“Whatever you say.” Luther laughed. “I told you to leave her alone. If you don’t listen, then I am going to enjoy every minute of your domestication.”

“That just ain’t right, man.” Nikoli glared down at his friend before extending a hand. “Nikoli Kincaid doesn’t do domestication. Never have, never will.”

“Whatever you say.” Luther chuckled and sat back down at the computer. “Whatever you say.”

Nikoli gave Luther one last glare and stomped out of the room. No way in hell would he ever be domesticated.

***

“You did what?”

Lily winced and held the phone away from her ear. How did Adam find out she’d agreed to go out with Nikoli? Less than two hours had gone by, and he was shouting from her phone.

“It’s not a big deal,” she murmured while she unpacked the groceries she’d bought at the market. Cereal, milk, pop, and some snacks had her set. Her little mini fridge was overflowing with cans of Coke and bottles of water.

“Not that big a deal?” She could hear the frustration in his voice. “Lily, this is Nikoli Kincaid we’re talking about. Do you even know who he is?”

“Yes, Adam, I know very well who he is, as I already told you,” she said. “I’m not stupid.”

“Right now I’m not so sure about that,” he snapped.

She pulled the phone away and glared at it, imagining Adam’s head. How dare he? “Did you call just to insult me?” she demanded. “Because if you did…”

“Lils, I’m just worried about you.” Adam sighed. “I know Kincaid. He’s a douche with only one thing on his mind.”

“I’m perfectly aware of that.” He had no right to call her and start trying to dictate what she could and couldn’t do. He was her best friend, but she was not his sister or his girlfriend. It was about time he figured that out. It’s not like he had time for her anymore either. She’d agreed to go out with Nikoli more because she was mad at Adam than anything else. He’d blown her off one too many times for Sue, and today’s latest ditching session had grated more than she’d realized.

“Then why the hell did you agree to go out with him?” Adam exploded.

“Because I wanted to.” She could hear the irritation in her own voice, but she didn’t care.

“Lily, there are things you don’t know,” Adam stressed, “rumors about the kind of stuff he’s into…”

“Adam, I am not having this conversation with you,” she interrupted him.

“Well, you obviously need to have it with someone!” He paused to speak to someone in the background, and Lily heard him mumble Sue’s name. She groaned inwardly. He was talking about this with her there? Lily’s face flamed up, and she felt mortified.

“Look, I gotta go,” she said. “People are lining up outside, and I have to give them the speech.”

“Lily, this conversation isn’t over,” he warned. “You are way out of his league…”

“I’m not good enough for him?” she shouted into the phone. “And why exactly is that, Adam? Am I not as pretty as some of his girls? Am I too boring? Too lame? What? Explain it to me.” Her voice had gone softer with each word.

Complete silence greeted her. He knew exactly how pissed she was in that moment.

“I’m waiting, Adam.”

She heard him take a deep breath. “That’s not what I meant, Lily.”

“No?” she asked softly. “I hate to break this to you, Adam, but just because you don’t see me, doesn’t mean other people don’t. Now if you’ll excuse me, I don’t have time to listen to you piss and moan about something that is none of your damn business!”

She ended the call and threw the phone on her bed. Honest to God, he confused her sometimes. Like just then, he got all jealous and territorial, but other times, it was like she wasn’t even there. It could be the big brother complex he had, but that tiny spark of hope inside of her jumped up and down. Maybe he was jealous. In the end, it didn’t matter, though. He’d never seen what had always been in front of him, and he never would.

She had to get over it. Adam and Sue were getting married, and she needed to accept it. Once she graduated, she could move to New York and forget all about her problems. If Adam wasn’t in her face twenty-four-seven, she might be able to mend her broken heart.

A loud knock on her door interrupted her silent frustration. One of her returning girls from last year stood in the doorway, twisting her hands. Something was up.

“Mandy, what’s wrong?” she asked, concerned.

“It’s Stephanie,” she said. “Something’s wrong. She’s in our room crying, and I can’t get her to tell me why.”

With a sigh, Lily closed her door and followed Mandy down the hall to the room she shared with Stephanie. They were sophomores this year, and Lily tended to look out for them. Both were young and had made a lot of bad judgment calls last year. She’d even had to bust them once for drinking in their rooms. God only knew what Steph had done now.

The girl in question was curled up on her bed, her old stuffed bear held tightly against her chest as she sobbed brokenly. Her blonde hair was matted to her head and her dress wrinkled.

“What’s wrong, honey?” she asked, sitting down next to the girl.

“Go away,” she cried. “I’m too ashamed to talk about it.”

Lily’s instincts went on alert. “Did someone do something to you, Stephanie?”

She hiccupped and nodded her head. “I was so stupid, Lily. I knew better, and I did it anyway, thinking it’d be different with me. That he couldn’t be as bad as everyone said he was.”

Lily’s gut clenched. She had a feeling she knew exactly what happened. “Tell me,” she said slowly.

“I was going to eat lunch and he caught me before I went in.” She sniffled. “I couldn’t help it, I wanted to say no, really I did, but ohmygod, he’s so hot.”

“Nikoli Kincaid?” Lily asked, resigned.

Stephanie nodded. “Yeah. After, he just threw my dress at me and left. His friend told me to leave and not bother leaving my phone number. I’m so stupid, Lily. Why did I think I could make him look at me any differently? I know his reputation.”

Lily sighed. She’d heard all this before. “Every girl thinks that, Steph. They all think they’ll be the one to finally catch and hold his attention for more than a couple hours.”

“It wasn’t even that long,” she said forlornly. “It was only an hour, and he didn’t even bother to say good-bye. He had his friend throw me out.”

“Just check it off your bucket list,” Lily told her. “You had sex with BU’s very own manwhore. Everyone else has, so why not you?”

That caused Stephanie to giggle. “He is hot, and the sex was really great.”

“See, it’s not the end of the world, is it? Now you know what all the hype was about, and you can go on and find a nice guy this semester to fall for, yeah?”

Stephanie smiled before lunging up to hug Lily, who went completely still, fighting the scream that rose in her throat. “You’re the best, Lily. I’m glad you’re our dorm mom!”

“Just promise me you two won’t have any more beer parties this year, please.” She gave Stephanie a strained smile and disentangled herself as fast as she could. She winced at the conspiratorial look Stephanie and Mandy gave each other. Dear God, they were going to give her white hairs before she was even twenty-two.

“We promise to try to behave as long as it doesn’t get in the way of our fun.” Mandy gave Lily a grin and pulled Stephanie to her feet. “Come on, Steph, you need to wash your face before we join everyone.”

Lily sighed and followed them out. They were good girls, just a little too mischievous for their own good. And they did ridiculously stupid things in the name of fun, like having sex with the slutty manwhore.

She and Nikoli had a lot of things to talk about, and if he had any thoughts of seducing her, they’d die as soon as she told him in no uncertain terms she’d never be a throwaway he forgot in less than five minutes. She refused to be the one on the bed crying because she let her guard down.