Black Number Four (7 page)

Ashlei and Jess help me get ready while my Little studies flash cards. I have no idea how she’s already studying when classes have been in session all of five days, but that’s her. I watch her look at a flash card, close her eyes and mouth the answer, then open them and flip the card over to check if she was right. She repeats this over and over and each time I smile a little more. As much as I admire Erin, I think I admire Cassie, too. She’s so bright, and so unafraid to be exactly who she is. I’m not sure I could ever be that confident.

Jess and Ashlei are like two peas in a pod. They’re both majoring in event planning, they both love country music, they’re both born and raised in South Florida, and they’re both blonde and beautiful. Pretty much the only difference is that Ashlei came from old money and Jess’s family came into their fortune from a lawsuit. She hasn’t ever really gone into detail with us, but it doesn’t matter – we don’t need to know.

After trying on several outfits that were deemed not good enough for a date auction, we settle on a tight, ruched pink dress with a sweetheart neckline. It accents my long legs and slender frame and we pair it with nude heels and a chunky gold and beige necklace. They use a curling wand to give my hair some volume and I do my makeup – simple and light, as usual.

“Damn, Big,” Cassie says, tucking her cards away. “You look hot.”

I check myself in the mirror, turning sideways. I’m really not a fan of dresses, but I do feel pretty sexy in this one. I’m not concerned about the auction as much as I am the tournament. This outfit will definitely put me in the naïve girl category. They’ll never see me coming, which is exactly the way I like it.

Ralph’s is packed when we arrive, which isn’t out of the ordinary for a Friday night. It’s one of the most popular college bars in the area, and we hold the date auction here the first Saturday of spring semester every year. It’s tradition – and usually I’m excited to watch my sisters get bid on and raise money for our philanthropy. But tonight, I’d rather be in a den full of hungry tigers with a steak wrapped around my neck.

We go in through the back door to skip the line outside and run straight into Erin. She’s got a clipboard in her hand and she’s shouting orders into her headset. “Oh!” she says when she sees us. “You guys are just in time. Little, go line up over there with the other dates. J-Love, Lei, I need you to start handing out bidding paddles. G-Little, can you find Chelsea? We need to raffle off the first door prize.” I smile at the nickname for Cassie. Her being my Little makes her Erin’s “Grand Little” – kind of like a grandchild. Thus, G-Little.

The girls all nod and scurry off to their destinations and as much as I hate my Big right now, I can’t help but stare at her in awe. She’s doing that thing again – kicking ass and taking names, making me want to be like her. She commands attention, and I envy her for it.

As if she senses my thoughts, she turns back to me. “I love you, Little. I’ve been thinking.” She stops to shout another order into her headpiece before continuing. “If you really don’t want to do this, you don’t have to. Whether he’s the highest bidder or not, you don’t have to do my dirty work.”

I shake my head. “We shook on it, Big. It’s a deal. We just have to see what happens now.” It’s easy to say now that I know I can’t lose.

She smiles and leans in to hug me. “You’re seriously the best Little in the world.”

I squeeze her tight and then she pulls back, running off to the side of the stage. I feel a little shitty for rigging the auction, but what she doesn’t know won’t hurt her – and now I won’t have to hurt Kip.

Or myself.

Erin kicks off the auction with Chelsea on stage. She’s one of my pledge sisters, a tiny little thing with long, thick black curls. They raffle off a few prizes, speak about our philanthropy, and then one by one our sisters go up to be auctioned off. It’s actually pretty fun watching the girls on stage. Some of them take the cute, girl-next-door approach, some of them go more sexy and carefree, and some of them just act ridiculous and go for the laughs. When it’s time for me to step up, I feel so awkward I want to cry, but I strut my ass up there like I’m the most confident girl in the bar. A few whistles ring out and I wink at the crowd, smiling. The highest bid so far has been three hundred and twenty dollars, which means I gave Josh plenty to win me and get this over with. It’s almost ten and I need to get on the road.

“And now, last but the farthest thing from least, we have the beautiful Skyler Thorne!” The crowd cheers and I throw up our sorority’s hand sign in response, still smiling. Chelsea calls out above the cheers, “We’ll start the bidding at fifty dollars!”

A paddle goes up near the front of the room. Josh.

“And we have fifty, do I hear one hundred?” Chelsea says, pointing at Josh. Another paddle goes up a few rows over. It’s Adam. I shake my head and point out at him, smiling. He shrugs and winks, which makes me smile even bigger. Adam and I had a short run last year and he was fun, but he needed to focus on getting elected president, which left no time for me. We’re still friends, and every now and then we have a drunken night together, but I can’t imagine us going on a date again. Though he’s definitely been paying close attention to me this semester.

Josh lifts his paddle again and the bid is up to two hundred. Adam goes up one more time and then someone in the back before it gets back to Josh. Four hundred.

Adam bows out and for a few seconds, no other paddles go up. Chelsea is just about to call it when Kip emerges from the back right of the room. He thrusts his beer in into the air and calls out, “Five hundred.”

Everyone cheers, turning to see who made the bid. He doesn’t even have a paddle, but apparently that’s not stopping him. I can barely see him, but from what I can see he’s looking just as fine as he did the first night we met.

Oh, Lord have mercy. He couldn’t just not show up?

Chelsea yells excitedly, “Five hundred! Do I hear six?”

Josh lifts his paddle and the crowd goes crazy. This is the highest bid we’ve ever had. I focus on remaining calm and appearing confident.
Smile, chin up, boobs out, extend the legs – just don’t let them see you sweat, Sky.

Kip jumps up on the bar, lifting his beer again. “One thousand!”

Everyone goes nuts. My sisters start emerging from behind the stage to see who the bidder is and all the Alpha Sig brothers are chanting, their song ringing through the bar. Everyone except Adam, who looks a little more than pissed when he sees it’s Kip who’s making the high bids. I’m not sure if it’s because Kip’s a pledge that Adam is mad or if it’s because he wanted to be the one on the other end of the winning bid.

“Wow! One thousand dollars!” Chelsea screams and the crowd cheers again. “Anyone left fighting out there?”

I snap my eyes to Josh and purse my lips together, giving him the signal to keep bidding. I know I only gave him a grand, but at this point I’m willing to pay the difference. I’m going to a tournament tonight, I can swing it. He looks at me panicked, shrugging and looking around like someone in the crowd is going to help him. I roll my eyes and press my hands into my hips to keep from smacking myself in the forehead.
What an idiot.

“Going once? Going twice?” Chelsea bangs the gavel against the podium. “Sold! To the Alpha Sig pledge in the glasses!” Everyone laughs a little and Kip’s brothers lift him onto their shoulders, parading him around.

That did not just happen.

Suddenly, my heels are a little too tall. I feel dizzy and my body begins to sway. I shake my head, focusing on the ground in front of me. I need to get to the tournament.

Breathe, Sky.

I push through the crowd and out the front door, searching the parking lot for a cab. It’s a little early, but there’s one waiting just around the corner. I run my hand through my hair, trying to calm my shaking fingers, and head toward it. Suddenly, a hand wraps around my waist and spins me around, bringing me face to face with two blue eyes shielded behind black frames. His scent rushes to my nose and I feel my knees shake a little more. Damnit, why does he have to be attractive?

“I have to go,” I say, not giving him the chance to speak. I break free from his grip and turn for the cab.

“Wait!” he calls out, following. “Where are you going?”

“I can’t tell you.”

He stops momentarily and I look back to see him frowning a little before he jogs to catch up. “Can you take me with you?”

“No.” I slide into the cab and go to shut the door but he catches it in his hand.

“Scoot over.”

“What? No. You’re not invited.”

Kip rolls his eyes and pushes me across the seat, sliding in next to me and pulling the door shut. “Either you take me with you and I shut up and behave myself or you leave and I follow you anyway and cause a scene. Your choice.”

I growl, gritting my teeth together. “You’re annoying.”

“Annoying? Or cute?”

Both.

I sigh, frustrated, and ramble off the address to the cab driver, who is now entirely too amused with what’s going on in the back of his car. I need to get in my zone, to strip off sorority girl Skyler and replace her with poker shark Sky. I focus on steadying my breathing while we drive, inhaling deeply and exhaling long, smooth breaths as I pull out my phone to transfer the funds for the entry fee. When I finish and close my bank app, I see two missed texts on my phone. One from Josh that I don’t even bother opening because I’m trying to Zen out, not kill someone. And one from Erin. I click on her name and the text fills the screen, making me breathe harder again.

- Game on. -

After about a fifteen minute ride, the cab drops us off on the side of a dark road lined with small businesses. All their doors are closed and locked for the day and the street lights desperately try to illuminate the road but fail, their faded and flickering bulbs casting an eerie glow. The street is completely barren when the cab pulls away, leaving us alone – well, except for a few women of the night leaned against a small tin building a few blocks down. One of them whistles toward us and I instinctively grab Skyler and pull her close to me, my hand sliding around her waist.

What the fuck was she thinking coming here by herself?

Skyler pulls away quickly, shrugging me off. “Okay listen, we can’t go in together. I need to seem available, naive – I need to throw these guys off. I’ve never played at this place before, which means I can go in and clean them out if I do it right. This is best case scenario right here and I need this cash, so don’t mess it up. Okay?”

I throw my hands up, trying to stop the smile creeping up on my lips. She’s so damn serious it’s adorable. “Aye aye, captain.”

She rolls her eyes, but the corners of her mouth twitch into a soft grin. “Okay, you go in first. This is a pawn shop, but if you walk toward the back there’s going to be a large door that says employees only. Knock twice and then cough. If they say they’re closed, tell them you have an appointment with Jerry.”

“Are you serious?” I ask, laughing as I turn back toward the building. She’s right, it’s a pawn shop. “Sounds like I’m trying to get into a speakeasy.”

“Pretty close,” she says, pulling out a compact mirror and applying a new coat of lip gloss. I watch the wand glide over her bottom lip and I have to bite mine and shove my fists into my jean pockets to keep from slamming her against the side of the building and replacing the wand with my mouth. I imagine my body pressed against hers, my hand sliding up between her legs.