“He’s not. We were just… doing laundry.” Doing laundry? What the hell?
“Laundry?” He laughed. “Your clothes didn’t make it. There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. Kinky girls are the best. How about a drink, Penny?”
“I’m good.” I was still holding my glass of cherry coke.
“At least let me add to that for you.”
“I probably shouldn’t.”
“What, because you’re 20? Trust me, James had his fair share of drinks before he was 21.” He walked behind the bar and opened up the small fridge. He popped the top off a beer and took a sip. “Besides, you can’t tell me that a hot college chick who fucks her professor and plays strip pool doesn’t also drink?” He grabbed a bottle of vodka off the shelf. “You seem to like breaking the rules.” He held up the bottle and raised his left eyebrow. Just like James always did when he was challenging me.
“You don’t have much of a filter, do you?”
He laughed. “Give me your glass.”
I walked over to him and put my glass down on the bar. He poured way more than a shot of vodka into it.
“Cheers,” he said and lifted up his glass.
“Cheers.” I knocked mine against his and took a sip. I could barely taste the soda.
“So is this going to get me in trouble?” he asked.
I laughed. “No, I don’t think so. Sometimes it’s hard to tell what will set James off though.”
“Yeah, tell me about it. He actually seems more relaxed than I’ve seen him in a long time. You must be good in bed.”
What the fuck? He really didn’t have a filter. I couldn’t tell whether he was flirting with me or just completely messing with me. I laughed awkwardly.
He looked over at the clothes all over the room again. “But seriously, please tell me you have some single friends. Preferably ones who are super kinky and blush as much as you.”
“I’m not sure any of my friends could handle you.”
“What? I’m a nice guy. I’m just messing with you because you’re dating my brother. That’s what little brothers do. Are you an only child or something?”
“Yes.”
“Then I guess you wouldn’t understand.”
Was that really what little brothers did? That sounded awful. I had always wished for a sibling. Maybe I was better off without one. “I guess not. But I don’t think little brothers are supposed to flirt with their older brother’s girlfriends.”
“I’m not flirting with you. Okay, sorry, maybe I was a little. But usually said girlfriends aren’t closer to the little brother’s age and super, super hot. I’ve been in Costa Rica for six months. It’s been a long time since I’ve gotten laid by an American college student.”
I rolled my eyes at him.
“How serious are you guys anyway?”
“He quit his job for me. He asked me to move in.” He asked me to marry him an hour ago.
“Right, right. So back to your friends then…” He leaned on the bar. “Or if you have a twin or something. Oh fuck, now I’m going to have dreams about threesomes. You’re killing me!”
“With me and James? That’s pretty weird…”
He started laughing again. “No, I’m not into devil’s threesomes. Especially with my brother. I meant with you and your twin.”
“I don’t have a twin.”
“Ah, yeah, I guess you did say that you were an only child. Just my luck.” He took a long sip of his beer. “What year are you anyway?”
“I’m a sophomore.”
“A sophomore? So how did you and James happen exactly?”
“I thought you said he caught you up?”
“He said that you were his student. And that he quit to be with you. And that all those news vans are out there because the school thinks he slept with tons of other students too. But I doubt that’s true. Cause look at you.”
I laughed. I was pretty sure he was just messing with me. James was wrong; Rob was funny. Fun and funny. “We ran into each other before I realized he was my professor. He was going into the coffee shop and I was going out. We bumped into each other and I spilled coffee all over myself. So he let me borrow his sweater. It was really sweet. I never even thought I’d see him again. But then the next day I went to my 8 a. m. class and he walked in. I was completely shocked that he was my professor.”
“Very cute. But I don’t get it. How did you wind up together?”
“It progressed pretty slowly. We ran into each other late one night on Main Street after I had a bad time at this frat party. And he walked me home. He gave me his number, under the premise that he was concerned about me walking home alone at night.” Talking about everything made me smile. I loved him so much. “We kind of flirted in class a lot. And what really set it off was that he gave me a bad grade when I thought I deserved an A. So I stormed into his office.” I could feel myself blushing again. “The rest is history.”
“So you fucked in his office?”
“Um, yeah.” And it was incredibly hot.
“See… you’re very kinky. I think I want to become a professor. I guess they have a vacancy now, huh?”
I laughed. “Professor’s aren’t supposed to do that. That’s why James doesn’t have a job anymore. You’re better off just going to that Halloween party you mentioned if you want to hook up with a college girl.”
He laughed. “Yeah, I’m just kidding anyway. I could not be a professor. Besides for the hot students, it sounds incredibly boring. I’m not sure what James was even doing here. I kind of thought he’d be here for a few months and then go back to New York. I get it now though.”
I wondered how much Rob knew about James. Maybe he didn’t even know about James addiction problem. But he had known that James didn’t love Isabella. Maybe they were closer than I originally thought. And James had asked him to live here for awhile.
“He didn’t stay because of me. We only met at the beginning of this semester. I think he just needed a change from New York.”
“Yeah, me too. But Costa Rica wasn’t it for me either. I’m thinking a college town is right where I belong.” He gave me his dazzling smile. “So, what kind of weird stuff is James into?”
“What?”
“You know. Give me something good so I can make fun of him when he gets out of the shower.”
“He’s not into anything weird.” He just likes being in control and spanking me when I’ve done something bad. I bit my lip.
“You’re totally lying. Come on, tell me. This is going to be hilarious.”
I heard the shower turn off. “There isn’t anything weird.”
“Please, Penny. All we ever do is mess with each other. It’s going to be funny, I promise.”
I wanted to bond with him. “I don’t know. Sometimes he spanks me.”
A smile spread across Rob’s face. “So that’s what you’re into? I’ll spank you right now if you want.”
I folded my arms across my chest. “You’re kind of ridiculous.”
“Thanks. You’re kind of sexy. Nah, that’s a lie. You’re super sexy.”
James walked into the room and looked down at the clothes on the ground. “Oops,” he said and wrapped his arms around me.