HATE TO LOVE YOU

Chapter Three

I had to see Shay twice more during the week since our classes fell on a Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule, but both of us escaped alive. We weren’t forced into group discussions, and the one time we had to pair up with someone, Linde signaled for me right away.

See, we were friends.

It was around three that Friday afternoon when I was heading back to my dorm. I was passing along behind the art building, going down the sidewalk where it curved to the right and would pass through a bunch of trees, and then into my dorm. The whole campus was set up like that. There were trees everywhere. They hid most of the buildings, so you constantly felt like you were walking in a forest until your sidewalk dipped into whatever building was your stop.

I was six feet from my clearing when I heard my name being called.

I tensed, but no. That wasn’t Shay. That wasn’t his voice, and an instant scowl formed because I did recognize that voice.

My brother was standing behind some trees, waving at me.

I hurried my pace. “Gage. What are you doing here?” I pushed him deeper into the trees and looked over my shoulder. The walkway was clear. My shoulders sagged in relief. I gave his chest a good whack. “First rule of Clarke Club. We don’t know each other.”

He rolled his eyes, running a hand through dark brown hair, which was the same shade as mine. We had the same dark eyes, too. He was a year older, but people thought we were fraternal twins. Gage liked to joke he was the smart one, and I was the dumb one who got held back a year. I smacked him in the back of the head whenever he said that, and I was considering doing the same thing here. He knew not to come to my dorm. I’d been adamant about that.

Being used in high school was out of my control. I did ask my mom when I was in eighth grade if I could switch my high school, but the only other one within driving distance was a private one, which got a big, firm nope. Her lips popped saying that word. We didn’t have the money for even a semester, much less the uniforms and all the other expenses that would’ve come with it.

But I had control now, and the first rule of being Gage and Kennedy Clarke: we pretended we didn’t know each other.

It was a subset of rule number two: no drama.

Clarke wasn’t a common name? What? I had no idea. It was just a huge coincidence.

That was my planned argument if anyone tried to press the matter.

“Ow.” He rubbed his chest, giving me a pained puppy-dog look. “Why do you always have to hit me? Contrary to what chicks think, guys don’t appreciate it. Our instincts are to hit back, and we always have to curb those primal instincts.”

He flexed as he said primal.

I rolled my eyes.

“Make it quick.” Someone was bound to come down the sidewalk. “What do you want?”

His hand dropped down. He was all business now. “I’m going to a fraternity party tonight.”

“Okay?”

“I heard some girls from your dorm are going, too.”

I narrowed my eyes. Two other subsets of rule two were that he couldn’t admit to knowing me, much less being related to me, and he couldn’t sleep with any of my friends. That’d been awkward in high school, and it was still awkward in college.

“Okay?” I asked again.

“They’re the chicks who you’ve been hanging out with. You know”—he tugged on his shirtsleeve—“the slutty ones.”

“Oh!” Laura, Casey, and Sarah. “Yeah. You can’t sleep with them.”

“Come on.” His tone turned pleading. “That Casey girl is hot.” He groaned the last word. “Seriously hot. What if she hits on me? Huh? I’d hurt her feelings. She might turn around and become a clinger? You know, those kind that if they’re rejected, they become instantly besotted.” He shook his head, whistling in sympathy. “You wouldn’t want that, would you?”

“Casey can have any guy she wants. I’ll risk the odds it’ll be you whom she falls in love with.”

He frowned. “What are you talking about? Chances are high. If you haven’t noticed, we’re good-looking. Both of us.”

I groaned. “Stop talking.”

“I’m a catch. I don’t make girls do the walk of shame. I give them a ride home.”

I raised an eyebrow.

He added, glancing away, “Or call a car for them.” His eyes flashed at me. “See. Thoughtful. That’s me.” His hands formed fists and his thumbs pointed to himself. He winked at me. “And I would be really thoughtful to Casey. I could go over the top, make her think I’m in love with her. That’ll send her running. Hot girls like that don’t like clingy guys. I’d do it for you.”

“You’d do it for you.” My hand rested on my hip. “And, still no. Stay away from those girls.”

“Okay, okay. What about that Kristina girl?” He whistled. “She’s smoking, too. I don’t know why she hides those puppies. A lot of guys already know her as t**s Girl.”

I shoved him back. “She has a boyfriend, and she’s my only friend. You shut that s**t down real quick, you hear me? Real f*****g quick.”

“Okay, okay.” His eyes turned sober, and his grin finally fell away. “But guys are going to want to know why I’m defending this girl. It’d be easier if I made it known that it was because she’s friends with my sister. And speaking of you, I don’t want you hooking up with any of my friends.”

“Not going to be a problem.”

No hot guys—rule number one.

“Hey.” I remembered the bone I needed to pick with him. “You told Shay Coleman I’m your sister.”

His eyes lit up. “Yeah, I did. That guy’s awesome.”

“Why did you do that?”

He snorted, rocking back on his heels and putting his hands in his pockets. “Are you kidding me? You were my golden ticket to introduce myself to him. I heard him and a bunch of other players took political science this semester. I asked if a chick who looked like my female twin was in his class.” He smirked. “He knew right away who you were.”

“You told him I had a chip on my shoulder.”

“You do.”

“You don’t have to tell people that.”

His mouth curved up into a wicked grin. “Are you joking? That’s the quickest way to explain who you are to guys. Girls don’t get it, but guys do.”

I hit him in the shoulder. He was part of the reason that chip was there.

“Don’t talk about me anymore.”

“Why? If anything, I’m doing you a favor. Coleman seemed interested in who you were.”

I suppressed another shiver, but this one was from disgust. “You’re not doing me any favors. I don’t want to know Shay Coleman like that.”

“Did I say I was doing you a favor?” His grin went up a notch. “I meant I was doing myself a favor. You hate guys like that.”

Yeah. I did.

I shook my head.

Shay Coleman was another Parker Stanson, my ex. That angry thought chased another one—f**k Parker and f**k Shay Coleman.

“Whatever.” I shoved Gage back, gently this time, and forced a lightness in my voice. “Go to your fraternity party and stay away from my friends.”

He was going to argue. I saw the words forming and shook my head again. “I mean it. And stop talking about me to football players. Got it?”

He looked at me for a second, his head tilting to the side in thought. “You okay?”

I heard the kindness and my throat swelled up a bit. “I’m fine.” I would be. Studying. That was my goal right now. Guys like Parker couldn’t hurt me anymore. I wouldn’t let them. “Now, go. Before someone sees you.”

He chuckled, and a couple of seconds later when I’d gotten my emotions in check, I looked back up to find him gone. No brother anywhere.

I was passing by the front desk when the girl looked up. “Kennedy Clarke?”

“Yeah?”

She was an upperclassman and had been the front desk attendant since the first week of classes, and I waited for her to say whatever she called me over for.

“Shay said to say hi to you.”

I instantly groaned.

Of course, Shay would know this girl. She was too pretty to be ignored. I half-joked, “Let me guess. You’re his girlfriend?”

She laughed, sounding actually nice. “We’re friends. He said to say hi to you, that you’re pretty cool.”

I glanced around. There were a few girls in the lobby, so I stepped closer to the desk. “Can we keep that on the down-low?”

“What?” Another genuine laugh. It was almost making me like her, sort of. She added, “That you’re cool?”

“That I know Shay, and I only know him from class. We’re not friends or anything.” I had to stress the last part. “And if you were dating him, my condolences.”

“Shay isn’t that bad of a guy, but yeah, I’ll keep it quiet.”

She frowned a bit as I held my hand up in a farewell wave, heading for the stairs and toward my room. Having a front desk attendant who was nice to you? That was gold. There could be drunk times ahead, and you never know when you needed someone to look the other way.

I had an extra bounce in my step when I let myself into the room, but it careened to a stop.

Missy was at her desk, wearing a big scowl.

“What’s up?” I shut the door and tossed my backpack onto my bed behind her.

“Holly wants to go to the library tonight.” She was stabbing at her keyboard.

Holly was her best friend from high school, the girl who lived a floor above us with her cousin. “What’s wrong with the library?” My desk was across the room, and I sat down on my chair before spinning so I was facing her.

“Nothing, if it were Sunday or any other day of the week. But it’s Friday. She has a crush on one of the workers there.”

Holly developed a new crush twice a week. “Not many people are going to be there. Makes sense she’d want to go tonight. Prime time for flirting.”

“I don’t want to go to the stupid library.”

“What else are you going to do?” Where Holly and her cousin went, Missy went, and vice versa. The three didn’t stray far from each other’s sides.

She shrugged, glancing at our television. “We could watch movies in here?”

I almost recoiled. I was movie buddies with Kristina, not Missy, not the roommate who laughed in my face because I didn’t like the same chick flicks she did. Plus, I knew she talked s**t about me. I walked in once when Holly and the cousin were there. The room got completely silent. I had no clue what they could’ve even been saying about me, but I had no doubt it’d been happening.

“I was planning to go to the library tonight, too.”

“You were?”

Her disbelief was almost complementary. She did think I had a life.

I shrugged, spun back around, and booted my computer. “Why not? I need to study. And besides, the library closes early, doesn’t it?”

“So?”

“Maybe Holly’s crush will have a party to invite you guys to. The best plans are usually not having any plans.”

“Yeah?”

Someone knocked on the door just as I was pulling up my email. I stood and nodded to her. “Yeah. I’d go with the plan of hoping to find some action afterward. No one goes to a party before ten anyway.”

I opened the door as I was finishing that sentence.

Casey Winchem stood there, the same Casey who Gage had been begging me to let him sleep with and the same Casey who intimidated me because she was so confident.

“Hey.” I blinked a couple of times. I was on friendly terms with Casey, Laura, and Sarah, but none of them ever came to my room. A part of me wasn’t even sure they knew my name. They always referred to me as “Hey, You.”

“Hey.”

“What’s up?” I opened the door wider.

She looked past me and waved. “Hi.”

Missy didn’t wave back. I think she was in shock I knew someone else.

Casey frowned slightly but then looked back to me. “Uh, we’re going to a fraternity party tonight. Did you want to come with us?”

“Uh . . .”

“You have a car, don’t you? Sarah and Kristina had to go home for the weekend. It’s just Laura and me.”

Now it made sense.

Sarah had the only car they used. No one else brought one since parking was a challenge around freshman dorms. I had a car. Everyone in my family had one. It was the one big gift our mom splurged for when we graduated. We weren’t wealthy so it was the last big gift I’d be getting until I got married.

When I was in my thirties.

If ever.

I shook my head. Back to the conversation. “You need a ride to the party?”

“Well.” She bit her lip. “Kind of. I mean, we can get a ride with Adams or Kreigerson.” Names I didn’t know. “It’s the getting home part we’re worried about. The guys will get drunk and take off on their own, if you know what I mean. If Laura or I end up hooking up with someone, that’s another thing, but yeah. I’d like to have a backup plan if anything happens.”

Backup.

That was me.

I was plan B.

And I wasn’t a pushover, either. “No, thank you. I’ll see you later. Have fun tonight.”

I shut the door.

I knew I was coming off like a b***h, but I ignored my roommate’s still gaping mouth. She didn’t understand. No one used me anymore. I wasn’t going to let it happen, not again.

And with that in mind, I eyed my computer.

I really did need to learn how to study. This weekend was just put into that slot.