Page 165 of The Charlie Method

Silence falls as Agatha gawks at me, speechless for once. I turn on my heel and storm out of the room. My pulse is racing, my hands trembling with the adrenaline.

I go upstairs, taking the steps two at a time. Fuck. Had I really meant what I said about not belonging here?

I don’t know, but right now, I don’t care. I just need to get away from all of it. Away from the rules, the expectations, the suffocating pressure to be perfect.

When I hear footsteps hurrying after me, I don’t need to turn around to know it’s Faith.

She follows me into my bedroom, a mischievous grin on her face. “You realize the entire house heard that, right?”

“I don’t care.”

“That was epic,” she informs me.

“Yeah, well, I don’t think she’s going to forgive me for that one,” I mutter, running a hand through my hair.

“Who cares? She needed to hear it. I swear, if she pulled that ‘unbecoming of a Delta’ crap on me one more time, I was going to lose it too.”

“She’s so fucking full of herself. Acting like she’s some kind of queen who can control everyone’s lives.” I’m still fuming. “I can’t believe she tried to shame me over a kiss.”

“Oh, I believe it. Bitch has her nose so far up in the air, it’s a miracle she doesn’t drown when it rains.”

That makes me snicker. “Like, how is this any of her business? I’m not hurting anyone.” Now I sigh. “Ugh. I bet she’s already planning some way to get back at me.”

“Let her try. We’ll just remind her that not everyone’s interested in playing her little game of ‘Who’s the Most Perfect Delta?’”

My heart squeezes at the conviction I hear in Faith’s voice. When I joined this sorority and saw the other girls in my pledge class, I was terrified I’d never fit in with any of them. Never find an ally. A true friend. But it turned out not all of them were uptight and judgmental. Faith emerged like a glorious unicorn out of a crowd of snooty thoroughbreds and showed me, for the first time in my life, whatride or diemeans.

Stomping toward her, I throw my arms around her shoulders, snuggling close. “I love you, Faith Grierson.”

She snorts in my hair. “Are you coming on to me?”

“No. I just want you to know I love you. I don’t know what I’d do in this house without you.”

“Probably be stuck in the living room, listening to Agatha drone on about reputations and decorum.” She lifts a brow. “Now, can we please talk about this hot make-out session everyone in the house is whispering about? According to Jia, you had a hand down your hockey player’s pants and were jerking him off in the middle of the quad.”

“Oh my God. Yeah right. It was just a kiss.”

“In public, though?” Faith grins at me. “That’s a big deal for Charlotte Kingston. Making out on the quad is the equivalent of going Instagram official. So do we have an official boyfriend now?”

We have two.

But I keep that tidbit to myself.

“I wouldn’t say it’sofficialofficial. But yeah, Will and I are together.”

“Exclusively?”

I falter. Well, shit.

“What?” Faith says, frowning.

“It suddenly occurred to me that I never actually asked if we were exclusive. I simply assumed we were.”

She snickers. “You should probably get on that.”

“Yeah. I probably should.”

As I head for the boys’ house in Hastings, I’m both obsessing over the exclusivity issue while riding the high from standing up to Agatha. The entire drive, I replay the confrontation with her. Then I replay the night at the rave, the mind-blowing sex, every moment I’ve spent with the guys.

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