Crush (8 page)

As we stepped inside, it became apparent that most of those movies
were
pretty accurate, at least when it came to Alpha Sigma Zeta. The main room at the front echoed with the beat of heavy rock music, and the floor was littered with plastic cups and empty beer cans. Someone was already passed out on the floor, snoring away with a lewd image drawn on his forehead in black marker, and several girls were dancing in only bras and short skirts.

Jeez. I’d thought
my
dress was a little too short and tight.

A tall, mocha-skinned guy approached us and hugged Tamara. “Hey, T! You guys made it!”

“Mia, Jeremy
—
this is my cousin, Jackson,” Tamara said. “And Jackson, you already know Ben.”

“I do,” Jackson said, grinning at us all. “Thanks for coming, guys. Drinks are in the
—
“

He was cut off by…you guessed it. Brad. Dammit. I’d known he’d be here, but I’d hoped we’d miss each other in the crowds of co-eds.

“Hey, man, Carter just puked in the fucking…oh, hey, Mia. You came,” he said, suddenly noticing me standing there.

Once again, I felt naked under his gaze as his eyes traveled up and down my body, paying special attention to my cleavage. I swallowed hard, and my mouth suddenly went dry. I couldn’t help it. He made me undeniably hot. Oh-so hot. Hotter than I wanted to admit, and hotter than I could bear. By the time his eyes had returned to my face, the area between my thighs was wet and scorching.

“Um…hey,” I finally managed to reply.

He winked. “Have fun. I’ve gotta go clean something up. If anyone bothers you, come find me.”

“Er…thanks.”

Jeremy seemed to be momentarily lost in conversation with Ben, and Tamara nudged me. “Who was that guy?” she asked.

“Brad,” I mumbled.

“What?
That’s
Brad? As in your new stepbrother?” she asked, her eyes practically widened into saucers. “I thought you said he wasn’t hot!”

“I said I hadn’t noticed if he was hot,” I replied, shifting uncomfortably in my high heels and watching as Jeremy walked towards a table with a keg standing on it.

She folded her arms and pursed her lips. “You didn’t notice? Are you freaking kidding me, Mia? He looks like Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio had a baby together.”

I shrugged. “Um. Yeah, I guess so. I don’t really look at him like that.”

That was bullshit, and judging by the expression on Tamara’s face, she knew it.

“Right…” she said, raising an eyebrow. “Well, I’m going to go dance with Ben. Do you wanna come, or do you wanna stay and chat with Jeremy?”

“You go dance,” I said. “I’ll hang out and have a drink with Jeremy. It’s all right, he’s cool.”

“Okay.”

She hugged me and then dragged Ben onto the makeshift dancefloor near the pool table, and I turned to Jeremy, who’d just returned from the keg table with a blue plastic cup of beer for me.

I felt bad for being turned on by my stepbrother when I was meant to be on a date with Jeremy, and I focused my attention on him as much as I could. Unfortunately, it was hard to keep my eyes from straying across the room, where I could see Brad being accosted by a tall, auburn-haired girl. A pang of jealousy bit at my stomach as I watched them talk for a second, and when he turned away from the girl, my heart soared, even though I knew I shouldn’t care. I did care, as much as I loathed to admit it.

“How are your classes this semester?” I asked Jeremy, taking a sip of my drink as I forced my gaze away from Brad again.

“Good, good,” he replied. “You?”

“Pretty interesting. I have this elective called legal anthropology, and I came across something kinda funny in my textbook yesterday. It’s law, though, so it might bore you.”

“Nah, of course not. Tell me about it,” he said.

I told him all about an amusing case I’d read about earlier in the semester, and we chatted about our classes for a while longer before being disrupted by a drunken girl tripping over and falling in between us. She was only wearing a bra and shorts. I helped her steady herself, and she giggled and kissed me on the cheek.

“Thanks,” she said before glancing at Jeremy. “You’re so cute.”

She was so drunk that her words came out as ‘thankshh, you’re sho cute’, and I grinned and shook my head as she stumbled away.

“Crazy party, huh?” I said.

Jeremy’s lips tightened. “Yeah. There’s so many drunk sluts here. I’m glad you’re not like that.”

“Er…excuse me?”

He gestured around. “Oh, I was just saying, there’s so many skanks here. I mean, look at what half these girls are wearing.”

Wow. It seemed my earlier assessment of him hadn’t been an overreaction at all. He
was
a sexist prick who tried to pass off his bigoted beliefs as humor or passing observations. Unfortunately for him, I couldn’t stand guys who referred to women as ‘sluts’ or ‘skanks’, no matter what those women chose to wear. Screw that. It was one of the hallmarks of an insecure asshole. A few friends of mine had learned that the hard way by dating guys like him in the past.

It was a shame. During our conversation about school, I’d actually enjoyed talking to Jeremy, and for a brief second, I’d honestly thought things might be able to go somewhere between us.

Instead, I was sorely tempted to slap him in the face. I was about to respond with some biting comment, but we were interrupted by Brad again.

“Hey, man, mind if I borrow my
sister
?” he asked with a lascivious wink.

The way he’d emphasized the word ‘sister’ would’ve normally made my blood boil, but right now I was happy to have any excuse to get away from Jeremy. He’d been busy talking to Ben earlier when I’d told Tamara who Brad was, and he fixed him with a suspicious gaze.

“You’re not her brother,” he said, taking in Brad’s fair hair and blue eyes.

Brad grinned. “Sure I am. I’m her brother from another mother, as they say. And another father, I might add.”

“Stepbrother,” I clarified to Jeremy before turning to Brad. “And sure, Jeremy would be happy to excuse me.”

Without waiting for a response from Jeremy, I let Brad lead me across the room and into a dark corner.

“So…that was your date, huh?” he asked, eyes twinkling.

“Unfortunately, yes.”

“He seemed like a bit of a…” his voice trailed off, and I rolled my eyes.

“Go ahead. Say it.”

He grinned. “He seemed like a fucking asshole,” he said. “I heard what he was saying when I was near you guys. You shoulda seen your face. I honestly thought you were gonna kick him in the balls.”

“Maybe I should have,” I muttered.

“Yeah, maybe,” he replied. “I can’t stand dudes like that. It’s not cool to talk about chicks like that. Total bullshit.”

I studied his face carefully to see if he was being serious. It appeared he was. Hmm. I guess there was more to him than met the eye. He put on this front of being an arrogant frat boy with a devil-may-care attitude, but underneath that front, there seemed to be a somewhat decent guy.

“So what did you want to talk to me about?” I asked.

“Oh, nothing. I could just see that you were having issues with that guy, considering what a douche he was being, so I thought I’d rescue you.”

“I didn’t need rescuing. But thanks anyway,” I said.

“You’re welcome.”

“So, um…who was that girl you were with earlier?” I asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

“What girl?”

“Oh, just some redheaded girl I saw you with earlier,” I mumbled. “Never mind.”

“Are you jealous?” he teased, leaning in slightly closer. I took a step back and almost hit the wall.

“Of course not,” I replied in a heated voice. So much for being nonchalant.

“I think you’re talking about Rose,” he said. “Oh, and speak of the Devil…”

The auburn-haired girl I’d seen him with earlier sashayed up to us seconds later. She was tall and slim, and up close she was even prettier than I’d originally assessed from across the room. Her green eyes flashed when she saw me, and her nose turned up a little bit, as if I were something she’d just scraped off the bottom of her shoe.

“Who’s this, Bradley?” she asked, glancing at him before shooting me another filthy look.

“None of your business, Rose,” he said. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m in the middle of a conversation which doesn’t involve you.”

With that, he turned his back on her, and she huffed angrily and flounced away. The frostiness in his tone had been impossible to miss, and it more than hinted at some sort of history between the two of them. All of a sudden, I felt insecure as hell. I didn’t think I was anywhere near this girl’s league, and Brad wasn’t interested in her…so what had he ever been doing giving me a second glance when we first met?

“Um…ex-girlfriend, I assume?” I asked.

“Something like that.”

“She obviously wants you back.”

“Yeah, but I’m not interested. If I ever want a girl, I make sure she knows it,” he said, leaning in closer still.

Was that some sort of hint? Surely not. I was reading into things way too much.

Embarrassed, I decided to change the subject. “So just how many girls are after you, dear stepbro?”

“Why? You
are
jealous, aren’t you?” he said, amusement flashing in his bright blue eyes as he studied my face.

“Nope. Just thought I’d get to know you a little bit, seeing as you rescued me from my horrible date. And also there’s the fact that you’re kinda part of the family now.”

“Ah, so you finally admit it,” he said, giving me a triumphant look. “Well, to answer your question, if you really must know…hmm, let’s see…there’s Rose, who you just met. She’s a bit nuts. Then there’s Amanda. She’s the old stepsister.”

I cut him off. “Wait, what?”

“Mom was married to another guy before your Dad. He had a daughter, and she was always after me. Still is.”

“Your stepsister was trying to sleep with you? That’s insane,” I said, although truthfully, it wasn’t insane at all. I couldn’t blame her for going after him. After all, I was his stepsister now too, and I sure as heck wanted him.

“Yeah, I guess it is crazy,” he said, still staring into my eyes. His voice was a little softer now, like he wasn’t entirely convinced by what he was saying.

“So is that it?” I asked. “Big bad boy Bradley only has two girls after him?”

I was only teasing him. It wouldn’t have surprised me if literally every woman on Earth was after him, and maybe a few from Mars as well.

He crossed his arms defensively. “There’s others too, I guess. Some of these sorority girls won’t leave me alone when they’re drunk. Like those two over there,” he said, gesturing towards two blondes. “They both offered me certain...er….’services’ earlier tonight, to put things delicately.”

“Oh, you poor thing,” I said. “All these pretty co-eds after you. You must feel swamped!”

He detected my sarcasm and put a hand on the wall right above my shoulder. He was so close now that I could feel his hot breath on my face, and I felt another flood in my panties. “It actually is really annoying,” he said. “You know why? Because the one girl I’m actually interested in doesn’t seem to return my affections.”

There it was again. He was hinting that he wanted me…right? My breath hitched in my throat at the thought, and my eyes widened. Brad mistook my reaction for trepidation, and he quickly drew back.

“Uh…do you wanna dance?” he asked, gesturing towards the makeshift dancefloor. “Seems to be what everyone else is doing at the moment.”

“You sure you want to dance with your annoying little sister?” I teased, arching an eyebrow.

“Ha. Funny. C’mon, let’s go.”

“I’m warning you
—
I’m a terrible dancer,” I said, still a little reluctant.

“Good. You’ll make me look even more awesome in comparison,” he replied with a smirk. Ah, there it was. His playful arrogance had returned, but this time I saw it for what it was. It was all for show; an act which hid the nice guy deep within.

Without any more warning, he grabbed my arm and whirled me around so that I was thrust right onto the dancefloor. Something melted inside me at his touch, and the pulsating bodies around us seemed to disappear as he held onto me and bumped along to the music. For those moments, we were all alone in our own world.

A slower RnB song began to play, and Brad’s strong arms encircled me, holding me tightly as we moved to the beat. We seemed to fit together perfectly, and I laced my fingers around his back, trying to avoid his eyes. I knew if I looked into them, I’d be lost forever.

The beat dropped in the song, and he lifted me by my waist for a dramatic spin to match the music. Placing my palms on his shoulders as he held me in the air, I looked down at him and finally met his gaze. His eyes were darker than usual, voracious and seductive, and he twirled me around in a circle before putting me back down on the ground. As soon as my feet touched the floor, I noticed my legs had become shaky and unsteady.