Chapter 2
Micah carried my heavier suitcase upstairs after Jamie left and showed me to the last room on the right.
He set it beside the bed and rubbed his palms together. “Oh, we’re all heading out tonight. Paddy’s dragging everyone to some club downtown. You should come.”
I pulled my coat off and raised an eyebrow. “All of you?”
“Pretty much. We won last night, so Paddy’s decided we need to celebrate like we’ve never won a game before.”
I shook my head, “I've only been here twenty minutes, I'll pass.” I pressed my lips into a small smile, “maybe next time.”
“Bathroom’s across the hall,” Micah said, turning around to leave. “And lock the door when you shower.”
The room was bigger than I expected, with a double bed pushed against one wall, a desk beside the window and enough wardrobe space that I immediately forgave Jamie for making me live with five strange men.
The second I was alone, I kicked off my shoes and dropped onto the bed, spreading my arms across the covers with a long groan.
Two days to unpack, learn my way around the city and get my shit together. Then Monday morning, my six week design contract officially started.
At least one part of my life was going according to plan.
I pulled out my phone and called Nadia. She answered almost immediately, and after listening to me complain about moving for five straight minutes, she decided there was only one reasonable solution.
“We’re going out tonight.”
I rolled onto my side, “on my first day?”
“Especially on your first day. You’ve spent all day moving. Get dressed, get drunk, regret it tomorrow.”
*
By the time I reached the club, I had already broken my promise to behave.
The black dress Nadia had talked me into wearing barely reached the middle of my thighs, with thin straps and a neckline low enough that I had checked my boobs twice in the Uber.
My curls fell loose around my shoulders, and I ran my fingers through them before pushing through the crowded entrance.
“Bitch!”
I barely had time to turn before Nadia crashed into me. At five foot four, she practically disappeared against my five ten frame when she threw both arms around my neck.
“You actually came.” She pulled back, her long black ponytail swinging behind her, and narrowed her brown eyes at my dress. “And you wore it. Oh, we're making terrible decisions tonight.”
“Speak for yourself.” I laughed and grabbed her face, kissing her quickly on the lips before she squeezed my waist. “Some of us start respectable design contracts on Monday.”
“Some of us are boring.”
That was Nadia. We had met during my first week of university after she'd asked to borrow a pen, stolen it permanently, then somehow ended up eating chips in my room at two in the morning. Four years later, I was still waiting for the pen back.
She caught my hand and pulled me through the crowd. Music shook through the floor beneath my heels, bodies packed around the bar while lights flashed above us.
Two shots became four embarrassingly fast.
By the time Nadia dragged me onto the dance floor, my heels had stopped hurting and apparently so had my ability to make sensible decisions. I threw my arms around her neck, laughing as she grabbed my waist and we moved together between the packed bodies.
A guy slipped behind Nadia and started dancing with her. Her eyes widened at me over his shoulder.
I nearly choked laughing.
“Shut up!” she mouthed.
Another guy caught my hand and spun me toward him. I looked him over, decided drunk Darcy approved, then turned and danced, grinding my ass against his bulge through his pants, while Nadia screamed encouragement beside me.
Someone bought us another round. Terrible idea but we drank it anyway.
Twenty minutes later, Nadia was grinding with a completely different man while I danced beside her, curls sticking to my neck, drink raised above my head.
She grabbed my face and yelled, “BEST NIGHT EVER!”
“It’s been an hour!”
“Exactly!”
I laughed so hard I nearly spilled my drink.
We eventually collapsed into a booth, still laughing as Nadia stole my drink and took a long sip.
“Okay, wait.” She wiped her mouth and leaned toward me. “You moved in with your brother and five hockey players today and somehow haven’t told me anything about them?”
“There’s nothing to tell.”
Her eyes narrowed, “are they hot?”
I shrugged, picking at the corner of a napkin. “Some of them.”
“Some?” Nadia grabbed the pen beside the bill and pushed the napkin toward me. “Names. Now.”
I laughed. “What are you doing?”
“Research.” She clicked the pen and grinned. “You give me the five men. We rank them.”
I stared at her.
Maybe tequila number four had been a mistake.
“Fine.” I leaned closer. “There’s Paddy.”
Nadia started writing.
And just like that, we began ruining my life.
*
I had no idea how I got home.
My head throbbed as I opened my eyes, squinting at the shirtless figure standing near the door. Everything was blurry for a second. Dark hair, broad shoulders, grey sweatpants sitting low on his hips and then he pieced into one man.
Russell.
“What the fuck?!” I pushed myself up, anger arriving before my brain fully did. “Do you ever knock before you just walk into someone’s...”
I trailed off as the cold air hit my bare skin and I realised I was naked. I yanked the sheets up, shielding myself from his view.
My head snapped up, “why the hell are you in my room?!”
Russell stared at me for a second, then started toward the bed.
My mouth went dry.
He stopped directly in front of me and crouched, bringing us almost eye level.
I tightened my grip on the sheet as my eyes betrayed me, dropping to his chest.
His stomach tightened when he shifted closer, and I immediately dragged my gaze back up.
His eyes moved slowly from mine to the sheet crushed between my fingers, then back to my face.
“First of all,” he said quietly, “what the hell are you doing in my room?”
I blinked. “What?”
I looked around. Black sheets, hockey gear, men’s clothes on the chair...Oh, fuck me.
Russell lifted a folded piece of paper between us and my stomach dropped.
“No...”
He opened it.
Paddy, Micah, Kieran. Every stupid thing Nadia and I had written was staring back at me.
I reached for it but Russell pulled it away.
“Give me that!”
Instead, he leaned closer until I could smell whatever soap he'd used, his eyes holding mine while he lowered his voice.
“Second of all, Darcy...” He tapped the paper against his knee. “Why am I the only man in this house you wouldn’t fuck?”