The Hazards of Skinny Dipping (4 page)

Cara recovered quickly. “And who’s this?”

“Dylan Bradley.” He held out a hand. “Welcome
to the Omega house, ladies.”

“And you know Juliet, how?” Cara didn’t beat
around the bush as she accepted his handshake.

“I’ve known Juliet a long time. Mind if I
borrow her for a little while? I promise I’ll give her back in the
same condition you left her.”

Both girls giggled. “Don’t leave without
calling,” Cara warned before they walked off.

Dylan turned back to me. “You ready to tell
me what happened?”

“Nothing. I just wasn’t tired, so I
left.”

“And you couldn’t at least tell me you were
leaving town the next morning?”

“I didn’t want to wake you up.”

He put a hand on my hip. It felt like he
touched my skin through the flimsy material of my tank top. “I
wouldn’t have minded being woken up by you. In fact, I would have
enjoyed it.” He tugged on my hip, and I fell into him. “I would
have convinced you to stay a few more days.”

Why did he still have the ability to make me
shiver? “I’m sorry. I really didn’t know what I was supposed to
do.”

“Want to have dinner tomorrow night?”

“Are you asking me out on a date?”

“We’ve already had sex. Is it really
surprising that I want to take you to dinner?”

He had a point. I’d slept with him. I might
as well see what else could happen. “Okay.”

“Great. Now I need your number.”

“Oh yeah.” I programed it into his phone, and
he called me so I had his.

“And I expect a friend request by the end of
the night.” He ran a finger down my arm.

I laughed. “That really bothered you, didn’t
it?”

“Yes, it did. I’ve spent the past few weeks
wondering if you were pissed at me or something.”

“Oh. I wasn’t.”

“Since you just agreed to dinner, I assumed
that.”

I smiled. “Yeah, I guess that was a dead
giveaway.”

“So you’re a Delta Mu pledge, huh?” He
pointed to my button.

“Yeah.”

“Nice. I never thought I’d date a Delta
Mu.”

“And why’s that?”

“Girls in your house generally date Kappas. I
think we’re considered too preppy for you party girls.”

“I’ve heard that. But I’m not a party girl.”
At least a quarter of the active sisters in my house were dating
Kappas. I knew I wouldn’t be one of them.

“Not a party girl, huh? We’ll see about that.
Either way, there are always exceptions…”

“Yeah, there definitely are.” The more I
talked to Dylan, the more I remembered why I fell for him in the
first place. He had the best smile, and always looked at me in a
way that made me feel like I was the only girl in the room.

“Here, let me show you around.” He put an arm
around my waist and led me through the crowd. It didn’t take me
long to figure out that he wasn’t showing me around—he was showing
me off.

“Is this the girl?” a guy with blond hair
asked.

“Yes. This is my Juliet.”

His?

“I was beginning to think you were making her
up.” He turned to me. “I’m Ryan, by the way.”

“Hey. I guess you already know I’m
Juliet.”

“Definitely. How are you enjoying Harrison so
far?”

“It’s been fine. I haven’t done much
yet.”

“Yeah, Rush Week is like that.”

“This is my first real night out.”

“Well, I’m glad you chose our party. I’m sure
Dylan’s really glad, too.” Ryan grinned.

“Very. I didn’t get into town until a few
days ago, but I was already asking about you.” Dylan said it like I
should be impressed. I was surprised he cared so much.

“I was hoping I’d see you tonight.” I had
been, even though I’d also been terrified.

“Did you know this was my house?” He smiled
in a way that let me know he already knew the answer.

“Maybe.” I looked down. Yeah, I was a total
stalker.

“I’ll let you guys catch up.” Ryan walked
away.

Dylan tightened his arm around me and leaned
down to whisper in my ear. “You look so damn hot tonight. I wish we
could just get out of here now.”

I laughed. “Yeah, too bad we can’t.”

“We can probably slip out in a few hours.
Will you stick around?”

“You had your one free pass. I’m not that
easy. I’ll wait until we’ve had an actual date this time.” I’m not
sure where the sudden nerve came from. Normally, I had trouble
forming coherent sentences around Dylan.

His eyes widened. “Doesn’t a plan to take you
out tomorrow night count?” He reached out to run a hand down my arm
again.

“Nope. Maybe you’ll get lucky tomorrow
night.” I hoped it came across as flirty and not stupid.

He tugged on my arm to pull me back. “I
better. I’ve been waiting weeks for you.” He looked into my
eyes.

“If you say so.” I turned and caught a
murderous look from Amanda. What the heck was that for? I was
wearing my pledge pin and a button on my purse. What else was I
supposed to do? I smiled, pretending not to notice the glare. I
walked off in search of my friends.

“Juliet?” I looked up into Kyle Bradley’s
blue eyes. They were eerily similar to his brother Dylan’s.

“Hey, Kyle.” I’m sure my jaw was on the
floor. Kyle had really grown up since the last time I’d seen him.
He was bigger, broader, and—dare I say—sexier.

He gave me a hug and then took a step back.
“You look amazing.”

I looked down at my outfit. I guess he liked
short skirts. If I’d still been working through Amy’s list, my
skirt probably counted as an outfit that would have given my dad a
heart attack. “Thanks.”

“You’re pledging Delta Mu?”

“Yup. I’m guessing you’re pledging here.”

“Yeah, my dad was an Omega too…it’s kind of a
family thing.”

“Cool.”

He shrugged. “Maybe.”

“What dorm are you in?” I went for the
question every freshman asked.

“Dells. You?”

“Maude.”

“Cool. So, you and Dylan, huh?”

“He told you what happened?”

“Uh, yeah. At first I thought he was trying
to rub it in my face, but he was really trying to find out if I had
your number.”

“Yeah… I kind of forgot to give it to
him.”

“I was hoping you’d taken off because the sex
was so bad you finally had him out of your system, but no such
luck, huh?”

I laughed. Wow, way too close for comfort.
“We’ll see how it goes.”

“Hmm, interesting response.”

I playfully punched his arm. “Don’t read into
it.”

“Oh, I will.”

“Hey, pledge, I need you to clean up a mess,”
Ryan shouted at Kyle.

“What mess?”

“This one.” Ryan turned over his cup of beer
and spilled it all over the floor. Everyone turned to stare at
us.

What a jerk. “Oh my god.”

Kyle shrugged. “You’ve got to love being a
pledge.”

He handled it better than I would’ve. It was
hard enough for me to keep my mouth shut, and I wasn’t the one
being hazed. “Oh yeah.”

Ryan took a step toward us. “Pledge!”

“See you around.” Kyle walked off to find
something to clean up the beer.

As soon as Kyle was gone, Ryan joined me.
“Dylan’s out back. I’ll take you to find him.”

“What was that for?”

Gone was the friendly guy from earlier. “A
word of advice: don’t flirt with another guy at your boyfriend’s
house—especially not a pledge.”

“First of all, I wasn’t flirting. Second of
all, it was Dylan’s brother. And thirdly, I’m not Dylan’s
girlfriend.”

Ryan shook his head. “Really? Does Dylan know
that?”

“I’m going to go find my friends.” Ryan
really annoyed me with the way he treated Kyle. Pledge or not,
there was no excuse for it.

“I’ll help you.”

“What, you afraid I’m going to hook up with a
random pledge?”

He laughed. “You’re not that stupid.”

I pushed through the crowds and finally
spotted Cara and Mallory talking to some guys.

“Hey, I thought we’d lost you…but I see
you’ve found someone else.” Cara winked.

I didn’t bother to introduce him, but Ryan
did it himself. “I’m Ryan.”

“Nice to meet you.” Mallory smiled.

“You decided to ditch Dylan already?” Cara
laughed.

“So funny.”

Ryan turned his attention to the other guys.
“In case you haven’t heard, this is Dylan’s girlfriend,
Juliet.”

“Girlfriend?” Cara and Mallory asked at the
same time.

Cara let out a surprised noise. “You’ve been
holding out on me.”

“We’re kind of dating.” I gave Ryan my
deadliest stare.

“I can’t wait to hear this story.” Cara
nudged me with her shoulder.

Ryan just stood there with his arms
crossed.

“You can go now.” I made a shooing motion
with my hand. He really brought out an awful side in me, and we’d
just met.

“I’ll tell Dylan you were looking for him.”
He stormed off.

“What did you do to Templeton?” one of the
guys talking to my friends asked.

“I’m guessing that’s Ryan’s last name…”

“Yes.”

“He isn’t always that pleasant?”

“Usually he’s only like that with the
pledges, but that’s his job. He’s pledge master for the third year
in a row.”

“Third year? Wow, he must like that job.”

“Yeah…he’s into it.”

“Dave, do you guys live here?” Cara asked,
thankfully pulling the conversation off me.

“Yeah. You want to see my room?”

“Not tonight, but maybe some other time.” She
gave him a flirtatious smile before catching my eye and Mallory’s.
It was time for a memorable exit.

As soon as we reached the street, we busted
out laughing.

“Are you ready to tell us about Dylan?”
Mallory grinned.

“Our families have vacation homes next to
each other’s, so we’ve known each other for years. A few weeks ago,
we randomly hooked up.”

“Define hooked up.” Cara looked ready to pull
the details out of me.

“What do you think it means? We had sex.”

Mallory grinned. “Clearly, he’s back for
more.”

“Maybe…”

Mallory pulled a piece of gum out of her
purse. “He’s an upperclassman, right? So he has a car? I hate that
we can’t have ours until next year.”

“That settles it. I’ll sleep with him every
night if he’ll drive me places.” I shook my head.

“Just saying it might be convenient.”

“And sex is all about convenience…”

Cara laughed.

***

I’d just changed into pajamas when my phone
beeped, signaling a text. It was almost midnight, and I knew who
the text would be from before I looked.

Get to the house now
. Amanda had
impeccable timing. I pulled on a zip-up sweatshirt and a pair of
flip flops.

Cara waited for me by the stairs. “I might
kill Amanda.”

“Remind me again why I wanted to do
this?”

“It’ll be worth it. That doesn’t mean we have
to like it.”

“Well, at least I wasn’t sleeping yet.” I
sighed.

We caught up with a few of the other girls in
our pledge class as we reached the porch of the large, white
house.

“Let’s go, girls.” Amanda tapped her foot
impatiently as we filed in. It took every ounce of effort to avoid
giving her the finger. I clearly wasn’t made to be a pledge.

We filed into the pledge room and waited.
“I’m sure you’re wondering why we asked you here tonight.”

“Yes,” we all said.

“Our friends over at Kappa need a few of you
to help them. Mark and Aaron are here now to decide who.”

“Help?” The word left my mouth before I could
stop myself.

Amanda gave me a patronizing smile. “Yes,
Juliet. Help.”

“What kind of help could they need?”

I could feel all eyes on me, but I didn’t
care. I wanted to be in Delta Mu, but I wasn’t doing any sexual
favors or anything.

“Not what you’re thinking.”

We all let out a collective sigh of
relief.

“We’re doing a trade. We’re getting some of
their pledges to help us with projects around the house. A few of
you are going to help them do the same.”

“Did you handpick them too?” Cara asked.

Amanda smiled. “Yes.”

A knock on the door let us know the guests
had arrived.

“Stand up,” Amanda snapped. We all obliged
and followed her back downstairs. Men weren’t allowed upstairs. Two
guys waited for us at the bottom of the stairs. Looking at the
Kappas always made me wonder how they did anything but work out at
the gym.

They looked over us like predators eyeing
prey. My stomach turned. Lord knew what kind of projects they had
in mind. I assumed Amanda wasn’t handing us over as prostitutes,
but that didn’t mean it would be enjoyable. I hoped I wouldn’t be
picked.

That hope was pointless. ‘You.’ The first guy
pointed to Cara. “And your two friends.” It was obvious he was
talking about Mallory and me. And ‘you,’ ‘you,’ and ‘you’ the
second guy pointed out three more girls.

The first guy smiled. “We expect you at the
house at nine o’clock tomorrow morning. You will not be leaving
until nine o’clock p.m.”

I guess I wouldn’t be having dinner with
Dylan after all.

They headed toward the door but then stopped.
“Oh, wear black skirts.”

Black skirts? What kind of housework would we
be doing in skirts?

Amanda released everyone but the lucky six.
“Girls, I’m sure I don’t need to remind you that you will be
representing Delta Mu. I expect you to be on your best
behavior.”

I bit my tongue to keep my mouth shut.

We walked out and waited until we were almost
back to campus to start venting.

Mallory let out a deep breath. “Let’s make a
pact right now. If things get too crazy, we all leave.”

“Agreed,” Cara and I said together.

We reached Mallory’s dorm. “Have a good
night. We’ll meet you here at eight fifty.”

“All right, see you then.” We hugged her
goodnight and walked back to our dorm.