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Mastering Daddy

By Murphy Wallace

Mason Haywood doesn't scare easily. Cole Warrington is counting on that.

From the day Mason moves into his shared frat room, Cole makes one thing clear: he doesn't share, and he doesn't lose. What starts as a fight over closet space becomes something Mason never saw coming: a game of leverage with no rules, no mercy, and no way out once Cole decides he wants him.

Mastering Daddy is a dark, possessive MM college romance where consent is complicated, control is currency, and wanting it doesn't make it any less dangerous.

Prologue

Mason

When I found out I made it into Sigma Epsilon Chi at the end of last year, I was stoked. I’d met a lot of really great guys who I could picture being my lifelong friends and brothers.

With one exception…

Cole Warrington.

My new fucking roommate.

Who, apparently, thought he’d luck out by getting a single room this year instead of having to share it with a newb. A fact he’s not disputing as he scowls, watching my every move from his bed as I attempt to unpack my belongings.

Cole has been an asshole to me since rush last year. I thought it was just an act at first, like he was portraying one of the typical frat stereotypes, but boy was I wrong.

Well, he can be a dick all he wants. I’m not going to let it get to me. Cole isn’t the first bonehead I’ve encountered in my life, and I don’t scare easily.

“That’s my desk,” Cole barks, hopping up from our sofa to intercept me before I place my laptop down.

I look from him to the other desk in the room—the one with all of his fucking stuff on it—and back.

“Really? This is how you’re going to play it?” I challenge him.

He cocks his eyebrow. “I’ve been here longer. I have seniority. In this room, what I say goes.”

“Fine.” I shrug my shoulders and put my computer back in my backpack. I’ll start with my clothes and come back to the desk.

I reach for my suitcase next, but Cole’s voice stops me again the moment I place my fingers on the zipper.

“You may as well leave everything in there too. I have a lot of clothes, and I’ll need more than just the one dresser.”

“Well, the good thing is, you get half the walk-in closet.” I shoot him a forced smile, but he just smirks his dumb, smug little smirk.

“I get the whole closet. Those are the rules of the room. If you’re lucky, maybe I’ll let you sleep in my extra bed.”

I’ve seen this kind of thing before. Growing up in the small but affluent town I did, you run into your fair share of trust-fund assholes who think they’re owed the entire world.

As someone who comes from money, I’ve never subscribed to that way of thinking. My mother taught me to be kind to others, to lend a hand, and always remember to treat everyone with respect.

Even if they didn’t deserve it.

Well, treating people with respect isn’t the same as letting them walk all over you. And that’s not what I’m going to do.

“Listen, I get it. You’re pissed that you have to share your room. I’m not particularly happy about having to share my room with you either, but here we are. I pledged this frat and went through initiation, just the same as you. We’re on level playing field now. So either deal with it or move out. Seems to me those are your only two options.”

It’s a gamble, standing up to someone like Cole Warrington. You never know how a pompous, arrogant fool is going to react to pushback. He could have gotten in my face. He could have pummeled me. He could have thrown my entire suitcase out the window.

I would have expected any of those reactions from him.