“I’m tired and have better things to do with my time, Tucker. Don’t waste it, or I’m out of here.”
“Maybe this was a bad idea.”
She raises an eyebrow at me. “Maybe.”
I remove a fifty-dollar bill from my pocket and get up from the table. “For your time.” Then, I shove the book back into my bag and sling it over my shoulder, staring at her. “As always, Eden, it’s been a pleasure.”
Her lips form something between a snarl and a smirk. “Good luck, Tucker. You will need it.”
Annoyed she wasted my time, I leave Broad Street Beans and head straight to Greek Row. I walk into the Delta Sigma Phi chapter house without knocking. I’m an honorary brother, though I never considered pledging the fraternity.
A group of guys are lounging on the living room couches, drinking Bud Light cans.
“Yo,” Professor says, raising his beer in the air. “Tuck’s here. Time to party.”
I received a similar greeting from the rest of the guys. With how much time I spend here, I could probably move in if I wanted to. But that would be a horrible idea. My grades are already shit.
Professor lifts a beer from the table and throws it at me. Palming the aluminum can in my right hand, I shove it into my jeans pocket. I’m not about to ruin a three-hundred-dollar shirt with shitty beer.
I’ll save it for later.
“Is Romeo upstairs?” I ask, heading toward the steps.
“Yeah, should be.” Professor sips from his beer. “Tell him to come down and chill and stop being a pussy.”
I laugh because the thought of Romeo turning down an opportunity to drink is unusual. I’m surprised he’s not drunk already.
Once I reach the top floor, I open the presidential suite door and climb the stairs. He lives in a furnished attic converted into a small apartment. We’ve had our fair share of crazy parties in this room.
Before I see him, I hear metal clanking together and a whooshing sound. Romeo’s on the floor in front of the oversized flat screen hung on the wall in his living room, leaning back in a gaming chair while tapping the buttons on a controller.
“Mage Wars,” I say from behind him.
“Yeah. Jamie got me hooked on this game.” He motions his head to the open chair next to him. “Grab a controller. We can do multi-player after I finish this level.”
I remove the beer from my pocket and sit beside him, getting comfortable in the plush chair before cracking open the can. Foam spills onto my hand that I’m forced to lick off before chugging as much overflowing beer as possible.
His gaze shifts back to the screen. He feverishly clicks buttons on the remote, yelling at the magicians he’s fighting in the game. “Damn, this game is fucking hard.”
“I still haven’t gotten past level twenty-five. Preston’s almost finished the game.”
“Jamie beat it weeks ago,” he groans. “Fucking cheater.”
Jamie’s dad is the creator of Mage Wars and owns a global gaming company. He’s a tech genius and a hardcore gamer like his dad. Unfortunately for me, Jamie still hasn’t been able to track down the IP address of the blogger trying to ruin my life. He said something about the IP changing too fast for him to locate it.
“Nah, his dad would never give him cheat codes. Uncle Jameson laughs at Preston every time he texts him for help.”
Romeo nods. “So, what’s up?”
Oh, right? The reason I stopped here.
“I wanted to talk to you about your ex or whatever you want to call her.”
He cocks his head at me. “Eden?”
“Yeah. She’s my tutor. Or at least she was until we got into a fight at Broad Street Beans.”
He chuckles. “Eden isn’t a tutor.”
