The Replacement Boyfriend

Chapter 6

Tace

There was a boy in my room – the same boy who had a death sentence earlier while he ran in front of my car in front of Stony Island Hall. I watched him as he set down two boxes onto the second bed in my room, wondering what the hell he was doing. I knew the dorm was co-ed but I didn't know I'd be sharing a room with a guy. Was that even possible?

"Tace," Amara called me but it fell on deaf ears since I wasn't paying attention. "Red!"

I turned to look at her when she yelled. Zayne was the only one who called me Red, not a very original name since I was ginger haired.

She stuck her hands out and I picked her up. She was being extra needy because she knew she'd be picked up by our mother later and she'd not see me for a while.

"Oh, hey," the guy said as if he hadn't seen us and I turned my attention back to him.

He was tall, just an inch or so taller than Zayne which was pretty tall against my five foot six. He was lean and decently muscular, his hair was dark brown and his eyes were a smoky grey. His features were pleasing to the eye and my friends from school probably would have called him 'eye-candy'.

"Hi," I replied awkwardly. "You're the guy with the death sentence."

He thought for a second and when realization hit him, his eyes lit up and he smiled. "Au contraire," he said, a slight English accent slipping out. "I was actually trying to escape death by bringing my sisters' luggage in before she arrived."

I almost breathed a sigh of relief on hearing that his sister was the one who was going to be my roommate and not him, not that I disliked what I was seeing.

"Okay," I said, drawing it out slowly. "And you are?"

"Oh, uh, Jaxon Walker," he said, holding his hand out before he realized I was carrying Amara. "Cassidy – my sister, is your roommate. Red, is it?"

"Tace," I corrected him. I wasn't just going to let anyone call me that. "Tace Garnett. Red is a nickname that-" I paused, wondering why I was giving him so much information. "Never mind."

"And," he said, looking at Amara and then back at me. "Is this – are you...a teen mom? Was that your baby daddy in the car before? She doesn't look like either of you."

I blinked at him, taking in his question and wondering whether he was for real. Had he really just asked me that? Had he just called Zayne my baby daddy? I fought the urge to burst out laughing, chewing my lower lip to keep from smiling.

"This is Amara, my little sister," I informed him, rolling my eyes. "And my baby daddy is my best friend Zayne, who is nothing more than my best friend."

"For now," he said, nodding as if he had finally understood. "I saw the way he looked at you in the car-"

"Jax!" a girl exclaimed, entering the room.

She looked like the guy she was talking to so there was no question about who she was. She had the same brown hair which was straight and flowed down till her mid-back, making hers longer than mine. But she had streaks of auburn at random in her hair and her eyes were hazel, not grey. But the features on her face were close to her brothers', not to mention her height. Her clothes were way off from his too. He wore a simple white t-shirt with an unbuttoned plaid shirt over it and jeans. But she was in tight, figure hugging black jeans which were ripped and a black tank top, a leather jacket covering it.

"What in the blood hell-" she paused when she saw he wasn't alone in the room. "Oh, uh, hi."

"Hi," I echoed. "I'm Tace Garnett."