Daddies Brat

Leslie

Have you ever had a moment in your life where you thought, this can’t possibly be happening? An honest-to-God situation where you’re certain you must be dreaming? That’s what it was like seeing Riley walk through the front door of my new home. I was stunned. He just strode on inside with the other guy like they owned the place.

Which, I quickly realized, they did.

“Viking hunk!” Erin squealed happily.

Harper blinked behind his glasses. “Viking hunk?”

Riley was just as stunned as I was. His eyes widened, and he said, “Lauren!”

Harper swung his head back to me. “Lauren?”

“Yeah, Lauren,” Riley’s buddy said. I recognized him from the party last night. “That’s her name.”

“No,” Harper said slowly. “This is Leslie.” “Leslie?” Riley asked.

The other guy from the party frowned. “Leslie…”

“Leslie!” Erin hissed at me. “Start explaining yourself!”

“I met them at a party last night,” I said to Harper. “I’m only twenty, so I was using a fake ID.” I turned to Riley. “My real name is Leslie. Leslie Grimes.”

“So that’s why you couldn’t find her in the student directory,” the other guy told Riley.

“Student directory?” I asked.

Riley pointedly elbowed his friend in the ribs.

“I’m Avery!” the other guy said, ignoring the nudge from Riley and rushing forward to shake my hand. He was grinning widely, like the whole thing was hilarious. Which it probably was to a bystander. “I saw you at the party last night, but we didn’t meet.”

“I’m just Riley,” Riley said, not shaking my hand. “You know. The same name I told you last night.”

His anger reignited mine. He ditched me last night. I felt my hands ball into fists. He ditched me, then tried to look me up online. He’s doing exactly what Erin said: avoiding me to make me desperate.

“All of you know each other already?” Harper asked.

“Yes,” I said at the same time Riley answered, “Apparently not.” “You ditched me last night!” I accused.

Riley opened his mouth, then closed it again. I could see the gears turning in his head. He was trying to think of an excuse.

Son of a bitch.

Remembering what really mattered here, I turned back to Harper. “I thought I was moving in with three women. Not three guys with ambiguous names.”

“Riley has long hair!” Avery said. “I have to clean it out of the bathtub once a week. That’s kind of like living with a girl.”

“This is unbelievable,” I said. “I don’t have a place to live. I’m homeless. And classes start in…” I glanced at my watch. “Less than twenty-four hours.”

“Why are you homeless?” Avery asked.

“Because I can’t live with the three of you.”

“Why not? Because we’re guys?” Avery waved a dismissive hand. “You’ve got your own bedroom to yourself upstairs. We promise not to bite. We’re gone half the time anyway, at class or whatever. You’ll barely know we’re here.”

“He’s got a point,” Erin said next to me. “You’re all adults. We lived in a co-ed dorm freshman year. This isn’t any different.” She leaned in close and lowered her voice. “Except the three guys here are much hotter than the guys were on our hall.”

I gave her a pointed look. She stared right back at me defiantly.

She’s right, a voice whispered in my head. This isn’t much different than freshman year. I’m more mature now than I was back then. And I don’t have any other options. I already signed the lease remotely…

“Do you need help moving your stuff in?” Avery asked. “That’s one benefit of living with guys: we can help with the heavy lifting.”

I glanced at Harper. Although he wasn’t big and muscular like the other two, he wasn’t scrawny, either.

“Thanks, but I don’t need any help,” I replied. “My dad is-shit. My dad!” I turned to Erin. “He’s going to be here any minute! And he definitely won’t like me living with three dudes.”

“We can leave,” Harper said. “We’ll go get breakfast and be out of your hair.”

“We just got back from breakfast,” Riley said.

“Then we’ll make like hobbits and have second breakfast. Or go for a walk around campus. Point is, we’ll leave Leslie alone so she can move in.” He glanced at me. “Does that work?”

“Yeah,” I admitted. “That would be great.”

Avery opened the front door and stepped outside, and that was the exact moment my dad pulled up in his truck. He honked the horn twice, which caused Avery to jump back inside and close the door.NôvelDrama.Org: text © owner.

“Shit.” He winced at me. “I think we’re too late.”

“Fuck,” I said, looking around the living room. There was a hall next to the kitchen. “What’s down that way?”

“The laundry room, and my bedroom,” Harper replied.

“Can you hide in there until my dad is gone?” I asked. “I’m kind of the baby of the family, and he’s protective of me. Like, the kind of protective where he might randomly show up and start cleaning a shotgun in front of you.”

“I already had zero desire to meet your dad, and now I’m terrified,” Harper said. “We’ll hide back there. Right, guys?” “Yeah, totally,” Avery said.

Riley still looked stunned to see me. After a moment, he nodded. The three of them hurried down the hall, and a door closed.

“They’re hot!” Erin whispered. “All three of them! You hit the roommate jackpot.”

“That’s not a prize I want to cash in right now,” I hissed at her. I opened the front door, and my dad was standing there, raising a fist to knock.

“There’s my baby girl!” he said, wrapping me in a hug. “Feels like just yesterday we were moving you into your freshman dorm. And now you’re a senior.”

“Time has flown by, Mr. Grimes,” Erin said.

“This place is really nice,” dad said, stepping inside and looking around. “Who was that guy I saw?”

Erin and I looked at each other. “What guy?”

“When I pulled up in the truck. A guy was standing in the doorway.”

I felt myself begin to panic. I didn’t have any excuse for him-no good excuse, at least. Fortunately, Erin had it covered.

“That was my boyfriend!” she blurted out. She raised her voice and called, “Avery, sweetie? Come meet Leslie’s dad.”

There was a long pause before the back bedroom door opened. Avery came walking down the hall toward us, a nervous smile on his face. Erin was right: he was hot, just like Riley, although in a totally different way. He had golden brown hair that was messy, but in a controlled way, if that made sense. And his eyes were a deep chestnut color that instantly made me trust him.

“Hi,” he said, giving a nervous little wave.

My dad barked a laugh. “Erin hasn’t had a boyfriend in the four years she’s been friends with my daughter. About time you settled down, if you don’t mind me saying.”

“I was just waiting for the right guy!” Erin slid an arm around Avery’s waist and gave him a little peck on the cheek.

“Glad I was able to lock her down,” Avery said, putting an arm around her. His hand slid lower, toward her ass.

“Good for you.” Dad glanced at me. “Let’s grab the mattress first. I could use a hand, Avery, if you don’t mind.”

As soon as he was outside, Erin turned and smacked Avery’s hand away. “Who said you could grab my ass?”

“You kissed my cheek first!”

“Because I was trying to make it believable.”

“Same here,” Avery replied in annoyance. “And he totally bought it.

You’re welcome.”

Erin tapped him on the chest. “You’re lucky you’re cute.”

“Shut up and come help me unload the truck,” I said. “The sooner I’m moved in, the sooner Dad will leave.”

I didn’t have a lot of stuff. A bed frame, mattress, and a single bedside table. An old dresser from the guest bedroom back home. Then it was just boxes of my belongings, mostly clothes and toiletries. My bedroom was upstairs, along with one other. Riley’s room, I mentally noted.

“It’s a shame you have to share a bathroom,” Dad commented at one point. “But at least it’s big.”

“It’s better than the shared dorm bathrooms,” Erin agreed, giving me a positive smile.

After hauling the last box upstairs, Dad paused in the doorway of the bedroom next to mine. “Your roommate has a poster on the wall… is that

Margot Robbie?”

Panicking, I said, “I think one of my roommates is a lesbian.”

“Huh,” Dad said, scanning the room. “I guess that explains why this feels like a guy’s room. You know, everyone seems to be a lesbian or bisexual these days. Not that there’s anything wrong with that,” he quickly added.

“Damn right there’s not,” Erin said, raising an eye challengingly.

“You know how colleges are,” I said, leading my dad away from the room. “Lots of queer representation. Don’t make a big deal out of it.”

“Who’s making a big deal out of it? I was just commenting. I think it’s great.” He gestured at Erin. “If she wants to date women for a while before finally settling down with Avery, that’s terrific.”

Avery’s eyes went wide. “You’re bisexual?”

I didn’t think telepathy was a real thing, but Erin and I tried our best to scream at him using only our minds.

“I mean… you’re bisexual!” he said, recovering poorly. “You don’t have to settle down with me. If you want to keep seeing women, I’m fine with that. Especially if you want to explore certain… group situations.”

My dad chuckled and went to the kitchen to pour a glass of water. As soon as his back was turned, Erin flicked Avery in the ear.

Then I heard whispering down the hall in Harper’s bedroom. It sounded like he and Riley were arguing.

“Now that I’m all moved in,” I said loudly to my dad, “do you want to get some food? I know of a good brunch place near here. We should go right now, before it gets crowded.”

Dad gulped down his water and replied, “I hate leaving so quickly, but I really ought to hit the road. It’s a seven hour drive back to Flagstaff, and I don’t want to split it into two days like the trip here. Unless you really want to get brunch. I don’t want you thinking I’m just dumping your stuff off…”

“Nope, totally fine,” I quickly said. “I would want to get on the road, too.”

Dad shook hands with Avery, hugged Erin, and then went out to his truck. I walked out with him to say goodbye privately.

“I’m gonna miss you, baby girl,” he said. “Home is real quiet without you.”

“Are you calling me loud?” I teased.

He smirked. “I’m not not calling you loud. I think your new roommates will get along with you just fine.” He looked up at the house. “I’ve got a good feeling about all of this. And you know I’m a good judge of these sorts of things.”

“Yeah, totally.”

“Wish I could’ve met your roommates. Maybe Mom and I will get to meet them if we come back for homecoming weekend.”

“Maybe so!”

I hugged him one last time, then stood on the lawn as he drove away. I sighed heavily. That could have been a disaster, and I had narrowly avoided it.

I turned back to the house, and all three guys were standing on the front porch with Erin. Waiting to see what I would do.

Now I have to figure out how to solve this disaster.