Forced Proximity (Bluebell House Duet Book 1)
Forced Proximity: Chapter 17

The rest of the day was a total blur. All I could think about was kissing Ethan…and then maybe also what it’d be like to kiss Brodie. Ah hell, I was thinking about a lot more than just kissing, but in my defense, it’d been a long dry spell for me since well before the shooting.

All it took was a little tongue action and my whole libido was revved up and raring to go. Why fantasize about one hot guy when I could imagine two? Or three…as Haze flashed into my head.

By the time I made my way to the cafeteria for a late lunch, I was a horny, flustered mess. Sure that my cheeks were flushed and my lips probably still bearing the evidence of a heavy make-out session, I detoured into the bathroom on my way.

Then stopped dead in my tracks when realized the bathroom was currently occupied. By Laura Sandiconte shirtless, tits out, and on her knees with Andrew’s cock halfway down her throat.

I should have immediately backed out and left—it would have been the polite thing to do regardless of how I felt about Laura. But my feet wouldn’t move. Not even an inch. I stood there frozen, staring, as Andrew tipped his head back into the sunlight streaming from the frosted bathroom window, like some sort of renaissance painting.

Laura moaned around her mouthful, and Andrew’s hands tightened in her hair, his hips thrust forward savagely.

“Shut. The. Fuck. Up.” He punctuated the words with thrusts, basically choking her half to death with his cock. His eyes remained closed and the muscles of his forearms—below his rolled-up shirtsleeves—were tightly flexed like he was barely holding on by a thread.

Laura whimpered, gagging, as tears streamed from her eyes, and still…I stood there watching. Like a fucking pervert.

Andrew must have heard that noise and realized he was being too rough, or maybe he was just turned off because he abruptly released her hair and pushed her away.

“Forget it,” he snapped. “I’m not in the mood.”

She immediately grabbed his hips, rising up on her knees to plead with him and thankfully blocking my view of Andrew’s rapidly wilting erection. “No, baby, don’t be like that. I can be quiet! I swear. No noises. Let me try again, Andrew…please, baby…”

Andrew smacked her hands away from his hips, his eyes snapping open as he glared down at her in disgust. “Do not touch my clothing, Laura. I said I’m not in the—” He cut off abruptly, locking eyes with me.

Crap.

My mouth went dry and my palms instantly turned sweaty and yet I just fucking stood there, unable to move as his eyes widened in surprise but stayed locked on mine.

“See…” Laura purred, fisting his shaft once more. “You are in the mood after all.”

Oh fuck. Yep, that was what I needed to snap out of it.

Blinking rapidly, I beat a quick retreat, the door slamming behind me as Andrew let out the most obscenely sexy moan I think I’d ever heard from a man.

Holy fuck. What in the hell was that?

Cheeks burning, I decided to skip dining hall lunch and head straight back to the house. My grocery store visit with Ethan and Connor on the weekend meant we had more than enough food in the kitchen.

How the hell I’d be able to look Andrew in the eye again after that, I had no idea. But at the same time, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. How he’d reacted when Laura put her hands on his hips, no doubt smearing spit and precum on his expensive trousers.

Andrew Knightsbridge, I was coming to realize, was more than just a run-of-the-mill control freak. There was as deeper desire for control that had to come from somewhere.

“What are you doing here?”

The grumpy question shocked me out of my downright voyeuristic train of thought, and I shook my head to clear it.

“Uh…” I glanced around at the kitchen of the house that I definitely lived in. “Am I not supposed to be here? You guys made a pretty big deal of the fact that I did…”

Connor glared actual daggers my way, tossing his dirty sponge back into the bucket of water and peeling off the yellow dish gloves he’d been wearing. “I meant, why are you here now? No one is usually home during the day on Monday.”

I peered at the extensive deep cleaning that he was in the middle of and nodded slowly. “So…you wanted everyone to think that the magical cleaning elves had come while no one was home? I guess your secret is safe with me.”

He said nothing. Just glowered and reached for the can of energy drink sitting on the table.

In an attempt to sidestep the awkward, I opened the fridge and pulled out some supplies to make a sandwich. “Didn’t the school cleaners do all this when we moved in the other day?”

“Not properly,” Connor muttered, pulling his gloves back on. “Look at that water.” He pointed to the soapy bucket, and sure enough, the water was far from clean.

I cringed but then continued with making my sandwich. “Fair, but I don’t know many twentysomething-year-old guys who’d notice.”

“Twenty-one,” he offered. “And it’s not me who notices.”

He seemed to realize he’d given up too much information then because his lips tightened and he turned back to what he was doing: scrubbing the inside of the oven.

“Andrew really hates dirt and mess, huh?” I mused out loud. Based on the way Connor’s back muscles tensed beneath his tight shirt, I’d guessed accurately.

“He has his reasons.”

That was all he said, confirming my previous thoughts about a deeper reason for Andrew’s frankly desperate need to control everything, and I got the sense that he wasn’t about to go into any further details, even if pressed. “Why did you guys pretend to fight?” Because you had to give a pretty large fuck about someone to care this much for their neurosis. This was epic brothers from another mother shit.

It was making less and less sense to me why they persisted with their enemies facade, and frankly, I was wondering if that cafeteria fight hadn’t all been a ploy to live together in this house without anyone knowing they were actually besties. But it wasn’t as if they didn’t have any pull in the school. Surely they could have roomed together and pretended it was under orders from the dean.

They certainly didn’t need to involve me to make it happen.

Connor’s full lips curled, and the look he shot me was downright furious. “You should mind your fucking business, new girl. You’ve already caused enough issues, and just because my gun is retired for the time being, doesn’t mean it’s gone completely.”

Dropping my knife, sandwich only half-finished, I must have lost my fucking mind because I took a step right into his chest. Slamming my finger against hard muscles, I barely stopped from wincing at how much that freaking hurt. “Are you threatening me, asshole? I could go to the police you know. No NDA stops you from doing illegal shit, and pulling a weapon on a person is fucking illegal.”

It surprised me when his anger was replaced with a mocking laugh. “Oh, you poor, delusional idiot. My family owns the police in this town. Fuck, in this entire state. Report me. See what happens.”

We were so close that I could smell the faintest sweat from his cleaning, mixed with expensive and spicy cologne. It was a potent combination, reminding me how attractive this dangerous lunatic was. My words were a whisper when I said, “Why do you hate me so much? To my knowledge, I’ve never done anything to you.”

I caught a flicker in his green eyes, which were the darkest shade of forest I’d ever seen. “It’s not what you’ve done now—it’s what you’re going to do. You’re trouble, Evelyn. The others might want to play happy families and pretend you’re not our downfall, but I know fucking better.”

I opened and closed my mouth, but I couldn’t actually replace the words to reply. He’d stunned me. There was only one real reason I’d ever be a threat to them, and that was if they knew about the shooting and thought I might…I don’t know, bring the same situation down on his friends?

A super illogical sort of thought. It wasn’t like I’d asked to be attacked and almost murdered. I’d never asked for any of the shit in my life.

“If you stay out of my way, I’ll stay out of yours,” I rasped, emotions pressing down on me until it felt like my chest cracked. “We only have to make it through this term.”

“Deal,” Connor snapped. “Clean up after you finish your sandwich.”

He was gone before I could formulate a scathing response, but let it be known, in my head, I tore him to pieces.

My appetite was gone, but not wanting to waste food, I finished fixing myself lunch and grabbed a bottle of water to wash it down. It annoyed me to follow his orders, but I did clean up after myself and left the kitchen in what was fairly pristine condition compared to how it had been before.

Not wanting to stay in the house when Connor was still upstairs, I trekked back to school, heading for the cafeteria. By the end of this punishment, I’d be almost as fit as I’d been before the shooting.

Stepping in the crowded room, I looked around for Nina, but it was Brodie who I noticed first.

“Evie babe,” he called, waving me toward the table he was at with two other guys.

Deciding I could use a break from the darker side of life, I headed straight for him, and it was only when I dropped into the chair that I realized who the two guys with him were.

“Dexter Jays,” Brodie said, pointing to the Calvin freaking Klein model on his left. Dexter Jays was tall with a soccer-player physique. Muscled but not heavily so. His skin and hair were dark, but his eyes were olive green, adding to his striking looks. “And Hewie Macintyre.” Brodie motioned to his other friend. Hewie—with his purple-streaked blond hair, multiple tatts, eyebrow and nose ring—was a rock star.

Yep. World famous, multiplatinum-selling rock star.

Of course Brodie Keller would have equally famous friends.

“This is my girl Eve,” Brodie continued, slinging his arm around me. “You two can look but don’t even fucking think about touching. I’ll destroy you without remorse.”

My elbow swung back to slam into Brodie’s ribs, and just like with Connor, I was fairly certain it hurt me more than him. The asshole basically laughed.

Dexter and Hewie stared at me, their expressions open and curious. “Ignore the idiot,” I said drily. “He’s punishment dished out by the dean. I’m here under duress.”

Brodie brought out his saddest face again, and to my annoyance, it still worked on me. “Evie babe, you are horrendous on a man’s ego. You’ve smashed me to pieces.”

Hewie chuckled, flashing two rows of perfect teeth and a tongue piercing, and I tried not to notice how good-looking he was. He wasn’t really my type, but a girl would have to be dead to not at least notice. “I think you’ve finally met your match, Brodes.”

Holy fuck. Okay, now I knew how he’d managed to become the lead singer of the hottest band to grace the world in five years. The deep rasp of his voice was enough to send goose bumps across my skin.

“I didn’t realize you were in college,” I said to Hewie. “Weren’t you touring a few months ago?”

Brodie groaned. “No fucking fair winning her over with the rock-star thing. I won an Academy Award and an Emmy last year. Doesn’t that count for something?”

I had no idea how this was my life, flirting with famous people, when only a few months ago I’d been in hospitals and rehab, trying to recover from the attack.

Dexter patted Brodie’s arm. “It counts to your mom, bro.”

Brodie dropped his head back. “Well, fuck. She wasn’t even that proud of me. Guess I’m on my own then.”

Hewie ignored them both and leaned toward me. “I’ve been making music since I was kid, and as much as I love it and couldn’t live without the buzz, I also wanted to experience a normal life. At least for a while. Brodes convinced me to give college a try, and the dean is cool for me to pop in and out as needed, so I haven’t even had to give up touring. Just cut back a bit.”

All three of them were rich, famous boys playing at normal life. It shouldn’t be amusing, and yet I found myself enjoying my time with them during lunch.

Who knew they’d be so likable? Connor could really take a page out of their books.

Maybe I’d suggest it the next time we crossed paths, because no matter the deal we’d struck today, we lived in the same fucking house—it was the literal definition of forced proximity.

There was no way to avoid him forever.