Chapter 10
The place is a zoo. Every corner is packed.
The temperature rises about twenty-five degrees the second I step through the door.
It’s loud—people screaming, music pumping, walls rattling.
I can’t actually believe players live here.
It must be a disaster in the daylight. I’m barely five feet in and the floor is already sticky.
Just looking at the worn leather couch makes me feel diseased.
Beer splashes my leg as a competitive game of flip cup roars in the next room. Nova takes my hand.
“Come on! Let’s go find Logan.”
I thread my fingers through Willa’s, and Nova pulls us both through the swarm.
With every step, the skintight leather skirt Nova forced me to wear rides farther up my legs.
I tug self-consciously at the black tube top she paired it with.
Her boobs are way bigger than mine, and I sort of feel like a kid in her mother’s clothes even though we’re pretty much the same size.
Thank god I at least convinced her to let me keep my Keds, though I’m not sure the white canvas will ever be the same after this.
“You’re here!” Logan wraps us all in a group hug, then waggles his brows at me. “One sec. Danny Boy!”
He shouts so loudly I think half the room turns to look.
Kill me now. Just kill me right now, please.
A cute guy with buzz-cut dark hair spins around. His brown eyes land on me and a wide grin splits his lips. He says something to the group he was chatting with and then starts making his way toward us. There’s an eager edge to his expression that gives me pause.
“Uh, Logan,” I murmur as I shift my weight. Nerves crawl up my very exposed legs. “What exactly did you say to Danny?”
“Nothing.” He shrugs. “Just that you were looking for a hookup and he fit the bill. Why?”
I wince.
Nova slaps him on the arm. “Are you a complete and total idiot?”
“Ow!” He rubs his bicep as he glances between us, dumbfounded. “What? What’d I do?”
Men are useless. I turn to Willa in a blind panic as Nova starts to ream into Logan, but it’s too late. Danny’s here.
“Hey,” he purrs. “I’m Danny.”
Oh shit. My mouth goes dry. He one hundred percent thinks I want to have sex with him.
If Logan thought I seemed murderous at dinner, he has no idea what look will soon be heading his way.
I could throttle him with my bare hands.
But Danny slides between us, cutting me off from my friends as he lifts his hand to the doorframe, caging me in.
To any normal college girl, this would probably be sexy as hell.
He is categorically fine to look at—tall, muscular, with what I’m assuming are usually panty-dropping pouty eyes.
I grip the frame behind me to keep from running away, and unintentionally push my boobs in his direction. His gaze immediately dips. I feel like a piece of meat on display.
“I’m Clara,” I murmur, somewhat woozy from the claustrophobia. I’m pretty sure he thinks he stole my breath away. FML. “Look, I’m sorry, but—”
“Are you in Stat 1?” he interrupts, peering at me quizzically.
I shake my head. “No.”
“Intro to Econ?”
“No again.”
He narrows his eyes, studying me up and down. “You look so familiar. I feel like I’ve seen you before.”
“Probably just with Logan,” I say dismissively.
“No,” he says suddenly, his eyes going wide. Then he points at me, laughter on his lips as my intestines tie themselves into knots. “You’re the girl who fell into the lake on the first day of school. I knew I recognized you. That was so funny.”
“Oh.” Embarrassment blazes down my sternum. “Was it?”
“Totally. You’re a legend!”
I think he means it as a twisted sort of compliment because he’s smiling so warmly, not a trace of malice across his beautiful face, but it still cuts like broken glass—my worst freaking nightmare come to life.
You’re a legend.
The phrase runs on repeat through my thoughts as we keep chatting.
I’m only half present but he doesn’t seem to notice.
I smile and nod, going through all the right motions, because he’s nice enough and I can tell just by looking at him that he’s probably a great kisser, but the damage is done.
When he trails his fingers down my arm and asks if I want to dance, the apology is already on my lips.
Then I feel it.
A tingle across the back of my neck, the familiar whisper that I’m being watched—that Nox is here.
I cast a subtle glance around the room.
There.
He’s leaning against the back wall of the living room, sipping from a Solo cup and giving off a general air of do not fuck with me.
His face wears an inscrutable scowl. Dark jeans hug his hips.
A heather-gray T-shirt strains across his objectively broad chest. Three girls surround him, trying to catch his attention, but he’s staring across the room.
Not at me, but near me. I glance down, following the line of his sight to where Danny has just taken ahold of my hand.
I look up at the hockey player, having completely forgotten he was even here.
“Let’s go.”
He tugs me forward. It takes me a second to remember where we’re headed—the basement, the dance floor.
The overwhelming urge to yank my hand free is surpassed only by the desire to prove myself to Nox.
I’m not really sure what exactly I’m trying to prove.
I just know I can’t let him see me run away again.
I can’t back down. So I follow Danny down the stairs.
When we reach the edge of the dance floor, he pulls me against his chest. His hands find my hips and he guides me to sway in tune with his body.
I’m not sure what to do with my arms so I just drape them over his shoulders because it seems like the logical place.
He leans his head down so we’re cheek to cheek.
His palms inch toward my ass. I can’t breathe with my face pressed into his chest, so I spin, desperate for air.
It’s the wrong move.
He slides his arms across my stomach, holding me closer.
My leather skirt rides up and I silently will it to stay put!
because my butt cheeks are feeling something they really, really don’t want to be feeling.
His lips find the crook of my neck and he peppers soft kisses against my skin.
It feels nice enough but alarm bells ring inside my head.
Abort!
Abort!
I glance up, feeling the panic widen my eyes as I search the room for a familiar face.
I need Nova or Willa. Hell, at this point I’d even take Logan—anyone to save me.
I’m not the best at standing my ground. I never have been.
I tend to go along with things to keep the peace, a fact Mabel took advantage of often enough.
But there’s no way in hell I’m sleeping with someone just because I can’t find my own voice to say stop.
Nova! Willa! I silently shriek, hoping the vibes will just reverberate through the hockey house like some sort of beacon to my friends. Help me!
Danny’s hand finds the bottom edge of my tube top and starts to slide underneath.
Whoa there, Nelly!
Just when I’m about to wrench myself free, someone else does it for me. One moment, Danny’s fingers are creeping up my rib cage and the next he’s gone.
I spin on my heels.
Danny bends away at an odd angle, his arm twisted behind his back and his face contorted.
Nox leans over him, expression harsh as he whispers something in the hockey player’s ear.
It’s over before it’s even begun. Nox lets go.
Danny stumbles forward a step. Like a deer caught in headlights, he looks at me, his eyes comically wide.
Without a word, he scurries past me as if he’s trying to outrun a fuse.
I glance at Nox in shock.
He crosses his arms. “You’re welcome.”
God, he’s so smug. And so right. I freaking hate it. Hate that he saved me again. Hate that he sees me so clearly. Shame burns a path across my chest. I glare at him, desperate to keep my walls intact. “What the hell did you say to him?”
“To Danny?” He scoffs. “Does it matter?”
“Yes, it matters!”
Nox shrugs. “Thank me, and I’ll tell you.”
“Thank you for what? Scaring off the guy I was dancing with?”
Nox laughs outright, the sound loud even with the blaring music. “You wanted out and you know it.”
I stubbornly fold my arms. “I did not.”
“Like hell.”
“I was having a great time.” I arch my brows in challenge. “Maybe you just have no idea what that looks like.”
“Oh, really?” He bends closer, eyes blazing. “You want me to go bring him back here?”
Shit.
He’s calling my bluff. I’ve got nothing and he knows it. The heat in his gaze flares with victory as I take a moment to swallow and figure out my next move.
I need to stay on the attack.
It’s the only place I feel safe with him.
“I doubt he’d come anyway. It looked like you told him I had an STD or something.” The offhand comment grows hooks and suddenly I narrow my eyes. “Did you tell him I have an STD?”
“What?” Nox shakes his head, taken aback. “No.”
“You did!” I accuse.
“I did not say that, Clara.”
“Then what did you say?”
“Thank me and I’ll tell you,” he offers again. “Or is it really that hard for you to show an ounce of appreciation when someone saves your ass?”
I actually growl. “Fine.”
A smile twitches at the corner of his lips. He opens his hands as if to say, The floor is yours.
I take a deep breath and offer the sweetest smile I can muster. “Thank you, Nox, for saving me from the very attractive hockey player who wanted to spend all night making out with me. I’m ever so grateful you rescued me from that horrible fate.”
His nostrils flare. “You—”
“Hey!” Nova cheerfully interrupts. Her face falls as she looks between us. “Are you two fighting again?”
“No,” I chirp.
“No,” Nox grumbles.
She eyes us skeptically, then moves on. “I saw Danny practically fleeing the scene, so I figured you were over it. Wanna find Willa and—”