Campus King - Mickey Miller Page 0,3

anyway. And me living with three guys? It would be fine.”

“Just be careful, okay?” Mom says. “I worry about you, Char.”

“You’re such a worrier, Mom. What’s the worst that could happen?”

Chapter 2

Charlotte

I gather all the info I can about the place and think through whether or not living as one girl with three guys would be a wise move for my senior year of college. It turns out they’re pretty desperate to have a fourth roommate move in ASAP who can share the rent with them.

He gives me the address and I drive my trusty old Toyota Corolla to their house on First Street a little after two p.m. on Sunday. After I crashed our brand-new Saturn Ion back in high school, my mom bought me this gem with the insurance payout, which has a radio and a CD player, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I find the house. It’s colored a shade of light gray, and on a slight hill that faces out toward the street. It’s flanked by two beautiful, thick-trunked trees on either side, the closest we get to Greek columns in the Midwest. Pretty decent curb appeal for a college rental, which surprises me.

I text Baker and tell him I’m here, then get out of the car and assess the area.

I look out at the soccer field across the road and watch a couple of female students kicking a ball back and forth. It’s as close to campus as you can get without being ‘on campus’ housing.

There’s no doubt in my mind. Unless something is deathly wrong with this room, I’m taking it—based on location alone.

The door opens and a voice calls to me.

“Hey there, Charlotte.” It’s Baker.

I turn around and lock eyes with him. He’s big and has a chin that juts out, almost like he’s the human equivalent of Johnny Bravo.

“Hey, Baker!”

“Come on in,” he says.

Baker holds the door open for me, and I head up the stairs and onto the porch. He’s handsome in the typical football player way, and probably has a pretty defined build under his t-shirt, I assume.

Probably because he is a football player for GSU.

“So, you’re looking for a last-minute room?” he asks.

“I was supposed to live with my boyfriend, and then we broke up. So, yeah, definitely in need of a last-minute room.”

“Oh.”

The porch floor is unfinished, and there’s a shelf full of books on one side. The rest of the screened-in area is filled out with a few chairs and a rose-patterned loveseat.

“Did you guys furnish this place?” I ask.

He nods. “Colin picked that one up.”

My stomach tumbles just at the name Colin.

The fact that the guy I went to high school with still gives me the urge to run for the hills just upon hearing the syllables of his name really is a testament to how deeply my distaste for the man runs.

Colin attended Saint Simeon College, our archrival school in sports and academics, not Greene State. Everyone at Galesburg High School knew where he went.

The fact that he’s a year older than the rest of us has me wondering why Colin is living here as a fifth-year senior. Plus, I doubt Colin would pick up a rose-patterned loveseat at the Salvation Army. That’s most definitely not his style.

Baker opens the door to the main house and I follow him inside.

“Built in 1881,” he says.

The foyer is roomy, and in the front side room they’ve set up a couple of desks for a study area. The place seems relatively clean, which was my number-one worry about moving in with three male species. In the “dining” room area, they have a small table for eating, but also an L-shaped couch and a wall-mounted TV.

“Wow, this place is really nice. I guess I just don’t understand why the rent is so affordable? It’s only two-hundred-fifty dollars a month?”

Baker shrugs. “Some bestselling author who went to Greene actually purchased it to write a few books while living out here, then he moved away and now he rents the place out. It’s a grand, divided between four roommates total, that’s two-fifty. I don’t ask questions when the rent is this low.”

“Oh, I see.”

“I suppose if you’re looking for a catch, there is only one bathroom on the second floor.”

I grimace slightly. Three guys and one girl in a bathroom. I would obviously have to lay down the law and a lot of ground rules.

He takes me through the kitchen—which is very modern and nice—and around back through another