My lips twitched with amusement, the adrenaline of shock fading into loopy lightheadedness. “Good thing you knew how to snap me out of it, then.”
Andrew cleared his throat, reminding meagainthat weweren’t alone. “We are going to need to discuss that situation. It’s not?—”
The doorbell ringing cut off whatever high-horse judgmental shit he was about to pop off with but didn’t stop me rolling my eyes.
“That’ll be my guys with our food,” Andrew muttered. “Eth, go deal with Connor. Brodie, get Evelyn some orange juice or something. Maybe her blood sugar is low.”
With those orders, he and Ethan both disappeared, and I found myself locking eyes with the mysterious silent guy across the table. Haze. True to what little I knew of him, he said nothing. He didn’t need to. The slight raise of one eyebrow saidplenty.
Shit. Maybe living under the same roof with Ethan was asking for trouble.
10
EVELYN
Andrew’s people had delivered what seemed like an entire restaurant worth of Thai food, but for somemysterious,inexplicable reason I’d totally lost my appetite. I said as much, then folded the contract copy into my pocket and went back to my room, ignoring Brodie calling out after me.
Ethan and Connor were still absent—presumably talking about me—and I was glad for it. I didn’t think I could handle another panic attack or meltdown right now.
To my intense relief, I discovered my room was equipped with a door lock. It was ancient and ornate, but it had a key. After some effort and jiggling, I even got the key to turn, and the lock bolt slid home in the frame.
“Small mercies, I guess,” I muttered to myself, crossing over to my freshly made bed and pulling the contract out of my pocket. “Let’s see what I just agreed to.”
Blowing out a breath, I sat down and started scanning the document. Part of me was terrified I’d just legally signed off on becoming some kind of shared house sex slave with a list of required services for each of the guys, so I was surprised to find it was a very simple and standard nondisclosure agreement.
Whatever I witnessed or heard within the walls of Bluebell House, I was legally bound to keep it confidential. That was it.
What the fuck did they plan to discuss here that warranted an official nondisclosure agreement? God knew I couldn’t afford to break it, even if I thought I could prove it was signed under duress—which I doubted.
Maybe it had something to do with howfriendlythey all seemed with each other? Certainly, a far cry from the thick tension and animosity that’d sparked an all-out brawl in the dining hall just six hours ago.
A knock at my door tugged my focus away from the contract, and I put it down on the little bedside table. “Yes?”
“Evelyn, could we talk?” Ethan called back, and I groaned.
“No!” It was the only honest answer I could give. My face was already flaming with embarrassment, and I needed to process the fact that I’d now kissed my teachertwice. This time was totally worse because Iknewhe was my teacher. And everyone saw it happen.
There was a significant pause before Ethan replied, “Okay. Well, when you’re ready, just come downstairs. Connor will behave himself. I promise.”
I snort laughed at that, because I seriously doubted Connorbehavingwould be a huge improvement from his usual surly attitude. “Okay,” I called back, offering nothing further to continue the conversation. Sure, yes, eventually we’d have to address the huge kissing elephant in the room, but that day was not today. Not while my hands still trembled from the shock of having a gun shoved in my face.
Muffled footsteps faded, so I figured Ethan had given up and gone back down to join the guys for dinner in the dining room.Ourdining room. Shit, this was my new home whether I liked it or not. Maybe I should have jumped on Ethan’s offer to speak with the dean again, but Andrew had cut him off before he’d even finished his thought.
Why?
Surely if they all required such intense privacy, they’d do whatever it took to get rid of me?
My skin itched with the uncomfortable feeling of being trapped, so I unlocked my door—quietly relieved it unlocked without much effort—then headed downstairs as silently as possible. I made it as far as the foyer before a floorboard creaked.
“Dammit,” I muttered.
“Going somewhere?” Andrew asked, popping out of nowhere like a creepy fuck.
Gritting my teeth, I turned to face him. “Yeah. Is that allowed, or are you going to pull a gun on me as well?”
He had the grace to wince slightly at that and shake his head. “I wouldn’t do that to you, Evelyn.”
There was an odd inflection in his statement. Almost like theto youshouldn’t have been a necessary qualifier but had been included for clarity. Would Andrew pull a gun on someone else, given the right motivation? The thought made me shiver.
