by JB Salsbury
I can see why Bex took to bugs over hanging out with these pretentious assholes growing up. “Parents deserve to know that the President of their daughter’s sorority had her pledges jump a sworn in sister at an Eta Pi event that left bruises on her skin.”
She shoves a finger in my face. “Not another word!”
“And then while she was blinded with pies they pulled her skirt up to expose her to the one hundred and fifty people in attendance.” I’m practically growling now. “While taking photos and videos.”
Bex’s mom swings an accusing glare to Riley who seems to sink between her shoulders.
“Ahh, so you left out some details, huh?” I’m not letting Bex sit here and listen to anymore shit from these women. “Where are Bex’s keys?”
“Riley, tell me this young man is lying—”
“Hey!” I yell, getting her mom’s attention. I hold out my hand. “Keys. Right fucking now or I’ll expose this entire shit show sorority to everyone who’ll listen.”
“You don’t have the influence,” she sneers.
Bex squeezes in tighter to me, and with a stiff chin barks back. “He’s got the influence of the entire Bear State University football team, mom. Just hand over the keys.”
Her lips are in a thin line when she reaches into her bag and slams the keys into my palm. I hand them to Bex and then turn us around to leave. Neither Riley nor Bex’s mom tries to call us back. We head straight to the parking lot where my truck is parked, packed with surfboards, near Bex’s BMW.
“Fuck, I hate leaving you, but I’m already late.” I turn her in my arms and kiss her hard. “By the way, your mom’s a bitch.”
“You don’t even know the half.” She smiles up at me. “Thanks for having my back in there.”
I kiss her again and whisper, “Always.”
“You should go.”
“Where will you go? You know you can always crash at my place, however long you need.”
“Thank you. I may take you up on that. First, I’m going to get my snakes. My mom said she had them taken to an apartment that my dad owns, he uses it for clients when they come into town.”
“Grab ‘em and bring them to my place.” I check my watch. “Shit, I really have to go.”
“You’d let me keep my snakes in your room?”
Is she kidding? “I’d live in a viper pit if it meant I got to wake up every morning with you.”
“Viper pits aren’t actually a thing.”
I’m damn near giddy at her light-hearted, know-it-all response. I kiss her again. “Then why do they call them pit vipers?”
“The pit is an organ between the pit viper’s eyes and nostrils that helps them sense the heat off prey. It helps them hunt.”
“Okay, well I’d sleep with a bed full of pit vipers if it meant I got to have you in the bed with me.”
“That’s so romantic. And you just might get the chance to do that.” She pushes off my chest and pulls away from me. “Go to work. I’ll talk to you later.”
“You’re beautiful,” I say as she’s climbing into her car.
She stops, and turns her head, her expression unbelieving.
“I’m serious, Bex. You’re the most beautiful, smartest, funniest girl I’ve ever met.”
She shakes her head, laughs, and then gets in her car. I wait until she pulls out of the lot before jogging to my truck and driving like hell is on my heels to get to work on time.
Bex
The Weldon is a high-rise building in Century City, and by the time I get there the movers have already unloaded most of my things. They’ve placed my snakes on the full sized dining room table and after I make sure the move didn’t stress them out and they’re healthy, I make space in the master bedroom and move their terrariums in there. The condo has two bedrooms, they could take the second, but I’d feel lonely without them.
I toss my clothes into the drawers and arrange my computer and schoolbooks on the bedside table. I’m so used to living out of one room, I have very little need for the massive square footage this place offers.
I take a long soak in the Jacuzzi tub, throw on some clothes and hit the grocery store. There’s a voicemail from my mom and I hit play in my car.
“I am not at all happy with the scene you made at the Eta Pi house this morning. Neither is your father. I don’t know why you insist on being so difficult. Karina was never this much work.”
Oh how I love being compared to my perfect older sister.
“We will do what we can to get you reinstated into the sorority. I’m sure a generous donation should do the job. Until then, would you please stay out of trouble?”
The message ends and I slam my phone onto my passenger seat. Of course this is all my fault, as if I’m not the one that was made into a complete fool! My phone rings and it’s Rowan.
“I’m assuming you heard?”
“Yes,” she says, “Loren told Kaipo. Are you okay?”
Am I? I do an internal check of my emotional wellbeing. Being kicked out of Eta Pi saved me the trouble of leaving. My family is disappointed in me but that’s nothing new. And I have Loren. “I’m actually good. Is that weird?”
“Not at all. I think you’d be relieved to be done with that place.”
“I am. I mean, it’s not like I see any of the sisters—ex-sisters—on campus much. It’ll be an entirely new college experience that I’m actually really excited about.”
“Great! How about you come over for a celebratory dinner tonight. I’ll make your favorite.”
“Enchiladas and that Mexican street corn dip?”
“Yep.”
My stomach growls and I realize I haven’t eaten all day and it’s already two o’clock. “I’ll be there. I’m at the store now, what can I bring?”
“Just yourself. Come over early and we can make strawberry daiquiris.”
“See you soon.”
I punch out a quick text to Loren telling him I’ll be eating dinner at his house tonight and that I’ll see him there when he gets off work. He texts me back two words.
Day made.
Chapter Seventeen
Bex
I get enough food to stock the condo, change into a pair of jeans, tank top, and a flannel. My hair is a dried, frizzy mess so I put in two French braids, and slap on a little mascara and lip balm. I grab the flowers I got to offer Rowan as a thank you for dinner, and pull up to their house at four.
Loren sent a text five minutes ago that said he was on his way and I get butterflies when I think about seeing him again.
Rowan and Emery greet me at the door with a strawberry daiquiri, and I follow them into the kitchen where they put the flowers I brought in a vase.
“You’ll have to come over and hang at my new place.” I slurp back frozen, boozy sweetness.
“Are you all settled in?” Emery asks and stirs her drink with a straw.
“I don’t have much to settle. The place is furnished so I just had to throw my things in drawers.”
Rowan’s expression is cautious. “Are your parents cool with everything that went down?”
“Nope, but that’s not surprising. All that matters is I’m totally cool with it. I feel like I lost fifty pounds of dead weight just getting out of that house. I didn’t realize how oppressive it was until I was free of it.”
“To new beginnings,” Rowan says, and holds up her drink.
“Cheers!”
We clink glasses and Emery changes the subject to something lighter—a documentary on the life and killings of Ted Bundy.
I hear Loren’s truck pull up and rather than sit and wait for him to come inside, I excuse myself and run out to meet him. He smiles when he sees me coming. I launch into his arms and with two hands on my ass he holds me to him.
“Someone’s in a good—”
I kiss the last word from his lips and he spins us, presses my back to his truck, and slides his tongue against mine. His big body pressed in tight between my thighs has me imagining a millio
n different scenarios, all of them involving a little more privacy and a lot less clothes.
He breaks the kiss abruptly and smiles down at me. “A man could get used to this kind of greeting.”
“So could a woman.”
He kisses me again, quick, deep, and wet. “You taste like Rowan’s daiquiris.”
“They’re delicious.”
“You’re delicious.” He releases my ass to settle me on my feet and he takes my hand to go inside. He takes a deep breath in the foyer. “Enchiladas?”
“Yep.” We make our way to the kitchen but I stop him before we are in front of an audience. “Oh, I wanted to ask you if you want to spend the night at my place tonight.”
He studies me with a sweet grin. “I was going to ask you the same thing.”
I chew my lip wondering if I should make the suggestion I want to make, or if it implies too much. Screw it. A famous philosopher once said, Greatness is never achieved by being a pussy, or something like that. “My place is more private.”
His light eyes spark with understanding and he kisses me sweetly. “Then let’s eat fast and get the fuck out of here.”
Is it possible to fall in love with someone after only two weeks? We’re still smiling like idiots when we get to the kitchen where Kaipo and Levi, Loren’s brother, have joined Emery and Rowan.
Beers are opened and eventually Carey and Spider join us. I look around at the group wondering how it’s possible to feel closer to a group of relative strangers than I ever have to my sorority sisters or, hell, even my own family.
It doesn’t take an advanced degree to answer that question.
Acceptance.
These people have always accepted me for exactly who I am—the freaky snake girl who doesn’t fit the size four, Bel Air wealth mold.
We all do our best to pitch in with dinner, Carey getting his hand slapped multiple times for picking at the food before it’s ready. When we finally settle in at the table, Loren pulls my chair out for me as if he’s done it a million times before.
My family might not be able to see the beauty in falling for a southern gentleman from Tennessee, but I do. Plates are dished and compliments are poured over Rowan for her incredible cooking when the doorbell rings.
“I’ll get it.” Levi hops up and we all dig in, moaning our appreciation.
When Levi comes back, he’s not alone.
Riley trails cautiously behind him, her hands balled at her stomach.
Loren shoots out of his chair. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
Riley’s gaze shifts around the room and settles on me. “I went by The Walden but you weren’t there.”
“What’s wrong? Going through torturing-Bex withdrawals?” I say, glaring at my cousin and feeling a lot stronger surrounded by people who support me. “Must be hard not having me directly across the hallway to lob insults at anymore. What will you do with your free time?”
“Levi will walk you out,” Loren says. “In the future? Use a phone. You’re not welcome here.”
“Hold on. I just, could we please talk?” She’s asking me?
“Talk about what?” I say. “The only words I care to hear out of your mouth are ‘I’m sorry’ so if you came here to say anything other than that, save your breath.”
“I’m sorry, okay?” she says.
“We’ll take our food into the kitchen,” Rowan whispers.
“No.” I push back my seat with a little too much force. “You guys eat, this shouldn’t take long.” I’m fuming as I round the table and shove past Riley, angry that I’m giving her a chance to explain, furious that she insists on ruining my night…again. Irritated as hell that I actually feel a little sorry for the rejection I see in her eyes. In the living room I don’t sit because I won’t be here long enough to get comfortable. “What?”
She clears her throat. “I am sorry for what I did to you at the formal.”
I lift my brows because I don’t believe her.
“I had a feeling Loren was seeing another girl and when I got confirmation that not only was he interested in someone else, but my own cousin, I lost it a little.”
“A little?”
“Okay, a lot.” She paces a few steps, turns around, then paces back again. “Do you remember Peter Ashbury?”
“Of course.” Peter was my very first boyfriend. He came from a family with money and we spent summers together at the country club. I was fourteen and he was fifteen. He always said he liked me because I wasn’t like other girls. We’d hunt for bugs and keep them in jars with holes popped in the lids. The 4th of July we snuck off to the golf course to hunt for frogs, he kissed me under the fireworks and told me I was his girlfriend. The next day, he treated me like I didn’t exist. I was wrecked for months. I finally couldn’t take the torture and told my parents I was sick so I wouldn’t have to go to the country club for the rest of the summer.
“I, um…I knew Peter liked you and I didn’t understand why he’d like you and not me. He told me you were his girlfriend and I kissed him. I won’t get into the details but we did a little more than kiss and I made him promise we could keep hooking up as long as he never spoke to you again.”
“Why would you do that?”
She juts out her chin, but her lip quivers. “Because you were right, I don’t like to lose, especially to you.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
She blows out a breath and then nods. “I guess I’m telling you because it hit me today, seeing the way Loren stuck up for you, the way your mom refused to give you the benefit of the doubt, I remembered what I did to you with Peter and…” She shakes her head. “You’re a better person than I am.”
“No shit.”
“If you want to come back to Eta Pi—”
“Never.” I laugh, but the sound lacks humor. “You kicking me out is the kindest thing you’ve ever done for me.”
She cringes. “For what it’s worth, I’m happy for you and Loren.”
Emery comes walking into the living room, her cold expression such a contrast to her pink seersucker dress, pearl necklace and silk scarf in her hair. She aims her steely blue eyes at Riley. “Are you thirsty?” She offers her a strawberry daiquiri. “I made this one just for you.”
Spider comes racing in and wraps his wife around the waist from behind. “Nope. You don’t want to drink that.”
Emery is as stiff as a mannequin as Spider backs out of the room with her, Emery’s outstretched hand with the drink still aimed at Riley until they’re around the corner and to the kitchen.
“She seems nice,” Riley says with a hesitant smile.
“You should go.” The last thing I want is her starting to feel too comfortable around my friends. I appreciate her apology, and her confession, but it’s going to take some time before I ever trust her again. I may never.
Loren stalks into the room and stands at my side. “You heard her, she asked you to leave.” He must’ve been listening around the corner the entire time, probably ready to jump in if our talk turned physical.
Riley tucks her chin and shuffles to the door. Loren and I watch until she’s gone and only then can I finally relax.
He slings an arm around my chest and kisses the top of my head. “You okay?”
“No.” I turn to him and smile. “I’m hungry.”
He smiles back and takes my hand. “Let’s eat.”
Loren
Her boyfriend.
That’s how Bex introduced me to the doorman, concierge, and elevator attendant at The Walden Luxury Condominiums.
My boyfriend, Loren.
Damn if hearing that doesn’t swell my chest and give me a case of the goofy-grins.
The second the elevator doors close, I pull her against me and kiss her.
“Whoa,” she says, breathlessly. “What was that for?”
I shrug a shoulder feeling a little vulnerable, which is so lame, but I have seriously fallen hard for this girl. “I’m your boyfriend.”
; “Oh,” she frowns. “Is that okay? Introducing you as my friend seemed wrong—”
I kiss her again. “It was perfect. I love the way it sounds.” And I think I love you.
The elevator pings and we step out into a hallway that smells like new paint. The marble floor is polished to a shine, and before Bex even opens her door I know what’s inside is going to be the best that money can buy.
“Whoa…” The condo is dark and the entire city of Los Angeles shines through the floor to ceiling windows that cover one-hundred-eighty degrees of the wall space. And the view from the thirtieth floor makes the city look like a billion different colored fireflies. “This is incredible.”
“Meh.” She flips on the lights. “I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, it’s just, I’m really sick of living off my parent’s money.”
“Why?” If I were here I’d milk the VIP treatment as long as I could. After the way her mom treated her this morning, I’d do it out of spite if nothing else.
She comes alongside me and stares out at the view. “Whoever has the money has the control.” She looks up at me. “I’d rather be dirt poor and free.”
“That makes sense.” I want to tell her she can come live with me and be dirt poor, show her the perks of living on a budget, paycheck to paycheck, the art of eating on eighty bucks a week.
She snags the remote off the coffee table and powers up the sixty-plus inch flat screen. “Want to watch a movie?”
I stare at her profile while she flips through channels, following the line of her cute nose down to her lips, chin, and neck.
“Karate Kid is on, that’s a classic. Or we can get theater movies…”
At my silence she turns to me and whatever she sees reflected in my gaze makes her lips part. “No TV then.”
“No.” I prowl toward her and take her into my arms, kissing her the way I’ve wanted to kiss her since that night in the rose garden but never could for fear of who might be around or where it would lead.