“Oh.” Her eyes widened as she snuck a look at Nate, who gave her a tight-lipped grin. “Okay. I’ll wait over there when I get back.”
As she hurried away, there was a brief moment of silence between us. Nate glanced from Logan to me. We were waiting to see what Logan’s reaction was going to be, but Logan turned to me and narrowed his eyes. I tensed, was it coming? But he only shook his head and said to Nate, “So what’s going on? Mason told us you wanted to network, but with that douchebag? Why are you in a fart house?”
“Not that it’s any of your business, but Mason lives in the football house. All his roommates are on the team and that means all his friends are going to be his teammates. I’m not on the team. Branching out isn’t a bad idea for me.”
Logan grunted. “It’s a piss poor idea, and you know it.”
Nate sighed, shaking his head. “Look. Whatever. Mason said you guys are going to dinner and then coming to my fart’s,” he grimaced, “frat’s party? Is that the plan?”
A gleam appeared in Logan’s eye. I knew that look. Logan wanted to fight. I murmured, “You sure you want us there?”
“Yeah.” Nate gentled his tone. “It’ll be nice to have you guys all there.”
“What about douchebag?” Logan jerked his head in the direction the fraternity brothers had gone. “He’s not going to like us. You know that.”
“Just,” Nate sounded so wary, “come for me. Okay?”
“Yeah. We’ll come.” Logan’s glower deepened. “But I’m not kissing any ass tonight.”
Nate grimaced. “Try to be nice.”
Logan kept quiet, and that was the best answer Nate was going to get. Nate lifted a hand and said he’d see us at the party. I waited until he had disappeared into the crowd before I asked, “What are you planning?”
“I’m going to piss his friend off.”
With the dark intent brewing in his gaze, I knew Logan was going to make enemies that night. I shrugged. It was going to happen. I flashed him a grin. “Looks like we’re getting a head start for next year.”
He grunted in response before we sat back and waited for Kris and Mason.
CHAPTER TEN
MASON
“Hey, man.” Drew came over and propped a hand on the top shelf of my locker. He had showered and dressed in jeans and a Cain University shirt. “I heard your woman’s in town.”
I narrowed my eyes and bent to grab my own shirt. Pulling it on, I asked, “Yeah?”
He ran a hand through his hair and bent over so he could see in my mirror. As he fixed his hair, he said, “A bunch of us are going downtown for Matteo’s birthday. He can let loose tonight. He mentioned that you’re going to a frat party tonight?”
“Yeah.” I watched as he moved his head at all angles to inspect his hair. When he saw a clump that was pressed flat, he bit his lip and lifted his hands to tug them apart. Logan did this shit. He had cut his hair so it was shorter, but there was enough for him to spike it like my quarterback. I kept mine in a crew cut. I didn’t want to waste time, and Sam seemed to like it. Good enough for me. As he moved to a new clump of hair, I told him, “You know my best friend is there. He wants to show the house off to my brother more than anything. I doubt we’ll stay late.”
“I’m surprised you’re going. Matteo told me you’re a no-nonsense guy. I would’ve thought Park Sebasstian would be road kill to you.” His fingers pulled apart two hairs that were sticking up. He rubbed them so they stuck up even higher, then nodded to himself. He turned to face me again and smirked, but when he saw the no-nonsense expression on my face, his smirk fell flat.
I said, “I’ll deal with anyone who tries to mess with me.”
His eyes narrowed and studied mine. He nodded. “Sounds good.” He pounded me on the shoulder. “We’re at Cliché tonight. Just ask for the Cain U footballer’s private box. They’ll show you the way.” He turned to go, but paused. “A lot of the guys from the team go there.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Don’t worry about age. They worked out a deal with one of the captains a long time ago. They don’t serve ‘alcohol’ to minors.” As he used his fingers for air quotes, I assumed that meant we could get alcohol just fine if we wanted. He added, “And don’t feel weird. A lot of the guys bring their wives too, you know, the guys in serious relationships like you.”
I grunted. “Yeah, okay. We might swing by. My brother would probably like the club.”
“Sounds good, man. Have fun with the wife and kids.”
As soon as Drew moved away, Matteo lumbered over to me. He had showered, but he only managed to get his pants on. Still shirtless, he was rubbing lotion over his chest as he said, “You coming out tonight?”
“I think so.” I jerked my head in Drew’s direction. “The wife comments, are those veiled insults?”