Free Major Renovations (Ritter University #1) by Vanessa M. Knight

their life. In the real world, there wasn’t a choice. He wasn’t in that real world.
    At least, that’s what she kept telling herself.
    He picked up his plate and grabbed two sodas and a stack of napkins before ushering her through the darkened house. Her team really had done a lot of work cleaning the grunge-infested space. She hadn’t been exaggerating. Bottles, boxes, and food had been stuck in crevices throughout the house.
    Food. Actual food. There’d been a green and black covered burrito-looking-thing behind a loose panel in the wall. How would that even happen? How does a burrito get behind a wall? How could they live in filth? She didn’t understand.
    Ski opened a door at the end of the hall and elbowed the light switch. The multiple ceiling fan lights sprang to life. Wood floors. Dark oak wainscoting on the walls. And two giant TVs hanging on opposite sides of the room.
    Not one spec of dirt. Not one piece of garbage.
    Ski sat on the closest couch and put the sodas and napkins on the coffee table.
    “Those are some big TVs.” She dropped to the brown leather couch next to his and set her plate down. “I didn’t know a room this nice existed in this building.”
    “We have a few nice rooms. We keep it this way so the TVs don’t learn what pigs we really are.”
    “Frontin’ for the flat screens. You wouldn’t want them to stop working because they’re so grossed out.”
    “That would be tragic. We always keep this room locked. It’s off limits. Only for the brothers.” A hiss and fizzle came from the soda when he pulled the tab on the can.
    “I’m not a brother.” Peppers dropped out of the bun as she lifted it to her mouth. Hot. Spicy. Heaven.
    “I won’t tell anyone.”
    “I would,” she said after she swallowed, “but I’m afraid no one would believe me. It’s so clean.” She picked up a pepper and stuffed it back in her burger.
    “It’s only because I’m the only one here. Wait till the fall, this room will be pretty bad.” He tilted the can back to his lips. “So, why aren’t you in college?” Ski propped his feet on the coffee table.
    She hated that question. Like she was somehow less because she wasn’t pursuing a piece of paper. Not everyone needed college. She had her father’s company. She couldn’t walk away and leave. She’d watched her father work harder and harder over the years, never stopping. She had to step in. It wasn’t just the heart condition. It was everything. But no one understood.
    She shrugged. “Why are you? You don’t need a college degree for the UFC.”
    “UFC?”
    “WWF? NFL?” She waved the burger at him. “Wherever you’re planning on flexing those arms for your thousands of adoring fans,” she said and took another heavenly bite.
    “I’m flattered you think I could make it in the UFC. But really, is that all I am to you, a brain-dead troglodyte?”
    She nearly choked. “Troglo-what?”
    “Troglodyte. Commonly known as a Neanderthal. And just so you know, I don’t need college for my imaginary life in the UFC, but I do need college for my real life as a doctor. People tend to get twitchy when their doctor hasn’t gone to med school. Not to mention the criminal charges.”
    “Med school?” Why did she feel like she’d slipped into another dimension?
    “That’s the plan.” He sighed as he picked up the med school applications sitting on the coffee table and dropped them back into a heap. “Well, was the plan. Sort of.”
    “Sort of? Don’t sound so excited about it.” She wiped her fingers and sifted through the blank forms. Not even a name was written at the tops.
    “I don’t know. Ever since I was able to hold a rattle, I was expected to be a doctor. Hell, my first rattle was in the shape of a stethoscope. But I was always expected to be a surgeon, like my dad. But I can’t seem to enter one field on those forms. My hand freezes… and then… Never mind.”
    Heavy silence settled over the room, the hum of the