“Welcome…to…the…damn…club.” Out of breath and cold, I stopped fighting as he unlocked the passenger door to a white truck.
I hopped inside without argument and tucked my bare knees up into the hoodie. Kai joined me inside the cab a minute later.
“Nice jacket.”
You can’t kill him. You can’t kill him. You can’t kill him.
I settled for a glare instead. That attitude of his was going to get him slapped one day. I hoped by me. The windshield was frosted over with a layer of ice too thick to see through. Kai bumped up the heat to full blast, and we waited.
“Where is your friend taking my cousin?” he asked after a few minutes of silence. He sounded less mad. But only by a little.
“To Seabird’s,” I grumbled, too exhausted to fight. Heat was finally coming out of the vents, and I held my hands out against them.
I felt Kai watching me, like a phantom pressure on my shoulders. Thank the gods my cheeks were too cold to hold a blush. I counted to sixty, twice, and still felt his eyes on me.
“What?” I snapped.
His gaze touched on my messy bun, passed over his hoodie—thatgot another smirk—then took in my boxer shorts and Uggs. The anger I saw earlier fully faded as he reached a conclusion.
“Dinner dash?”
I tossed my head back against the headrest as Kai reversed out of the parking lot. “How do all the guys on campus know about this stupid challenge, but we had no idea?”
It was a campus-wide conspiracy. And still stupid.
He chuckled and turned right at the light. “Ezra’s been roped into a couple already and told me about them. Don’t worry, your friend is in good hands.”
Ezra must be his cousin.
“And what about me?” I asked, eyeing Seabird’s as Kai maneuvered us into an empty spot in their lot. “Am I safe in your hands?”
My body locked up. Why the fuck did I ask that? His answering smile made my heart stop. It was mischievous and a little dirty, and I felt like there was an innuendo there that I missed. Kai hopped out of the truck and came around to my side. Opening my door, he leaned in, bringing with him a scent of oranges mixed with a hint of the coming snow.
I squeezed my knees together, feeling overheated and antsy even with the cool air. Before I could climb down, Kai grabbed my hips under his hoodie and lifted me from the seat. I floundered and clutched at his shoulders as the whole front of my body slid against him. Even once my feet were on the pavement, he didn’t let go.
“Always,” he finally answered. “But that depends on your definition of safe.”
The rest of the pledges and their dates were already seated by the time we made it inside. Paisleigh and the other sisters lost their absolute shit when they saw who I brought with me. Their reactions were honestly the best part of this entire evening.
“Have you gone mental?” Paisleigh squawked, her mouth permanently open in shock. “You can’t bring a TA as your date.”
“Why not?” I countered. Nothing was mentioned about it in the rules. “All you said was it needed to be an acceptable date.Which I assumed meant hot.” I pointed at Kai—did she see him?
I tried to ignore the absolute panty-dropping smirk Kai wore at my answer. Paisleigh wasn’t strong enough to resist, based on the blush working its way across her chest. I felt more than saw Kai turn to look at me and planted my palm in his face to block the sexual rays I was sure were shooting from his eyeballs.
“Don’t,” I growled. His answering laugh was little more than a rumble.
“B-but he’s a TA,” another sister repeated. “He’s off-limits to undergrads.”
Were they still stuck on that?
“The rules didn’t say I had to fuck him.” Kai jolted beside me. “I was told to bring a date. I’ve completed the stupid task.”
“Actually, it’s been way past thirty minutes,” Paisleigh jeered, arms crossed. “You failed and are hereby cut from this year’s pledge class.”
Was she waiting for me to fall apart? I felt nothing but relief at being free. Rani and her date were already seated, so I knew her position was safe. They couldn’t penalize her because I missed the deadline, right?
“Come on,” Kai said, his voice gentle as he grabbed my hand and threaded our fingers together. “I’ll take you to your dorm.”
