Page 9

Kota

I was both in awe and impressed, my mouth wide open as Bridget filled me in on her morning, where she caught Lane letting a girl out of the apartment.

Did I mention that he was apparently shirtless?

This was kind of exciting, not going to lie. Crew had been so promiscuous from the moment we met him that he made Lane look like the Virgin Mary.

“So, you’re sure this girl spent the night?” I asked B.

After a long night out with Mitch, she came home last night sloshed. I had no idea what they’d been drinking all night, but whatever it was must’ve been loaded with sugar because it looked like she’d been hit by a small bus.

Bridget’s strawberry blonde hair was up in a messy bun, a small bag underneath each eye. But regardless, she was still gorgeous, as always.

She clutched onto her bottle of Pedialyte that she’d been chugging all morning, her brows drawing inwards. “I mean... yeah? I wouldn’t imagine she came over this morning.”

I nodded with a sly grin. “Wow. This is awesome.”

B gave a slight eye roll, readjusting herself as if she were uncomfortable.

“Oh c’mon, B!” I spoke. “I have Bobby. You have Mitch. Crew has all his conquests. And now Lane can finally have someone too! This is a good thing.”

Her mouth formed a hard line. “Is it?” she said rather quietly.

I sucked in a sharp breath to ramble on an answer but held it back as Lane strutted into the kitchen.

Bridget and I sat back on the couch, pretending like we hadn’t just spent the past fifteen minutes talking about him. I watched him out of the corner of my eye as he grabbed his usual ingredients for a protein shake.

His mouth was in a long frown, and he was moving rather sluggish. Not quite the type of behavior I expected from him today.

I shifted towards Bridget, leaning in. “You know,” I whispered, “for someone who just got laid last night, he looks kinda sad.”

“A little,” she whispered back.

Of course, I took it upon myself to figure out what was up. “Hey,” I called out to Lane.

He dumped protein powder into his shake, his gaze down. “Hey.”

“Heard you got laid last night,” I said.

B hit me on the shoulder with the back of her hand. “Kota,” she scolded me quietly.

Lane’s voice echoed throughout the room, his tone just as dull as the rest of him. He still didn’t bother to look up at us. “Where’d you hear that?”

I glanced at B briefly, taking in her pleading expression. B had never been good with being thrusted into the spotlight. She gave a wince, not wanting to be mentioned, and I wouldn’t go against her wishes.

“Crew,” I blurted out.

That got Lane’s attention. His head popped up, two sapphire blue eyes narrowed in on us, filled with doubt. “Crew?”

“Yep,” I gave a tense nod.

“You’re telling me that you and Crew had a conversation?”

Considering Crew and I had still been avoiding each other at all costs, Lane’s doubt came with no surprise.

“Yes...” I slowly let out, trying to keep a straight face, but I could feel my expression skewing.

Lane pressed his hands into the countertop. “I don’t buy it.”

There was a beat of silence as his harsh expression melted. But I didn’t initiate this conversation to find out what he did or didn’t buy. I wanted him to tell me about his damn night.

“So, is it true?” I asked.

Lane’s eyes dropped back down to his shake. “Yeah,” he murmured, a hint of shame lingering behind the words, “it’s true.”

“Then why do you seem so damn pouty?”

His eyes narrowed. “I’m not pouty.”

I gave him a playful grin, tipping my head. “Dude, you’re pouty.”

“No, I’m not,” he denied sharply.

“Well, you’re not smiley,” I said.

All he did was sigh.

“Was it bad?”

He seemed to be getting tenser with each question I asked. “No. Not at all.”

“Then what’s the problem?” I shrugged.

“Nothing.” Lane avoided looking at us as he put stuff away and picked up his shake. “I’ve gotta go to the gym. I’ll see you guys later.” He grabbed his keys off the key holder near the door, speaking over his shoulder. “Can you guys tell Crew to meet me there when he wakes up?”

We didn’t even have the chance to respond before he was gone.

My brows knitted as I collapsed back into the couch. “That was weird,” I thought aloud.

“Very,” was all B said.

“I wonder what’s up with him.”

“Yeah.”

My head swiveled over to look at her. What was up with the sudden weird mood and short answers?

“Why do you seem all gloomy now?” I asked.

With a tiny smile, she replied, “I’m fine. Just hungover, remember?”

I pursed my lips out. “Oh yeah.”

The second I saw Crew slump down the hall out of the corner of my eye, I could feel a small ball of fire forming in my center, and not the kind you got when you liked someone.

The kind you got when you wanted to punch someone.

Bridget gave him a small nod of acknowledgement. “Hey.”

“Hey,” he said back, grabbing a glass of water.

“Lane wants you to meet him at the gym.”

“Yeah,” he said, “he’ll have to wait a bit. I need to piss and get dressed.”

I let out a sigh of relief when he left the room, feeling like I could relax again.

But within less than a minute, there was a high-pitched scream coming from the boy’s bathroom.

B and I traded glances with wide eyes when Crew reappeared, seemingly pale and a bit out of breath. He made it a point to stop five feet away like he was scared to come closer. “What... the fuck... is in... our bathroom?”

B and I exchanged another clueless glance. Maybe Lane left a mess? Highly unlikely. Was there a spider he needed me to kill since he was too pussy to do it himself? Sounded more accurate.

I spoke impatiently. “What are you talking about?”

He fidgeted around, looking uncomfortable in his own skin as he continued struggling to speak. “There’s a, uh... thing in the trash.”

I raised a brow, jutting my chin out. “A what?”

“A girl thing,” he spit out with disgust.

“Oh, Jesus,” I said, rolling my eyes to the maximum possible. I leaned forward with annoyance. “A tampon. Say the word, Crew. Tampon .”

His expression looked like a strange mixture of revulsion, anger, and fear, but he remained quiet, standing there in shock.

B twisted to look at me.

“What?” I shot at her with a shrug. “I had to change it this morning while you were in the shower, and you wouldn’t let me in.”

She sank back into the couch, looking embarrassed. “I was shaving my legs.”

Giving another meaningless shrug, I turned back towards Crew. “So, I went into your guy’s bathroom to change it. Big deal.”

“Big deal?” he heaved. “Why didn’t you flush it down the toilet?”

“You’re not supposed to,” Bridget and I said in unison.

He raised a brow, leaning forward slightly as if he wasn’t sure if he heard us correctly. “Excuse me, what?”

“Yeah, it could clog the pipes,” B explained.

Crew buried his head into his hands.

Every moment this conversation carried on made me more irritated. “Oh my gosh,” I bellowed, “don’t cry about it. It was wrapped in toilet paper anyway. You couldn’t even see it. The most you probably saw was the damn wrapper of the new one.”

Crew eyed me with disgust, his mouth propped open as if it were stuck there. He gagged through his words. “You wrapped your used tampon in toilet paper and threw it into our trash can?”

Without hesitation, I confirmed, “Yes.”

He placed his hands behind his head, shifting his weight around as he blew out a long, stressful breath.

“You live in an apartment with two girls,” I said. “It’s bound to happen.”

Crew spoke through malice, muscles becoming taut. “Well, it can happen in your bathroom. Not ours.”

“You’re a child,” I spat at him.

“Shut up,” he retaliated, letting out a huff as he turned on his heels and stomped away. He was back minutes later wearing a muscle tee and gym shorts, still huffing and puffing as he trampled out of the apartment.

I stared at the door as if Crew had just tainted it by walking through it. My evil mind was brewing.

He pissed me off, sure. But I’d be lying if I said pissing him off wasn’t entertaining.

My eyes slowly trailed from the door across the room, ultimately landing on Bridget. She gave a small sigh, recognizing the devious gleam in my eye.

“What?” she asked.

“I just got an awesome idea.”

“Oh God,” she tipped her head back, her bun bobbing as she did so. “No.”

Lightly frowning, I said, “You haven’t even heard it yet!”

“I don’t need to hear it to know it’s probably not a good idea.”

She knew me too well.

“C’mon,” I pleaded, desperately grabbing her hand. “I just need your help.”

“Ugh,” she groaned. “What is it?”

My smirk inevitably grew.

This was going to be far too much fun.