Page 6 of Wicked Surrender

“Something from the dean’s office,” Kevin said, flippant about my mood. He’d brought the mail in. That was the only reason he knew.

“Uh-oh…” Dennis said. He shot Kevin a worried glance. “It’s gotta be about that one girl.”

I huffed a bitter laugh. “That one girl?” We had hundreds of chicks coming in and out of this huge house. Everyone knew this was the one place on Greek Row where rules were ignored for the sake of enjoying life to the fullest.

“Yeah.” Dennis nodded, no longer eye-fucking the girls across the room as he focused on this conversation. “Rory overheard someone talking about how we’d all be expelled for that one girl at that party last month. Becca? Beth? Something that started with a B. She got so fucked up and wasted that she was hospitalized.”

I shrugged. “Hey, she couldn’t handle it. That was her choice. It wasn’t like we forced anyone to drink until they got alcohol poisoning.” Besides, Rory was wrong. He was the most paranoid of us, but he was incorrect about being punished for any misconduct. As president, I was the scapegoat to target. If any discipline was headed our way, it’d come tome, not them.

And that didn’t scare me one bit.

“But it looks bad,” Kevin said.

I scoffed, shaking my head. Itwasbad. What did they expect? “I’m not worried about it.”

“Not at all?” Dennis arched one brow. “It’s not the reason you look like you’ve got something up your ass all night?”

“Nope. Not worried at all.” I finished my beer, hating how full I felt from it. Eyeing the food on the counter, I debated eating to pace myself tonight. “It’s not like they can pin anything on me. Everyone who comes here to have a good time does so at their own risk.”

“But you’re the host,” Dennis reminded me, scowling a little.

I barked a laugh. “Yes, I fucking am. And I dare them to try to expel me.” Rolling my eyes, I turned to fill up my red Solo cup at the keg. Screw the water, I wanted the oblivion of being buzzed. Any mention of an expulsion pissed me off now.

It wasn’t because I feared it. I was too cocky to let them see me afraid.

Afraid?

I smirked before chugging my beer.

“Fuck that,” I muttered.

I wasn’t afraid.

Just angry.

Deciding to drink faster and party harder instead of babying this headache, I looked at them and wondered when they’d started to get soft like this.

“Fuck them,” I reminded them hotly, counting on my attitude and bravado to urge them into not giving a shit like it usually did.

“Fuck them for wanting to kick us out or slapping our hands for having fun.”

“Damn straight, Prez.” He held his cup up for me to knock mine against his.

“I’m not going to let some assholes in an office try to ruin my life.” I grinned at them.

I’d be damned if anyone from the dean’s office attempted to ruin my life like they had to?—

Don’t go there. Don’t.I gritted my teeth, furious at the thought of someone else the dean’s office had targeted.Don’t think about it. Not now.Going down that path and recalling how someone else I knew had been ruthlessly expelled would take my headache into migraine territory. In an effort to fight back that fury, I drank faster.

“Fuck them!” Kevin cheered.

Someone changed the music and turned it up in reply. Shouts followed, and I winced at the rise in decibels that hurt my head more.

Fuck. I can’t be getting too old for this yet.I was only twenty-three. My life was just starting.

As I wove through the rooms of the frat house, soaking up the attention and acting like I was the fucking king on campus, I did my best to ignore how untrue that was.

My life was stuck here, and I was fine with staying put until I knew that I’d done all I could here—and I didn’t mean that in terms of getting on the goddamn honor roll.

---