A Different Side (University Park #4) (32 page)

“And I’ll be waiting.” She shuffled out the door, keeping one eye on me the entire time.

Cheering and shouting came from the kitchen and I shouldered my way through the crowd. I craned my neck to see a girl lying on the kitchen table, wearing a black bikini. A guy had his mouth pressed to hers, taking a slice of lemon. Everyone ranted and raved as he sucked on the fruit.

“Yeah!” His hand shot up, spilling some of the beer in his cup.

“Hey, Raven, what’s up, man?” A guy with a Sigma Chi shirt patted me on the back.

“Doing good.” We shook hands and I search my mind trying to recall his name. Nothing surfaced.

“Want a shot?”

I gave a half shrug. “Yeah, sure.”

“Raven’s next,” he shouted.

Everyone turned around and cheered. I held up my beer and smiled. The crowd parted and I made my way to the front. The girl propped herself up on her forearms and smiled. “Hi, Raven, I’m Christine.”

I set my beer next to her. “Hi, Christine.”

“So, you want to do a body shot off me?” She gave her body a little shake.

“If you’ll let me.” I licked my lips, salivating at the alcohol, salt, and lemon trickling from her body.

“Oh, I’ll let you do more than that if you want.” She tossed her long, dark hair over her shoulder and reclined against the wood.

“Anything you say, Christine.”

“Start at the tattoo, Jess.” She informed the Sigma Chi with the bottle.

“You’ve got it.”

Using her thumbs, Christine lowered her bikini bottom stopping where her hair would have started. By the looks of it, she was bare.
Oh yeah.
Guys whistled and clapped. I squared my shoulders, ready to dig in. Jess poured a thin stream over the swirls of her tattoo spreading across her lower abdomen and then created a trail to her navel. He allowed it to fill, until the liquor ran off the sides. Then he continued making a path up her stomach and between her breasts, giving a final splash across her chest.

A whimper escaped her mouth and her body arched against the table.

“Steady now, Christine.” Jess grabbed a saltshaker and sprinkled granules across her plump breasts.

With her fingers, she spread it between her cleavage and the crowd went crazy.

And so did I.

Damn.

Looking at her made me so thirsty.

“Ready, man?”

“Hell yeah.” I took the shot glass from him and downed the tequila. Everyone yelled and clapped. “Lick, lick. Suck. Suck.”

My heart beat like a wild animal ready to devour its prey. I lowered my head between her legs and opened my mouth. I licked her tattoo, drawing all the liquor with the tip of my tongue. Christine moaned and her stomach quivered. I continued to her navel and slurped up the tequila. The crowd continued raving as I took my time, savoring every drop from her skin. I followed the trail up her stomach and between her breasts. Salt tinged my mouth as I glided my tongue through the narrow valley. The material was in the way, but I kept my hands pressed to the table, forbidding any further action on my part.

I glanced at her and her eyes glazed over. Her lungs heaved for air and her body writhed from my touch. She wanted me. She was falling into my trap, no question about it. I lowered my head and spread my tongue across her huge mounds, lapping up the last of the tequila and salt. Then I covered her mouth with mine, giving her a little tongue action as I slipped the slice of lemon in my mouth. Christine didn’t hold back. Her arms flung around my neck as she kept her lips pressed to mine. I kissed her as best as I could with a lemon wedge in my cheek. Whistles and hollering erupted in the air and we started laughing. She pulled her lips from mine and slowly dragged her hands down my chest.

Keeping my eyes on her, I sucked on the lemon and then tossed it in the empty shot glass.

“Damn.” Christine licked her lips and fingers. “That was the best body shot ever and I wasn’t the one doing it.”

I grinned and then whispered in her ear, “If you want to do it again, but in private, let me know.”

Christine bit her lower lip. “You bet I do.”

I winked at her. “Catch me at the end of the night.”

“You’ve got it.”

“I’m next!” The guy next to me hollered.

I picked up my beer and walked off, wiping my mouth on my sleeve. One shot like that was enough for a while. I adjusted my pants and made my way to the living room. Lights flashed and the walls thundered at the beat of the music. Bodies rubbed against each other, fighting for a place to dance. Sweat and funk lingered in the air, but no one seemed to care. I laughed at two girls going at it on the couch. I thought about yelling for them to get a room, but left them alone. I turned to see Shawn in the corner, talking to some girl.

“Hey, man, where’ve you been?” He motioned for me to join him.

I shuffled past a few people and sat next to him. “Doing body shots.”

“Where? I want to do one.” He started to get up, but the girl eyed him and he sat.

“In the kitchen, but there’s a long line and the tequila’s cheap. You’re not missing anything,” I lied. They were using top shelf liquor and Christine gave the best damn body shots. These Sigma Chi parties never disappointed.

“Hey, Raven, this is Cheyanne.” Shawn introduced the tall, beautiful girl wedged between his legs.

“Nice to meet you.” She stuck out her long, muscular arm, gripping my hand tightly.

I shook her hand. “Do you like to workout?”

She laughed. “Yeah and play basketball.”

I zeroed in on her wide eyes and big smile. “You’re Cheyanne Rivers.”

“Yes, that’s me.” She retrieved her hand and crossed her arms, showing off her well-defined biceps. My eyes traveled down her midsection, hoping to see some bare legs, but she had on jeans.

“Congrats on your win today. Man, you all are tearing it up this year. Six and two is damn good.”

“Thanks.” She continued smiling. “We’ve been working really hard.”

“It shows.” I motioned at the stool I was sitting on. “Do you want to sit down?”

“I’m good. Thanks.” She shook her head. “Hey, Shawn, I’m going to look for Chelsea. I’ll be back.”

“Yeah, okay.”

Cheyanne pushed her way through the crowd and I turned to Shawn. “How’d you meet her?”

“I had a class with her this semester. We worked on a project together.” He smiled and rubbed his chin.

“Oh, one of those projects.”

He laughed and elbowed me in the ribs. “Naw, man, it’s not like that. I respect her.”

“Uh huh. Just admit it. You can’t get—” I stopped midsentence when I saw Lexi enter the room, holdings hands with some guy. I’d seen him around before and knew he was a Sigma Chi, but I’d never met him. Instantly, my blood boiled.

“What’s wrong?” Shawn nudged me.

I kept my eyes fixed on the scrawny guy. “Lexi’s here.”

Shawn followed my gaze. “I guess she’s over you,” he snickered.

“Don’t, man.” I shook my head, tightening my fist. I needed to punch something, anything.

“You’re the one who told her you didn’t want to see her. What did you expect her to do?”

I crossed my arms, burying my fists against my chest. I had to keep calm. Shawn had a point. I dumped her after she begged me not to. I had no reason to be mad, but I was burning with rage. I didn’t like the way that guy was checking her out and I definitely didn’t like what she was wearing. On second thought, I loved the short, off-the-shoulder purple dress and black high heels that made her legs look sexy, but I didn’t want her wearing it around him.

“Hey, have you seen Shelby?” Josh appeared, looking pissed as usual.

I didn’t answer him. Just kept my eyes fixed on Lexi. Watching her every move.

Damn it! Why can’t I let her go?

“Um, I saw her earlier with Amber, but that was a while ago,” Shawn replied.

“Shit.” Josh peered over the crowd, searching for his girl. “I’ll never find her.”

“Text her.”

Josh pulled a phone from his back pocket. “I can’t. I have her phone.”

“What’s wrong?” Josh’s eyes darted to me. “Are you drunk?”

My eyes narrowed, as I pretended to blow the guy up with laser beams. “I wish.”

“Lexi’s here and she’s dancing with some guy,” Shawn informed Josh.

Josh turned around and stared into the mob of bodies. “Oh fuck, that’s Brian Levinson. He’s a Sigma Chi. Promise me you won’t start shit.” Josh tried to get my attention, but I refused to take my eyes off Lexi.

“Raven.”

“What?”

“You heard me. We need you for the game.”

I looked at him briefly. “Alright. I promise.”

“Besides, we don’t want to start a fight at their party. That would be…” Josh rambled, listing several reasons why beating Brian’s ass would be a bad idea. But I didn’t care. I wanted to grab the guy by his pretty brown hair and slam his face into the wall. I knew better. I took a few deep breaths, steadying the pounding in my chest.

“Okay. Okay.” I held up my hand, not wanting to hear anymore. “There’s Shelby.” I motioned with my head into the crowd. “She’s dancing with Delaney and Amber.”

“About damn time I found her.” Josh let out a sigh of relief. “I swear, she’s going to be the death of me.”

I snickered as Josh pushed his way through the crowd and handed Shelby her phone. He whispered something to her and I hoped it wasn’t about me. I didn’t want anything getting back to Lexi.

Cheyanne appeared with two beers in hand. She gave one to Shawn and he told her something. He turned to me and said, “Hey, I’ll be back.” I nodded, not paying him much attention. Before he walked off, he turned around and handed me his cold beer. “I think you need this more than me.”

“Thanks.” I took the red cup and he followed Cheyanne into the next room.

I kept a stiff posture as I watched Lexi and Brian dance and talk. She was so consumed by him that she hadn’t even noticed I was there. I think that bothered me the most. Then again, everything was pissing me off. They appeared to be having a great time, as if they were good friends. I hated that. I wanted to be the one talking and flirting with her. I hated that I kept holding on and didn’t know how to let go.

Why is this so hard?

The reason was evident. I still liked Lexi. And I wanted to be with her, but I couldn’t.

Damn it!

I couldn’t deny what I felt for her. The ache in my chest reminded me daily. Nothing I did made it better. The women…the alcohol. It was all temporary relief, because after they wore off, I was back to where I started. It sucked.

“Hi.” A group of women appeared in front of me, blocking my view.

“Hey, what’s up?” I cracked a half smile, trying not to be rude. I’d never seen these women before and I was positive they were beyond their college years, but they were still hot.

“I’m Iris and these are my friends, Barb, Jenn, Jessa, and Cheryl.”

“Hi, nice to meet you.” I pressed a hand on my thigh and took a deep breath. Intuition told me they were anxious to get caught in The Raven’s trap. “So are you all grads students?” I didn’t want to be impolite, but curiosity had the best of me.

A few of them laughed. “Um, no, not exactly,” Iris responded. She seemed to be the one in charge.

“More like big fans.” Barb smiled as she flipped her hair over her shoulder.

“Oh, I see.” I glanced over her shoulder, but Lexi wasn’t standing with Brian any longer. He was talking to a group of guys. My eyes quickly searched the room, but with all the women surrounding me, I couldn’t see.

“Yeah, we never miss a game.” Jenn adjusted the strap of her purse. In all the years I’d been to a frat party, I’d never seen a woman carry a big handbag. I guess she hadn’t been to a party in a while.

“We have season tickets.” Jessa shot me a cute smile. With her short, blonde hair and big blue eyes, she reminded me of Tinkerbell.

“Thanks for supporting PHU athletics. We appreciate it.”

“Sure.” She darted forward, landing in my lap after some guy bumped into her.

“You okay?” I caught Jessa with one arm, managing to keep my beer upright with the other.

“Yeah.” Her pale cheeks flashed bright red. “Sorry about that.”

“It’s alright,” I assured her. She took her time peeling her hands from my thighs, using her nails to graze my jeans. I took a sip of my beer, feeling the heat rise.

Iris moved closer, practically pushing Jessa out of the way. “So, we hear you’re damn good in bed.”

I coughed, spraying them with beer. “Sorry.” I wiped my mouth. “I wasn’t expecting that.”

A few of the women didn’t look too happy for having beer spat all over them, but they’d get over it. Jenn reached into her purse, pulling out a small packet of tissues. I guess big purses were handy.

“Are the rumors true?” Cheryl asked.

They waited anxiously for my response, forming a tighter circle around me. They eyed me from head to toe, like sex-starved animals. Cougars. These women were freaking cougars, maybe pumas.
Shit.
I had kept my MILF list to a limit, but these women were anxious to join. Barb kept inching closer to me and I swore she sniffed my shirt. I wished I wouldn’t have drowned myself in cologne because they were hot on my trail.

“Well?” Iris pressed me for an answer. “We want to find out for ourselves.”

My breath hitched in the middle of my throat. Not one, two, or three, but five women were ready for me to take them to bed.

How fucking lucky could I get?

Only I didn’t want to screw all of them.

The guilt start settling in and all I could think about was Lexi. She was the one I wanted. Not these pumas and cougars who were probably married with a few kids.

“Iris. I can’t do that.” I grinned, trying to let her down gently.

“Oh, yes, you can.” Her Spanish accent filtered through as she flipped her long, black hair. By her reaction, I knew this wasn’t going to be easy. Iris didn’t look like a woman who took no for an answer.

I was fucked.

“Well, if you can’t do that with her, then what about me?” Barb placed her hands on my chest, pawing at me. She was cougar, alright. A fierce one, too.

“Um...”

Barb backed away and I sucked in a shallow breath.