“Are you sure this isn’t too much?” Braden asked, surveying the table spread.
Kyle had definitely understood the assignment, and used it as an excuse to stay in the kitchen most of the day while Braden and I deep-cleaned the house. The folding table that was typically sticky from beer and littered with red Solo cups was now cleaned and covered by a white tablecloth and copious amounts of food. Everything from bruschetta and chicken kebabs to a mushroom risotto and pesto skirt steak spread out like a buffet. We even lit candles to give it an elegant touch.
I slid my hands into my pockets, looking around at the house that was cleaner than it had been probably ever. “Considering what we’re about to suggest to her, I don’t think so.”
“She’s never going to go for it,” Braden said.
I didn’t argue, because honestly, I felt the same. If Mary wanted to cut off my head when I bought her candles or offered her a jacket when she was cold, there was zero chance she’d be open to what we were about to propose.
The memory of last week on the roof made my jaw tense, and I was sick of how many times I’d replayed every second, wondering what triggered her to blow me off. It seemed no matter what I did to try to build a bridge between us, it only pissed her off more. I liked when we joked about it, when I teased her and she gave it right back.
But sometimes when she looked at me, I saw actual disdain.
And it killed me that I didn’t understand why.
Clearly, before she moved in with us, she thought I was a player, an asshole, just another cocky athlete who thinks he’s too good for everyone. And that was the persona I painted, the image that got me any girl I wanted and earned me the respect of teammates before they’d even set foot on the field with me. My reputation made up their minds about who I was before I even entered the room, and that made it easy to keep a top spot, to intimidate those who considered battling me for my position and scare the shit out of anyone on the opposite team who had to try to defend me.
But Mary had lived with us for a month and a half.
Couldn’t she see through the bullshit façade by now?
From all the little comments she loved to drop, I knew she could.
And yet still, she couldn’t stand me.
It pissed me off as much as it made me determined to change her mind.
The memory of her in my letterman jacket soothed me like a balm, making a smile curl on my lips when the picture came to mind. Her cheeks had flushed such a pretty shade of pink, her eyes sparkling a bit when she held it tighter around her. And seeing my name on the back of that jacket, like she was wrapping me around her, like she was mine to claim…
I shook out of my thoughts when the front door blew open. Mary, Giana, and Riley piled in, their arms linked as they tried to catch their breath from laughing.
It was a sight I wasn’t used to, Mary all carefree and silly like that. She was red-faced from laughing so hard, hair a wave of gold where it fanned over her shoulders, and fuck if she wasn’t an absolute knock out in a brown velvet dress that was so short, I was absolutely positive she’d show her ass if she bent over in it. Its thin straps hung loose on her shoulders, and I let my eyes rove all her exposed skin, appreciating how she could wear the simplest dress or shirt and shorts and still turn heads because of the ink and piercings that covered her from head to toe.
That, and the fact that she should have to wear a sign that said dangerous curves to warn the poor suckers who walked into walls daily from gawking at her.
Giana and Riley both had shopping bags on their arms, and they tossed them onto the bay window cushion as Mary dabbed at the corner of her eye where a tear had formed from laughing. Then, she straightened at the sight of me.
Her smile fell, which felt like a sucker punch right to the gut. I wasn’t a source of her joy, I was a thief of it.
She glanced at the table, at our roommates, back at me, and then to the girls.
“What the hell?” Riley said, pointing her finger at the table. “What’s this?”
“Why does it smell weird in here?” Giana asked, nose scrunching.
“It smells clean,” Mary said.
“Exactly,” Giana agreed. “Weird.”
Kyle rounded out of the kitchen with a casserole dish of some sort in his mitten-covered hands, and he plopped it down on the only free space left on the table before hanging his hands on his hips like a proud Mom at Thanksgiving. “What does it look like? We cooked.”
The girls blinked in unison, and while Riley and Giana exchanged confused looks, Mary only looked at me.
“What’s going on?” she asked softly.
“Can’t we do something nice for our roomie?” Kyle asked, walking over to throw his arm around her.
Giana pulled at the fabric around his waist. “Are you wearing an apron?”
“Every good cook wears an apron.”
“Okay… doesn’t explain why you are wearing one,” Giana mused.
“I cook all the time, fuck you very much, and I’m damn good at it.” Kyle stood tall, defensive.
Riley folded her arms, her brow arching in suspicion. “Are you trying to kill us or something?”
“Jesus, Novo,” Braden said, shaking his head at her.
“What? Given our history, I think it’s fair to assume,” she said, gesturing between her and Kyle.
“This isn’t about you,” he spat back at her.
“Then what’s it about?” Mary asked.
That made us all grow quiet, and I ran my hand back through my hair before grabbing my neck. Someone had to rip the Band-Aid off.
Since she already hated me, I figured I was best suited for the job.
“Blake Russo got assigned to the house,” I said.
There was a beat of silence, and then Giana deflated, and Riley cursed.
Mary just stood frozen.
“Oh,” she said after a minute.
“We tried to push off the date,” Braden said. “But with camp around the corner and summer training picking up, Coach wants him to get settled.”
Mary nodded, and then snapped her mask into place and waved us off with a breath of a laugh. It was almost magic, how she hid her hurt so easily, like she had been doing it all her life and it was as second nature as breathing. “Hey, it’s all good. I appreciate you guys letting me stay as long as you did. I’ll figure something out.”
“Well, actually,” I said, stepping forward. “We were thinking you should stay.”
Mary frowned. “Stay? But you just said—”
“In my room.”
Once again there was a long beat of silence, and then Riley barked out a laugh. “Yeah, okay. Nice try, Leo.”
Giana leaned into her side like she wanted to whisper, but we still all heard her when she said, “Oh, my God. This is one of my favorite tropes. Two people who hate each other, one bed…”
“I’m not staying in your room,” Mary said loud enough to snuff out Riley’s laugh.
“Why not?”
She scoffed like I was an idiot.
“You can have the bed, I’ll take the couch.”
“You can’t sleep on the couch,” she said.
“I’ve done it plenty of times.”
“Yeah, he’ll be fine,” Kyle said, clapping me on the shoulder. “He’s got a young back. Come on, Mary. You can’t leave. We love having you here too much.”
“At least not until your place is fixed,” Braden interjected. “Besides, what about Palico? She needs you.”
Mary looked between them and shook her head on an incredulous laugh. “Guys, I can’t kick Leo out of his room.”
Braden waved her off. “He’ll be fine.”
“What about my stuff?” she asked.
“I have plenty of room,” I cut in. “And I promise, I’ll only go in there when I have permission from you. I’ll grab what I need for my day the night before and keep it down here so I don’t wake you. I can share a bathroom with Kyle.”
“He can put some of his stuff in my room if he needs to,” Braden added. “We’ll make room.”
Mary’s brows furrowed where she watched me, like she couldn’t understand for the life of her why we would even suggest this.
“We don’t want you to leave,” Kyle said sincerely. “We’re like your big brothers now. We want to look out for you and make sure you’re okay until your place is ready.”
I had to bite back a snort at that because the last thing I thought of Mary as was a sister.
“Pleeeeeease,” Braden said, and he dropped to his knees, clasping his hands together. Giana and Riley laughed. Kyle, too. Even I cracked a smile at the sight.
Mary let out another laugh of disbelief, looking between all of us like we were insane. Her gaze snagged on me, and her smile slipped.
“You’re sure it’s okay?”
That was all the confirmation my roommates needed to celebrate a victory.
Before I could answer, Braden jumped up and leapt into the air with a holler while Kyle picked Mary up like she weighed nothing, tossing her over his shoulder and spinning around while she laughed and cursed at him to let her go. She covered her ass with her hands but it was a poor attempt, considering how much of that blessed ass she had, and I had just enough decency left in me to look away and down at the floor as I hid my own victorious smile.
“Alright, come on, let’s eat,” Kyle said when he dropped her feet back to the ground. “I made a fucking feast.”
“I’m still not sure I trust that this isn’t poison,” Riley said as she approached the table warily.
Kyle grabbed her and pulled her under one arm, giving her a noogie while she struggled to break free. She socked him hard in the arm when he did, and I smiled at the two of them somewhat getting along, especially after the past few seasons. Kyle had really grown on all of us, like a stray dog you just couldn’t help but love no matter how mangey he was.
As if she sensed the commotion was over, Palico sauntered down the stairs to join us. Mary bent to pull the gray ball of purring amusement into her arms. She stroked her fur, listening to Braden detail how he’d found a container of something questionable under Kyle’s bed while he was cleaning and it had started growing a colony. There were mixed reactions of disgust and laughter, and then everyone was sitting and piling food onto their plates.
Mary stiffened before she sat, her hands on the back of a chair. She crooked her head just a little to the side, then lifted her gaze to meet mine.
I tried to smile, tried to assure her with one look that everything was going to be fine.
But inside, all I could think was that I was completely fucked.
Because within the week, that girl would be in my bed.
