all the truths were spilled could have hurt us.

Instead, I think it’s made us closer. The following days, with Kelsey being a royal bitch, could have put a strain on our relationship.

The complete opposite happened. It made us stronger.

It made us both really come to terms with how serious we were about being together.

We’re together. Completely. In the open. For the whole world to see.

There’s a tap on my door and I turn to look at it. When it doesn’t open, I call, “Yeah?”

Kylen sticks his head in and looks around.

“Since when don’t you just enter the door?”

“Since the last few times I come up on you, you’re with Arek, and dicks are involved in some way.”

I laugh. “Yeah, fair.”

He steps into my room and looks around. He won’t find any dicks in here. Unless mine is hanging out. Which it’s not.

“Speaking of Arek,” he says.

I stop what I’m doing to lean against my dresser.

“I thought you two had something going on, but now I’m not sure since the news about Coach Tavis.” His cheeks are predictably pink.

“There was never anything going on between me and Arek. He asked for help with this project, and I agreed. Obviously, that led to some weird and awkward—mostly for me—moments. I am with Tavis.”

“That’s cool,” he says, and finally comes into my room. He sits on the bed beside my laundry basket. “Do you have to mold his… cock often?”

I laugh. “No. Just the one time, thankfully.”

“Are you still working on the project with him?”

“Less so now that my part is up and running. I update as needed and give feedback when he wants to run an idea by someone. Why?”

“Well… I had an idea that I thought might be pretty cool, and since you’re an expert on helping people make their ideas happen, I thought maybe I’d see what you thought about it.”

“Okay, shoot.”

“Do you know what a key party is?”

“I feel like I’ve heard of it, but explain it to me.”

“So people go to this party, and the things I’ve seen, either all the girls or all the guys put their car keys into a basket. Then the opposite sex pulls a set of keys out and that’s their partner for the night.”

“Okay, got it. You want to make that happen?”

He shakes his head. “Not exactly. In that scenario, you see everyone present. The idea I’m thinking of is that the first group arrives and are assigned rooms. The second group comes in and chooses their ‘ key ’ and that’s their partner for the night.

I have two versions of this. One is where the lights are on in the room, and you see who you’re with.

But the second is an anonymous setting. Lights are off completely, leaving you and your partner in total darkness and assuring your identities remain hidden. ”

“I like that idea. It could be a lot of fun. So you want to set up a key party.”

“Yeah, but I want to make it a business like Rumor and Confessions. My first thought is people pay to attend, but that’s the opposite of how Rumor and Confessions are run.”

“You make a third option. That one is they agree to have cameras throughout the room, and we have rights to the videos in the same way we do with Rumor and Confessions.”

Kylen smiles. “Okay, that’s good.”

“I think anonymity is the way to go on this one. So you have your private key party where people are paying for a private place to fuck with a stranger in total darkness—the anonymous version. Attendance into the party comes with a cover charge. Then you have the paid one where the lights are on and the video content is ours to do with as we please—the actors are being paid.”

“That’s awesome. I like those ideas. I was thinking of calling it Hush, but now I kind of like Anonymous or something like that.

I was playing off the DL guys with Hush.

Keeping it quiet. But I like that Anonymous can still play the same role, but also speaks to the fact you don’t know who you’re meeting. ”

“Use both. Hush is the recorded, lights-on version. Hush Anonymous is the paid-for, lights-out hookup. We make money on both ends.”

Kylen beams at me. “I love this. Arek knew what he was doing when he came to you.”

I laugh. “Sure he did.”

“All I need now is a space. And to figure out how to make it happen.”

“I think if you ask someone who’s been here a while, they’ll know the protocol. You could ask Arek, actually. I think he’s already underway with getting his dicks attached to the right videos, which means he’s coordinating with someone.”

“Uh-huh. I think I’ll try Elijah. He’s been here for like twenty years.”

“You tell him that. He’s going to love that you refer to him as our old man.”

He grins. “For a frat, he kinda is.”

That’s a fair assessment. “I really like the idea of this key party. I think it’ll be a lot of fun.”

“Thanks.” He gets up and heads for the door. “Is it too enthusiastic to find Elijah now?”

“No, but he’s probably at cheer. Or at Mo’s cheer. Or, hell, even at hockey.”

“Yep, I’m going to need a week just to catch a second with him. Better start now.”

“Or go down to the office and see who’s there. Pick their brains. Someone is always overseeing the basement businesses. They probably have a good handle on how things are run.”

He nods. “I’ll try that. If I wait for Eli, it’ll probably be a while and I’m kind of excited.”

“I can tell.”

Kylen grins as he leaves my room. I’m really glad he’s willing to act on something that he’s excited about.

I never realized how shy Kylen was when we were kids.

It wasn’t until we got to college that I figured it out.

He closed down for the first six months we were here, entirely overwhelmed by everything new and being an adult.

Joining DIK really helped him come out of his shell, though he’s still so damn shy. I admire that he’s not letting it hold him back, though.

I grab my phone from the drawer and look at the slew of new pictures Tavis had sent. This is probably the place with the best views. A little secluded. Lots of mature trees block off sight of the neighbors.

Me

We could fuck in the backyard and no one would see. Get that one.

Tavis

Wow. Never mind that the entire interior needs a remodel.

Me

Priorities, Tavis. Fuck your man while you can still get it up.

Tavis

Again, wow. Just wait, frat boy. Just you wait.

I grin and set my phone on the top of my dresser while I return to folding my shirts. I get through two when it rings. I expect Tavis, but it’s Daddy Luca.

“Hey, Dad,” I say as I answer.

“Hello, youngest boy child. What’re you doing?”

“Folding laundry. I’ll have you know I tried to be like the other kids—peer pressure and all that—and shove all my clothes bunched up into my drawer, but it felt like nails scratching down my back. I’m resilient to peer pressure.”

Daddy Luca chuckles. “Good to know. However, what I’d really love to know is when you were going to tell us you’re seeing the hockey coach.”

I wince. “Uh… Was that on Sports Spot?”

“Ironically, yes.”

My heart practically stops. “What?”

“I quote, ‘ Coach Tavis Davenport, retired NHL coach, has made headlines in his new college coaching career, though not for winning the Frozen Four this year. For dating his daughter’s ex-boyfriend .’”

“Oh my god,” I mutter. “That wasn’t really on television, was it?”

“No. Just on social media.”

“Well, that makes it better.”

“Want to tell me what’s going on down there? Sounds to me like Princess and DW have pieced some things together for us.”

My parents all refer to each other as something different when talking to us kids.

Between us six siblings, we have Princess Daddy V, Daddy Wren, Daddy Luca, Papa Orson, and Papa Zvi.

When they refer to each other to us, they’re all shortened.

Princess Daddy V is almost always simply Princess, which is what they call him.

Otherwise, we have initials—DW, DL, PO, and PZ.

We used to wonder why they didn’t just choose different variations of Dad to go around.

I drop onto my bed with a sigh. “Short version is, I made a mistake and got involved with the wrong Davenport last year. This is the one I was meant to be with.”

“Is that so?” Daddy Luca asks.

“It is. Just so it’s clear, this didn’t begin on campus. It also didn’t begin over the summer when I was visiting Kelsey. It started after Kelsey turned into a cheating jerk, and I went to pretend to drown my sorrows in the bar under Lathan’s apartment. We talked all night.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes. I don’t know what’s on the internet, but if it’s based on anything Kelsey’s been saying, she’s just butt hurt that the world sees her slutty ass in a far worse light than they do her ex-boyfriend and father together.”

“So I’ve seen,” Daddy Luca says. “I’m disturbed by how the world loves a good revenge story. The bigots are even willing to look beyond the fact that it’s a gay story as long as the ultimate revenge was had on the deserving girl.”

“One of my favorite comments is ‘ You show me your true colors and I show you mine. Your cheating ass enjoyed half an hour being railed by a football team. Okay. Check. Now you can just call me Daddy because I’m about to be your new stepfather. Checkmate’ ,” Papa Orson says.

“Oh my god,” I laugh.

“Top-liked comment,” Papa Orson says.

I’m not surprised he’s sitting close. I’m guessing all my fathers are.

“Not that we’re pushing for you to get married,” Princess Daddy V says. “You have plenty of time, honey.”

I grin. “I know, Daddy. We haven’t talked about marriage at all.

We’re not there yet. And I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.

I don’t even have a really good excuse except that we were keeping our heads down for obvious reasons.

Then there’s school and the frat. I guess I wanted to test your hearts and see how you took the news via the internet. ”

“You think you’re cute, but you have some grandparents who don’t find it amusing at all,” Papa Zvi says. “Just you wait. Grandma is furious that she found out her grandbaby is in a relationship via a meme.”

I try my best not to snort. I really do.