Alice was trying to soothe a sobbing Haley when Jack and another guy—Matt, Alice thought was his name—flooded into the room to help Peter. Working together, the trio were finally able to pull the two struggling bodies apart. As Matt and Jack forced the wrestlers to their feet, Alice recognized one of them as Scott. He didn’t look as if he was ready to stop the brawl, and neither did the other contender. Jack and Matt had to restrain them while Peter planted himself in the middle, arms spread wide to keep them apart.
“Shut the door,” Peter told her. “We don’t need anyone else involved.”
Alice let go of Haley, who finally seemed less agitated, and went to close the door.
Scott and the other dude were still struggling to break free of their teammates, but Jack and Matt were fighting back just as hard. Scott’s opponent was bare-chested, and his otherwise pale skin was blotched with red patches. He didn’t seem to care or notice, being too busy glowering at Scott, whose nose was trickling blood on the carpet.
“You two calm down,” Peter ordered. “We can’t have Coach Morrison come in here and see you like this.”
The mention of the coach seemed to calm down the two hot heads. They stopped struggling. Peter lowered his arms, still standing between them.
“Are you cool?” Peter asked.
They both nodded grudgingly, and Matt and Jack let them go.
As soon as Matt loosened his grip on Scott, he jerked his elbow up to get free. He touched his hand to his nose to keep the bleeding in check, still glowering at the other guy. He looked ready to start fighting again. Instead, Scott turned around and left the room without saying a word.
Haley watched him go with a dismayed look on her face.
“What happened here, man?” Peter asked.
The remaining amateur boxer flattened his wet, disheveled hair back, unconcerned. He was another looker for the team, but something about his face read “mean.”
“My little brother must have some anger issues,” mean-good-looking guy said.
Brother? This was Scott’s brother?
“And you wouldn’t know anything about provoking him?” Matt said.
Scott’s brother wiped sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. “It’s not my fault if he can’t control himself.”
The door opened again, and another player walked in, presumably the missing roommate.
“Whoa,” he said, taking in the devastation inside his room. “What happened here?”
“Scott and David decided to play real-life Mortal Combat,” Jack explained.
He had not looked at Alice once since he’d walked in.
“We’d better clean this up,” Peter said, looking around the room. “Luckily, it looks like nothing’s broken.”
“Peter,” Alice said.
He paused mid-motion to look at her. “Yeah, baby?”
“It’s best if I stay with Haley tonight.”
Was that a satisfied smirk on Jack’s face? Jack bent to straighten a capsized coffee table before Alice could be sure.
Peter walked toward her. “Sure, baby, I’ll see you tomorrow.” He planted a tender kiss on her forehead.
“Good night everyone,” Alice said, purposely avoiding Jack’s gaze.
Alice and Haley left the guys to clear up the mess and walked back to their room.
Inside, Haley slumped on her bed and covered her face with her hands.
“Care to tell me what the hell happened?” Alice asked.
“I honestly have no clue,” Haley moaned.
“Were they already fighting when you got there?”
“No. Reception gave me the wrong room number.” Haley hugged her knees to her chest, resting her chin on them. “They gave me David Williams instead of Scott Williams.”
Alice was shocked. “That really was Scott’s brother?”
“Apparently. So I knock on the wrong room and David opens the door. Then he starts acting all cocky and smug.” Haley imitated a dude’s voice. “Oh, they’ve sent you to the better brother.”
“Was he hitting on you?”
“Oh yeah.”
“Did he get physical?”
“He sort of force-hugged me. But then Scott arrived, and they started arguing and… Well, you saw.”
“Yeah, heard, too. Scary.”
“It was. It looked as if they wanted to kill each other.” Haley scrunched her face. “How can you hate your brother that much?”
“So Scott has some family issues, huh?” Alice tried to lighten the mood.
“Mm-hmm. I wonder what the real story is.”
“Rivalry?”
“Some competition is normal between siblings,” Haley said. “But those two acted as if they completely, utterly loathed each other.”
“They were pretty intense,” Alice admitted.
“I’m sorry I ruined your romantic night.”
“Haley, you didn’t do anything,” Alice reassured her friend. “Seems to me it was all David’s fault.”
“He was being a douche,” Haley agreed. “But Scott attacked him first.”
“Has this changed your mind about him?”
“I don’t know. It definitely wasn’t a first date to remember.” Haley chuckled sadly. “And him running away like that without a word. Weird, huh?”
“They say women are complicated, but guys are even stranger,” Alice said. “Should we try to get some sleep?”
“Oh, no!” Haley covered her face with her hands again.
“What?”
“I dropped my overnight bag in David’s room.”
“I’ll have Peter get it tomorrow.”
“Thank you.” Haley peeked at her from between her fingers. “I don’t want to have to see him again.”
“You need to borrow some PJs?”
“No, I have a long t-shirt in my luggage I can use.”
Haley hopped off the bed to get changed, and Alice dropped her head on the pillow, feeling uneasy. She stared at the ceiling, wondering what else would go wrong on this trip.