“Not a party girl, huh? We’ll see about that. Either way, there are always exceptions…”
“Yeah, there definitely are.” The more I talked to Dylan, the more I remembered why I fell for him in the first place. He had the best smile, and always looked at me in a way that made me feel like I was the only girl in the room.
“Here, let me show you around.” He put an arm around my waist and led me through the crowd. It didn’t take me long to figure out that he wasn’t showing me around—he was showing me off.
“Is this the girl?” a guy with blond hair asked.
“Yes. This is my Juliet.”
His?
“I was beginning to think you were making her up.” He turned to me. “I’m Ryan, by the way.”
“Hey. I guess you already know I’m Juliet.”
“Definitely. How are you enjoying Harrison so far?”
“It’s been fine. I haven’t done much yet.”
“Yeah, Rush Week is like that.”
“This is my first real night out.”
“Well, I’m glad you chose our party. I’m sure Dylan’s really glad, too.” Ryan grinned.
“Very. I didn’t get into town until a few days ago, but I was already asking about you.” Dylan said it like I should be impressed. I was surprised he cared so much.
“I was hoping I’d see you tonight.” I had been, even though I’d also been terrified.
“Did you know this was my house?” He smiled in a way that let me know he already knew the answer.
“Maybe.” I looked down. Yeah, I was a total stalker.
“I’ll let you guys catch up.” Ryan walked away.
Dylan tightened his arm around me and leaned down to whisper in my ear. “You look so damn hot tonight. I wish we could just get out of here now.”
I laughed. “Yeah, too bad we can’t.”
“We can probably slip out in a few hours. Will you stick around?”
“You had your one free pass. I’m not that easy. I’ll wait until we’ve had an actual date this time.” I’m not sure where the sudden nerve came from. Normally, I had trouble forming coherent sentences around Dylan.
His eyes widened. “Doesn’t a plan to take you out tomorrow night count?” He reached out to run a hand down my arm again.
“Nope. Maybe you’ll get lucky tomorrow night.” I hoped it came across as flirty and not stupid.
He tugged on my arm to pull me back. “I better. I’ve been waiting weeks for you.” He looked into my eyes.
“If you say so.” I turned and caught a murderous look from Amanda. What the heck was that for? I was wearing my pledge pin and a button on my purse. What else was I supposed to do? I smiled, pretending not to notice the glare. I walked off in search of my friends.
“Juliet?” I looked up into Kyle Bradley’s blue eyes. They were eerily similar to his brother Dylan’s.
“Hey, Kyle.” I’m sure my jaw was on the floor. Kyle had really grown up since the last time I’d seen him. He was bigger, broader, and—dare I say—sexier.
He gave me a hug and then took a step back. “You look amazing.”
I looked down at my outfit. I guess he liked short skirts. If I’d still been working through Amy’s list, my skirt probably counted as an outfit that would have given my dad a heart attack. “Thanks.”
“You’re pledging Delta Mu?”
“Yup. I’m guessing you’re pledging here.”
“Yeah, my dad was an Omega too…it’s kind of a family thing.”
“Cool.”
He shrugged. “Maybe.”
“What dorm are you in?” I went for the question every freshman asked.
“Dells. You?”
“Maude.”
“Cool. So, you and Dylan, huh?”
“He told you what happened?”
“Uh, yeah. At first I thought he was trying to rub it in my face, but he was really trying to find out if I had your number.”
“Yeah… I kind of forgot to give it to him.”
“I was hoping you’d taken off because the sex was so bad you finally had him out of your system, but no such luck, huh?”
I laughed. Wow, way too close for comfort. “We’ll see how it goes.”
“Hmm, interesting response.”
I playfully punched his arm. “Don’t read into it.”
“Oh, I will.”
“Hey, pledge, I need you to clean up a mess,” Ryan shouted at Kyle.
“What mess?”
“This one.” Ryan turned over his cup of beer and spilled it all over the floor. Everyone turned to stare at us.
What a jerk. “Oh my god.”
Kyle shrugged. “You’ve got to love being a pledge.”
He handled it better than I would’ve. It was hard enough for me to keep my mouth shut, and I wasn’t the one being hazed. “Oh yeah.”
Ryan took a step toward us. “Pledge!”
“See you around.” Kyle walked off to find something to clean up the beer.
As soon as Kyle was gone, Ryan joined me. “Dylan’s out back. I’ll take you to find him.”
“What was that for?”
Gone was the friendly guy from earlier. “A word of advice: don’t flirt with another guy at your boyfriend’s house—especially not a pledge.”
“First of all, I wasn’t flirting. Second of all, it was Dylan’s brother. And thirdly, I’m not Dylan’s girlfriend.”
Ryan shook his head. “Really? Does Dylan know that?”
“I’m going to go find my friends.” Ryan really annoyed me with the way he treated Kyle. Pledge or not, there was no excuse for it.
“I’ll help you.”
“What, you afraid I’m going to hook up with a random pledge?”
He laughed. “You’re not that stupid.”
I pushed through the crowds and finally spotted Cara and Mallory talking to some guys.
“Hey, I thought we’d lost you…but I see you’ve found someone else.” Cara winked.
I didn’t bother to introduce him, but Ryan did it himself. “I’m Ryan.”
“Nice to meet you.” Mallory smiled.
“You decided to ditch Dylan already?” Cara laughed.
“So funny.”
Ryan turned his attention to the other guys. “In case you haven’t heard, this is Dylan’s girlfriend, Juliet.”