“Fan club?” I teased.
“Hopefully,” Beckett sighed and then pointed a stern finger at me. “No getting pregnant.”
And with those words of wisdom, Beckett was off. At least I escaped the third degree about Fin Hunter. And hopefully Beckett was distracted enough that he would forget Colton too. I did not need that guilt trip piled on top of everything else.
And I would feel guilty if they beat Colton up.
Again.
As much as I wanted to embrace this whole liberated woman thing, a brutal beating was not something my conscience would let me overlook. Unfortunately.
I blew out a puff of air and looked around the sprawling campus. Beckett was now surrounded by a group of blondes and headed in the direction of the gym, probably so his little fan club could watch him work out. So stupid.
Beckett, like all of my brothers, and unlike me, came to the UW-LA on sports scholarship. Lennox, the pioneer of the family, made it here for tennis. Which so fit Lennox’s stuck up personality. Obviously not every tennis player was stuck up, probably not very many were. But Lennox was. And now he could get away with it at his country club, bragging about his college glory days during doubles matches and cocktails.
Grayson was next, never one to let Lennox one up him. He chose the wrestling path though, since he was by far, my biggest and scariest brother. Where Lennox fits the whole suit and tie, champagne and caviar persona, Grayson was more brute strength and possibly/potentially a super hero kind of guy. Although, don’t ever underestimate his intelligence. The guy made everything in life a competition with Lennox and he would be damned before he let Lennox win. Since Lennox was now on the fast track to CEO of his dream job at an international marketing consulting firm, Grayson’s soon to be MBA was strongly attached to plans including cure cancer, walk on the moon and last but not least world domination.
Finally Beckett, the wild child and resident black sheep of the family, still managed to follow the well-worn path of the Harris boys and get here via baseball scholarship. My parents were happy he made it to college at all, he was happy college contained so many co-eds and college was happy because he had already given them three, soon to be four, winning seasons.
My parents were only slightly disappointed when I didn’t follow in their footsteps. Originally I rebelled completely by choosing an entirely different university, which I think was their biggest concern. We were all in agreement my athletic career could safely die in high school. However, nobody was happy I chose to be so far from family. A whole two and a half hours away.
So even though everyone hated Colton and hated that I stayed with him for as long as I did, they all jumped on the support-band-wagon, the minute Colton started to push me to join him at La Crosse. Now that I think about it, their support was maybe also because my brothers suspected him of cheating on me and they wanted me to catch him. But at the time, I just felt wanted, I felt like Colton was really trying at our relationship.
Now here I was. Overprotected. Dumped. Broke. And in debt.
Speaking of….
“You’re late,” I called out in way of greeting. Fin Hunter separated himself from his own version of a long-legged entourage and smiled up at me.
“See you later, Lacey,” he waved over his shoulder at the brunette in leggings and a low cut tunic top.
“Bye, Fin,” she called back with a confused look on her face.
I didn’t blame her. I would be confused too if I looked like her and was suddenly dismissed for something like me. It was very disconcerting to be the object of Fin Hunter’s energy and focus, expected for a girl like her, a bit traumatizing for a girl like me.
He sauntered over to me, with a lazy stride and casual arms gripping at a backpack he wasn’t wearing earlier. The late evening sun was low in the sky, but still shining bright enough so that it wasn’t close to dark. Fin Hunter looked perfect in this lighting and I found myself annoyed at the realization. His smile was crooked and easy and his eyes had that same laughing quality that irritated me so much yesterday.
It still annoyed me today.
This was going to be a long night.
“The boss is never late.” He stopped directly in front of me, looking down at me from those dark brown eyes. “You work for me, remember?”
“Work for you?” I gaped. “Work for you?What?”
“Our agreement,” he explained just as casually as he was standing there, all relaxed ease, no hurry, no concern, just complete comfort. “You’re going to work for me until you come up with my money. I need a secretary. You want to help. Plus, you owe me all that money.Plus, I’ll deduct your hours from the total of the amount you owe as we go. Isn’t that generous of me?”
My mouth fell open. Fell open, as in just dropped wide and shocked without my permission. Three sEconds in and I was left completely speechless. He laughed at me lightly and then used his upturned hand to gently close my mouth. His fingers brushed the underside of my jaw and his thumb rubbed against my chin, one time, two times, three times.
“Come on,” he smiled down at me, his eyes filling with that amusement again.
Finally I found words, “Come on where?”
“My apartment.”
“But you said to meet you at the library?” I reminded him in confusion. I should have probably said a hundred different things, including “I’m getting a lawyer so this whole personal assistant/secretary thing isn’t really working out for me.” But instead I just looked at him.
“Obviously, we cannot run an illegal underground poker game from the middle of campus,” he sighed like I was silly for even thinking that and turned to walk away.
