by K. A. Linde
Her friends’ mouths dropped open. Maybe I should have felt remorse for what I’d done, but I didn’t.
“You drugged Grant McDermott?” Gabi asked in a soft tone.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t hear you correctly,” Cheyenne said.
“Yeah. He deserved it.”
“Okay, that’s pretty ridiculous,” Cheyenne said. “Grant propositioned you, and you said no?”
Oh, of course. That’s why she’s freaking out. Typical Cheyenne. “What did you think I would say, Cheyenne?”
“Still processing here. You could have lost your virginity to Grant McDermott, and you didn’t? I kind of want my virginity back, so I can lose it to him.”
I couldn’t resist laughing at Cheyenne. I loved her to pieces, but she was totally outrageous.
“Why did you say no? I mean, we all saw you kiss him. I just figured he changed his mind after he found out how blunt you were or maybe he thought you sucked at kissing.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence, Cheyenne.”
“You don’t need to know why,” Gabi said, smacking Cheyenne’s arm.
“Yes, I do.” Her phone started buzzing in her purse. She held up a finger to me and then answered it. “Hey, Vin.”
That sounded like my cue to leave. I packed up the rest of my homework and started carefully placing it into my messenger bag.
“Sure, I don’t mind talking to Grant at all.”
I slung my bag over my shoulder to leave, and Cheyenne just shook her head. She pointed her finger at the chair.
Yeah, that is going to keep me in the room.
“Hey, Grant.”
Cheyenne listened into the phone for a few seconds. A smile grew on her face. I could only guess the sweet nothings he was whispering into her ear.
“Oh, Aribel?” Cheyenne said into the phone.
I had only made it halfway across the room when I stopped dead in my tracks.
“Yes, she’s right here.”
I turned around and fiercely shook my head. “I’m not here.” My hands were out in front of me, gesturing wildly, signaling for her to tell Grant that I was away or incapacitated or dead. Anything.
“Yeah, let me get her for you.” Cheyenne stormed across the room and grabbed my wrist as I tried to retreat. “Just talk to him.”
“No. I talked to him last night. I’m not doing it again.”
She thrust the phone into my hand. “He’s a nice guy, Aribel, and he’s gorgeous, plays guitar, fucks like a god. Talk to him on the fucking phone, or we’re no longer friends.”
“What a threat,” I said sarcastically. “Plus, nice guy? Really?”
Cheyenne fixed me with a death glare.
“Fine,” I groaned, taking the phone. I took a breath before speaking. “Hello?”
“Hey, darlin’,” Grant drawled.
I rolled my eyes and sighed. “I really thought we covered this whole darlin’ thing last night. It’s not going to work.”
“Work on what?”
“I assume it works on the other women you attempt to seduce.”
“Attempt?” he asked with a chuckle. “Baby, give me some credit.”
Ugh, baby. Seriously get over yourself. “Were you calling for a reason?”
“Several.”
“Care to share? I have to get to calculus, and I’d really like to get this conversation moving.”
“I guess I’ll start with, why you drugged me?”
Grant just laid it out there. Who calls the girl who drugged you the night before? This isn’t Cinderella. I didn’t lose my glass slipper.
“Because you deserved it,” I answered.
“What did I do to deserve it?”
“Besides treating me like a whore?”
Grant laughed at my comment, but I wasn’t sure why it was funny. He had treated me like a whore, which was basically the opposite of the kind of person I was.
“What are you doing tonight?”
I narrowed my eyes. I wasn’t going to play this game. “Curing cancer. What about you?”
“Taking you out,” he answered, not missing a beat.
“That’s strange because I just said I was busy.”
“Busy out with me,” he said smoothly.
“I appreciate the offer, Grant, but no.” I hoped that I’d sounded firm, but this guy was so persistent. Good Lord!
Cheyenne smacked me on the arm. I’d completely forgotten that she was standing there.
“Are you out of your mind?” she hissed.
I shrugged my shoulders and turned away. I didn’t want to hear her nonsense right now. I just wanted off the phone.
“Come on, princess. What do you have to lose?” Grant asked.
“My self-respect?” I said dryly.
“From one date?”
“My answer is no. Good-bye, Grant,” I said and then ended the call.
As I handed the phone back to a shell-shocked Cheyenne, it started ringing again.
“Don’t answer that.”
“What just happened?” she asked.
“Grant asked me out, and I told him no.”
This probably killed her, but it didn’t kill me. I had no interest in someone like Grant. I’d grown up in a wealthy suburb of Boston. My father was the CEO of a prominent bank in the city. My entire family were Princeton alums. That was the kind of person I was supposed to bring home to my parents—not Grant McDermott. Not even one date.
He didn’t care about me or respect me. He just wanted to sleep with me.
It was Gabi’s turn to look astonished. “He asked you out?”
“Grant McDermott does not ask people out!” Cheyenne cried.
“Well, he just did.”
I crossed my arms and leaned back against the pillar in front of the math building, which I’d tracked down after Aribel had hung up on me. Fuck, I’d even called her back. I didn’t know if I was more pissed or intrigued. The combination was making me crazy.
When had I ever staked out a chick’s class to see her?
Never.
But I wasn’t fucking leaving now. How much longer could she possibly be?
Just as the thought crossed my mind, a stream of people exited the building, and at the back of the group was my target. She was as hot as I remembered—short with stick-straight natural blonde hair. Her nose was buried in a book, and her lips moved as she read the words while she absentmindedly picked at the top button of her cardigan.
I took a step toward her right when some other guy walked up to her. Who the fuck is that? Her boyfriend? Well, that wasn’t the biggest obstacle, but I thought I’d gotten that one out of the way when I’d kissed her last night.
When he spoke to Aribel, her head popped up, and she snapped her book closed. They exchanged a few tense words, and she shook her head a lot, but he kept speaking and gesturing in short, sharp motions. Her frown deepened.
All right, enough is enough.
I strolled across the small courtyard to the front doors where Aribel was standing. “This guy bothering you?” I asked.
They both turned to look at me. Aribel pursed her thin lips and hugged her textbook to her chest. The guy just looked irritated that they had been disturbed.
“What are you doing here?” Aribel asked.
“You know this guy?”
“Benjamin, just leave it alone.”
“Yeah, Benny, leave her alone,” I said with a chipper smile.
“Benny?” he retorted, clearly offended.
“Good Lord,” Aribel said.
“Who is this guy, Aribel?”
I stuck my hand out to Benny. “Grant McDermott. Nice to meet you.”
Benjamin stared down at my hand, but he apparently had the manners to shake my hand anyway. “Benjamin Curtis. How exactly do you know Aribel?”
“Oh, recent acquaintance.” I winked at him because I couldn’t resist poking at his jealousy.
“I don’t have time for this. I’m going home,” Aribel said.
She turned to go, but Benjamin stopped her. “Aribel, wait, I really want to talk about last night.”
“And I think I’m done talking about it.”
“Last night?” I asked.
She didn’t seem like the type to bed-hop. She was clearly a bit uptight. I needed to shrug her out of that cardigan because there was only one thing I liked tight about my women.
“I don’t want to talk about last night with either of you,” she snapped and started storming across the courtyard I’d just crossed.
“Aribel, were you with this guy last night?” Benjamin asked, grabbing on to her wrist.
“Yes,” she spat, snatching her hand back. “And why should it matter to you, Benjamin? You broke up with me. I told you I didn’t want to be friends, but you did. I don’t think any of my friends would act like a jealous ex-boyfriend if they found out I’d been with someone else last night. In fact, all of my friends are encouraging me.”
I cracked up, and Aribel sent me another stern glare. Her eyes dropped to my mouth for a fraction of a second, and something in her softened.
Benjamin drew her attention again. “Fine. I thought I’d made a mistake, but if you’re already hanging out with someone else, then I guess I didn’t.”
Her eyes turned stony dark blue, like the sky in the middle of a hurricane. She looked fucking fierce, and it was turning me on.
“I guess you didn’t,” she agreed.
I jogged lightly alongside her as we left Benny behind. “Ex problems?”
She held her book tighter against her chest and blatantly ignored me.
“So, after your phone died earlier today, you didn’t call me back.”
Aribel rolled her eyes and picked up her pace, carrying us out across an open field.
“Do you need my number for next time?”
She humphed and kept walking.
Jesus, what is with this chick? “You don’t take jokes very well, do you?”
“Excuse me, but did I lose a glass slipper or something?” she asked.
“What?”
“A glass slipper. Do I look like Cinderella to you? Are you some kind of prince trying to sweep me off my feet? What is this whole charade, Grant?”
“No charade, babe. I just wanted to see you and take you out.”
“Uh-huh. Where exactly are you taking me?”
I smirked at her. “Dinner.” My bed.
“Why do I have a feeling that we’re not talking about eating the same thing?”
I chuckled to myself. She had me there.
“Oh, come on. I didn’t even say that.” Though, if I had it my way, I’d be doing more than that tonight.
“You didn’t have to,” she called over her shoulder.
I caught up to her again and started walking backward in front of her. I was probably making a spectacle of myself, but I didn’t really care. She didn’t even seem to notice that people were staring at us.
“Look, I really do want to take you out. I’m not one to deny myself the things I want, but I was talking about eating food with you.”
“No. And anyway, how did you know to find me? Are you stalking me or something now? Should I invest in a rape whistle?”
“No, but you can blow my whistle, baby.”
“Oh, dear Lord.”
She tried to push me aside to continue walking, but I circled her wrist and pulled her back toward me. Her hand landed on my chest, and she lightly tugged on the dog tags there as she tried to regain her balance.
“All joking aside, I want to go out with you. Why won’t you go out with me?”
“Because I don’t want to,” she snapped defiantly, taking a step back.
“What can I do to change your mind?”
“Enroll at Princeton, get a higher IQ, stop having sex with the entire school,” she ticked off on her fingers. “Oh, and be someone else—someone who cares about his future, his career, and not just some stupid band.”
I leaned forward into her until our noses were almost touching. “For someone who doesn’t even know me, you’re incredibly judgmental.”
The hiccup in her breathing was the only thing that gave away her racing heart. Her eyes were fiery as if my words only fueled her, and saying no was her challenge as much as getting her to say yes was mine.
“It’s hardly judgmental when everything I said was true.”
“Just give me a chance,” I whispered, releasing her wrist and snaking my hand down to her waist.
She was skinny but soft everywhere I was touching her. She had smooth skin with just enough extra padding, and she wasn’t too muscular. I trailed my hand down lower and knew that her hips would fill out something beautiful in the next couple years. I wanted to grip them as I slammed into her. I wanted to see her pale skin flush as I fucked her.
Fuck, I’m getting turned-on again.
Her pupils were dilated as she stepped away from my touch. Whatever had just torn through me, she was feeling it, too. If she said she wasn’t, then she was a fucking liar. She wanted me, and I was going to fucking give her what she wanted.
“You have a million other girls dying to fall into your bed. Give that chance to someone else.”
“I’m giving it to you.”
“Then, you’re only going to be disappointed, so just leave me alone.”
She scurried away, and this time, I let her. I glanced around and saw just how many people had been staring at us.
“Nothing to see here people,” I called out to the crowd.
Everyone’s eyes shot back to whatever they had been doing before and left me to stand in the middle of the field, looking out after Aribel.
What the hell am I going to do now?
My hands were shaking as I dashed across the open quad. People were staring at me from all directions. I hated the spotlight. I was supposed to be invisible. I was supposed to get high marks in all my classes, graduate at the top of my class, and then start my career as a lab researcher. My parents expected me to eventually meet the right kind of guy—someone confident and ambitious, a Princeton alum preferably. These things were important to me. I couldn’t forget that the next time I was trapped in Grant McDermott’s heated gaze. Better yet, he just needed to leave me alone.
When I made it to the chemistry building, I plopped down into the first available seat in the lecture hall, and I placed my hands flat on the desk to keep them steady. What is wrong with me? I’d never acted like this before.
Cheyenne’s words rang in my ears. Grant McDermott does not ask people out.
That had to be an exaggeration, right? Because he had just asked me out again.
“Aribel,” Kristin said in welcome. With a big smile, she took the seat next to me. “I just saw you with Grant McDermott on the quad!”
“Oh,” I said softly. “How do you know Grant?”
“ContraBand, duh! Like, everyone knows who Grant is. If you don’t follow the band, how do you know Grant McDermott?” she asked, her brown eyes wide.
I debated if I should just tell her that I didn’t know Grant, but she would probably want more details if I gave her that kind of answer. “My friends dragged me to the band’s show last night after Benjamin broke up with me.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I was wondering what that was all about with Grant since I knew you were taken. That sucks so bad,” Kristin said.
I hated sympathy, and I hated false sympathy even more. Kristin and I coincided in the same group of mutual friends, but that didn’t mean she knew me well enough to be this sorry about my breakup.
“It’s for the better. It’s not a big deal.”
“I still can’t believe you were yelling like that on the quad,” Kristin said.
Had we been yelling? “He was bothering me.”
“He’s gorgeous. He can bother me all he wants.”
“I’d prefer that,” I said dismissively.
“So…you have no interest in him at all?”
“Did I look like I did when I walked away?”
I asked. I was getting irritated again. Is everyone going to be in my business about this?
“You guys looked like you were going to kiss.”
“Well, we didn’t.”
“Okay, jeez, I was just asking,” she said, pulling up her laptop.
At that moment, the professor walked up to the front of the lecture hall and clapped his hands. “All right, class, let’s get started.”
I tried to push aside the events that had transpired. I’d gotten rid of Grant McDermott. That was all that mattered. People would forget about our encounter on the quad. Everything would go back to normal.
I reached into my bag and pulled out my chemistry assignment. I passed it over to Kristin for the TA to collect.
“Hey, darlin’,” I heard as I ducked my head under the table.
My head snapped back up and smacked into the desk. “Shit,” I cried, rubbing the back of my head. I saw Grant’s standing in the aisle and nearly groaned. “What are you doing here?”
Grant smiled back at me broadly with his eyes wide and innocent. I knew that he was anything but innocent. His eyes averted to Kristin sitting next to me. Her mouth was hanging open.
“Babe, you mind relocating? I’d like your seat,” he said, laying on the Southern charm thick.
“Um…sure,” Kristin said breathlessly. She picked up her laptop and started shuffling her papers together.
“Is there a problem back there?” the professor asked.
“Sir, we’re just getting our seats situated, sir,” Grant spoke up confidently.
“Well, get situated quickly. I have a class to teach.”
“Yes, sir.”
Kristin stared back at me in disbelief before scurrying to a seat across the aisle. I didn’t even know what to say as Grant slid effortlessly into the vacated chair. He slunk back and tossed his arm across the back of my seat. Some of his dark hair fell forward across his forehead, and he wore his sexy smirk like a god.
“What are you doing here?” I hissed as the professor started teaching.
“You told me to enroll at Princeton. I’m not bad at chemistry, but I thought I’d sharpen up.”
“Grant, seriously, this isn’t a game.”