Ava blushed. “Sorry,” she said to Savannah and me. “I’m a Lions fan.” She got her ass slapped. “I am a Saints fan with an appreciation for the Lions,” she corrected herself with an eye roll, a grin, and a wink at Dante.
I saw him smile at her, and I saw her tiny step back when her boyfriend pulled her closer. Dante’s smile widened.
There was another set of footsteps on the stairs, and then a brunette walked in who looked like she should be on the front page of a magazine.
“Why are we all standing?” she asked, hugging Dustin, who I noticed wrapped his arms around her easily. “Hey, Dust, how are you? Take a seat, guys.”
I sat down beside Savannah, my eyes on the brunette.
“Seriously,” I mumbled to her, “what the heck is in the water here? They all look like movie stars.”
“So,” Ava said, looking at us all. “Ash said you needed to talk to me about stats?”
Chapter 27
Hadley
Dante moved slightly, bringing her attention back to him.
“Yeah, Ava, we wanted to talk to you because we know you always know everything about the Lions,” he said smoothly, and Jett’s eyes narrowed to slits.
“Why are you here?” Jett asked coolly.
Dante didn’t smile; he didn’t even look at him. “If you let me speak, you’d know.”
Jett waved his hand. “Not you. Why areyouhere?” His gaze turned to Savannah. “Dust could have done this, but I want to know why the daughter of the dean of Wrighton University is sitting in my house.”
All eyes fell to Savannah. She was watching Jett. “How do you know who I am?”
Jett held up his phone, and there was an image of Savannah and Dante kissing.
So he’d looked them up before they arrived?
Savannah leaned forward. “When was that taken?” she demanded of Dante.
“Who cares?” the twin said. “What’s going on? And why does it involve Ava?”
There was a tense silence, and then I sighed. “Hi, anyone who cares or doesn’t care. I’m Hadley Peterson.” I looked over my shoulder. “Is the rest of the house empty?”
The twins stared at me, and it was the cousin who answered. “No. Why?”
“I’d prefer a controlled environment,” I told him honestly. “Too many openings here right now.”
Jett looked at Gray, and Gray glared back. Then, with a sigh, he stalked to a door in the kitchen, opened it, and bellowed down the stairs. “All freshmen upstairs now.”
In a bizarre flurry of activity, eleven of us were in the basement, and the freshmen who lived there were all upstairs in the main living room. Ash checked the rooms and then turned to us.
“We’re good.”
“Who the hell are you people?” I asked, fascinated.
Ash’s lips twitched.
“Spill,” Gray demanded, his attention on Dante. “Who is she? Why is she here?”
“My name is Hadley,” I told him firmly. “I am a journalism major, and I need to know some details about a player at Wrighton University. It was four years ago, and our records have been damaged. Dustin tells me Ava is a walking textbook for stats. I was hoping you may remember him?” I asked Ava.
“Four years ago.” She thought about it. “Um, I can try. Who is it?”