Page 24 of Tell Me You Like It

What the…?

Nathan glances at me, and I get the sense he’s trying to gauge my reaction–which, honestly, is just confusion. “Now the party has officially started,” he explains. “The Sons have just arrived.”

CHAPTER NINE

Roman

She’s here.I know she is.

I have spies all over this campus, and three of them reported seeing Lux arrive at the party a half hour ago. The rest of my guys were already planning to attend, so I just tagged along. Normally, I wouldn’t fucking bother. All these sorority parties are the same–cheap booze, and beer pong. But there’s something brewing on campus, and until I know what it is, I’m keeping Lux in my sight. She’s a means to an end that I can’t afford to lose.

We’re welcomed to the party with a roar of excitement, like always, but I don’t even hear it. The second I step over the threshold, I’m looking for Lux, my gaze darting from face to face. But I don’t see her.

As my crew disburses, I reach out and stop a passing chick. “Hey, where’s Lux Anderson?”

She’s only been on campus a few days, but most people already know who she is. She can thank me for that—though her gratitude needs a little work. I get the feeling she’d rather curse me than thank me.

But even without my help, she stands out. Lux is one of those naturally beautiful girls—the kind that doesn’t wear makeup, doesn't make an effort, and doesn’t know they’re pretty. She’s curvy, and I’m sure she thinks that makes her lesser than—but it couldn’t be farther from the truth. She‘s curved in all the right places, and seeing her in person fills in a lot of blanks. It helps me understand why what happened a year ago happened.

The chick blanches a little. “Uh, yeah, I think she’s somewhere over by the kitchen.”

With a nod, I wend through the crowd, shrugging people off as they slap me on the shoulder in greeting. I’m pissed. Lux said she wasn’t going out, and yet, she’s here, at this fucking party.

She’s not by the kitchen, though, and I curse under my breath. This isn’t fucking cool. I can’t be seen wandering around this house like a sick puppy, looking for a chick. Women come to me. That’s how this usually works. But I’m learning Lux isn’t a typical chick. And I don’t really know how to deal with that.

I finally find her outside, sitting on the beach with some other dude. I know everyone on this campus, but it’s dark, and I can’t see his face. Just the fact that she’s out here with a guy is so fucking disrespectful, I want to shove my fist through his face.

Everyone knows Lux is mine.

But if this guy has been living under a rock somewhere, then he’ll find out soon enough what’s what.

Lux and the guy are facing away, toward the ocean, when I walk up.

“Lux,” I say, and they both turn their heads toward me.Now that I can see his face, I recognize the guy. His name is Nathan, and he’s a new member of the Burning Crown. He was friends with my brother before he moved up north, and he’s a bit nerdy, but whatever, he’s chill.

“Roman,” Nathan says, hopping up onto his feet. He brushes the sand off his ass. “I was uh, just watching her for you. Making sure no one else approaches her.”

“Watching me? What the fuck?” Lux pops up onto her feet as well, disgust flashing in her moss-green eyes. Then she turns that disgust in my direction. “You have peoplebabysittingme?”

I cuff Nathan on the shoulder. I have no doubt he spotted her here at the party and decided to keep her occupied until I arrived. He’s been trying to curry favor with me since freshman year when my brother left.

“I’ll take it from here,” I tell Nathan.

With one last look at Lux, Nathan scurries off. I turn back to Lux and notice she’s a little unsteady on her feet. I snatch the red solo cup out of her hand and smell the contents.

Cheap whiskey.

“Hey!” she squeaks, lunging for the cup. I pull it out of the way, and she misses by a mile. “That’s mine. Get your own.”

I pour the contents of the cup onto the sand. “I think you’ve had enough. You’re already wasted.”

She stares down at the sand, where I just dumped her drink. “What the fuck? I wasn’t done with that!”

I toss the cup aside. It’s a private beach, and someone will come around in the morning to pick it up. “I told you to text me if you were coming to the party.”

“And? Just because you said it, doesn’t mean I have todo it,” she scoffs, swaying slightly. “You have some serious control issues, you know that?”

She doesn’t know the fucking half of it. I learned from a very young age that control is power, and power is a certainty. You canmakethings happen when you have power. You can make your reality whatever the fuck you want it to be—almost. There are a few painful exceptions to the rule, one of which I’m in the process of correcting as we speak.

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