Page 32 of Out of Bounds

"Home?" Zariah hiccuped and eyed the legs dangling over my shoulder. "Is that Kass?"

"He’s lucky I can’t walk!"

Zariah snickered and followed after us.

I made my way back into the frat house again, battling past gawking partygoers and people barely stepping out of my way. Morons. All of them. I was six-foot-two, and they were six shots past. Drinks sloshed to the floor, and they didn’t have the common sense to duck to the side.

Kassie pushed herself up, elbows digging into my shoulder blades. "Ryan."

"Yeah?"

"You still haven’t apologized."

I paused. "Apologize?

"For standing me up."

"I didn’t stand you up."

"It’s ten. You half stood me up." Kassie patted my back like I was a pet dog who didn’t understand when I’d misbehaved. "Honestly, I think you owe me."

My lips twitched again. "I owe you?"

"Yeah. You could…stop being such a hardass."

"No."

I tried to pass a couple desperately making out against the back of a couch. Shouldering past them didn’t work. So I shoved my way between them, ignoring the protests. If they wanted to double-park, they couldn't be mad if somebody keyed their car.

As we made our way to the entry, the doors swung open. A group of skinny guys in khaki shorts topped with smug grins flowed through. They were laughing about something, something I didn’t bother listening to. The one closest to me,the biggest of the bunch, caught sight of us. His eyes lit up the moment he spotted the pair of legs I was carrying to my car.

His hand reached up. Before I could do a damn thing about it, he smacked Kassie’s ass on his way to the kitchen.

All my thought processes came to a screeching halt.

"Hey!" Kassie shouted out. "What the fuck?"

In a fluid motion, I carefully set her down to the floor and a disgruntled look met mine. She knew exactly where that came from and she was pissed about it.

Kassie tried to stomp past me. "Hey! Jackass! Get back here, pussy!"

I held out a hand and stopped her. "Are you okay?"

"What?" She blinked. "Yeah, of course. That asshole—"

"Hold on."

Walking to the group of frat guys, I dug my hand into the meat of the left one’s shoulder and yanked him back. The sounds of the party died instantly. The frat guy had the nerve to look as pissed as Kassie did before he saw exactly who summoned him back into the entryway.

"Cr—Cross?" The word stumbled out of his mouth, and his eyes flickered down to my hand.

"What was that?"

"Yeah!" Kassie tried to pass me. "Can’t keep your—?!"

"One second." I motioned for Zariah to hold her back. I didn't want Kassie to get hurt. A dull ringing echoed in my ears and I flexed my fingers. Answers were needed. I shifted back.

"I’ve got a quick question. I might be wrong here, but did sheaskyou to slap her ass?"

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