5. Anastasia
Anastasia
M usic blares in the part of the house where I’m dancing with Riley. I need the noise to drown out my thoughts, and, tipping back another shot of something handed to me by someone I recognize from a class last year, I realize I need the alcohol to numb my body.
I’m not usually the partying/drinking type. I swear. It’s all the shifts in my life from my father’s campaign, my upcoming postgrad year, and my new unwanted bodyguard. Everything that makes me feel out of control. But this—small rebellions like this night—is my taste of freedom.
Riley takes my hand, trying to pull me from the dancing, but I resist.
“One more song!” I whine loudly over the music.
“I have to pee!” she yells back, giggling into me.
“Go—I’ll be right here.” I spin away with my hands in the air, at which she laughs some more before maneuvering herself out of the small crowd.
This house is massive, yet so many have shown up for the mixer that I wonder how much of the university is here.
After the next song finishes, Riley still isn’t back, and dancing alone just isn’t as fun.
I’m about to make my way to the kitchen for another drink, or outside since some fresh air to cool the body heat sounds amazing, when a hand snakes around my waist.
I peer back, and the quick acknowledgment I’m disappointed to find a sandy-haired guy instead of a silvery blond shocks me. No. No way am I allowing Rhett Kaiser to have this kind of influence already. The guy pulls me tighter to press his mouth to my ear.
“You must know you are the most stunning thing in this place,” he says with suggestion.
I shiver at it, debating if I want to indulge his flirtations.
“No, I don’t. Please go on,” I purr, turning in his hold.
Lust is painted in his eyes, nothing more.
“I could show you,” he says, leaning in closer.
His warm breath fans across my face, smelling of cheap beer.
My flirty edge dissipates in the cloud of it.
I push on his chest, but he takes it as teasing, gripping my hips tighter and grinding his hardening dick against my thigh in time with the music.
“I’m not interested,” I say.
My sights won’t fully focus from the alcohol, but I know he’s pretty in the way he’s used to getting what he wants. He eases a cocky side smile before leaning in, his mouth to mine again.
Panic surges in me. I plant both hands on his chest this time and push with all I have. All his gloating falls to a disgusted frown, but it’s nothing compared to my repulsion at his lack of taking a hint.
“An average kiss from an average man won’t improve my confidence.”
“What a bitch,” he scoffs.
Ah, bruised egos always shine true colors.
“That wasn’t very nice,” a low voice cuts in.
My stomach flips. I just can’t be sure if it’s excitement or the slam of shock.
Rhett’s hand clamps around the guy’s shoulder, and his anger fades when he looks up at Rhett, who is at least a head taller than him.
“Sorry, man,” he mutters.
Rhett’s eyebrows twitch together. “I’m not the one you offended.”
The guy turns his head back to me with a muttered apology I barely hear. It doesn’t seem good enough as he hisses at the pressure Rhett adds to his shoulder.
“Stop,” I say, growing irritable over the scene he’s making.
“She didn’t hear you,” Rhett says, ignoring me.
“I’m fucking sorry. I didn’t know she was taken.”
“I’m not,” I say immediately.
Rhett lets him go, even giving him a pat as if they’ve turned into old friends. It’s almost chilling the way he moves. Speaks. Looks. Everything about him screams danger, and it’s utterly compelling.
No. It’s sinful and infuriating.
Rhett Kaiser is here. Why the fuck is Rhett Kaiser here?
My mind buzzes with alcohol, but I need more to drown in the denial.
“I must have missed my invitation.” Rhett’s low, smooth voice creeps over my nape in the kitchen.
He’s more than three paces away as he wanders around the island.
He draws so much attention to himself—giddy eyes from the women and wariness from the guys—though he seems oblivious to it all when his focus is either subtly on his surroundings or on me.
A blush threatens to warm my face, and I take another long drink of my vodka and lemonade.
“You weren’t invited. How did you even find me?” I glare at him.
Rhett eyes my cup. “How much have you had to drink?”
My smile isn’t friendly. “I’ll tell you only if you plan to catch up. A hint though. You have a lot of catching up to do.”
As I pick up the vodka bottle again, he swipes it from me.
I wait for him to take a drink straight, just like the challenge in my stare encourages. Instead he sets it aside and I frown deeply.
“Did you only follow me to kill the mood? You’re not even supposed to be guarding me yet, so leave me the fuck alone.” I reach for the bottle again but lose my balance as the last drink hits me all at once.
A warm, strong hand catches me by the waist, only long enough for me to straighten before Rhett rips his hand back as if I’m made of fire.
I shouldn’t be offended by how quickly he distances himself.
He’s my damn guard, and it’s highly inappropriate to think of him like any other guy who would have slipped their hand to my ass if the opportunity were there.
A feminine groan on my other side draws my delayed attention. “The line was so long!” Riley complains.
My struggle to get her face to focus makes me relieved Rhett prevented me from getting another drink. I’m going to suffer tomorrow.
I blink a few times and find Riley combing her fingers through her hair. I forget all about my stupidly overprotective bodyguard and grab her with a gasp.
“Riley O’Neil, did you fuck someone in the bathroom!?” I accuse playfully in her ear.
“No!” She bursts into fits of giggles. “But almost. And it was outside the bathroom, actually. The line really was long.”
“Who!”
She shrugs. “Some guy from last year’s literary studies.” Riley looks off to reconsider. “Or was it creative writing?”
“At least one of us saw something of action tonight,” I complain. I don’t really mind.
Riley’s eyes widen when they look up behind me, then I remember who must have caught her attention.
Rhett leans with arms crossed against the island, looking so bored yet intimidating anyone would question why he’s here at all.
“Who is that?” Riley gushes in my ear.
“He’s, uh, my new guard,” I say vaguely.
I shake my head when I understand her confused look. She was there when Victor was assigned.
“I’ll explain later?” I plead. I don’t want to talk about him. Actually, I hoped she’d help come up with a way to ditch him.
When I survey the party in the living area it seems Rhett isn’t the only brooding face in the room with eyes pinned on us.
“Nolan Flynn is basically eye-fucking you,” I say, dragging her back to dance.
Riley isn’t impressed. “Nolan Flynn looks like he wants to end my existence.”
“I bet he gets off on trying to best you.”
She whacks my arm but steals a glance behind us to where Nolan stands. He has dark brown hair and wears round glasses that are highly attractive on him, complementing his brown eyes. He’s tall with a slimmer build than Rhett.
Dammit, Ana, stop thinking of him.
My traitorous eyes don’t listen as they try to find him, but all the bodies are becoming a blur, and the music blends to a consistent thump and nothing more.
“I think I’ve had a little too much to drink,” I confess. It’s never a good time of the night when my mind starts to scold itself for the overindulgence.
“Agreed. You didn’t turn down a single shot tonight. I was starting to get concerned.”
“It’s been a long week,” I drawl.
Some hot guy hovers behind Riley, placing his hands on her hips, and she’s into it. I understand when I catch her mouthing the words “bathroom guy.” Before I know it, I’m left awkwardly dancing as she turns to him and they kiss.
I find Rhett by the side of the room with eyes like a hawk on me. My alcohol-clouded mind finds his scowl to be a challenge as I twist through the bodies toward him.
“Dance with me,” I say loudly over the music.
“Not going to happen.”
I don’t listen, grabbing his hand and pulling, but I underestimate how strong he is, because he doesn’t budge an inch.
“You’re not very fun, are you?” I pout.
He answers by regarding me with a stony expression. Ugh, could I have been landed with a more uptight ass? Rhett is twenty-something going on forty with the judgement in his eyes.
I’m starting to nurse a headache and my bed sounds like the best thing in the world right now, so I head back over to Riley, but she isn’t where I left her. It takes a little wandering before I hear elevated voices down a hall and distinctly recognize one of them as my best friend.
Riley is adorable yet kind of frightening when she’s angry. Right now she’s pissed as hell, but so is Nolan Flynn in heated conversation with her.
“Everything okay?” I say tentatively, as if they’re a grenade and my interruption will pull the pin.
“Fine,” Riley snaps, not really at me, as she storms toward me and grabs my hand.
I cast Nolan a glare before I’m pulled away, though his gaze is fixed on Riley’s back. I don’t know what he’s done, but if she’s pissed, so am I.
“Want to tell me what that was about?” I ask when we’re back in the main room of the house.
She rubs her temples. “He thinks he knows what I want when he’s really just an arrogant dick out to ruin my life at every turn.”
I hook a brow. Oh ... oh.
“Sounds like jealousy to me.”
I hold my hands up at the lethal look she cuts me with.
“Yeah, jealous I can have a sex life and best him at finals when the only time his dick is wet is in the shower.”
We both burst into laughter. Childish, overactive laughter from our sorry, drunken states, and the last vodka I had really starts to weigh on me as I lean into the wall.
When we collect ourselves I sigh deeply. “I’m going to go out front and call an Uber. Want to ride with me?”