Read Lag (The Boys of RDA Book 2) Online
Authors: Megan Matthews
“Where are you going?” I whisper in her ear.
She looks at me like I’m crazy. “Food. Aren’t you hungry?”
I pull her back to my chest. “Oh, I’m hungry alright, but not for anything I can eat here.”
“Trey!” she admonishes me, but her cheeks heat again and she lets me pull her to the stairwell leading to her apartment.
It’s going to be a fucking wonderful new year as long as this woman’s by my side.
The end
Keep reading for a sneak peek of the third book in
The Boys of RDA - Grind
& the first chapter of Savage Collision - A Hawke Family novel - by author Gwyn McNamee
A note from the author:
Thank you for reading Lag! I hope you enjoyed Simone and Trey’s story. Book three, Grind releases November 3rd. You can order your copy from
all major eRetailers here
. You can also find out more on The Boys of RDA series on my website:
www.authormeganmatthews.com.
If you’d like to stay up to date on information happening in the RDA world or other new releases you can find my
author page on Facebook
or
join my mailing list
. Fans can also join my
Facebook Reader Group
for the inside track on what’s happening behind the scenes, special giveaways, and advanced reader copies of new books.
**
Megan Matthews writes smutty romance by day and hides behind her secret identity as a responsible Pinterest mom when other parents are around. She believes mornings shouldn’t start until noon and chocolate should be calorie free. Living in Michigan she prefers sun over snow, hot chocolate over coffee, and wine over beer.
Megan once displayed the entire Goosebumps series on her bookshelf. Her taste in reading material eventually matured over the years. She now prefers her heroes with rippling muscles found naked in bed over brace-faced nerds running from murderous dummies.
You can follow her online:
*
FACEBOOK
*
TWITTER
*
INSTAGRAM
*
FB READER GROUP
*
MAILING LIST
*
WEBSITE
*
KEEP READING FOR A SNEAK PEAK OF THE THIRD BOYS OF RDA BOOK - GRIND AND SAVAGE COLLISION BY GWYN MCNAMEE
Available Now
The Ten Commandments of the Apartment
Any violation of these rules can and will result in immediate termination of the lease agreement.
CHAPTER ONE
Aspen slams the sheet of paper listing the ridiculous rules required to live here on the white refrigerator door, attaching it with a pink margarita-shaped magnet. I dislike the fact my favorite souvenir from our senior trip to Mexico is used to hold up the stupid agreement. It’s a special magnet with great memories attached to it. Plus, there’s an identical one on Pen’s fridge in her condo across town with Finn. They moved in together earlier this month and subleased this four-hundred and fifty square foot place to me.
“It’s official, Marissa. The apartment is yours,” Aspen says eyeing the page-long list of rules.
I’m blinded by curly brown hair as Pen tugs me into a tight hug. Lost in her infectious happiness, I smile as she pulls away in time for Simone to jostle me with her small jumps as we embrace. The hard work from moving and their excitement messed with my ponytail, so I pull my straight brown hair back adjusting the elastic band.
“Your first day and you’ve already broken a rule. This should be interesting.” Finn leans against my kitchen counter before sipping from the dark glass beer bottle in his hand.
“Huh?” his girlfriend and my best friend asks.
“Rule number four, Aspen. No more than two visitors at a time.” Trey, the tall guy next to Finn comments while shaking his head at her bemused expression. “You lived here how long?”
He’s irritating in the way he does it, but the man makes a good point. All total there are five of us in the cramped kitchen. Six, if you count the fact Finn’s company driver, Jake, left a few minutes ago. He helped move my few boxes from Oakland into the new Pacific Heights apartment.
Designed as a mother-in-law suite, the large condo shares the top floor of the apartment building with a penthouse condo. My little home may be less than five hundred square feet, but it’s on the San Francisco Peninsula for $1,000 a month rent. I’d sleep in a closet for those credentials.
Plus, it’s just plain cute. The small kitchen opens to the living room where one large window faces the street and lets in enough light to brighten the entire space. A short hallway leads to the single bedroom where I plan to spend an extra forty-five minutes sleeping in each morning since I don’t need them for my commute anymore.
I share the key-coded floor access with the large penthouse owned by my landlord. There are two floors of regular condos below and then an additional street level with various businesses. A bookshop slash café and a few clothing stores circle the building.
“Oh those. Don’t worry about those. I broke them constantly. The guy who owns the condo has never been here. You’re fine," Pen tries to reassure me.
Of course she’s not worried. When Pen lived here, she shared the floor with Finnegan McRyan, billionaire video game developer. He swept her off her feet and moved her into his sprawling condo on the top floor of the Raven Digital Arts building. She won over Prince Charming and left me to live in fear of the dragon’s return.
Condo owner, Ryland Bates, is some kind of soccer legend. He left Stanford to play for a team in England at the same time Finn and Trey dropped out to start up RDA. Roomies their first year, they became best friends, but so far Ryland’s been a no-show in San Francisco.
“I’m not so sure. The coach kicked Ryland off the team in December. He hasn’t called any of us yet, but he might end up back here. Keep an eye out."
Simone’s hand flies in Trey’s direction as she hits him on the arm twice. “What! You didn’t tell me?”
Trey shrugs. “Finn knew.”
“Finn!” Aspen sounds as upset at missing out on these new developments.
“He hasn’t returned my calls, Aspen. No one knows where he is.” Finn tries to plead his case, but Pen gives him the squinty eyes and we both know he's about to lose this argument.
“He’s gone off to lick his wounds. Ry’s known for his crazy behavior off the field, but I doubt he expected to be kicked off the team for a bar fight. Let's cut the guy some slack.” Trey jumps to his friend’s defense.
“Hey, after tonight I am all about the rules. Promise.” I tap the sheet of paper on the fridge to bring everyone’s attention my way. "Now let’s open the wine and celebrate.”
There are murmurs of agreement and Aspen opens the fridge to pull out a bottle of white wine.
“I left it here for this exact moment,” she says with a growing smile.
Today
is
a time for celebration. It’s a new year, a new apartment, and a new beginning. Let’s be honest, last year sucked. With an exposed cheater for a fiancé and a cancelled wedding, I’m ready for better days ahead. I’m a new woman. No more tears over Cody and a lost future. A new Marissa moved into this apartment. I’m back on the dating wagon and ready to take this city by the balls…or whatever.
An announcer shouts from the living room, and we turn our heads to the television where a presenter screams in victory over a goal in the current hockey game. Trey nudges Finn’s arm and both guys walk to the tan microfiber couch, their eyes never leaving the screen.
“How were the holidays in New York with Trey, Simone?” Aspen asks.
“Good. It took a few days, but Trey grew on my dad. They seemed to get along.”
While the last year sucked for me, it doesn’t hold a candle to the year Simone had. Christmas was her first major holiday after losing her mom. I’m sure Trey being there help distract them.
A heavy knock rattles the room and we turn toward the door.
“I’ve got this,” I announce to the room, but the boys don’t relax.
We haven’t been loud enough to disturb anyone on the floor below us and none of those neighbors have the code to access this floor. There’s no one it could be besides Finn’s driver, Jake, and his large lumbering form on the other side. Maybe we left a box in the company Escalade.
I swing open the door and come face to broad chest as expected, but it isn’t Jake. This body is leaner and taller. My eyes slide up his form and stop at his chiseled square jaw. I had no idea people like this existed. A plain white t-shirt hugs his body outlining what have to be a set of wonderful pecs. In his hands he carries a medium-sized brown box, the weight causing a rather large bulge of muscles to stretch the fabric of his shirt.
“What the hell is this?” He shoves the box at me until I’m forced to grab it. “Why the fuck are there boxes all over my hallway?” His moment of being the hottest guy in the place is lost once he opens his pretty mouth. If I’m being honest, he lost a hotness point too.
His question stops me short, and I jerk my head back to his face and short dark brown hair. My face turns a slight shade of red from being caught ogling his arms. “Huh?” I’m not winning any awards for my intelligence today.
Bright blue eyes squint at me in irritation. “The fucking boxes all over the damn hallway. Get them out, Aspen.”
My mouth falls open in a lame attempt to correct him, but then I bristle at his tone. He might be hot, but he’s also an asshole.
“Ry.” With a gentle hand, Finn pushes me to the side and takes up the doorway. “This is Marissa, your new tenant. She moved in today."
Finn’s words don’t relax him. Ryland’s scowl is still etched on his face. It might be permanent.
“I didn’t approve a sublease.” His eyes narrow in my direction and I step away from the door.
Crap. I’m going to kill Aspen for this. I’ve already given up my old apartment and now I’ll end up in a cardboard box off Van Ness Street.
Ryland nudges his wide frame through the door. With arms tightly crossed, his eyes sweep the room. “How many people are in here?”
I turn to Aspen with a silent plea for help, but she only responds by bringing both shoulders to her ears in the longest shrug I’ve ever witnessed. Simone stands next to her with a hand over her mouth and wide eyes, which don’t help my anxiety.
“Ry.” Trey stands behind me and I move out of the way to give him space. Better him than me when it comes to the wrath of my new neighbor. The one Pen promised I’d never see. "You haven’t called me back.”
“I’m here aren’t I?” he responds with a smidge less irritation in his tone.
Finn widens the door to give Trey more room. “Have you played the new update? Let’s go to your place.” He steps into the hallway with Finn right behind him, beer still in hand.
“Whose fucking car is in one of my spaces?” I guess my cuddly landlord hasn’t finished classifying our shortcomings yet.
“Oh, yeah, don’t worry, man. That’s mine.” Trey leans back into the apartment and casts an eye to the boxes in the hallway—a silent reminder of what started this whole mess.
The door closes behind Trey and the three of us release a collective breath at the reduction in tension.
“Did I mention I get to babysit Sadie Saturday?” Pen’s lame attempt to use her baby niece to change the subject reminds me how much I'm going to kill her. Later. After she gets the chance to babysit. It’s all she’s talked about for months. Ben, her brother, has taken his time in letting her.
“Don’t worry, Marissa. A sublease will be fine, Marissa. He’s never here, Marissa,” I repeat back Aspen’s words from the last few weeks to her.
Rather than show any guilt, her smile grows with each of my sentences. There’s no telling what’s going through her head, but I swear there are visible wheels turning. Falling in love with Finn ruined her common sense.
“Come on. Let’s get the boxes.” I shake my head all the way to the door, too flustered to figure out what she’s thinking. “If I unpack, maybe he’ll take pity and let me stay here.”
Aspen tugs on a piece of my brown hair and beats me out into the hallway. “Of course he’ll let you keep the place. He can’t be that big of an asshole."