“Oh, that makes sense, thank you.”
“Why are you here?” Alden asked me as he came to stand beside the counter. “Here to part with more money?”
I laughed even though I realized I hadn’t paid him my bet. Had Ash? I would need to ask. “Leak in my dorm, and I was here earlier, so I thought I would wait for Ava and Quinn to come back.” There were five guys here. “You guys don’t all live here?”
“I do,” Casey piped up. “In the basement,” he added.
“Oh.” I thought about it. “Sounds dungeon-y.”
“One of our tasks as freshmen is to make sure the first team don’t need to do much at home.” Alden spoke to me as he crossed his arms.
Wait, that sounded like. . . “You’re theirmaids! Seriously?” I asked incredulously.
“How else do you think the house gets maintained?” Casey asked me. “You ever seen a Santo do his laundry?”
“No . . .” I didn’t know why, but this fascinated me. “You seriously clean up after them?”
“Yeah, you have to. It’s part of the rules,” one of the other guys spoke up. “Then next year or maybe junior year, we’ll have guys do it for us.”
“That’s . . .” I wasn’t sure. “I think you guys just blew my mind.”
“That happen a lot?” one of the others jibed, and I lost my smile.
“Excuse me?”
“Shut up, Ian. Don’t listen to him, he’s an asshole.” Alden scowled at the other guy. But my good mood had evaporated. Sliding off the stool, I decided to go back upstairs, a place where I wasn’t constantly referred to as an easy lay.
“Well, aren’t you all . . . disappointing.” Onyx stood in the entrance, his three-piece suit fitting him like a glove, dark hair falling around his eyes, sharp cheekbones, and full lips. It didn’tmatter that he was an attractive man —gorgeous man,Mia, I corrected myself. He justlookedintimidating.
“Where are my brothers?” he asked the guys in the kitchen. His dark stare landed on me, and his head cocked to the side slightly. “Ah yes, the roommate. I know you.”
“Doesn’t everyone?” someone muttered behind me, and I felt my cheeks redden.
Onyx also heard them, but he said nothing as he continued to watch me. “Come,” he instructed as he turned and headed to the stairs.
“Me?” I called uncertainly.
“Hurry along, Mia.”
I followed him into one of the guys’ bedrooms. It wasn’t Ash’s, and I stood dumbfounded as he flung open the closet door and crouched down close to the floor.
“Um . . .”
“Wait one moment,” he told me politely.
Should I have been surprised that one of them had a safe in their bedroom? Probably not, but that didn’t lessen the fact that I was.
The oldest Santo stood swiftly, closed the closet door, and then led me out of the bedroom and into the other bedroom. With no quibbles at being in the bedroom, he looked around in distaste. I saw clothes that I recognized as Quinn’s.
Onyx’s nose wrinkled in revulsion. “She infects everything,” he muttered as he turned and led us into Ash’s room. He looked surprised.
“He cleaned?” He looked to me for confirmation. “Or you cleaned?”
“I think the army of freshmen downstairs are responsible.”
Onyx snorted in contempt as he sat at the computer desk. He stood again and took off his jacket, tossing it onto the bed.
“Right.” With sure hands, he opened and logged into Ash’s computer.
