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“Oh. Hi,” I said stupidly.

Bett sat on the edge of his bed, leaning back on his hands and grinning. When he saw me, his smile dimmed, and a sliver of worry took over in his expression.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

I opened my mouth with no clear idea what I was going to say, but my sister beat him to it.

“Hey, Ells! We were on our way back from dinner and stopped by to say hi.” She bit her lip and glanced at Bett. “We stayed to talk to Bett so I could thank him.”

I glanced at my roommate, whose cheeks were turning crimson. “It was no big deal,” he muttered.

“Thank him for what?” I asked.

Grace’s eyebrows dipped together, reminding me of our mother enough to make my chest pinch. “He encouraged me to stick it out when I was ready to give up on my top choice for law school recommendations. I tracked down my old professor and finally got her to agree to writing a rec for me. And it was thanks to Bett.”

Bett shrugged. “I’m sure she agreed because you impressed her in class. But I’m glad you finally nailed it down.”

“Okay,” Tabitha said, pulling out a navy short-sleeve button-down shirt with little gold bugles on it. “This one with the tan jeans. This shirt slays, even though I have no idea why you have a shirt with trombones on it.”

“More like trumpets,” he said with a laugh. “My high school team were the Clarions. Don’t ask. It’s pretty lame.”

“You going somewhere?” I asked casually. As casual as death and murder. Homicide and bloody goddamned chaos.

I’d had a plan when I came back here, and that plan did not include fucking clarion shirts. In fact, shirts of any kind were expressly forbidden in my plan.

Bett shook his head quickly. “No. They were helping me pick something for my public speaking thing tomorrow. It’s supposed to be ‘snappy casual,’ and I don’t know what the hell that means.”

Grace laughed again. “It’s part of the assignment. Learning the etiquette side of events like that. Don’t worry. This is perfect. Don’t wear athletic stuff, make sure you have a shirt collar, and you’re mostly fine.”

Tabs nodded and put the shirt back in the closet. “Think of it like grabbing Mexican food with your girlfriend’s parents. Tacos but, like, with really good manners and shit.”

Bett’s eyes found mine, looking even more confused than before. “I’ve never had a girlfriend whose parents took me to a Mexican restaurant.”

I made a shooing gesture to Grace and Tabs. “Thanks for the style help, but I have a big test to study for, and you two need to get back to the dorm before it’s too late.”

They both looked at me funny but let me shuffle them out anyway. “What test do you have?” Grace asked over her shoulder as she walked into the hallway.

“Nunya. I love you.” I called the familiar childhood refrain before shutting the door behind them and turning the bolt.

Then I turned to my little Clarion, who was now looking at me with wide eyes and a little surprised “o” mouth. “Get naked,” I said.

He blinked. “Um. Now?” He glanced toward the hall, like the girls might still be standing there, listening.

If they were, that was their problem.

I began tugging my own clothes off. “Well, I’m going to have an orgasm right now. Up to you whether you want to join me or not. How are your legs?”

He hopped off the bed and shimmied out of his joggers comically fast. “Fine. Good. Fine.”

I couldn’t help but grin. I loved when he did that little wordy threesome thing. Yeah, uh, yeah. It meant he wasn’t in control anymore. His brain was a little fuzzy in the best way.

As soon as we were both naked, I stalked over and crowded him up against his open closet until the scent of his clothes surrounded us. A mix of Dior whatever-the-fuck he used to use and the stuff he used now. A blend of both of us.

His mouth tasted like the blue Gatorade that sat half-full and sweating on his desk, and the little sound he made when I went in for the taste was even sweeter. Fingers gripped my neck as I took and took and took. We ended up kissing for a long time with my hands gripping his ass to pull it closer and my dick happily pressed in the dip between his hip bone and stomach.

Fuck, he was hot. And needy. I wanted more.

I moved my finger down between his cheeks, light enough to tease but firm enough for him to know it was intentional. After a few minutes of him giving me a sweet little sucked-in breath every time I did it, I finally moved lower and ran a fingertip over his hole.