“I think you’ll want to come to this one,” she said and then smiled at both me and Brody. “It’s at your house.”
Brody sighed. “Fucking Marcus.”
Selena
The house was burstingat the seams when we pulled up outside. Cal sat on the front steps, hood up, attracting attention from various girls on the front lawn who were too intimidated to approach him.
“What the fuck happened? This wasn’t supposed to be so… elaborate,” Brody grunted.
Cal shrugged. “I don’t know. First Bailey showed up and then this. He said you had OK’d it, and he already seemed to know the staff, fuck knows how.”
“Marcus has a way with people.” I found myself laughing at Brody’s expression.
He turned to me and pointed an accusing finger at my face. “This is all your fault, heathen.”
“What? How did you get there?”
“If I hadn’t needed information from Marcus about… it doesn’t matter, just know that it’s your fault,” Brody muttered and thenjerked his head toward the stairs. “Come on, let’s go and see the carnage.”
Aisha and I followed the twins up the stairs. The music was loud inside, the bass vibrating the floor. The sitting room and kitchen were packed. There were people everywhere, from other hockey players and puck bunnies, to other students I kind of recognized from other programs.
“Jesus,” Brody muttered. “Marcus did this on purpose. No way he likes parties this big. Where is that fucker?”
“Out back. Everyone’s in the pool.”
“Of course they are.” Brody started to head toward the back doors that led to the swimming pool area but then stopped and turned to me. “Are you okay with this?”
“What? Why?”
“It’s your house, too.”
“Even if I wasn’t, I don’t think there’s much that can be done at this point.” I shrugged and linked arms with Aisha. “Don’t worry. We’ll have fun. Let’s go to the pool.”
“Okay!”
We walked through the house, dodging the makeshift dance floor and people playing beer pong on the dining room table. It was hot and sticky inside, all the extra bodies making the AC work overtime.
Outside by the pool was balmy and pleasant. I spied the other Ice Gods lounging by the seats at the end, a big rectangle of outdoor sofas with a firepit burning in the middle.
“There you are!” Winter announced, coming to my side. “I thought you’d forgotten my invitation.”
“I didn’t even know about this until now,” I told her. It was so warm out, unusually so for the time of year. “I’m just going to go and change, and I’ll be down in a second.”
“Okay, maybe then we can go in the pool,” Winter suggested.
I nodded, but I had no intention of doing that. Going in the pool didn’t work well with trying to hide most of your arms and legs.
I headed upstairs, thankful that no one seemed to have migrated up there yet.
I slipped into my room and locked the door, quickly rifling through my things for something less warm but that still covered me.
I pulled my top off and then wriggled out of my jeans. God, that felt better. A sound from the bathroom had me whirling around.
My earlier nerves from the library resurfaced. I held my shirt to my chest as I advanced on the door.
“Hello?” I called and pushed the ajar door farther open.
“Shit! You scared me!” I cried as I took in Brody.
