"Oh, what do you care? I could buy a fuckin'...ostrich and your rich daddy wouldn't even notice the charge." She threw her head back, her laughter like a shriek. "Ostrich."

Garrett looked at him like he was scum of the earth. "You are going down." He turned to his buddies. "Call the cops. Now."

"That's not necessary, is it?" his uncle said. "Everything's been returned, no harm done."

Garrett got right up in his face. "Are you fuckin' kidding me? They stole from me."

More people came out of the house, lights flicked on in other rooms, windows opened.

"My nephew recovered everything."

"You drive a fucking Ferrari." His mom's voice turned brittle. "What does it matter to you?"

Rage tensed Garrett's features. "Listen, you psycho-"

"Stop." Dylan shouted so loudly everyone froze and stared at him. "Just stop." Motioning Garrett to follow him, he moved a few paces away. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

Garrett followed. "This is bullshit." His arms crossed over his chest, his whole body shaking with rage.

"Listen, I'm sorry about this. My mom's an addict." He fucking hated saying those words. "She doesn't know what she's doing. I get that you're pissed. I'd be, too. Believe me, no one understands better than I do." He had to convince him. "She's been clean all summer, so we thought...we thought she was good. I can promise you, if you let her go right now, you'll never see her again. My uncle will take her back to the airport, and she won't come out here again." He let out a shaky breath, hoping he could get through to this guy. "There's no harm done, so I'd appreciate it if you'd let her go. Can you do that for me?"

Garrett flexed his fingers, upper lip curling, exposing his teeth.

Dylan caught a quick glance at the crowd. The guy who'd wanted to partner with him for beer pong leaned against the porch column, hands dug deeply in his pockets. The group he'd talked to in the living room laughed quietly with each other.

And then he saw Caroline. Alert, focused. Like she was invested in the situation.

Fucking hell.

Finally, Garrett let out a breath. "Fine. Just get her out of here."

"Oh, my God." Caroline broke from the crowd in her tiny pajama shorts and tank top. "You're not letting them get away with this."

"Leave it alone." Garrett just looked tired.

"Are you kidding me? They stole your car." She stabbed a finger at Dylan. "He was driving. We all saw it. Call the police."

"The matter's been resolved." Uncle Zach clapped a hand on Dylan's shoulder, using pressure to turn him away from the others. "I'm sorry, son. I really am." And then he reached for Dylan's mom, giving Dylan a tight nod. "I'm taking her back to the hotel. We'll be on the first flight out this morning."

"The hell we will." His mom fought like a wild cat, but his uncle herded her away. Whatever he whispered in her ear seemed to work, because she settled down. She never looked back.

Dylan closed his eyes against the sharp pain in his heart.

"Well, I'm calling campus security," Caroline said. "There's not a chance in hell I'm living with a thief. He's right across the hall from me."

The weight of disappointment bore down so heavily, Dylan wanted to crash to his knees. But the McCaffrey shitshow was over, and he needed to put an end to the spectacle. He started for the house.

Caroline blocked his path.

He gave her his death glare, the one that never failed to make people back off.

She faltered. He could see the fear in her eyes, but she held her ground. She looked around to her friends. She must've seen something in their eyes because she turned back to him, narrowing her gaze. "You're not living in this house."

"What is the matter with you?" Nicole stormed down the porch steps. "It's over, okay? Let it go." She gestured to his uncle and Mom, slowly disappearing into the darkness. "She's gone."

Tension pounded so hard in his head he could barely think. He couldn't lose his housing. His scholarship covered the Scholar House, not dorms or off-housing apartments. And certainly not the twenty-six hundred dollar a semester meal plan.

"Oh, please," Caroline said. "What if he'd stolen from you? Nobody wants him here after a stunt like that."

As if they were old friends, Nicole wrapped her hand around Dylan's biceps. "He didn't steal anything. He's the one who brought everything back."

He hated that his life had been exposed to these people. Hated that his family had given his mom another chance and she'd blown it.

"Either he moves out or I call security." Caroline pulled a phone out of the waistband of her shorts.

Hated that someone like Nicole had to be exposed to this kind of ugliness.

"News flash, heiress, the tiara only sparkles on Park Avenue. It has no power out here." Nicole tugged on his arm. "Come on. Let's just go to bed."

But Dylan needed this to end. "No." He pulled his arm away. "I'm moving out."

Nicole swung around to him. "You don't have to do that." She looked to Caroline, then Garrett. "His mom is sick. She has a disease."

After everything that'd happened tonight, Dylan knew he couldn't live with these people. "Forget it. I'm gone."

"No. Everything will look different in the morning. Right, you guys?"

Only Garrett responded. "Yeah, sure."

"The hell it will," Caroline said. "I'm not living with white trash."

"Oh, my God, guess what? You're not special. Your parents might be rich-cool-but you're not." Nicole stepped back, appealing to the others who just stood on the lawn watching. "Come on, you guys. No one wants him to move out, right?" Nobody said a word. "You're just going to stand there? Oh, my God. What is the matter with you people? Dylan didn't do anything."

When no one said anything, she shook her head. "You people horrify me."

"Ha. We horrify you?" Caroline's voice rose. "That's hilarious coming from the freaky little food-hoarder."

All his own worries dropped away the moment he saw Nicole's look of utter anguish. He reached for her, grabbing her a little too roughly, but thinking only of getting her away from these assholes. He towed her through the crowd, aware she hadn't said a word in response.

When they hit the porch, James stepped forward. "What the hell was that?"

"I'm leaving," Nicole said, her voice a whisper.

"What?" James said.

Her spirit seemed to flow back into her. "I'm moving out."

"No, you're not." Dylan turned her to face him. "This is my problem, not yours."

"I'm not living with these people."

Holy shit. He hadn't even started his third day.

So much for his clean slate.

The moment Dylan came out of his freshman seminar, he found Nicole and James huddled together on the quad. He ignored the cut of jealousy at seeing the two so close. Whatever attraction he might've felt for her-this morning's bullshit had killed it.

He had enough on his plate anyway. Jesus, the scene on the lawn kept flashing in his mind. What the hell should he do? Should he go back home and take care of her? He'd like to think he could convince his family to give her a chance to pull out of this tailspin, but they'd given her too many chances over the years. She'd failed them every time.

Then again, she'd never been sober this long. Besides, hadn't her sponsor said she'd stumble a few times before gaining enough strength to maintain a lifetime of sobriety?

He was so bummed for his mom. In any event, he had shit to do, and hanging out with his former housemates wasn't on the list-no matter how pretty Nicole looked in a white sundress with a yellow sash. And those battered red sneakers.

They looked up and saw him, Nicole beaming one of her radiant smiles.

And just when it started to penetrate, when the heat of it sank in, he shook it off. Nope, not going there. There was one absolute truth in his life: anyone who got near him got the blowback from his mom.

And that shit was not touching Nicole. Not more than it already had, anyway.

He gave them a nod and walked right on by.

"Oh, so that's how it's gonna be," Nicole called after him.

"Where you going?" James fell into step beside him.

"Find a place in town."

"No need." James reached for him. "Hang on a sec, okay?"

Nicole came up on his other side. "We must've done great things in a former life, because karma is totally our bitch."

He didn't want to ask what she meant. He really didn't. He just wanted to find a room. But, damn, if she didn't make him smile. So, he stopped, waited for her to go on.

"The Music Man here scored us spectacular new digs."

He shifted his gaze to James. "You're moving out, too?"

"He is now." Nicole nodded to James. "Tell him."

"This girl from my high school lives in a house right across the street from campus. She doesn't really need rent money, so I figured she hadn't looked too hard for roommates. I called her this morning."

Nicole's fingers brushed across his hand. "Turns out she hadn't."

Holy hell. Her simple touch lit him up inside. What was it about her?

"We're heading there right now," James said. "If you want to come."

"Sounds great. Thanks for thinking of me, but I'm just going to find a room in town." He broke away, giving them a nod.

He'd be better off on his own.

CHAPTER THREE.

Nicole caught up with him. "Hang on."

"It's that big white house right there. The colonial." James pointed to the end of the road. "With the blue shutters?"

He didn't bother looking. "Since I'm going to be working in town, it makes sense that I live there, too."

A hint of a breeze drew the fishy scent of the lake across campus. The hem of Nicole's white dress fluttered around her thighs, and he peered into hazel eyes that seemed to see right into the heart of him. She didn't look hurt or offended or even desperate to get her way. She just looked, well, sweet.

"Okay, but will you hear me out?"

Of course he would. This girl pretty much had him by the balls.

"You're not going to walk into town and find a place to live just like that. But we might find the perfect situation in that one. So, for the fifteen minutes it'll take, come with us and check it out. Nothing to lose, but something to gain."

These two had seen the whole thing go down with his mom, and they still wanted to room with him? That was a first. Still, he'd rather live off campus. "I'm just going to find something cheap. A room in some old lady's house or something."

"Sydney's charging us two hundred a month," James said. "Think you can do better than that?"

"Two hundred?" He couldn't beat that price anywhere. Unless he had to buy a meal plan. "Would we get to use the kitchen?"

Wait, why was he even asking?

"Of course," James said. "Hey, come on, it'll be fun. The three amigos. We'll have a blast together."

"Yeah, I don't think so." The image of his mom stumbling out of the Ferrari in front of his housemates flashed again.

"Wait, but I got us matching robes and everything." Nicole grabbed his arm and gave him a little shake. "Would you lighten up? We're talking about a place to live. We're not inviting you into our super-secret fraternity with the special handshake. Besides, we don't even like you that much."

She bit back her smile, and he wanted to do something-anything-that made her unleash it. He needed to feel that rush of happiness and heat she gave him.

"This is the perfect situation all around," James said. "You can't go wrong."

He pulled in a deep breath, gave them a half-smile. "I'm trying to save your asses from me."

"Do you actually think you're the only person in the world with crazy parents?" Nicole said. "Please. Now stop taking yourself so seriously and come with us to see our new digs."

In spite of his very best intentions to head into town and set himself up away from everyone on campus, everything changed when she reached for his hand-hers so delicate and soft-and clasped his like she had a lover's right.