Down to Business (Business Series) (21 page)

I drew a breath. I knew taking shots wouldn’t help in the long run, but at least it would help me forget I was in the middle of a frat hell for the time being.

Lindy held up her tequila shot. “Fuck Vinny!”

I smirked and clinked my glass against hers. “Fuck Vinny.”

We took the shots together. Saying it tasted like shit would be an understatement. The minute the tequila hit my tongue, my gag reflex went crazy and I sputtered most of the shot all over Lindy.

“What the fuck is wrong with you!” she shouted, swiping my tequila spittle off her face.

“It tastes horrible! I can’t finish it!” I gagged and waved my hand in front of my watering mouth, doing my best not to throw up.

“Bite the lime!” Lindy shouted.

I wasn’t even sure I had a lime at that point.

A strong-arm slid around my shoulders and I glanced up into an unfamiliar, yet attractive, face.

“Hi,” the stranger said grinning.  He had light grey eyes and shaggy blond hair. His black t-shirt with the Greek Alpha Tau letters on it reminded me I was still in frat hell. “What’s your name?”

I was still too concerned about my gag reflex to come up with an alias. “Autumn.”

“Nice to meet you Autumn. I’m Richie. Are you a freshman?”

“Yes.” I gagged again as Lindy passed me a fresh lime. I must have dropped the other one somewhere in the middle of choking. I shoved it between my teeth and bit down hard, letting the limejuice wash away the sour taste from my mouth.

“New to taking shots?”

I lowered the lime and rubbed my tongue over my teeth. “Not really, I just never drink tequila.”

“The trick with tequila is that you need to pour it toward the back of your tongue and swallow it so fast you don’t taste it. Here I’ll show you.” I watched him grab another tequila shot. “I won’t even use a lime.”

Did he want a gold star for alcoholic supremacy?

As far as I was concerned, I never wanted to taste that shit again.

I watched him down the shot as if it was water and then he smiled at me. “See, no biggie.”

“Yeah that’s great…I have to go.”

“Try one more.”

“No, I can’t. I’ll throw up.” I leaned away from the shot glass that he held out to me. Even the smell made me queasy.

“Come on, Auti,” Lindy said. “You’ve drank whiskey straight from the bottle before.”

Tyler appeared out of nowhere and wrapped his arms around Lindy, dragging her backwards. “Come on, I need to talk to you in private!”

“Tyler wait!” she cried out as he sucked on her neck and dragged her off. “I’ll be back! Don’t leave Auti!”

I rolled my eyes and took the shot from Richie, wanting to chuck it at the back of Tyler’s head.

“Just swallow it like I showed you and bite the lime. You won’t even taste it. I promise.” Richie held a fresh lime wedge in front of me.

I decided that I’d just do the shot to shut him up then he would leave. I held my breath and mentally counted backwards from five before I downed the shot. I made sure to pour it down the back of my tongue and swallow fast like he instructed. I immediately bit down on the lime after to make sure I didn’t taste it…and surprisingly, it worked.

Richie let out a loud whoop. “See! That’s how you do it!”

“Okay.” I passed him my empty shot glass. “I need to go now.”

“Already? What are you eighteen going on eighty? The night’s young.”

“I have class.”

“It’s Friday night.”

“I have to study tomorrow. All day.”

He laughed. “Wow, what are you majoring?”

I ignored his question, feeling a little dizzy. “I have to go…”

“Do just one more shot with me and then you can go. Please?” he begged.

Just as I opened my mouth to argue, Vinny entered the room with Vivian. He didn’t even notice me as they walked over to the corner where a few more guys in Alpha Tau t-shirts were hanging out. I scowled and my anger surfaced again. I turned back to Richie who was waiting for me to take the shot with him.

“Fine, fuck it.” I took the fresh shot out of his hand, and clinked my glass against his.

“Bottoms up,” he said and we took the shots in unison.  Amazingly, I managed to do it again without throwing up, but I needed the lime afterwards.

When I looked back at Vinny, I was stunned to see him staring at me. He frowned and I realized Richie had his arm around me. I quickly shrugged him off my shoulders and stepped back. 

“Thanks for the shots, Richie.” I gave him a loose hug, hoping Vinny was watching.

“You’ll be a pro in no time.” He said with a pat to my butt and a wink.

I smiled and laughed at him, thinking his wink was cute. In fact, he was suddenly a lot cuter than he was before taking the shots.

“Maybe I will see you around again, Autumn,” he said looking into my eyes.

“Maybe…” I gave him a teasing smile and I turned to leave.

Before I could escape, I felt his hand on my hip and his warm breath traveled down my neck as he spoke into my ear. “Will you dance with me before you go?”

My mind went blank and a rush of unwanted desire pooled in my stomach.

I turned to him with a smile. “Sorry. I can’t dance.”

“Oh come on.” He squeezed my hip and smirked.

“I can’t. I swear!”

“Well I don’t know how to dance either but we can pretend we can. No one will notice.”

I glanced back over my shoulder to see Vinny sipping on a bottle of beer with Vivian hanging on his waist.

I turned back to Richie. “I guess I could give it a try.”

“Awesome.” He threw back another shot and led me out of the room.

Something told me that his intentions were not just to dance with me. I let him steer me through the crowd. It felt like we were swimming upstream with all the people moving around us. We finally ended up in the room with the disco light and bubbles.

The moment I saw the room, the memory of Vinny dancing there earlier invaded my mind. I forced it away and let Richie lead me into the dance crowd. I never considered myself a good dancer, but thanks to my friend Jose Cuervo, I felt invincible. Richie danced like an idiot to make me laugh and at one point, I was laughing so hard I thought I’d throw up. The music thrummed away my irritation and the beat echoed deep inside of me, pounding out all of my worries. I may have only heard the songs once or never, but I was suddenly an expert and sang along.

Once a slower song came on, Richie’s hands traveled up and down my sides. He leaned in close to my neck and the bristle on his cheek chafed my skin. I reached up and raked my nails against his scruff, turning my head so that our noses met. I felt him smile as his lips brushed mine. Jose told me to kiss him, so I did. The innocent kiss I gave him was returned with his tongue. Our tongues clashed together, uncoordinated, and probably looking more like two inexperienced kids making out than the sexy people we thought we were trying to be. It turned into a full-blown make out session, with his hips grinding into mine and causing heat to stir between my legs again.

My judgment was so off that I let him open the front of my pants. His palm slid down over my pelvic bone and his fingers found the exact spot where I was throbbing with insatiable need. I gasped and moaned as a dizzying amount pleasure flowed through every nerve in my body, following his fingers stroking. My mind clouded over and the slutty whore hound inside of me, that I didn’t know existed, suddenly surfaced. My hips had a mind of their own as they feverishly grinded into his hand, feeding off the intense pleasure.

Richie suddenly jerked away, sending a shock of disappointment over me. I frowned and opened my eyes to meet Vinny’s angry stare burning into mine.

“What the fuck?” Richie snapped, putting his arm around my shoulder and glaring at Vinny. “Find your own fresh meat, man!”

“Get your hands off her!” Vinny said, pushing Richie back into the sea of bodies and yanking me into his chest.

“Chill out, man.” Richie said, trying to keep his balance around all the moving bodies. “She’s down for it!”

“She’s not down for it. She doesn’t know what she is doing. She’s fucked up! Just go find someone else!” Vinny shouted, still holding me under his arm.

“Let me go Vinny!” I said, trying to free myself from his grasp.

“No Autumn, it’s time to go. You’re drunk.” he said as if I was a child.

“No! Get the fuck off me!” I snapped, finally prying myself away.

He gave me a look of pure disgust as he looked down at my open pants with my panties peeking out. “You don’t even know what you’re doing right now!”

“Yes I do!” I fumbled with the front my pants. “I’m having fun. Just leave me alone.”

“Well your fun is over. Let’s go.” He wrapped his arm around my waist and lifted me off my feet.

I screamed and pummeled him. “Stop!”

“Let her go!” Richie yelled.

“Fuck off, Richie!” Vinny snapped. “She’s not down for it. Trust me.”

I kicked and yelled obscenities as he carried me through the house, past countless stares, and didn’t put me down until we were on the front lawn.

“Why did you do that? You asshole! I was having a good time!” I shoved him hard, only causing me to lose my balance and fall onto my ass in the damp grass. The chill in the air bit at my face, and the alcohol in my system made my tongue and lips feel numb.

“Richie Williams eats freshmen like you for breakfast!” he yelled back at me. “He would have taken advantage of you if I didn’t get you out of there! You should thank me!”

“Thank you?” I laughed sarcastically.

“Yeah, thank me!”

“Thank you? Thank you for what? At least Richie would finish what he started, unlike you!” I shouted back.

“That wasn’t my fault!”

“Just leave me alone!” I feebly swiped at my hair that was falling into my eyes.

Vinny knelt down beside me and took me by my shoulders, forcing me to look at him. “I’m not having this conversation with you right now. You’re drunk, Autumn. You need to go home and sleep it off.”

I shoved him away and scooted back. “Stop pretending to give a shit about me!”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“You know what the hell I’m talking about, Vinny! You brought me to this fucking party and then you just left me the moment Vivian showed up! The way you follow her around like a fucking dog is so pathetic! And don’t try to tell me there is nothing between you two because I saw you guys dry humping each other! I know what you really are. You’re an asshole! An ASS-HOLE!” I shouted it a second time, to make sure the crowd that was gathering to watch us heard me.

His mouth fell open and his jaw went slack. “I’m sorry okay! It’s been a fucked up night!” he stood up and marched five steps away from me then turned back around. I waited for his comeback but instead he just pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m not doing this. Just get up.” He reached out to take my hand.

I didn’t accept his gesture and he glared at me. “Don’t make a scene! Just get up. Please.”

I knew what he was doing. He was trying to play the hero card. He wanted to look like the good guy in front of his frat friends. I wasn’t going to let him off so easily. I wanted him to feel as humiliated and used as I did.

“No. Fuck off, Vinny! I never want to talk to you again. Just go back inside and fuck Vivian! Stop using me to make her jealous.”

His eyes glazed over with anger and he pointed at me. “That’s not—” he bit back the rest of his words, and his mouth twisted in a sneer. “Get up, Autumn. Now.” He reached for my hand again, his stare warning me not to argue.

I just stared back at him and stubbornly crossed my arms.

“Fine. You want to be difficult?” he stepped behind me and reached under my arms to pull me to my feet. My legs felt like rubber and I slipped and slid on the grass as I tried to get my footing.

“Autumn, come on, get up! Enough of this shit!” he yelled, struggling to hold me up.

My head started spinning as I fought from his grip and dropped to my hands and knees. Since my legs were out of order, I resigned to crawling across the lawn, digging my fingers into the cold wet earth as I made my way toward the house.

“Lindy…!” I sobbed, gazing up into the sea of unfamiliar faces watching me.

Before I could get far, nausea rolled over me. The next thing I knew, the tequila shots I regretted swallowing earlier came gushing out of my mouth and nose all over the grass. I groaned, sputtered, and choked, crippled in the aftermath of my horrible decision. I didn’t even notice Vinny was holding my hair until I fell back into his legs, drained and weak. I wiped my face on my sleeve, shivering.

He knelt down and draped his jacket around my shoulders. I sobbed and reached for him, pressing my face into his shoulder.

“Easy…just take some deep breaths.”  His beer breath and cologne mixed with my tequila puke breath nauseated me all over again.

I turned my face away from him and gagged over the grass again.

After a moment, his hand moved over my backside. “Are you done?”

I gave him a groggy nod. I was so exhausted, I just wanted to go to sleep right there in the grass. I vaguely heard someone asking if I needed water. Vinny told them yes before he lifted me into his arms and carried me to a blue Nissan Altima idling at the curb. He yanked open the door with one hand and set me down on the back seat. I laid down on the seat and listened to Vinny give the driver directions to my apartment.

“I need to tell Lindy I’m leaving. She will worry,” I moaned, sitting up.

“I’ll tell her,” Vinny said buckling me in. His warm lips brushed over my forehead and brought tears to my eyes. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”

Yeah right.

I didn’t want him to call me. I never wanted to see him again. He placed a cold bottle of water in my hands, closed the car door. I watched hopelessly as he disappeared from my view when we pulled away from the curb.