“She’s one of the new scholarship kids, right?” the other responds. “Lucky slut.”
My stomach clenches and I take the stairs two at a time. My senses are immediately bombarded—flashes of moving bodies, laughter, and that overwhelming stench of liquor. All the air seems to leave my lungs in a rush, and I gasp in a breath.
Each step toward the door feels longer, and soon I tune out everything, my sights focused on the exit.
“You’re back.” Christina’s grip is suddenly on my wrist as she pulls me into her space like I belong there.
She’s wasted.
Scanning the room, I note the different levels of drunken chaos. Half the people here are a bad decision waiting to happen. The other half are already making them.
Christina leans too far into me, and I grab her shoulders, keeping her upright. “Hey, I was thinking about heading out—”
Her balance wavers, but she doesn’t fall.
“You bitch,” she says with a high-pitched squeal of laughter. “You just got here and have been in the bathroom the whole time.”
If only she knew. If only she had any clue that I was cornered, torn apart, and left raw in that goddamn bathroom. It wasn’t exactly some bubbly walk in the park.
Before I can argue, she snatches my phone, holds it up to my face, and taps away, moving through the apps on my screen. “Here, you’re now logged into my account. You can order a Ryde.”
I blink.
She’s serious.
“But only if you hang out first.” She grins, waving a hand toward the group of guys gathered nearby. “I want to introduce you to everyone.”
Since I don’t have the funds to cover that expensive Ryde back to SKU, I’ll just have to tough it out.
“There are a lot of cute guys,” she continues when I don’t answer her. Her arm hooks around my neck, turning me toward them.
Hockey players.
“That’s Jackson; he’s a winger.” She points out the cute guyfrom the photo she sent me earlier, the one sitting next to her when Gracie warned me. “And off-limits.”
“Have at it.” I let out a huff and hold my hand up in mock surrender. “He’s your guy?”
Christina smirks. “Something like that. We used to date, but he’s still obsessed with me. I mean, who wouldn’t be.”
I chuckle inwardly.She really does love herself.
“There is Ryker; he’s also a winger, and Jackson’s little brother. You have Carlos, a defenseman. Luka is one of the goalies, even though he probably shouldn’t even be on the team. And that’s Alexander, the captain and center, plus Chancellor Williamsburg’s son. You’ve got to watch that one. He’ll try to convince a nun to give it up. Then there are his two best friends—who must be somewhere around here—Kane, our star defenseman, and Mountain, our goalie. You know him, though, since he’s in our class.”
Little does she know, I needed no introduction of the last three she mentions. Christina continues to ramble off names of the players… all twenty-six of them. Meanwhile, I’ve tuned her out as Alex locks onto me with dark intent behind his eyes. My stomach twists as his gaze drags over my legs, lingering where my skirt ends.
The girl beside him notices. Her expression hardens as she mutters something under her breath and places her hand on his bicep.
Alex slides her arm off his like it’s an afterthought, then strides toward me with that same cocky swagger that makes half the campus swoon and the other half want to punch him in the face. Blond hair perfectly tousled like he just rolled out of someone’s bed complements green eyes sharp with calculation above a deceptively easy smile. That effortless charm oozes offhim like cologne, intoxicating and intentional. And something about the slight lift of his chin tells me exactly what this is. He’s about to try to smooth over how harshly he confronted me in that office, like he thinks a grin and a wink will be enough to make me forget.
Nope. Not happening.
I don’t have the patience for another one of these assholes tonight.
Alex stops in front of me, about to take my hand. Instead, I decide to shut him down before he can even get out words.
“No, thank you.” I snap my hand out of reach, crossing my arms instead.
His smirk. “I deserved that.”
