King of Campus (51 page)

“How would you like it if some chick you didn’t even know started groping you at a club or party?”  Her eyes flash with hostility.  It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if she actually started foaming at the mouth.  My guess is that Stacy has been manhandled one too many times before.

Hopefully Alex isn’t stupid enough to answer that question.

“I’d be totally down with it.”  For the first time in five minutes, he actually smirks.

Stacy’s mouth drops open as her eyes flare wide.  A moment later, her hand shoots out.  I’m half afraid she’s going to bitch slap Alex right into next week when she grabs a girl walking past us and yanks her over.  The girl, wearing a pair of four inch super skinny heels, stumbles just a bit before recovering her balance.   I have to give her some major props for remaining upright on that one.  Not always easy to do in sky high skinny heels.

“Ally, this guy,” she waves her hand in Alex’s direction as if that term is debatable, “thinks it’s perfectly acceptable to grab a girl’s butt at a party.”

If the sudden frown is any indication, then Ally is none too pleased by this information either.  One of her hands instantly settles on her hip as her lip curls in disgust.  “Why do guys always think that’s okay to do?”  Even though this is posed as a question, I’m thinking it’s more rhetorical in nature.  “I am so damn sick and tired of that shit!”

Not saying a word, I merely shake my head before shrugging my shoulders.  Alex’s gaze shifts with even more unease between the two fuming girls who are all up in his face.

“Ahhh-”

He never gets a chance to finish that thought (I’m being overly generous with that assertion) before both Stacy and Ally steamroll right over him.  “It is definitely
not
okay!  You can’t just walk around touching women inappropriately!”

“Ahhh-” Alex’s mouth gapes open like a fish out of water.  You can actually see the moment he finally grasps the severity of his current predicament.

“What’s going on over here?”

A tall brunette shoves her way into the tight circle before glancing around at the four of us.

“Oh, hey, Ashley.  Can you believe this jerk thinks it’s okay to sexually harass woman?”

Now Ashley’s brows are lowering as her eyes arrow straight to Alex.  “No one in this day and age could possibly think that it’s okay to touch a woman without asking first.”

She waits for Alex to clear his good name.  Unfortunately Alex merely stares at her… looking fairly perplexed and a little surprised that he is now the object of three hot girls’ interest.

Of course that interest isn’t exactly the kind he’s been trolling for this evening.

Alex suddenly takes a hasty step backwards as all three girls crowd into his personal space.  Every single one of them talking or shouting at the same time.  Since Alex will be tied up for the foreseeable future, I decide my work is done here and take off in search of Brooklyn.  I’m more than ready to go home before any more of these drunken louts decide that party time ass grabbing is a legitimate sport.

I’m no more than ten steps away from Alex and his irate entourage, who are currently, by the volume of their collective voices, giving him a major ass chewing, when I hear a male voice right at my ear.  “I saw what you did back there.”

Since I’ve filled my quota for inane conversations this evening, I ignore him and keep pushing my way through the thick press of bodies.  I’m tired, a little bit cranky, and more than ready to take off.  If I have to drag Brooklyn out of here, I’m more than willing to do it.  And I certainly don’t have the wherewithal, not to mention the patience, to deal with anymore hammered, frat boy-asshole-types tonight.  Alex squandered the very last of it.

Not bothering to turn, I throw the words haphazardly over my shoulder as I continue weaving my way around clumps of drunken college coeds.  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Sure you do.”

I can all but hear the laughter simmering in his rich deep voice.  Realizing this guy isn’t going to leave me alone, I decide the best course of action is to stop and politely let him know that I’m not interested in anything he might be offering up for the evening.  Feeling exasperated to be held up when all I want to do is find Brooklyn and leave this out-of-control party, I wheel around towards the voice at my ear.  As my eyes land on his face, I literally suck in a great big breath of air before almost choking on it.

Chapter Two

Even though it’s totally unlike me, I can’t help but stare.  And when I say
stare
, I actually mean full on checking him out.  It’s so embarrassing.  But honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone as beautiful as the guy standing before me.

Okay, so maybe
beautiful
is the wrong word.  I don’t think guys really like being referred to as
beautiful
but there just isn’t any other word to adequately describe him.

He’s completely beautiful.

I kind of want to stand here and stare at him for the rest of the night.

But I won’t because in my somewhat limited experience, beautiful guys are, more often than not, egotistical douchebags.  And even though I’m only nineteen, I’ve already had my fill of those.

So thanks… but no thanks.

That being said, my fingers almost itch to slide their way through all that messy chocolate colored hair.  And don’t even get me started on those golden brown eyes of his.  Yep, totally dreamy.

Er… if I were a dreamy sort of girl, that is.

Which, trust me, I’m not.

He’s almost as tall as Alex but not quite as broad in the shoulders.  Athletic looking with long lean muscles that are showcased rather amazingly in jeans and a simple dark t-shirt that hugs his chest and upper arms quite nicely.

And damn if that isn’t my very own personal kryptonite.

Yeah, this guy is way too nice looking for his own good.

Mine too.

I almost have to shake myself out of the stupor that has fallen over me because I’m definitely not in the market for a boyfriend or a random hook up or even a friends-with-benefits situation.

I want absolutely nothing to do with guys period.

End of story.

Then he goes and smiles this smooth slow grin that spills its way dangerously across his striking face.  Aw, crap.  The kicker is a pair of perfectly placed dimples that wink at me.

No doubt about it-
definitely
kryptonite material.

It’s almost laughable the way my heart starts hammering under my breast as I continue staring.  I’m not really the kind of girl who is susceptible to male eye candy.  No matter how beautifully packaged.  So, whatever he wants, I’ll be passing on.  Now, if there just so happens to be a tiny pang of regret sliding its way through me at the notion of walking away, I shut it down right quick before I can make any more disastrous decisions.  Because, trust me, I’ve already made more than my fair share of them.

“Nope, sorry.”  After the calamity of last year, I’m only beginning to find my bearings.  Self-preservation is now the name of the game.  “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Unfortunately he isn’t so easily deterred.  I almost sigh.  The good looking ones never are.  “So what did Alex do to deserve being chewed out by a pack of angry women?”

Without bothering to answer, because that’s exactly how one gets sucked into these conversations, I turn away feeling a sudden need to escape surge its way through me.  Pushing and shoving with a little more impatience, I search for Brooklyn’s blonde head in the crowd.

Even though I’m desperate to leave, I won’t abandon Brooklyn.  We agreed early on to always use the buddy system when we went out at night which is partly how I got wrangled into this mess in the first place.  And if I’m not being forced to join her for a night of heavy drinking and possible hook ups, I usually make sure she’s with someone who won’t flake out at two in the morning and leave her stranded at some off campus fraternity party.

Because bad things happen to girls who think there is safety in a party of one.

I’m hoping if I ignore Mr. Beautiful long enough, he’ll simply go away.  That’s usually my go-to weapon of defense.  And most of the time, it’s effective.

“Hey, are you going to answer me?”  Again his voice is rather distractingly right at my ear.  I can practically feel his warm breath slipping over my flesh.  Little shivers of pleasure laced with just a bit of fear skitter their way down my spine.  I grit my teeth in response still trying to ignore him.

Good looking or not, this is just plain annoying.  Most of my irritation is actually directed at myself for the reaction he’s able to pull so effortlessly from me.  It’s taken the better part of nine months to emotionally deaden myself.  And somehow this guy has shot all my hard work to hell with two adorable dimples and a pair of gorgeous whiskey colored eyes.  Not to mention the rest of the package.

Yeah, it’s definitely best
not
to think about that right now.

Without a word of warning, I spin towards him again.  I’m hoping the element of surprise will have him backing off.  Of course he’s much closer than I anticipate.  And so, with the shitty luck I’m having this evening, I crash right into his rather impressively muscled chest.

Did I happen to mention just how hard those muscles feel beneath the soft pads of my fingers?

Or that I might actually enjoy running my hands slowly over what I imagine to be completely amazing pecks?

Well this isn’t good.

With lightning quick reflexes, he reaches out to steady me as my eyes clash with his.

“No.”  Usually if ignoring doesn’t work, bitch-mode will get the job done rather nicely.  That’s my second go-to line of defense.  And since I’m not naturally a bitch (I’m really not), it’s not something I enjoy doing.

Once in a while I’ll actually get called a dyke for not being interested.  Why is it that the most persistent ones are usually the ones who take rejection the hardest?  And they certainly like to go right for the jugular when it finally becomes clear (to them anyway) that they won’t be tapping anything of mine with anything of theirs.

Totally annoying.

Narrowing those gorgeous eyes of his, half his mouth lifts into a smile.  My breath catches again.  How can that possibly be just as devastating as the full blown smile he’s already treated me to?

I almost have to shake my head just to clear it of the spell he’s weaving around me.

“No?”  His head tilts just a bit to the side as he continues watching me.  There’s just a hint of a smirk hovering around the edges of his lips.

“No.”  Forcing myself to hold strong against all this gorgeousness crammed into one irresistible package, I repeat slowly before elaborating, “I wasn’t going to answer you.”

Brows drawing slowly together, he blinks his eyes as if I’m some sort of strange specimen smeared across a microscope slide.  “What’s your name?”

Hastily I shake my head.

Nope.  We are definitely not going to play this game.  There is absolutely no way in hell I’m getting dragged into some quasi-friendship with this guy.  That would be a mistake of epic proportions.  I can already feel it.

If, and that’s a really big
if
, I have a type, this guy is it.  Therefor he must be avoided at all costs.  That would be the smartest thing to do and I’m all about being smart.  I refuse to fuck up my life any more than I already have.

His brows, which are thick but not overly caterpillar-like, hike up his forehead in disbelief.  “So, let me get this straight- you won’t tell me what Alex did to upset you
and
you won’t give me your name?”  Once again laughter brims in his rich deep voice as he shakes his head.

The slow scald of a blush burns its way across my cheeks.  Nervously my eyes dart around the crammed, dimly lit room one last time hoping that Brooklyn will magically appear so I can just grab her and bolt, but that apparently isn’t meant to be.

Because there hasn’t been a Brooklyn sighting in at least twenty minutes.

“I’m not upset.” But I’m definitely getting there.  And it has absolutely nothing to do with the gigantic ass who groped me and everything to do with the gorgeous, tawny eyed, dimpled Adonis who won’t leave me alone.

“But you did sic those three girls on him, right?”  He nods his head to the left and my eyes naturally slide in that direction.  We’re both able to see the incredibly tall and brawny Alex along with the three girls who are still in the process of tearing him a new one.  Actually, focusing on that for a moment lightens my mood considerably because you can just tell those girls have totally committed themselves to their mission.  It’s doubtful that Alex will be going anywhere for a quite a while.  And if he does somehow manage to escape their clutches, they’ll probably follow him, picking up even more girls along the way.

Technically speaking, I only pulled one girl into our conversation.  That being said, I’m not going to lie, it’s kind of a proud moment for me.  I’m seriously hoping that Alex has learned his ass grabbing lesson tonight.

“He got what he deserved.”