Chapter 11
We ridetoward Greek Row in comfortable silence. Dinner was actually very nice and a few times, his hand found my leg. And oh boy, when he squeezed it, I think my vagina did flips.
“So, something exciting is going down at the Sigma Xi Delta frat house?” Damien asks, glancing over at me.
“That’s what I hear. But no one knows what it is. Addy just told me to get our asses down there.” I shrug.
“We can park here and walk. It’s that house there, on the corner.” Damien pulls the car into a parking space along the curb and turns off the car.
I unbuckle myself and go to pick up my purse off the floor. I can feel his eyes on me, and I turn to look up at him. “You okay?”
He shakes his head. “No. I’ve been needing to do something since I picked you up.”
“What did you need to do?” I scrunch my face in confusion as I sit back against the seat.
Damien leans over, his face millimeters from mine. “I need to kiss you.” His lips descend on mine. I can taste the alcohol on his lips from his drink at dinner.
His tongue sweeps against my lips and I open them, letting him in. I let out a little moan when his lips push harder against mine.
Suddenly, his hands grab hold of my waist, and I’m straddling his lap in the front seat. Our lips never leave each other’s; my hands find his chest and I steady myself. I can feel him harden under me, my hips involuntarily shifting over him. His groans deepen as our bodies start to heat up, our tongues dancing around each other.
Pulling away, my breaths come fast and heavy and I can feel his chest rise and fall under my hands. His hands come up to cup the sides of my face as we stare into each other’s eyes.
“That was …” My voice wavers. Words have utterly left my brain.
“Your lips are so soft. Fuck, Rory. Are you sure you want to go to this party? I’m pretty sure I could just spend the night kissing you and getting lost in those lips.”
He pulls my face down to his, our lips softly brushing each other’s once more.
I smile against him, breathing him in. “That does sound amazing, but I promised my roommate we would go to this wonderful college event called a frat party.”
Damien sighs but smiles. “Well, then I guess let’s go have that frat party experience.” He leans in and kisses my forehead before helping me off of him.
As we make our way up to the house, the music is blasting from inside. People with red solo cups are in the front yard laughing and dancing. Lights flash from inside like it’s some sort of rave.
I halt for a second, taking everything in. It’s not my usual scene at all. Far from it, in fact.
“You alright?” I peer up to find Damien looking at me.
“Yeah. Just um, I’ve never been to a party like this before. It’s not quite my thing.” I bite my lip as I watch two people dry humping each other in the yard.
His brow creases. “Do you want to leave?”
I shake my head. “No, I’ll be okay. It will just take a moment for my introvert to extrovert.”
“Okay, just stick close to me. I won’t let anything happen to you.” Damien kisses the top of my head, sending a warm, fuzzy feeling through me.
We walk into the madness of the house. Instantly, I can see all around me there is not one single piece of furniture except for the bars set up everywhere.
Some of them are just folding tables with a keg next to it. Bodies are littered everywhere, grinding and dancing on each other. The air reeks of alcohol and smoke. The music I heard from the outside is now ripping apart my eardrums.
I pull Damien down to talk into his ear. “I need to find Addy.” Even though I’m talking into his ear, I still have to yell over the music.
I pull out my phone and see that I have a text from her that she is on the deck in the back.
Holding up my phone, I show him the text that she’s on the back deck. He nods, placing his hand on my lower back, instantly sending shivers through me. I can feel my cheeks get hot just from the touch alone.
He leads me out to the deck, and I instantly spot a huge stage toward the back of the yard. Well, I guess there is absolutely going to be something big tonight.
I look up at Damien, “You think they’re using that tonight?” I point to the stage.
He leans closer. “Well, I don’t think they set it up for nothing.”
“You think it’s like a popular band?” I turn and his lips are inches from mine.
He smiles. “I would hope this wasn’t a setup for a talent show. Kinda overkill.” His eyes shift down to my lips. My breathing picks up as he moves his lips closer to mine. I close my eyes, ready for what I know is about to happen.
“Rory!” My name is yelled over the noise, and my eyes fly open in time to see Damien pull back and look behind me.
I turn my head to see Addy waving like a crazy person at me as she barrels through the crowd.
I turn back toward Damien, and he gives me a soft smile. Yeah, that was bad timing.
“Hey! Oh my God. You made it!” She wraps her arms around me. “How was it?” she whisper-yells into my ear.
“He is nice. It’s been nice,” I yell back into hers.
Her smile stretches across her face.
“Would you two like a drink?” Damien cuts in between us.
Addy holds up her cup. “Yes, please. I just finished this.”
“Yes, please. I would.” I look up at Damien as our eyes lock. I bite my lip and peer down at his mouth. Fuck, I really wish that we were not interrupted.
Damien nods to us and turns to find the nearest keg.
“Tell me everything.” Addy jumps up and down.
“Well, first of all, calm down. Second, he was about to kiss me again until you yelled my name.”
Her eyes go wide. “Oh! Fuck! I am so sorry.” She shakes her head. “Actually no, I’m not.”
“What?” I scrunch my face.
“That means it will be epic later. Like in those romance books. They just keep missing their time. And then, bam! It happens and it’s out of this world. Like another-level type of kiss.”
I shake my head. “You read too many of those romance books. And we already made out in the car.”
“Hey, I don’t read too many of them. Also, you read them too, so shut it. And there are real-life book boyfriends. And Damien may just be one.” She shrugs, then her eyes go wide and her mouth pops open. “Wait! Did you just say you made out in the car? Deets!”
“Okay, let’s slow down, killer. What is there to tell? He’s fucking sexy as fuck. And I still have no idea what he is doing taking me out, but I don’t hate it.”
I turn slightly and give her a side-eye.
“Yeah, yeah. Whatever.” She rolls her eyes at me and shifts toward the stage that’s set up. “I wonder who’s playing on that.”
“No idea. What frat is this anyway?” I ask her as we look over the railing of the deck.
“No idea. I can’t read that Greek letter shit. It’s Greek to me.” She busts out laughing at her own joke.
I feel a presence behind me, a body softly presses against me. “Here you ladies go,” Damien says into my ear. He hands us both our drinks, and I take a quick sip.
The cold bitter taste hits my mouth. I frown at the cheap tasting beer.
“You get used to it after a couple,” Addy says when she sees my face. “Okay, I’m gonna go find some more peeps. I’ll leave you two be. I will probably make my way down to the stage area later. See if I can get some from whatever band is playing. Wanna join me?” She waggles her eyebrows.
“Hard pass. I think we are fine up here.” I look back at Damien, and he nods.
“Suit yourself.” Addy hugs me and waves to Damien as she bounces off.
“Well, she’s …” Damien bites his lips as he searches for the right word to describe my roommate.
“Extra. Dramatic. Excitable. Extroverted as fuck. I think you were looking for something along those lines.”
He laughs at me as he throws his arm around my shoulder. Then he leans in and kisses the side of my head. “Yeah, any of those would work.”
“You know what? I need to find a bathroom. Here, hold this for me, I’ll be right back.” I hand him my cup of gross-as-fuck beer.
“You want me to come with you?”
I shake my head. “No. I’ll be fine. Besides, we have a sweet spot right here.” He nods to me as I turn toward the doors back inside the house.
As I make my way back into the hot and very crowded house, I begin searching for a bathroom.
It boggles my mind how many people are stuffed into these walls, and also, how the hell are they going to get this all cleaned?
I push through what I think is a common area to find a hallway that has a line stemming from a door.
Well, fuck.
I’m pretty sure I found the bathroom, but there is no way I can hold it that long. There has to be another bathroom around here somewhere.
Retreating back to where I came from, I walk around to where we came in at. There’s a set of stairs that is roped off, but no one is paying attention to anything other than the group of people doing beer bongs.
I seize the opportunity to sneak past the ropes and run up the stairs as fast as I can. The last thing I need is to be caught. I just need to fucking pee.
At the top of the stairs, I am greeted by a shit ton of doors. I decide to walk to the back of the hallway, so no one sees me standing there.
I reach a door on my right and I open it.
My mouth drops open. This room is a complete one-eighty from the mess downstairs. It’s pristine. I shut the door behind me and take in the space.
There is not a single thing on the dark wooden floor. The four-poster bed is made up with a black comforter.
I turn toward the desk to find not a single book on it. It almost looks like it hasn’t been used. I look past the desk to see a door open and a bathroom beyond that door.
With a quickness, I rush into the bathroom, shutting the door and relieving the pressure on my poor bladder. I let out a long sigh as soon as I finish. I quickly get myself back together and wash my hands.
I grab hold of the door handle and saunter out of the bathroom a much happier Rory. As I get to the middle of the bedroom, the door opens, and my eyes widen.
The last person I was expecting comes walking through.
“What the fuck are you doing in my room, Rory?” His eyes narrow at me as he steps into the room and closes the door behind him.
I hold up my hands in defense. “Dekker…”