Page 94 of Cruel Elite (Princes of Ravenlake Academy 3)

“The sheriff’s son?” Penny gapes. “Are you fucking serious?”

“He’s out of town, and I doubt his house is on the officer’s patrol routes. Even if it is, do you really think they’ll cite the sheriff’s son for throwing a rager? ‘Cause I sure don’t.”

Penny seems satisfied enough with the answer, though she looks nervous as we walk inside.

I let her go in front of me. I want to take a moment to examine her.

She has on a tight pair of black jeans with a sheer top you can see her bra through. Her waist is slim and toned.

I can practically still feel it in my hands, feel the way her abs contracted under my fingers as I pulsed behind her.

A junior from the football team—Braydon, if I remember right—walks up to her before we are even through the entryway. His eyes are bloodshot and hungry, obviously liking what he’s seeing.

“Cool shirt,” he says, grabbing the sheer hem between his fingers.

Penny smiles and opens her mouth to respond, but I swat Braydon’s hand away before he can.

“Cool shirt? Really?”

He looks startled and ready for a fight until he sees it’s me. “Oh, Noah. Hey, man. Sorry, I didn’t know you two were together.”

“We aren’t.” Penny nudges me aside and smiles at Braydon. “Thank you. Your shirt is cool, too.”

Braydon’s shirt is not cool. It’s a cotton polo that hasn’t been in fashion for at least ten years, though no one appears to have told Braydon.

Now that Penny has complimented it, he’ll probably wear it every day for the rest of eternity.

Braydon looks nervously from me to Penny, and I feel for the kid. He doesn’t want to blow his change to talk to Penny, but he also doesn’t want to piss me off.

He may be horny, but he’s not as dumb as he looks.

“She’s right—we aren’t here together,” I say, clapping Braydon on the shoulder and raising my voice. “You called dibs, so you can have her first. Just make sure you let me know when you’re done. I’m next in line.”

A chorus ofoohsecho through the crowd around us.

Penny’s face flushes red.

Braydon, once again proving his intelligence, decides to bail, disappearing back into the crowd.

I’m sure Penny is going to slap me or go on a rampage, her voice high-pitched and nasally, her mean words as sharp as razors.

In fact, I’m counting on it. Cool and detached, waiting for her to explode so I can put her right back in her place while everyone watches.

To my utter surprise, she doesn’t do any of that.

Instead, Penny tips her head to the side, smiles, and walks towards me.

She grabs the front of my gray t-shirt in her fist and tugs me forward, her eyebrow arched suggestively.

“Why wait in line when you can have me right now?”

Again, the crowd audibly reacts.

We’ve just arrived at this party. It is customary to at least grab a drink before you pair off and head upstairs, but Penny is dragging me through the parting crowd with purpose.

I don’t stop her. Mostly because the sway of her hips as she moves up the wooden stairs to the second floor is mesmerizing.

The first two rooms she checks are occupied, but the third is empty.

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