"Yes, ma'am."
Alexis surprised me with her insight and knowledge of the game. I found myself discussing plays and strategy with her. "Where did you learn so much about football?" I asked her.
"I like sports. And athletes." She grinned at me. "I watched a lot of football with my dad. And I played summer league girls' rugby."
I turned and stared at her. She was, like, maybe 110 pounds soaking wet. "No."
Her grin deepened. "Yes. Wing. I'm fast and I have game sense."
"At least you weren't in the scrum." I couldn't believe her. "If you tell me you like to tackle—"
"I do! I love it." Her eyes lit up.
I couldn't tell if she was teasing me or not. "I don't. I'd rather carry the ball and run."
"That's because you're a showoff." She bumped me with her shoulder.
She was driving me wild with the way my body reacted to her. Worse was the way my head couldn't resist her. If I had been able to conjure up the perfect girl, Alexis Turner would have been it. I liked her way too much. If we hadn't been in public, I would have kissed her. Instead I balled my fists and made myself watch the game, trying to block out her nearness.
Halfway through the quarter, I saw Dak looking for her. When he spotted her with me, he scowled and turned away. But I knew Dak. The prize was suddenly even more valuable now that he thought I wanted it. I cursed silently. For two years I'd avoided him. I didn't want to get in a pissing fight with him now.
"You just made Dak mad," I said to Alexis.
She shrugged. "So?"
"You're not using me to make him jealous?" I asked.
She turned her gaze on me. Her eyes snapped fiercely. "Never."
Then something happened on the field and the crowd erupted. "Crap! Worrying about Dakota made us miss the play." She stuck her tongue out comically.
That's my girl, I thought, wishing she could be, as the two Tau Psi pledges who'd tried to dunk her in the river walked by in the aisle and gave me the evil eye.
We won the game with a nail-biter last-minute field goal kicked from the outer edge of our kicker's range. The crowd was on its feet. Beside me, Alexis jumped up and down. Everyone was hugging everyone else. Somehow Alexis ended up in my arms. She fit just right beneath my chin. I picked her up and swung her around as she picked her feet off the ground and hollered for the team. I had to make myself put her down.
We walked back to the house together. "Come out with us tonight and celebrate!" she said when we reached the door.
I shook my head. That was such a bad idea. "Sorry, pledge. Only the chapter president has the power to invite the houseboys along."
"Crap! This isn't a house event. Just some of us hanging out. It's not like you're a servant." She was cute when she was indignant.
"Yeah, technically, I am." I winked at her. "Besides, I have dinner duty."
She wrinkled her nose. "You mean you have to set the table?"
"Are you trivializing my work?"
She blushed.
I shook my head. "On Saturdays, dinner is a buffet. I put the casseroles Betty left in the oven and set out the bread and salads. But it's way more important duty than that. The main thing is to make sure the girls eat something before they go out drinking."
I arched an eyebrow. "The girls like to skip dinner to save on calories. Drinking on an empty stomach is asking for trouble. I'm damned tired of being woken up at four in the morning by drunk girls who've been locked out."
"Shouldn't our house mom do that?"
She was so naïve.
"Yeah. But why would they wake her and get in trouble when they can tap on our windows and avoid the whole mess?"
"So you're all softies?" Her voice was full of tease.
I liked the way she smiled and teased way too much. "Don't let it get around. The last thing we need is the pledges catching on."
She grinned. "So you what—force-feed the girls?"
"Ply them with bread." I sounded so damn responsible. "Eat a roll before you go."
She laughed. "Dinner doesn't last forever. After you're done scrubbing the pots and pans—"
"I'm on call."
"On call? You really are an indentured servant." She was hot even when she frowned, and especially when she pouted on my behalf. "Like, what kind of emergencies are there likely to be around here tonight?"
"The usual kind of dire situation that requires clear thinking and immediate action," I teased. "Too many blow dryers, curling irons, and flatirons plugged into one circuit at once, blowing the breaker."
"That is dire."
"Yeah, the hair must be perfect before the girls go out. You can see it's hopeless. I'm absolutely essential personnel around here tonight. Without me, what would the girls do?"
"You know how to fix these circuit breakers?" she said.
"A flip of the switch."
She arched one eyebrow. "So it requires skilled labor?"
"Absolutely. See you around, pledge." I walked off toward the basement. It was safer down there.
Paul was on shift with me. We took turns with Saturday and Sunday dinner. He was off after the dishes were done. He took off to party with friends. The house cleared out about ten. Yeah, it was shitty having to work Saturdays. But sometimes I enjoyed the time to myself when the house was nearly deserted. I microwaved a plate of dinner and sat in the living room to watch the big-screen TV as I ate.
I had just started to eat when Morgan staggered down from upstairs. "Zach? Are you on duty tonight?"
"Yeah. I drew the short straw." I set my plate on the coffee table in front of me. "Shit, Morgan. Have you been drinking alone again?"
She walked over and slid into my lap, straddling and facing me. Her breath stank of gin as she pressed her forehead against mine. "My bad."
"Why, Morgan? You're funny. You're hot. Get out there with the girls. Go pick up a guy." I reached past her and picked up a roll from my plate.
"I don't want just any guy, Zach." She cupped my face. "You know who I want. Why don't you want me?"
When Morgan was drunk, all her social regulators failed. Fortunately, she usually didn't remember what she said.
"Morgan, baby." I broke off a piece of roll and held it out for her to bite. "Eat something to absorb all that alcohol you chugged."
She pushed my hand away and inched her lips toward mine. "You're the only guy I've wanted since I came to school." She rubbed her crotch against mine. "I could make you feel so good, baby. So, so good."
"Morgan, you know it's no good. I can't have a relationship with the girls in the house." I'd been using this excuse since we met. For all her Double Deltsie looks, Morgan and her neediness had never tempted me.
I pulled her hands away from my face as she kept doing a bump-and-grind in my lap. I would have had to be a eunuch for my body not to react to what she was doing.
She felt the bulge growing uncomfortable in my jeans. "You like it, baby. Let me take you all the way. No one has to know. Everyone's gone," she whispered. "No one will see us." She leaned down and kissed me as she tried to unzip my jeans. The next thing I knew, her tongue was down my throat.
Chapter Ten
Alexis
I ignored three texts from Dakota before I finally responded and begged off, claiming a migraine. Then I shut off my phone. He could think I was flirting or playing hard to get. Or he could realize the truth—I wasn't into him. I only wanted to spend time with Zach.
I used the same migraine excuse to bail on going out with the girls, claiming the sun and the booze had brought one on. When the house finally quieted down, I started down the stairs to find Zach. I was halfway down them when I spotted Zach in the living room, sitting on a sofa with Morgan on his lap. I didn't think it was possible to literally see red, but I did.
The little bitch!
She was clearly bombed as she did a bump-and-grind on Zach's lap. And oblivious to how not into her he was.
Zach's voice carried over the volume of the TV up the stairs to me. "Morgan, you know
it's no good. I can't have a relationship with the girls in the house."
I swallowed that down, knowing he was right. And I was wrong for pushing one. But there was an attraction between Zach and me that couldn't be ignored.
Zach was way too understanding and kind with Morgan. But she kept pushing. I glared at her. She wouldn't get away with this. I was going to stop her.
I turned and silently went back to my room. I looked around, wildly searching for an idea. My blow dryer caught my eye. I grabbed it and Em's. And both our curling irons. My flatiron. I ran next door and borrowed Sarah's, too. I took them all back to my room, plugged them in, and turned them all on at once.
When the breaker tripped and the blow dryers went silent, I turned my phone on and called Zach.
"Yeah?" He sounded breathless when he picked up. I heard him mumble something to Morgan.
"I have an emergency," I said. "I can't do a thing with my hair, and my blow dryer just died."
"Died?" He sounded relieved.
"Yeah, I think I tripped a breaker."
"Hang on. I'll be right there."
I was sitting on my bed, waiting for him when he arrived. When he knocked on the door, I yelled at him to come in.
"Where's the emergency?"
I pointed to the sockets stuffed with every hair-taming device I could find.
"Are those all on?" He turned to me, looking like he appreciated the situation and was trying not to laugh.
"They were until the power went out."
"You were using all of those? At once? Curling and straightening?" He shook his head and gave me a comically skeptical look.
"I told you I was having a bad hair day." I laughed. "Close the door and get in here." I jumped up and shut it for him.
"You look great to me." His voice was husky.
"Great! Then it worked." I turned serious. "I was saving your ass from Morgan."
His face became a mask. "You saw that?"
I couldn't tell what he was thinking. "Kind of hard to miss a lap dance like that right in the middle of the living room."
"Fuck."
"I'll say." I kept smiling at him. "What if someone less tolerant and understanding than me, like Kelly or one of the other girls, had seen you?" I ran one pointer finger over the other, making that naughty, naughty motion.
"It's not what it looked like. Morgan gets horny when she's drunk, but she doesn't mean it."
I laughed and moved in until I was standing toe to toe with him. "Nice try. Sure she does. She wants you." I singsonged the words, teasing him, wanting him.
"And you thought I needed saving?" His gaze held mine.
"You didn't?" We were so close, but we weren't touching.
"Shit, pledge, don't tease me." His voice was ragged.
I went up on my toes, trying to look him in the eye.
He took my face in his hands and pressed his mouth to mine. His kiss was gentle at first, a nibble. A brush of the lips, like he was trying to hold back. I leaned into him and opened my mouth to him, hungry for his kiss. I ran my tongue around the inside of his lips until he shuddered, but it was me who was going weak in the knees.
No guy I had ever kissed had tasted as good, smelled as good. Felt as good as he dropped my face and wrapped his arms around me, cupping my butt and pulling me into the hard bulge in his jeans.
I wrapped my arms around him and pressed into him. That kiss was both desperate and gentle. Passionate and mind-blowing. I forgot we were in the sorority house. That at any minute Morgan could come storming up to see what was taking Zach so long to flip a switch. I just fell into him and kissed him. And kissed him and kissed him until he pulled his lips from mine and trailed kisses along my neck.
I arched my head back, exposing my neck, begging him to feel my pulse beating for him, moaning softly as he made circles with his tongue on my tingling skin. He lifted the hair from my neck to suck my ear. He froze and I knew he'd seen that stupid hickey.
"It's nothing," I whispered. "It doesn't matter."
"Shit!" he said, tracing it with his finger. "Dak?"
I didn't answer. I clutched the back of his head, holding it to me, begging another caress. But his lips remained still.
He covered my hands with his and lifted his face to mine. "You could be the girl, pledge." He took a deep breath and pulled my hands away from his head. He took a step back and folded my hands in front of me, still covering them with his. "That's why I can't do this to you. It's not fair."
"No! Zach, wait. I know it's not fair. But they're just stupid house rules." In my rush to make my point, I slurred my words together, afraid he'd leave before I could finish. "Your job's on the line, I get that. But we could work around it. We can be careful. No one will know."
His eyes were dark and soulful. "Like now? This is careful? Morgan's probably prowling the halls, looking for me right now."
"I know. I was dumb. But we could be better. We could meet outside the house—"
He shut me up with a hard, desperate kiss. "If it was just the house crap, we could deal. But I come with too many issues. I'm not going to saddle you with my shit." He turned away and started pulling blow dryers and curling irons out of sockets.
"I have my own crap." I couldn't keep the desperation out of my voice. "Everyone does."
He unplugged another blow dryer with so much force the cord snapped back and prongs slapped him on his bare arm. He didn't even wince as it began to welt. "Not like mine." He sounded angry.
I watched him finish unplugging the rest with a lump in my throat. I'd met him just over a week ago and yet I felt my happiness slipping away. A door closing on what could have been something wonderful and once in a lifetime.
He walked to the door. "Hang on. I'll have the power back on in a few." He stepped into the hall and disappeared as I listened to his footsteps retreat.
I stood like I was lost in a trance. Until the light over my dresser came back on. And the whoosh of a blow dryer broke the silence and I jumped, startled. He'd missed one. Yeah, my love life might blow. But I wasn't giving up.
Two weeks passed and August slid into September. The days were hot, but the nights were cool. The leaves were changing colors. Greek Row was alive with red, yellows, and oranges. I loved walking to class with the rustle of leaves overhead, the crisp crunch of fallen leaves beneath my feet, and blue sky above.
I was no closer to getting close to Zach, though. He sat with his adoring group of girls in class and avoided me at the house. Once I managed to convince him to sit in the study room and discuss the sixties music we were listening to in class. I felt like we were opening up to each other, then he backed off.
Dakota had mysteriously backed off apparently, too. Maybe he'd gotten the message.
I thought maybe a little jealousy would get Zach to reconsider what he was missing. I accepted an invitation to a date dash with a cute guy from one of the middling frats. I met him in English 101. He was funny. And desperate to get a date or face punishment.
A date dash was a crazy animal. The members of the house announced a house event that would take place in less than twenty-four hours and required a date. Pledges were absolutely required to attend with a date, or face being ostracized and punished. It made for a lot of desperate guys begging any girl they could find to take them on. I took pity on Kirk.
He pledged his eternal gratitude and we had a good time. But we'd gone as friends and that was the way it stayed, at least on my part.
Homecoming was only a month away. At our weekly house meeting, Kelly called on Shelby, our homecoming event coordinator, to present the annual philanthropy fundraiser.
Shelby cleared her throat. "This year we'll be competing in a powder puff football tournament."
A chorus of boos broke out.
Shelby looked around the group for the culprits. "Can it! I didn't pick the event. We were outvoted last spring by the frats." She rolled her eyes and made a disgusted face, like, Men!
"Flag or tackle?" someone ask
ed.
"Flag." Shelby stared at us, daring us to boo the news again.
Too bad. Tackle sounded good to me.
"What is the guys' part in all this?" someone else asked.
"I'm getting to that!" Shelby sounded put out. Clearly, she wasn't in favor of this idea. "Let me explain for those of you who are new. This is a fundraising event as well as a competition. We'll partner with a frat. The guys and the girls each have a competition. This year, the guys will take part in a Mr. University pageant. We get points for each guy who signs up. And the finalist and winners get more points for their team.
"The winner of pageant gets one thousand dollars to donate to his team's charity. The winner of the football tourney gets five thousand. The team that raises the most money wins a trophy and the prestige that comes with victory.
"Almost every frat on the row has issued us an invitation to partner with them. As you know, there are more of them than us. Which means we can be choosy and some of them will be left out of the fun."
Sarah raised her hand. "Which house has the most football players?"
"Good thought," Shelby said. "But the college players are restricted by league rules from playing charity events during the season."
"Former high school players, then," someone else volunteered.
"That would be the Zeta Nus," someone else called out.
"Don't forget the Mr. University pageant," Kelly said. "The Tau Psis are some hot boys and they have a fair share of jocks. They've both invited us."
We took a vote, but it ended in a tie between the two frats three times in a row. The house was equally split on what was more important—winning the pageant or winning the tournament.
Shelby gave up. "We have to respond to the frats by Friday at five. Think about it and we'll take a vote by secret ballot on Friday morning. In case of a tie, our leaders will make the final decision."
On Thursday, I went to study table time with my pledge class. I was working on a paper for English when five guys wearing masks and Zeta Nu sweatshirts burst into the study room. I looked up from my laptop, mildly curious as they scanned the room like they were looking for something.
Rushed (The Rushed Series) Page 11