Page 38 of Frat House Fling

Perhaps I did spend too much time studying like everyone kept saying.

I closed the bar at one a.m. The party wasn’t over, but everyone was officially cut off from all drinks except the ones in the beer fridge in the kitchen. This caused a lot of people to bitch at me, and it also brought a lot of guys around, each one clearly hoping to tempt Hailey into coming home with him.

But shewashome. Or at least her temporary home, and I intended to see her to her room safely. My efforts to guide her through the crowd didn’t work all that well. There were just too many drunk people stumbling around. Finally I put my arm around her bare shoulders and guided her along. That way we wouldn’t get separated.

Her skin was warm under my arm.

She breathed a sigh of relief when we reached the stairwell. The heavy door only partly muffled the noise from the party, but Hailey seemed relieved as it closed behind us. She kicked off her shoes and bent down to pick them up, showing me far more of her breasts than she likely intended to.

Not that I was complaining.

“Is it always like that?” Her voice was too loud, no doubt because of the volume of the party we just left, and it echoed around the stairwell.

“Sometimes,” I said. “And sometimes worse.”

She shook her head. “I can’t even imagine that.”

On the second floor, I held the door for her open and she trudged down the hallway, looking exhausted. We stopped whenwe reached her door. She looked up at me, and I saw that her mascara or eyeliner was smudged a little. Whatever it was, it was sexy as hell.

“This is my stop,” she said as if our train had just pulled into a station.

“So I see.”

She giggled. “I wasn’t sure if you knew. You spent almost as much time in your room as Nelson does in his.”

I laughed. “Well, you know me. Life’s not worth living if I don’t have my video games and pot.”

She grinned, and I couldn’t resist the urge to tuck a strand of hair that had worked its way loose behind her ear. God, her hair was soft and silky.

“Thanks for showing me the ropes tonight.”

She was thankingme for making her attend a party where men tried to grope her and hit on her every other minute? Well, Bennett had been the one to require her attendance, but I still felt complicit.

“Guess I should go inside.” She paused, her hand on the doorknob. “Do the partygoers ever come up here?”

“Rarely. But it is the summer, so we don’t have as many of our members here to keep order.” And some, like Grant, seemed to have forgotten their responsibilities all together.

She noted. “So I should definitely?—”

“Yes,” I said firmly before she could even finish her sentence. “Definitely lock your door.” Living in a house full of frat boys, she probably did that anyway, but it was even more important tonight.

But I’d keep an eye out anyway. Guess there wasn’t going to be any studying for me tonight.

12

HAILEY

It wastwo in the morning, the Tuesday after the big party, and I could barely keep my eyes open. Poring over my notes from class any longer tonight wouldn’t do me any good. I knew I wouldn’t retain it. I changed into my pajamas, not even having the energy to go wash my face. As I slid under the covers, my phone chimed.

For a moment I stared at the notification on the screen blankly, and then I recognized the number. It was the guy I knew only as Night Owl.

Shouldn’t you be in bed?the text said.

I am, as of two minutes ago.

Ooo, what are you wearing?He followed that with an emoji raising both eyebrows.Something sexy?

I grinned at that. Some people said that you couldn’t read someone’s tone through text, but it felt like I could. My generation had grown up communicating this way, and even though I spent far less time on my phone than my peers, it felt natural to me. I knew he was kidding.

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