Page 35 of Project: FU (Longwood U #3)

NOLAN

It feels strange to say this, but I think my government class is one of my favorites. We’ve been fine-tuning our governments all year, and it’s finally time to test them out as our final.

The first semester class was just getting the ideas down on paper. The second semester, with the advanced course, is fleshing out our governments and getting ready for trials. Our class has been very small this semester. I guess not many people like it enough to follow through.

But I’ve had a blast. It’s a could-be world we’re building. A future we imagine and hope is better than today.

There are only thirteen students in class, and each day for the last fourteen days—one extra day, just in case—we present our governments, and then each student has a role to play to test how effective our government is.

At the end, everyone turns in their thoughts on how they think the government performs, and those reflect in our final grades.

My day is early next week. I’m not the first to go, but the fifth. I like that I’m going early, but I also appreciate that a handful will have gone before me, and I can get a feel for how it’s going to go. I’m actually kind of excited.

While we’ve been building our governments ourselves, we’ve had input from the professor and our peers along the way, and today, that’s what I’m looking at. I have all the feedback printed out and spread out across the dining room table at the condo.

Our condo. It’s still difficult remembering that I live here, too. This home is ours. A thought that makes me smile every time I remind myself. Our home. Mine and Tavis’.

And Skye’s.

I check the time. Kylen and Kole will be here soon.

Not to study, but to put the finishing touches on Hush.

This weekend, the first game of Hush Anonymous will go up.

Kylen was going to wait until next year, but the guys all thought that with the stress of finals, there would be a lot of people who wanted to get it on.

The down-low rumor chain about Hush Anonymous began flying last week, and wouldn’t you know? The first round is completely booked. I’ll be there helping to get people sorted, leading them to rooms, explaining rules, and doing whatever I can to assist Kylen that day.

He’s nervous, but I think he’s also really excited. I’m sure there’s something beyond the fact that it’s a fun idea that has him working on this. If my brain weren’t so full with finals and Tavis, I’d have figured it out by now.

I don’t need to know why to support him, though. If he wants to tell me, then I’ll listen. All he needs from me is a friend to help him, so that’s what I’m doing.

A knock on the door has me pausing. I think they’re early, but that’s fine. This is the extent of my afternoon until Tavis and Skye get home.

Kylen and Kole aren’t on the other side of the door. Orion is. There’s a stack of boxes behind him, and he’s wearing a duffle bag that looks similar to the one Skye showed up with.

“Hey,” I say, and take a step back to let him in. Were we expecting things?

This is the first time I’ve seen Orion not look like the sun, with a bright smile and filled with humor. I wouldn’t say he’s upset, but he’s certainly… serious.

“Hey,” he answers and follows me inside, though he doesn’t leave the door. “I uh… that second guest room—is anyone staying in it?”

Oh. “No. You want to stay the night?” I ask, purposely being a little dense. I see the moving boxes.

“Yeah. Maybe through the summer? If that’s okay?”

Not flirty. No innuendos. No suggestion in his eyes.

“Sure.”

His shoulders relax. He turns to the boxes and picks up the top two. I grab the last one and follow him inside, making sure the door swings shut behind us. I follow him down the hall and into the second spare room.

He sets his boxes on the floor and drops his bag. I place the one I’m carrying on the small desk and then turn to face him as he sits on the side of the bed.

“What happened to the apartment?” I ask.

“One of the guys I have class with doesn’t have anywhere to go this summer, so I said if he can pay the rent, he can stay in my apartment. Which means I needed somewhere else to go.”

I nod. Interesting.

Orion’s lips curl up, and he sighs. “The truth is, I miss living with my family. I’m sure at some point I’ll want my own space, but the only reason I moved out of the house was because I needed to get away from Kelsey.

That girl has been selfish her entire life and has only gotten worse with age.

I needed a break. I needed a place to go where she wasn’t. ”

“It was that bad at home?”

“I think for us kids, yeah. She tried to temper it around our parents to some degree.” He leans forward.

“When I was twelve and Kelsey was nine, we were playing in the front yard. A kid was riding their bike down the street. The front tire hit a rock just right, and they went flying head over handlebars and landed face-first on the ground. It’s a sight I’ll never forget.

I saw the arch their body made. I saw the impact.

I saw their mangled face and how they screamed.

There were cops and ambulances and everything surrounding our house since it happened right out front.

When they left, you know what Kelsey said?

I’m glad they’re gone. They gave me a headache with all their loud noises and lights.

They should be more considerate of the neighbors.

That’s the first time I realized I hated my sister. ”

“A nine-year-old used the word considerate?”

He chuckles. “I might be paraphrasing. But yes. That was her level of empathy for this kid who probably lost all their front teeth, broke something, and mangled their entire face. Basically, too bad for him, but everyone there to help him should have thought of me.” Orion shakes his head.

I pull out the desk chair and take a seat. “You know what I still can’t understand?”

Orion meets my eyes.

“Everything about her should have been ugly. It is ugly. Yet, for an entire year, I didn’t see it. I like to think I’m a good person. A smart, intuitive person. People like Kelsey…” I shake my head. “How was I completely blind to everything she is?”

“I think sometimes we see what we want to see,” Orion answers. “Maybe you saw on the surface that she’s pretty, and for some reason, that vision just overrode every little word out of her mouth and all the actions of her entire existence.”

I laugh, shaking my head. “Maybe. I never considered myself shallow, but I can’t think of a reason. I’ve never been seduced by a pretty face before, and I can’t help but think, why her? Why someone who is just…”

“Shitty,” Orion offers. “I’m allowed to say such things. She’s my sister and siblings are allowed to call each other out on their shit.”

I smile. “Yeah.”

“Just think—if you hadn’t gotten involved with my sister, the events that led to getting together with my dad wouldn’t have happened. Right?”

I drop my eyes to my hands. “Probably not.”

“Then it was supposed to happen that way. Everything that happened was supposed to happen.”

I meet his eyes again, and I feel like maybe he’s also referring to him and Skye.

“I’m glad you’re with my dad,” he says. “Just so it’s clear. It was definitely weird at first, but only because I’ve been in bed with you. Then there was the realization that Skye had too, and I kinda… had a lot of questions shoved to the front that I’d been ignoring.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I’m not,” he says, shrugging. “What I’m sorry about is that I only got to feel you once. I’m all about a repeat.” He winks, and I get a glimpse of his usual boisterous personality.

“Huh. First I’ve heard of it.”

Orion snorts.

I get to my feet. “You have anything else to bring in?”

“Nope. I left all the furniture there. Just brought my clothes, bedding, and some personal effects.”

“Okay, cool. Make yourself at home.”

“Nolan.” I stop in the hall to look at him.

“Thank you. And I mean it. Despite what I tease or whatever, I’m really glad you and my dad found each other.

Knowing that he’s been so unhappy my entire life…

” He shakes my head. “I get it. It’s not our fault, and maybe he doesn’t regret it, but it’s not fair.

He deserves better than that. I can’t imagine being that selfless. ”

Because Tavis is his father, I’m careful with how I respond. I don’t want to share Tavis’ business. I know he tries to keep the heaviness of the situation from his kids because they shouldn’t have to worry about it.

“He’d make the same decision again. You know that, right?”

He sighs. “I wish that wasn’t true.”

“I think maybe it didn’t turn out the way they thought it would,” I hedge.

“You hear everyone saying how they’re married to their best friend.

How they’re marrying their best friend. You hear the movie trope where besties make deals that if they’re not married by a certain age, they’ll marry each other.

In all those scenarios, it’s a happy ending. ”

“They imagined it would be a happy ending,” Orion says.

“I think so. From what I know about their friendship, I bet everyone thought they’d make a perfect, happy couple. But sometimes, the way you love someone simply doesn’t change, and I don’t think they realized that until they’d been married for a while.”

“They’d waited for it to happen,” Orion says. “And it didn’t.”

“That’s what I think happened. I believe that if they’d known what they do now—how their love for each other was never going to be romantic and that getting married would erode their friendship—I think they’d have come up with a different solution.”

Orion nods. “I suppose this is one of those things that I have to believe in my own advice, you know? Some stepping stones were meant to happen, or you probably won’t find yourself in the exact right place to meet the person you’re supposed to be with.”

“Sounds like it. But also, he had to wait for me to be born.” I turn down the hall, listening to Orion’s loud laughter follow me. I smirk and make a beeline for the door when there’s another knock. This time, it’s who I’m expecting.

Twin smiles greet me.

“Find me all right?” I ask, as if they haven't been here before.

“Not as easy as if you were in your damn room, but yeah,” Kole says. “I think my brother needs to get more exercise. I could have chopped four minutes off that walk.”

Kylen gives me a harassed look.

Grinning, I let them inside and shut the door behind them.

“Your home comes with a manservant?” Kole notes when her eyes land on Orion. “Why isn’t he in a thong? That’s how manservants should always dress. Maybe a tie around their necks, too. The better to lead them around with.”

Orion’s eyes get a little wider.

“You’ve been at DIK too long. It’s not actually normal for the man at the door to be in a Speedo. That’s not how the world actually works,” Kylen says.

Kole frowns. “Pity.”

I try my best not to laugh. “This is Orion. He’s Tavis’ oldest son. Kelsey’s only older sibling. These are my friends, siblings from a different set of loins, and neighbors growing up, Kylen and Kole Whitaker.”

“Hi,” Orion says.

“Hello, sweetheart,” Kole coos. “You are adorable. A younger version of your father.”

Orion grins.

“I know she looks like a kitten, but trust me when I tell you she’ll eat you up and spit you out,” I warn.

“And use your bones as a toothpick,” Kylen adds.

Kole bats her eyelashes and slides all daintily into the chair at the table. If there was ever a wolf in sheep’s clothing, Kole is that person.

You have twins like the Vincents and the OG Whitaker twins, where they’re pretty alike.

Opposites in a lot of ways, but they’re alike.

Second-gen Whitakers are not that. They are polar opposites.

Angel and Demon. I have a feeling Kole Whitaker is a name the world is going to know one day.

I’m just not sure if it’ll be because she’s ruling over us all or because she sank a continent.

Either way, her name is going to be infamous.

Orion looks at Kole warily as he shifts on his feet. He’s not sure how to respond, which only makes Kole smile wider with a wicked glint in her eyes.

“Anyway,” I say and begin gathering my papers into a pile. “They’re here to discuss a new project at DIK,” I explain to Orion. “So make yourself at home.”

“Do you need privacy? Should I go to my room?”

Kole’s smile widens further. Before she can answer, I quickly do. “No. It’s fine. Just keep the television down, if you don’t mind.”

Orion nods.

I turn my attention to Kole, giving her a warning look. “Behave, Kole. Don’t make me call Uncle Quin.”

Her smirk turns into a pout. She even flounces in her chair a little. Kylen grins and sets his tablet on the table.

“Okay, so the rooms are ready. We have ten. I have all twenty participants lined up, confirmed, with waivers and whatever else came from the office. I have one more staffer to man entry, plus us, which means we should have more than enough. The new system has been built into the current apps that DIK uses and they’ve been tested several times with dummy parties.

The two sets of keys for each room are all set.

Supplies are fully stocked. Blackout mode has been tested and is ready to go,” Kylen rattles.

“Sounds like we’re ready to go,” I say.

He sighs. “What if something happens that I haven’t thought about?”

“Then we deal with it,” Kole says. She grips her brother’s wrist. “Nothing is ever going to run smoothly, Ky. But we’ll get through every hiccup.”

“I keep thinking someone is going to run out of the room screaming and that’ll be it.”

“Lights out has its own vulnerability,” I agree. “But it’s been made very clear in every piece of literature put out and in the agreements they sign, and we’ll be reiterating it no less than half a dozen times when they arrive. It’s going to be okay.”

Kylen sighs. “It will be.”

Yep, I definitely think there’s another driving force behind this. I’m looking forward to figuring it out.