Page 146 of Seeds of Malice

"Ivy, you have to pledge! You'd have a definite in with me," she states, once again, glowing.

I nervously laugh. "I'm not sure sororities are my thing, Avery."

She sucks in a dramatic breath of air. "What are you saying? You're going to Clifton University. You live in Connecticut now. Of course sororities are your thing. Besides, you'd love it. We do all sorts of good stuff. Charity work and all. Plus, we have greatparties. And once you're part of the sisterhood, you have lifelong friendships. Sisters who will always have your back!"

I admit, "Well, I don't have a sister, at least a blood one."

"Neither do I. It's nice," she quietly states.

I think about what she's saying. I can't argue with it. I've always wanted siblings. Still, is the sorority life really my thing?

"Just come to the rush meeting with me later this week. And we'll have a rush party in about a month. If it's not your thing, then so be it, but I really want you in our sorority. All my sisters are going to love you," she claims.

"Really?" I ask, unsure that I'll be accepted that easily.

"Yeah. What's not to love about you? You're beautiful." She flashes me a slightly lewd look—so much like Dax's—but it quickly disappears and turns into a friendly smile. I wonder if I imagined it.

I shift in my seat.

Avery pushes, "You don't think you're beautiful?"

"I didn't say that," I said.

"So you do think you're beautiful?"

I laugh. "I didn't say that either."

She puts her hand near my knee, declaring, "You are beautiful, Ivy. You need to claim it."

I glance at her hand, unsure if I should remove it.

Surely, she's just being friendly and not hitting on me like before.

I have to get these thoughts out of my head.

Just because Avery likes girls and tried to kiss me doesn't mean she'll always be hitting on me.

She only did that to protect Dax,I remind myself.

She moves her hand. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

"You didn't," I lie.

"It looked like I did."

"You didn't," I insist.

She slows down and comes to a stop light. She turns toward me. "I'm sorry about the other night when I tried to get you to kiss me. Like I said, I just don't want anyone else to hurt Dax."

"Has he been hurt a lot?" I question, not able to fathom how any woman could hurt him.

Her face falls. She nods. "Yeah, he has."

"What have they done?"

She opens her mouth and shuts it. She looks at the steering wheel, pauses for a minute, then shifts her gaze back to me. "You'll have to let Dax tell you that. It's not my business. You understand my secrecy, right?" She puts her hand back on my leg.

I resist the urge to look at it, and nod. "Sure. That's fair."

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