We baked the frozen snacks while I cut vegetables and Hailey cleaned up the mess she’d made. She explained that she hadn’t gone to the store until that morning, because Sean had wanted to hang out at home the night before. She wiggled her eyebrows as she said it.

  “Where is Sean?” I asked, carefully putting some sliced carrots onto a large plate.

  “He’s at the gym,” she replied easily. “Then he was going to go grab the kegs for tonight. He said he’d be home in time to shower before everyone got here.”

  It seemed kind of shitty to me that the guy hadn’t helped get the house ready for their big party, but I kept my mouth shut. People didn’t want to hear your opinion on their significant other. If she complained to me about him, I could agree and commiserate, but otherwise it wasn’t any of my business.

  I didn’t know much about Hailey’s boyfriend beyond the one time I’d met him and the few things she’d said in passing. Sean was nice enough, I guess, but there was just something about him that didn’t seem right. I couldn’t pinpoint why he made me uneasy, but he did.

  We worked in tandem for over an hour, getting all the food set out and the furniture reorganized to accommodate all the people who might attend. She’d told everyone that the party started at five o’clock, but when I glanced at my phone, I noticed it was five twenty and no one had shown up. Sean wasn’t even back with the keg.

  “It’s five twenty,” I told her, dropping onto her couch. “When’s Sean supposed to be here?”

  “Shit, already?” she asked, reaching up to smooth her hair.

  “You look fine,” I told her. “Stop messing with it.”

  She nodded and looked around the room. “It looks good in here,” she said. “Hopefully no one goes in our bedroom, though. I haven’t unpacked all of the boxes yet.”

  I’d seen the boxes when she’d put my coat on her bed, but I hadn’t realized they were still full. The house looked finished already. It was so small, I wasn’t sure where she would have room to put anything else.

  “No one cares about boxes,” I assured her. “You guys just moved in a week ago.”

  “Crazy, right?” She laughed. “It happened so fast!”

  “Honey, I’m home,” Sean called out as he pushed open the front door. “Hold the door for me, would you, babe?”

  I stood up from the couch as Hailey hurried to hold the door, and watched as Sean carried in two kegs and set them in the middle of the floor.

  “Hey, Sarai,” he said with a nod. He handed Hailey a plastic grocery bag. “Here’s the taps. I’m gonna hop in the shower, and then I’ll get them set up.”

  He walked away without a word about the house or the food or any apology for being late.

  Hailey set the taps on the kitchen table. “We’re all ready now!”

  “Hey, babe, come wash my back,” Sean called, making my friend giggle.

  “I’ll be right back,” she said, holding up one finger.

  She was gone a lot longer than a minute. When someone knocked on the front door, I practically ran to it.

  “I think I might have the wrong house,” Alex said, grinning at me from the porch.

  “Funny,” I replied, waving him inside. “Please get in here.”

  “Where are Sean and Hailey?” he asked as he set a bottle of wine down on the coffee table. Just as he finished his sentence, a loud thump came from the direction of the bathroom, mixing in with the sound of running water.

  “Taking a shower,” I said, almost embarrassed that I was standing in their living room while they got busy.

  “No way,” he looked toward the bathroom and then back at me. “Did you just get here?”

  “No, I’ve been here for hours, helping Hailey get ready.”

  “Oh, man.” He laughed a little. “That’s bad form.”

  “I mean, am I supposed to just wait until they’re done?” I asked, smiling as he laughed again.

  “I say we find some paper and make some scorecards,” Alex replied. “Rate them as they walk out.”

  “Tempting,” I said. “But a little creepy.”

  “Or we could go for a walk,” he said. “The rain stopped.”

  “God, yes,” I agreed.

  I hurriedly grabbed one of Hailey’s coats hanging by the door and followed Alex back outside.

  “So, how’s school?” Alex asked as we made our way down the sidewalk. “Are you learning all sorts of super-important smart-people things?”

  I fought a grin. “Super-important smart-people things?”

  “Hell, I don’t even know what you’re studying. Business, right? That’s what an MBA is?”

  “Yeah,” I replied. “I’m hoping that I can get an upper-management position when I’m done. I could probably move up at the accounting firm where I work now, but I’m casting a wider net than that. I’m not sure that I want to stay in Missouri forever.”

  “Accounting, huh? Sounds boring,” he teased. “Although, if it means you get to stay here…”

  I laughed. “It is boring, but it’s also kind of nice. You can work numbers to get the outcome you want, but numbers never lie. There’s a beautiful symmetry to it all.”

  “Why didn’t you become an accountant, then?” he asked.

  “No way,” I said, shaking my head. “That’s too much pressure.”

  “But upper management is less pressure?” he asked, chuckling.

  “Different kind of pressure, at least.” I shrugged. “You want to know the truth?”

  “Always,” he said seriously, shooting me a sweet smile.

  “I started out as an accounting major, but the professor who taught almost all the classes I needed to graduate with that degree spent every lecture discussing college sports.” I rolled my eyes. “I knew I’d never be able to pass with him teaching me.”

  “That sucks.”

  “It all turned out okay,” I replied. “I like what I’m studying, and I’ll have far more opportunities to use it. I could work anywhere.”

  We’d made it almost all the way around the block, and I could see Hailey’s house ahead of us as it started to sprinkle rain.

  “Crap,” Alex said, pulling the hood of his jacket over his head.

  “I’m not running,” I told him as he sped up. I pulled my own hood over my hair. “With my luck, I’d slip and fall.”

  “I’d catch you,” he replied just as he slipped on the grass. He waved his arms around frantically, barely catching his balance before he fell.

  “I’ll take my chances walking,” I said, laughing as he turned wide eyes in my direction. “It’s safer.”

  “Let’s forget that just happened,” he whispered conspiratorially in my ear, throwing an arm over my shoulders as we reached Sean and Hailey’s house.

  “I don’t think I can do that,” I replied in mock seriousness.

  The front door swung open as we started up the porch stairs, and I didn’t even have time to enjoy the arm around me before it slid off my shoulders as Hailey stuck her head outside.

  “There you are! Where the heck have you been?”

  Alex laughed under his breath as I was pulled into the surprisingly crowded house. In the time it had taken me and Alex to circle the block, at least fifteen people had arrived, and the music had been turned up so loud I could barely hear my friend.

  More people poured in the front door a few minutes later, and before long the house was packed so full that there was barely any room to stand without touching someone else. I mingled, saying hello to classmates and their dates, but I considered the less crowded kitchen the prime real estate, considering the proximity to all the snacks Hailey and I had prepared.

  I noticed that the vegetable trays were looking pretty empty, so I began pulling extra carrots and celery out of the fridge. I was bent at the waist, trying to reach a container that had been shoved toward the back, when all of a sudden a hand grabbed my ass. It wasn’t a brush or a pinch; it was a full-on entire-hand grab.

  I’d spent my teenage years in New York and I’d dealt with my fair share of creeps, but I’d never been so blatantly groped in my entire life, and I was embarrassed by the way I froze in horror. My first thought wasn’t that someone was assaulting me or even that I was angry someone would touch me without permission. No, my first thought was that I shouldn’t have worn the tight jeans that accentuated my ass. I knew that was complete bullshit. It didn’t matter what I was wearing. I hadn’t done a damn thing wrong. Shame was almost instantly replaced with rage as I jerked away, practically diving toward the back of the fridge.

  “The fuck are you doing?” Alex’s angry voice thundered.

  I stood up and turned just as Alex’s fist met the face of a guy I’d never seen before in my life.

  “You like it when people put their hands on you without asking?” Alex asked, hitting him again. “Feel good?”

  “Man,” the guy said, clearly drunk if his slurred speech was anything to go by. “She was shaking it right in my face—what was I supposed to do?”

  Alex’s expression grew even darker as he slammed the guy against the wall. “You motherfucker,” he said, raising his fist again.

  “Evans,” a man called, pushing through the crowd. The man stopped Alex by wrapping an arm around his waist and lifting him off his feet. “Beating on civilians is a good way to get thrown in the brig.”

  “That fucker—” Alex replied, pointing at the bleeding idiot standing against the wall.

  “I know, I know. I saw what happened,” his friend said soothingly as he dragged him back a few feet. “We’ll take care of him, all right?”

  Alex’s eyes met mine from across the room, and I felt my cheeks heat with embarrassment and something very close to gratitude. My rescuer didn’t relax until a couple of guys grabbed the groper and shoved him out of the room. As the people around us went back to what they were doing before the drama, Alex mouthed, Are you okay? At my nod, he turned and let the big guy lead him away.

  I was ready to leave at that point, but some stubborn part of me refused to show that I was shaken up. I went back to filling the vegetable trays as if nothing had happened, even though my hands were shaking. I took my time, making sure that everything was placed just so, before putting the extra food back in the fridge.

  Then I walked slowly toward the living room, planning on getting my coat and making a quiet exit.

  “I think everything’s going good, don’t you?” Hailey said, practically bouncing toward me, completely oblivious to what had happened in the kitchen.

  “It looks like a success to me,” I replied, my eyes straying from her to Alex. He was talking to a group of people, and they were all laughing at whatever he’d said. I was glad that he seemed to have shaken off his anger, but it also left me feeling strangely alone.

  “I see you and Alex seem to be getting along,” Hailey said, following my gaze. “He’s so nice. He helped me and Sean move.”

  “Oh yeah?” I couldn’t help but be distracted as Alex elbowed the big guy and then slapped him on the back. I wondered what they were saying.

  “Yep, he met us at Sean’s old apartment and helped carry some of the heavier stuff that I couldn’t help with.”

  “Where’d you put your stuff?” I asked distractedly. “I haven’t seen any of it here.”

  “I didn’t bring any of my furniture with me,” she said easily. “I just gave it to my roommates.”

  “You what?” I asked, finally paying attention to our conversation. “Why would you do that?”

  She laughed. “You’ve seen this place! It’s not like we could fit all of it in here.”

  “Hailey, that’s—” I started to tell her what a bad idea it was for her to give away all her stuff, when Sean came up behind her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. He was far past drunk and sliding into sloppy.

  “Babe,” he slurred. “Kegs’r almost gone.”

  “That’s good, right?” she replied, looking up at him with a smile. I realized then that she must have had quite a bit of alcohol, too, because she hadn’t even noticed the annoyance in his voice.

  “No,” he said slowly, as if she were an idiot. “People won’t have anything to drink.”

  “We have soda,” she said, laughing a little as she rolled her eyes at me. “And water.”

  Her face changed and her shoulders rolled in a little as Sean tightened his arm around her.

  “We’re not giving them soda,” he said, his voice dropping. “Are you fucking kidding?”

  “Hey,” I said before I could think it through. “Knock it off, Sean.”

  “Bitch, why don’t you get the fuck out—”

  I took a startled step back at the vehemence in his words and ran straight into a muscular chest.

  “What’s going on?” Alex said from behind me. I was too rattled to move when his hand squeezed my shoulder gently and then stayed there. “Looks like the kegs are getting low, so Clover and I are going to run to the store. You have any requests?”

  “Nah, man,” Sean said, letting go of Hailey. “You don’t have to do that. I’ll—”

  “No problem at all.” Alex cut him off. “You can pay me back later, yeah?”

  As soon as Sean nodded and moved away from us, Hailey smiled at me. “Whoops! Guess we should have planned ahead,” she said happily, like the last few minutes had never happened.

  “You want to ride with us?” Alex asked, leaning close to my ear.

  I wasn’t quite ready to leave Hailey with her asshole boyfriend, but I didn’t exactly want to stay in the same vicinity as Sean, either. When he’d looked at me, I’d seen him. Not the face he showed the world, but the asshole that he tried to keep hidden. I glanced around the room, and when I saw the familiar faces of some of my classmates, I decided that Hailey would be okay if I went with Alex.

  “Yeah,” I replied. “I need to grab my jacket.”

  Alex waited while I grabbed my coat from Hailey’s room, and then led me out of the house. The rain had stopped sometime when we were inside, and the air smelled fresh and clean after I’d been breathing in the scent of other people. I took a deep breath as he held my coat up so I could thread my arms into the sleeves.

  I shoved my hands into the pockets of my coat, relieved that no one had stolen my wallet, phone, or keys, and followed Alex to his truck. I wasn’t paying any attention to where we were going and was startled as the big guy from the party stepped out of the shadows.

  “Hey, I’m Keegan,” he said, reaching out to shake my hand. “I saw what happened in there. You okay?”

  “Sarai,” I replied. “And I’m fine.” I waved my hand nonchalantly and then dropped it when I realized I was overplaying my answer.

  Keegan looked back and forth between Alex and me.

  “Why don’t I stay here,” he said, taking a step backward. “I’ll help you unload when you get back.”

  “You sure?” Alex asked.

  “Yeah, man,” Keegan replied, grinning. “Your truck ain’t really built for three.”

  He walked away with a wave as Alex opened up the passenger door. I took a deep breath as I climbed inside the truck and watched Keegan’s broad shoulders disappear into the house, then Alex shut my door and went around to his side.

  “All set?” he asked, starting the engine.

  “Yep.”

  We pulled out onto the street and I tried to relax into my seat, but it wasn’t really happening. I was always a little nervous riding with new people, and on top of that, I was closed in with the guy I’d been thinking about for weeks.

  “Thank you for what you did earlier,” I said, glancing at him.

  “Of course,” he replied, flexing his fingers on the steering wheel.

  He didn’t say anything else, and the silence stretched into awkwardness while I searched for something to say.

  “I thought you told Sean that someone named Clover was going with you?” I finally asked, grasping at straws.

  “That’s Keegan,” Alex replied. “His name’s Keegan Clovis.”

  “But you call him Clover?”

  Alex grinned and glanced at me before turning his gaze back to the road.

  “You can’t smile like that and not tell me why,” I said, turning my body toward him a little.

  “It goes back to when we first met,” Alex said. “Me and Clover both got stationed here around the same time, and as the new guys, we didn’t have many friends, you know? So we exchanged numbers, planning to hang out at some point, but that same night I get a call at like two in the morning.” He looked at me again, and I felt my heart do this weird thump. He was really gorgeous. “Turns out, the caller is Keegan. He asks me to come pick him up at some house off base. I bitch and moan, but I do it, right? The guy doesn’t know anyone but me, and I can’t just leave him stranded.”

  “That was nice of you,” I replied.

  “Oh, it was worth it,” Alex said. “I get to this house and all the lights are off, and I’m wondering what the hell is going on. I just happen to glance at the field across the street, and there’s Keegan, doing a little shimmy in nothing but a pair of cowboy boots, using a hat to cover his junk.”

  “No,” I said, laughing.

  “Oh yeah. Turns out the lady was married, and Keegan had to bail out the window bare-assed naked.” Alex laughed.

  “But where did the name Clo—oh,” I said as it all became clear. “He was standing in a field of clover, wasn’t he?”

  “Yep,” Alex answered as he pulled into the parking lot. “Kind of perfect that his last name was Clovis.”

  I laughed. “What do you two do in the Army?” I asked as he parked and we climbed out of the truck.

  “Nothing exciting,” he said with a laugh. “I’m just a grunt—infantry.”

  “I have no idea what that means,” I confessed.

  “I’m just a soldier,” he said with a grin as he gestured for me to walk into the store ahead of him. “That’s my specialty. Nothing fancy.”

  Alex seemed to know where he was going, so I followed him to the coolers in the back and stood there while he loaded cases of beer into the shopping cart. He didn’t let me carry anything or pay, but he refused so politely that I couldn’t even argue. I’m a strong, independent woman who works out occasionally; I could’ve easily helped him load beer into the bed of his truck, but I kind of liked the fact that he held my door and helped me inside the cab before loading everything. It was so unassumingly sweet.