Page 34 of The Lake of Lost Girls

Daisy’s smile was a little wobbly as she addressed the other girls. “Sorry, guys. I didn’t mean to go all conspiracy theorist on you.”

She glanced at me, her face troubled. I had to fix this, but my headache and nausea, which wasn’t entirely from my hangover, kept me from saying anything.

I stood, needing some space from everything. “I’m going to get a coffee. Anyone want anything?” I glanced at my roommate. “Daisy? Can I get you something? My treat.”

Would she take the olive branch I was extending?

“Uh, yeah, can you grab me another cranberry juice?” Daisy asked a little more normally.

“Of course.” I felt a wave of relief and gave her arm a squeeze. “I know all this stuff about Tammy and Phoebe is worrying,” I said softly, “but I really don’t think we have anything to be concerned about. It’s not like any of us aresleeping around with married men, right?” I straightened and grinned at my pledge sisters, most of whom giggled and smiled back.

“No, thank you. There’s plenty of hot,singlemen on campus to focus on,” Blair said, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

Then the conversation changed and everyone was rating the hottest frat guys. It didn’t take much for them to forget Tammy and Phoebe. To forget the very real pall of dread that had descended over everything.

I hurried to get in line, standing behind a guy with familiar bleached-blonde streaks in his dark hair. As if sensing me, he turned around, our eyes meeting. There was instant recognition.

“You,” he breathed, his full lips spreading into a contagious smile.

I found myself grinning back, thoughts of Phoebe and Daisy’s constant suspicions gone for the moment. “Hey, stranger.”

“I’ve been asking everyone about you. You’re a hard woman to find,” he grumbled good-naturedly.

“You must not have tried very hard. You knew I was a pledge at Pi Gamma Delta,” I teased.

We moved toward the front of the line. I filled a to-go cup with coffee and Mr. Cute grabbed a tray. “I swear, I’ve asked around. My brothers have been no help. I was about to start knocking on every door in Westwood.”

“That would have pissed a few people off,” I laughed.

He took a hamburger and two slices of chocolate cake. The smell of the food made my stomach roil.

“You’re looking a little green around the gills. You okay?” he asked.

“Keg stands on a Wednesday night seemed like a good idea at the time,” I groaned.

“We’ve all been there.” He snapped his fingers. “That was you? I heard about the hot chick doing keg stands at the Phi Lam house last night.”

I flushed with delight. “Oh, you heard about that?”

He snorted. “Every frat guy on campus is talking about how you drank Dave Lingus under the table. I have a feeling you’ll be getting invites to every party until the end of the year.” He reached around me and grabbed a bottle of ginger ale and handed it to me. “Trust me, you’ll need this.”

“Thanks,” I said sincerely.

Once he reached the cash register, he handed the lady his student ID. “I’m paying for both of us.”

“No, that’s not necessary,” I protested.

“I’m sorry, I can’t hear you. What was that?” He purposefully turned away from me while he paid for my drinks. When he was done, he followed me toward the table where I had been sitting with my pledge sisters. We both stopped a few feet away.

“Can I join you guys?” he asked.

“Why?” I suddenly felt nervous.

“Because I like you and want to get to know you more,” he said, uncharacteristically serious.

We stood in the middle of the busy cafeteria, and I stared up at him, at a loss as to what to say. There wasn’t an ounce of shyness about him and his easy confidence was incredibly tempting. And even though I felt awful, being around him was nice.

“My name’s Ryan McKay.” There was that smile again. Charming and sweet.

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