Page 73 of Ink & Ambition

“Sunshine?”

“Yeah?”

“What’s a ‘memaw’?”

Laughter bursts out of me and I gaze up at Alex with a twinkle in my eye. “That’s what I call my grandma,” I giggle.

“Ah, gotcha,” Alex replies, laughing too.

“What do you call your grandparents?”

Alex shrugs. “I dunno. Never had any.” That thought made my heart ache but I didn’t press him on it either. Tonight is about good memories, not drudging up old, sad memories.

We near the edge of the park and I can see my block ahead of us. Suddenly, Alex stops us, pulling me off the path a bit. He gazes down with a fierce look of determination on his handsome face. It makes him look all the more beautiful. “I want you to know, sunshine, I’m really really happy with the way things are turning out between us.”

My breath catches. “You are?”

“I am,” he says and my heart grows to an impossibly large size.

“I am, too.”

Alex sighs in relief and leans down to place a brief, chaste kiss on my lips.

“Good,” he says, leaning his forehead against mine. After a moment, Alex puts his arm around my shoulders, pulling me into his side. We walk like this the entire way to his house and I don’t think I’ve ever felt happier in my whole life.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Margot

Alexholdsmycheeksin his hands as he places a gentle kiss on my lips. As it would turn out, I was the one who would turn ravenous for his touch. I creep up on my tippy toes and grab his neck, pulling his lips back down to mine with a force that seems to equally surprise and delight him. Alex’s hands move to my waist and he grips me tighter, pushing us impossibly closer. I can’t get enough. Alex can’t get enough. He pushes me backward against the tree-lined fence where a stray branch whips me in the arm.

“Ow,” I whine, giggling.

Alex pulls me forward away from the fence. “Ah shit, sorry,” he says, glancing toward the frat house that is steps away from our rendezvous spot.

“We should probably go inside anyway. If I get another text from Danika, I think my phone might overheat.”

Alex laughs, placing his hand on my back to guide me away from the shadowy corner and up the walkway of his house. Once coming into the light of the porch, Alex is immediately greeted by stragglers sitting on the miss-matched porch furniture. Hishand drops from my back as he reaches up to grasp hands with his friends in greeting. No one acknowledges me, not that I expected them to, but also Alex doesn’t offer any introductions. I don’t let any ill thoughts about it take root in my brain, opting instead to enter the house through the front door that Alex is holding open for me.

The minute we enter, my senses are bombarded with flashing lights, alcohol stench, deafening music and mystery smoke. Beside me, Alex curses.

“These fuckers love to have their way when I’m not here,” he says, he jaw ticking as he searches the entryway for one of his frat brothers.

Pushing up on my toes, I speak in his ear over the loud music. “I’m going to find Danika and Sydney.” Alex nods but doesn’t meet my eyes as my heels hit the ground again. He’s clearly on a mission to find whoever’s to blame for this chaos.

Leaving Alex in the foyer, I walk into the busy living room, narrowly avoiding an empty cup being thrown in my direction. The way this party is playing out reminds me of the first night I met Alex in this very house when he was aggressively removing someone from his home. I still can’t believe how different he is when you actually get to know him. Gone is the rough exterior, at least around me. It’s hard to be tough when he’s admitted that his favorite movie isJohn Tucker Must Die.

Smiling to myself, I give a quick glance around the room and notice it’s sans Danika and Sydney. I head outside, hoping to find them sitting around the firepit or cheering on a beer pong game. After a cursory glance around the backyard, I notice they aren’t there either. There’s only one more place to check before I send one an SOS text. Heading toward the backdoor, I move to pull the knob open but my wrist is caught by a hand from behind.

“Can we please just talk?”

Ryan’s eyes pierce mine from the bottom of the steps, the overhead light making his blue eyes look like a glacier. I pull my hand out of his grasp but continue to look down at him. I have absolutely nothing to say to him. Even though Alex didn’t tell me which Delta Epsilon guys were the ones that jumped Keith, there’s a pretty high chance Ryan had something to do with it. Especially considering it happened right after he left my apartment, drunk and upset.

“Margot, please. Just one minute, that’s all I’m asking for.” His eyes are bloodshot. I can tell that he’s not going to drop this easily so rather than make a scene, I relent.

“One minute,” I say, firmly, nodding my head toward the empty fire pit, the place where we first talked. The irony is not lost on me.

Ryan lets me lead the way to the pit and I purposely pick differently chairs than the ones we previously sat in. Also, I wanted to be sure not to sit in the chairs that Alex and I sat in for some reason.

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