Page 33 of The Vengeance You Crave
I went home between classes and work. Aunt Fee had made dinner but I could only pick at it, too anxious about what tonight was going to hold to really stomach any of it. But even though my nerves are completely shot right now, I know I need something before the alcohol hits me too hard and I make an even bigger mess of my life tonight.
At some point on the way to the kitchen, Ella disappears into the crowd but Letty makes sure I get there and deposits me by the mass of food that's been arranged on the kitchen island.
"Ah, a girl after my own heart," a familiar voice says as I reach for a handful of chips.
Looking over, I find one of the guys who lives in Ella and Violet's dorm. He's dressed in a toga—obviously—the loose fabric hanging from one shoulder and leaving very little to the imagination. If I didn't already know he was on the team then it wouldn't be hard to guess from looking at him.
It makes me wonder how well he knows Luca. If they're close. Was he one of the guys standing outside the coffee shop with him on Monday? Hell, I have no idea how well Ella or Letty know Luca.
"Hey, um…"
"Brax," he says.
"Y-yeah, of course."
"It's easy to remember. I'm the good-looking, smart one."
I chuckle at his idiocy. "I'll try to remember that."
"Our girl is looking hot, right?" Letty says, handing me a red Solo cup.
"Hell yes, shame I've already been warned off." His eyes drop down the length of me, lingering on the side boob that Ella left me with before finally meeting my eyes.
"Ah look, the ugly, dense one," I deadpan as West joins us making both Brax and Letty choke on their recently sipped drinks.
"Uh… got an issue, new girl?" he asks, although there's no malice behind his words.
"No. Brax here was just telling me that I can tell him apart from you because he's the good-looking, smart one."
"Is that right?" he asks, turning to his friend.
"Only telling the lady the truth." Brax shrugs.
"I'm banging your girl tonight."
"I don't have a girl."
"Nope because your cock is so small that no one wants to bounce on it. But whoever you end up dancing with, she's mine, motherfucker. I'll show her how a real man does it."
"Fuck you, man. You've only got all of that on display in the hopes of distracting them from the reality under your toga."
"Oookay. As fun as this little cock measuring contest is," Letty says lightly. "We've got places to be."
With her arm around my shoulders, she leads me away from the guys and out of the kitchen. The music gets louder as we weave together through the crowds and toward the back of the house.
"Oh wow," I breathe, taking in the floor-to-ceiling windows that showcase the twinkling lights and pool in the garden.
"Yeah, the Kappas have a pretty sweet thing going on," Letty says beside me. "There's El and Vi, come on." She nods to the crowd but I have no chance of seeing them with all the people grinding it up on the makeshift dance floor. I do, however, look around for someone else, but I don't see him anywhere.
Plastering a smile on my face, I follow Letty through the crowd and lose myself to the music pounding through the speakers almost the second we join the other two.
"Your man not here tonight?" I shout to Letty. I was kind of hoping to meet this enigma of a man who's stolen her heart.
"Yeah, he is," she calls back. "He's with some friends. I'm sure he'll find me before too long.”
And she's not wrong because not two songs later does the crowd before us part and a hot but slightly terrifying guy marches straight up to Letty, wraps his hand around her throat and slams his lips down on hers.
Whoa.
