Page 11 of Too Hostile
He studies me carefully for a moment, probably wondering what the hell is going on. I don’t donate my time. I’m not like Rhett. He loves to volunteer. I’ve been to the city mission where he volunteers a few times with him before, but it’s not a big thing for me.
I tutor for cash. I never sign up for extra work though. But I was dead serious about being a TA for him. I don’t even know how the process works or if it’s a paid or credit position. I just loved the idea of assisting the grumpy bastard.
“So why are you here?” I ask, pulling out my phone to order something for dinner.
“Eh, Grayson had an evening class, and I knew Bree was coming up here. Thought I might come hang out.”
“You worried about Bree?” I ask, amused because she can take care of herself, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t protective of her.
“She took it hard when we left last year.”
I stiffen at that. “Hard how?”
He shrugs. “I don’t know. I think she felt like we were abandoning her. And I’ve tried to be more present since, you know? But she’s got something going on.”
“You think Shana and she are . . . ?”
He shakes his head. “Nah. I don’t think she likes her that way, but something seems off.”
Maybe I need to do better at checking in too. I always thought of Bree as untouchable, nothing ever scared her. She was braver than Rhett and me combined, but if Rhett thinks something is off, it probably is.
“Should we call her and guilt her into coming over here?”
Rhett holds up his phone. “Already sent a text about a fucked-up-adopted-siblings get-together.”
I laugh at that, and when Bree shows up a couple of hours later to eat pizza and watch trash horror movies that are edited for television with us, everything feels right with the world.
It’s always been that way with these two.
RONAN
“You did not agree to that.” I stare at Annie, trying like crazy not to lose my shit. There’s no way she would do this.
“Look, I’m sorry, but I did.” She at least has the decency to look guilty after admitting she took Fletcher Moore on as a TA for next semester. Fletcher. Moore. The bane of my existence.
“What the hell were you thinking?”
“I wasn’t,” she says quickly. “He looked at me with those big blue eyes of his and pouted at me. Before I knew it, I was saying yes.” I hardly believe she didn’t think about it very seriously though. I know Annie. She thinks about everything, but I don’t understand how she could have said yes.
“He’s very convincing,” Nathan butts in.
I don’t normally get angry with my two best friends, but right now, I’m completely furious with Annie. “How could you agree to that? And do not tell me you have a crush on the eternal child,” I growl. The thought makes me sick to my stomach. She’s smarter than this.
She rolls her eyes at me and waves me off. “Pretty sure my wife would have something to say about that.”
I bite my tongue and don’t throw out there the very real controversy going around campus with a married professor because I know, without a doubt, Annie is 100 percent committed to her marriage. “Well...”
“Well nothing. Yes, I’m an out and proud bisexual, and he’s very pretty to look at. No, I don’t do anything based on looks alone, and he’s a damn fetus. And I’m happily married. I would never do anything to fuck that up. While he’s stupid hot?—”
“He’s not.” I feel the need to argue.
She doesn’t miss a beat. “He is, but I’m not attracted to him in the slightest. He’s pretty to look at, but that’s not what I meant when I said he flashed those big eyes and pout and it worked. There’s something deeper inside Fletcher.”
“There’s not,” I argue again. “Nothing at all. He played you, like he plays everyone. He doesn’t need to be a damn TA.” I cannot believe she fell for his charm, that anyone would fall for his charm. It’s beyond ridiculous to me.
“I think he does,” Annie says, putting her foot down hard. “I know you think he’s a spoiled brat—” she starts, and again I rudely interrupt her.
“He is. Those ridiculous tank tops he wears? They’re like a hundred dollars. For a scrap of material.”