SNAPPED (The Slate Brothers 1)

“I have a feeling she’ll say all that is easier said than done,” I answer, sighing.

“Maddy’s tough. She’ll manage. Also, have any of them gotten a tattoo yet? My bingo card is looking sad,” she says. I laugh, and from the sound my mom makes I can tell she’s relieved to hear the sound. My mom got a funny “so, your kid is moving to college” card from a friend that has BAD DECISION BINGO on the front. She’s been legitimately playing it for months, now, but is more or less stuck since as far as I know, we’re a tattoo-free apartment.

“Well, if I get this square here,” she says, and I can’t tell she’s pointing even though I can’t see it, “Change Major: Philosophy, then you’re going to have to convince one of them to get Tattoo: Chinese Symbol, because I’ll have bingo.”

“I’ll get on that,” I say.

At eight o’clock that evening, I’m working on putting together my notes for the student advocacy group. Last I checked, Emily and Becca were making ramen together in the kitchen, using vegetables stolen from a dining hall salad bar to class it up. Someone knocks at the door at such a fast clip that I assume my roommates have managed to botch ramen and ordered delivery Chinese instead.

But then I hear the voice.

“I’m here to see Ashlynn Sawyer. Does she live here?”

The voice is deep and powerful and carries through the walls, like the apartment itself wants to be certain it reaches my ears. I faintly hear Becca or Emily say something in reply, then, “Sure, thanks.”

It’s Sebastian. And, given the fact that I hear footsteps pittering my way, it sounds like he’s sent one of my roommates to fetch me. Becca flings open my bedroom door without knocking, her eyes wide and lips parted in a bright, eager grin. “Oh my god, Ashlynn—“

“Sebastian Slate,” I say, nodding, then rise.

“Uh, okay, so if you know Sebastian Slate is here to see you, why does your face look like that?” Becca hisses, pointing at my grim expression. “Does he want the jersey back, you think? Stall. Say you need help finding it. Is it in here? I’ll hide it—“ Becca says, and her eyes begin skirting around my floor.

“I— no, he’s not here for the jersey,” I say, walking toward her. “It’s complicated. Really complicated.”

“What’s so complicated?” Emily whispers, butting herself in between Becca and the doorframe. “What happened? I asked him if he wanted ramen but he said no and then I told him we added carrots to it like Sebastian Slate cares if there are carrots in his ramen and oh my god, Ashlynn, why are you making that face?”

“I asked the same thing!” Becca said.

“Look,” I interrupt their horrified expressions. “I’ll tell you more about it later, okay? Let me just…let me go handle this.” I’d sort of hoped I might ask one of them to send him away, but I know that a) that’s a cowardly thing to do and b) there’s no way they’re going to do that. I glance in the mirror— I’m wearing old jeans and a t-shirt, and I’m not wearing makeup. Becca and Emily notice this at the same second, and before I can do much about it, Becca is tearing a hairbrush through my hair and Emily is forcing lip tint onto my lips.

“That’ll have to do,” Emily says. “Go, hurry. Go.”

I take a deep breath and step out my door, then make my way down the hall. My stomach flips when I see Sebastian filling the doorframe, his shoulders nearly wide as the frame itself. He hears me coming, and his eyes flick up— those eyes. Dark and liquid and warm and perfect. I remember looking up at them while he was on top of me, staring down into them while I rode him for what felt like hours of bliss. I lick my lips at the memory, probably ruining Emily’s makeup handiwork, but I can’t help it.

“Ashlynn,” Sebastian says, voice stern.

“Hi,” I answer, flushing. I’m ashamed of how I left things with him, excited to see him, embarrassed that I’m thinking about how he looks undressed…I never really knew I was capable of experiencing so many emotions, so strongly, at the same moment.

“I needed to come see you.” His voice is clipped, almost angry.

I take the final few steps toward him, leaving a few feet between us. “I’m sorry about the way I left things.”

He nods slowly, and his eyes dart over my shoulder; I spin around and see Becca and Emily’s heads poking around the hall corner. They pretend to be studying the paint on the walls when they realize we’ve seen them. Slick, guys, I think, but it makes me laugh all the same. When I turn back to Sebastian, the laugh fades.