Page 49 of Wicked Surrender

I didn’t tell her that she was smart to get on her good side. There was no chance of that ever happening. I said that because I was intrigued. I knew I was wasting my potential in college. I used to have great grades and I was once committed to going to med school, like her. I had reasons, though. My excuses for why I fucked around and wasn’t motivated anymore were because of what Dean Chen did to William.

What was her excuse to not realize her potential?

Walking along the upstairs landing of the frat house, I idly looked over the railing and watched the Professors’ Nightmare party that was in full swing. This one was a tradition, something legendary that so many students came to enjoy. Nothing was off-limits tonight. We’d ordered more than enough kegs and already, so many people were well on their way to being so wasted they’d pass out on the lawn before sunrise.

Leaning my forearms against the railing, I stopped and took in the scene with pride. This was my doing. I was the reason for all of this debauchery and entertainment.

Yet, I felt like an outsider looking in. I wasn’t really buzzed yet, not in the mood to drink too much. If I joined my brothers and the rest of them, I’d drink more and lose these thoughts about Laura.

I was damned if I thought about her and damned if I didn’t. She’d snuck in under my skin like a virus, taking over and making me uneasy about how and when I’d be able to tell her why I targeted her.

Dennis walked by, doing a double-take at my standing there and watching over the party.

He’d just come from his room with a girl who was still straightening out her clothes.

“You’re starting off strong tonight,” I quipped dryly as he stood next to me and looked down at the thick crowd below.

“Yeah.” He grinned, adjusting his pants before taking a shot from someone passing down the hallway. He threw it back and smiled even wider. “I fucking love these parties. This is the life.”

I nodded, not really feeling it and worrying again whether I was getting too old for this shit now.

“Holy fuck.” He barked a laugh and elbowed me. “Is that who I think it is?”

We didn’t let just anyone in. The newest brothers had to man the doors. Once, a cop tried to sneak in and we had to increase our “door security” for that reason.

“Who?” I leaned over to follow where he was pointing. Too many people moved in the first-floor area, crammed in tight, dancing, drinking, or trying to talk. There was no room to spare.

“Second-Best,” Dennis said, cracking up. “What the fuck is she doinghere?”

I spotted her, seeing her long, silky black hair shining under the flashing strobe lights someone had installed.

I held my breath, feeling like I was punched in the gut. Like every other time I stole the chance to really look at her, my chest was too tight and my heart raced.

Fuck.

It was her.

Shock reverberated through me. Tracking her as she wove through the throngs of people, I thought back to how she’d commented about everyone knowing about this particular party. She freely admitted she had no social life, but even she was aware about tonight. And shewascurious about it, so much that she’d take the risk to show up.

No one moved with her. She’d come alone, not even seeming to ask that one Kristin girl to be her backup.

Despite all my taunting about this party and the fact that she wouldn’t know how to have fun, she’d shown up.

Damn.

I swallowed hard, my mouth suddenly dry as I stared at her.

She had grit. She had a lot more gumption than I’d thought.

After her confession that these kinds of parties weren’t her thing, she proved her own lie to herself to show up.

“What the hell is she thinking?” Dennis asked, still amused and sounding like he couldn’t wait to terrorize her for setting foot in our frat house. “Like, is she fucking stupid or what?”

“Why do you think she came?”

He laughed. “Fuck, after all we’ve been saying about her and all the shit we’ve been spreading about her? Who knows. Maybe she’s a glutton for punishment.”

No. It wasn’t that. Laura might be so complex that she wouldn’t tell her dad or the academic recovery program about my bullying her, but she wasn’t some simpleton idiot showing up for the hell of it.

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