Fighting Fate (Granton University #1)(10)

Staring at the dark ceiling above her, she lay in bed, wondering what she’d do with a marketing degree. Like magic, the boring subject rendered her unconscious almost immediately.

A loud thud tore her from troubling dreams where she’d just walked into some hazy corporate office wearing nothing but a bra and panties while everyone else in three-piece suits gawked and laughed at her. Instantly awake, she tightened every muscle in her body as a strange scratching followed, accompanied by high-pitched giggles.

“Here. Let me.” A muffled male voice joined the muddled sounds, stopping the eerie scratch.

Orienting herself, Paige realized she was hearing a key in her door lock. Mariah must be home. With company. Again.

She craned her neck to get a glimpse of her alarm clock.

Three a.m.

“Whoa. No, don’t sit down out here, Mariah. I almost got you inside. Just wait a second.”

The door floated open. The light from the hallway blared against Paige’s face where she lay. Wincing, she drew up the blanket enough to shade her eyes. But curiosity caused her to peek out, hoping to catch a glimpse of the stranger bringing her roommate home tonight. Mariah did tend to draw a lot of hotties; Paige would give her that. If nothing else, the continuous stream of guys Mariah paraded through their room was nice eye candy.

Though she could see out of her hole in the blanket, she doubted anyone could see in simply because of the way she’d covered her head. She could freely gawk at tonight’s hottie without anyone being the wiser.

The figure of a guy took Mariah’s arm and carefully looped it over his shoulder. He wrapped one hand around her waist and walked her into the room. She slumped against him, her cheek pressed flush to his shoulder.

Wow, that must’ve been some party. Paige had never seen her roommate quite this wasted before. Weekends apparently brought out the best in Mariah.

Still wearing her Hawaiian-theme costume, Mariah giggled as she tried to take the plastic garlands from around her own neck to loop them over the guy’s.

“There. You just got leied.” She tittered at her own pun.

Enough hall light flashed over their faces for Paige to see Mariah being nearly carried to her bed by Logan Xander. She stopped breathing, though her blanket literally covered her from head to toe. Embarrassed, vulnerable heat coated her body like a rash. She could not believe he was in her bedroom standing mere inches away from where she lay in her pajamas.

“Thanks for bringing me home, Dave,” Mariah cooed, nearly drooling on him as she pressed her face so close to his. “I ’ppreciate it sooo much.”

Dave? Paige squinted, hoping she was wrong and her brother’s murderer wasn’t really in her dorm room about to sleep with her roommate.

He sounded winded as he wheezed, “Well, it’s my job.” He took her wrist, unwrapped her arm from around his head and gently lowered her onto her bed against the far wall—away from Paige’s bed, and yet way too close to Paige’s bed.

Paige saw his face clearly as he shifted, and there was no way he was this Dave character Mariah mistook him for. He was definitely Logan Xander.

“I don’t understand why you’re always the DD at every party,” Mariah slurred, plopping down so hard she dragged him onto the mattress right along with her.

He grunted as he landed. “Someone has to be.” He tried to untangle himself, but Mariah wrapped her arms around his neck, only ensnaring him more. “I should get back,” he added desperately.

Relieved he wasn’t going to start groping her roommate, Paige winced when Mariah caught his arm and pulled him to her. “Kiss me, Dave.”

He drew his face back hard, turning his mouth away from hers as he tried unsuccessfully to unclamp her hands from him. “No. Stop it. Mariah! Your roommate is like five feet away.”

“Who cares? She’d dead asleep.”

Logan gave an uneasy laugh. “Yeah, I somehow doubt that.”

“So what,” Mariah tossed out defiantly, once again moving in, trying to force a kiss. “It’d be good for the innocent little virgin. We could teach her a few things about the birds and the bees.”

“No thanks.” Logan struggled with renewed fury to free himself. “Trust me. I’m no tutor.”

The light from the opened door leading out in the bright hallway sprayed directly on him, and from her spying spot, Paige could see his face clearly. He looked almost scared in his frantic struggle to escape Mariah.

“I said no,” he growled, finally using just enough force to push himself away from her. Instead of shoving her back though, he propelled himself off the side of Mariah’s bed and landed on the floor with a thump.

Mariah scowled down at him. “What the hell is your problem? I’m throwing myself at you here, Dave.”

“I’m sorry.” He sounded truly apologetic as he glanced at the floor between his sprawled legs. “I just…don’t want to.”

“So you never drink. You never kiss girls. What do you do then?” She tipped her head sideways as she studied him. “You do like girls, don’t you?”

Logan looked up at her, and the expression on his face had Paige holding her breath. She couldn’t remember if she’d ever seen anyone look so tormented before. Watching him made her chest tighten as if she actually shared his agony with him. For a split second, she hurt. For him. For both of them.