The guy shrugged as if he hadn’t just dropped a bomb on Shane. “I heard he lives in town with some junkies or something. His dad cut him off. It’s a whole mess.”
“‘With some junkies’? As in where? Aren’t you guys his friends?” Shane roared and grabbed the guy, shaking him without thought. The brown eyes widened, and the frat boy went stiff as a board, as if he expected to be smacked next.
“I—maybe Brad knows? Ros always kept to himself.”
As if on cue, the frat president himself stepped out with Dex, but froze at the sight of Shane.
“You didn’t say he was with you!” Brad complained.
Dex rolled his eyes. “Chill! He’s cool.”
Brad stalled and looked back, as if he were about to run right back inside, but Shane grabbed the front of his T-shirt and dragged him off the steps. The gay frat brother backed away, raising his hands, but Shane didn’t care who he might report this to, because he planned to be out of here as soon as he knew where his boy was.
“Where’s Rosen?”
Brad yelped with his eyes wide. “Take it easy, man!”
Dex gently pushed on Shane’s shoulder. “We literally came here to tell you.” He glanced at the other guy. “It’s cool, really. Just spill it, and we’ll be out of your hair.”
Brad took a deep breath, and his square face relaxed. “I don’t know which apartment, but he lives in Blavis Road. House… four or five. I could find out in detail for you, Shane. You know I owe you.”
“Do. And do it now, because there’s hot coals under your feet, Brad,” Shane said and gave the frat president’s smooth cheek a pat that would have made most men clench their buttocks.
Brad pulled out his phone and started desperately tapping the screen while his throat covered with perspiration despite the cold.
The gay frat boy cleared his throat. “So… you’re not staying for the party?” he asked Shane as if that wasn’t obvious.
Dex grinned and offered the guy another cigarette. “He’s not, but I am.”
Of course. Dex wouldn’t miss a single dude on his unwritten quest to fuck any willing male in the area. But that wasn’t Shane’s problem. “Don’t mind me. I have everything I need,” he said and squeezed Brad’s shoulder.
The gay frat boy stalled but must have decided that the prospect of having sex with a hot idiot was more important than keeping his friend safe because he followed Dex up the steps.
Shane’s phone beeped, and Brad looked up at him with a nervous smile.
“There. I texted you the exact address. He works nights as a bartender at Paradiso. Don’t shoot the messenger. I’m not the one who kicked him out.”
Shane stared at Brad’s artificial smile as he opened the message to confirm it included the information he needed. “Okay. Remember to use rubbers,” he said, pointing his chin toward the window where several girls in sparkly bras had lined up to take selfies.
“Wow. Thanks, Dad.” Brad groaned when he stepped back, but Shane didn’t care about him anymore, and was off.
Dex could fend for himself anywhere, but Ros might need Shane’s protection at this very moment.
Chapter 15 – Ros
Ros took a deep breath that did nothing to calm him down.
“Mitch, would you mind washing your dishes?” he asked, staring at the pile of filthy bowls and plates stacked high in the sink.
Being cut off came with unforeseen consequences, but while having to carefully consider the worth of every cent had been a shock, sharing an apartment with two men of whom one stank like a skunk and the other was a violent shit who considered himself a prankster was even worse than struggling with money.
The self-proclaimed Jackass II glared at Ros from the sofa that looked as if it had been half-digested by a dragon and shrugged. “I would mind,” he said and laughed as if that was the funniest thing ever. Maybe it was when your brain had holes obtained by years of drug and alcohol overuse.
A part of Ros believed this was his punishment for selling Pete the pills that killed him.
“This is the reason why we have cockroaches,” Ros said after taking a deep breath, because he could have sworn something small passed across the kitchen counter at the speed of a cheetah. A violent shudder ran through his body when he remembered the first time he’d seen one of the disgusting black beetles and realized this would be his life from now on.
In filth. With walls the color of diarrhea and windows that failed to keep out the cold. With bugs and flimsy locks that his other roommate, Jason, could open with a credit card.
Harlene had been gracious enough to let him stay in her dorm room, but someone had reported the double occupation, and Ros couldn’t have burdened her with his issues any longer.