Living at the Frat House - A College Romance

Honestly, I like having her close by, but she needs her own space. And I know the exact space that she needs to have.

I knock on the door across from my room, hearing loud music from behind it. Jack answers after a second. “Hey, what’s up?”

“Need to talk to you for a second,” I say, stepping into the threshold.

“Sure.” He cuts the music.

I don’t beat around the bush. “I need you to move downstairs with Evan.”

The room on the second floor that Evan occupies is the biggest in the whole house, and can easily fit two people in it. Right now, he’s in there by himself. There’s already an extra bed in there that’s not being used.

Jack looks at me. “I’m sorry?”

I laugh. “Do you need me to say it again?”

“Why, exactly?” He looks pissed.

“Because Juno is moving in,” I tell him. “And she can’t room with someone else because of how that would look. You can, so move downstairs. Even sharing you’ll have more room.”

Jack’s face goes red and he sneers. “That little slut from the party that you’ve been banging in your room for the last week? How’s that for ‘how it would look’?”

I level a look at him, and he has the intelligence to look embarrassed. “Juno asked publicly to declare Granite House. She’s an impeccable student, adds to our diverse profile, and has agreed to do things around the house for us. Some cooking and cleaning. So relax.”

He’s still clearly not relaxed. “At least she’ll be eye candy,” he says. “Can’t deny that she was hot in that dress, and from what I’ve heard coming from your room, she’s a good fuck.”

I stare at him. He’s smiling, and I’m not. There’s a deep satisfaction as I see that smile wither away under my gaze. “Move your shit, Jack. Now.”

Turning on my heel, I don’t let him say another thing. Hopefully he gets the message. I’m going to keep the peace, but if he says anything else about Juno, I probably won’t be able to keep my fist out of his face. And that won’t be good for anyone. Jack has been in the house as long as I have, and has a certain level of seniority. I can understand why he’s not happy, but he’ll have to fucking deal with it.

I knock on Evan’s door this time, and it takes him longer to answer. But Evan is one of the most laid-back people I’ve met. It’s clear that he was taking a nap when he pulls open the door. “What’s up, Malcolm?”

“We have someone new moving in and I need Jack to share with you. Cool?”

He blinks the sleep from his eyes and glances around the room. It’s a little messy, but huge. It practically takes up half of the second floor.

“Yeah. That’s fine. He’s moving his stuff now?”

“Should be soon.”

He nods. “I’ll shuffle some stuff around.”

“Thanks, Evan.”

If the conversation with Jack had gone that well, it would have been a whole different story. But there’s more than one reason I want Juno upstairs with me. First, of course I want her close. Second, even though I beat consent into every one of the guys in my house, she’s still living in a house full of men. And that deep instinct that I have when it comes to her tells me that I have to protect her.

Though Juno is a fighter, and if anything were to happen, I have no doubt that she’d easily be able to take care of herself, no problem.

When I climb the stairs again, I hear slamming noises from Jack’s room. He’s aggressively packing his stuff, but I don’t give a shit. It’s been barely a week of school, nothing is that settled yet. He can deal.

My phone rings, and I half expect it to be Juno scolding me for sending people and scaring Bailey, but it’s not. It’s my little brother John. That’s good, I haven’t heard from him yet.

“Hey bro, how are you settling in?”

John is a freshman just like Juno, though he decided not to come here, much to my father’s embarrassment. But I get it. He needs to be his own person away from me and my dad, even if I wish that he were here so that I could keep an eye on him.”

He laughs on the other end of the phone. “I’ll tell you if you promise not to call me ‘bro.’”

“Sure thing.” I’m definitely going to call him that again.

“Things are going okay. Pretty average first week, I guess.”

I sit down on my bed and ignore the passive aggressive yelling that’s coming from across the hall. “You got to all your classes?”

“Thankfully I made my schedule so that I don’t have to get up that early,” he says. “It’s brilliant.”

“That’s what I like to hear.”

“Roommate is good so far,” he says. “Though the one thing I’m jealous of right now is that you live in the house.”