“Come on.” Lucky yanks me back.
“Would you stop?” I grab her by the elbow and whisk her up the stairs before she changes her mind. Lucky drove us over in that beat-up pickup her brother gave her. Not that I’m knocking her ride. If my brother offered to buy me a beat-up anything, I would be the last to protest. Heck, I might kiss the bottom of his filthy sneakers for the divine act of vehicular kindness. “Grant isn’t a douche. There probably isn’t a single douche in the bunch. These are great guys, or Kappa G wouldn’t have anything to do with them.”
“What about hoochie mamas?” Lucky stifles a laugh as she glances down to my skirt. “I guess we’ll find out if Kappa G wants anything to do with them, or should I say you?”
Luckyfor her, I take the merciless teasing she dishes out with a grain of salt.
We enter the spacious frat house with its elbow-to-elbow room only, and the heat from the surging bodies makes it feel as if I’m about to melt in my fur-lined boots.
Once I got back to Cutler Tower, I donned my shortest mini skirt—rolled it up once at the waist for good measure—and pulled on my longest, furriest boots to emulate the look those girls had going this afternoon. I figured if it turned Grant’s head once, it’s bound to work again—at least I’m hoping. I’m more or less a T-shirt and jeans kind of a girl, so this grapefruit flavored lip gloss, the sticky hairspray I doused my head with feels like a cross between playing dress-up and a Halloween costume.
A crowd of guys adjacent from us erupts into baritone laughter, and I glance that way, only to have my living heart stop beating.
“That’s him!” I hiss, navigating Lucky off to the opposite end of the room where we have a clear, yet slightly obstructed view of the golden god himself. “That’s him in the middle.” Grant stands flanked with two equally tall, dark-headed guys. Each one is dressed for coital success, with Grant being the most coital-worthy of the bunch, not that I would know anything about that. If Operation Keep-My-Sister-Chaste is the name of Owen’s mission for my vagina, he’s succeeding thus far.
“Mmm,mmm!” Lucky shakes her head and rubs her belly as if she’s about to shove his entire beefcake into her mouth.
I knock my shoulder into hers, hard. “Would you stop? What happened to all that I’d-never-let-a-guy-come-between-us crap? And, hey, where the hell’s that garbage bag you threatened to pull over your head?”
“Stop. They’re all cute. You can have the one in the middle. I’m not choosy.” She gives a coy little wave, and the three of them look this way. Great. I should have known Lucky would make it her goal in life to humiliate me in front of the poor guy. All I need is for Grant to fall hard for Lucky. Honestly, he’s so cute, she’d be ironicallyluckyto have him. And, sadly, I like her a little too much to stand in the way of her happily ever after. Heck, I’d even cover for the two of them while she takes advantage of him in our room. Suddenly, I have the urge to sock my new best friend.
“Relax.” She twists me around so that I’m no longer scowling at her or the trio of boys across the room. “I know where your little brain went. I’m not into him. You’re safe.” She gives a little wink. “For now.”
The music dies down, and Kappa G’s captain, Jenna, is joined in the center of the room with what looks to be her Beta Kappa Phi matchup.
“Hello and welcome, girls from Kappa G!” The boy by her side hoots so loud my eardrums thump in rhythm.
Jenna giggles next to him like a smitten schoolgirl, and for all I know, she could be. “Thank you for the warm welcome, boys. Right now, I’d like to ask the incoming Kappa girls to step into the center of the room.”
Harper is the first to fly into position. Her cute perky ponytail dancing alongside her as if it were vying for its own date or brother as it were.
Lucky and I exchange glances before following the other girls to the white-hot spotlight. I count off sixteen of us, and suddenly that number feels awkwardly small for whatever it is that Jenna and her matchup have planned for us.
“Eligible gentlemen of Beta Kappa Phi, please step forward.”
An equal number of guys steps forward, Grant being one of them, and my heart beats wild and out of control as if the floor just threatened to open up and swallow us whole.
Lucky gives my arm a tug as she butts up against me. “Ten bucks says they’re going to make us do the wild thing right here in the middle of the room.”
“Would you shut up?” I hiss with a threat in my eyes that suggests I’ll make her if she doesn’t bother to do it herself. I haven’t found that magical nugget of info to lord over her and get her to adhere to my threats just yet, but I’d be remiss for not trying. Lucky is a loose cannon.
She tosses up her hands and dances to the fading music just as Jenna woops the room to a quiet buzz once again.
“To the incoming class of Kappa G! Tonight’s sibling ceremony is geared toward getting you intimately acquainted with Whitney Briggs and Greek life as a whole.”
Intimately? I raise a brow at Lucky. Now there’s a dirty little detail I can work with.
Jen continues, “Tonight’s sibling mixer is geared especially for you. This evening, you will receive, and get to know, your official big brother for the very first time!”
Lucky and I exchange glances once again, and this time nary a sarcastic quip leaves her mouth.
Jenna’s matchup steps in close. “Gentlemen of Beta Kappa Phi, tonight you will select the girl who will be your little sister for the duration of your stay here at Whitney Briggs and beyond. As a reminder, big brothers are forbidden to engage in crass conversation or enter into a big brother mentorship with perverse intent. You must, first and foremost, keep your sibling bondschaste—no dating, no kissing, no heading up to the Witch’s Cauldron.” The room breaks out into howls of approval. Judging by the rise of the crowd, the Witch’s Cauldron has more than a few naughty intentions brewing.
I’m pretty sure I’d like to visit the Witch’s Cauldron with Grant. I give a sly smile his way, and his eyes enlarge as if he heard.
Lucky leans in. “He’slookingat you.”
“I know. I bet he’s thinking the same thing I am. No way, no how, does that boy want to be my big brother.”
