Page 24 of Unforgettable
A myriad of scents overpowered my nostrils. Perfume permeated from the females, who were gabbing and laughing, while music droned in the background. But no one smelled of lilacs. Nevertheless, I searched for the redhead, but I didn’t get far before a handful of women crowded me and hands were all over me. I felt like a celebrity who had just gotten out of the limo on a red carpet.
I lifted my arms over my head. “Ladies, let me get a drink. Then we can hang out.”
Erik stuck out his big paw and grabbed me. “He’ll be right back.” He tugged me from the hungry women and had to swat off more as we headed for the coolers that were situated near a table of food on the back wall. Erik snagged two beers and handed me one. We toasted, our bottles clanging together.
“Thanks for the rescue.” I knocked back a huge gulp of the ice-cold liquid.
Lucas, Ajax, and Vincent had gotten hung up, talking to three pretty ladies near the door.
“I got your back,” Erik said.
I knew the entire team did, which sent a warm feeling spreading throughout my chest. The football team was my family now. Sure, I had Aunt Kari and an uncle, who hadn’t talked to my dad. My father and his brother had had a falling out many years ago. My grandparents were no longer living. So Aunt Kari, Franklin, and my friends were the closest I would get to a family.
“You may have to pick me up off the floor one day,” I said more to myself. That was the truth.
Coldplay belted out of the speakers.
Erik bobbed his head of shaggy brown hair. “Anytime, man.”
A beat of silence stretched between us as we drank our beers.
Half the ladies watched Erik and me. Some were debating if they should come over and talk to us.Freshmen, I suspected.They were always the shy ones until they got the lay of the land.
“You know,” Erik said, “I count eleven guys and thirty or so girls. We could play choo-choo train. Line all the girls up while us boys sample a kiss from each of them. It will give us an idea which one we want to fuck tonight.”
I practically spit up my beer. “Fuck yeah. That sounds like a great game. Where did you come up with that?”
He hiked a broad shoulder. “My old man told me he played that as a kid in his garage with some girls in his neighborhood. Only there were more boys than girls. So the girls sampled the lineup.”
I continued to look around, deciding if I wanted to sample any of the hors d’oeuvres, as Beverly had put it. But when my gaze landed on the door, my lips split into an evil grin.
Erik chuckled. “I guess you’ve chosen yours.”
I didn’t move as I watched Haven weave through the crowd. She was probably looking for that girl she’d been sitting next to.
“She has an aura about her that I can’t put my finger on,” I said. My dick knew it too.
“Man, she’s a politician’s daughter.” Erik shook his head. “That’s not a good quality for you.”
He might be right, but she had something that was drawing me to her.
8
Haven
Every voice in my head told me to go back to the dorm. But like an idiot, my curiosity pushed me to go back inside the sorority, pushed me to see Ryker, and pushed me to ask the question I needed an answer to.
I spotted Ryker before he had a chance to look my way. It was hard not to spot him or any of the guys with him. All of them stood above the rest of the crowd. Ryker, though, was by far the one that commanded attention. I loved the way his gray eyes were clear rather than cloudy and droopy like they had been the other night or even the other morning when he’d pinned me against the bannister.
I want nothing to do with Ryker.
Vicki was talking with Beverly. The hairs on my neck rose. Maybe my theory that Vicki had partnered with Beverly and my father was true.
Stop being paranoid. Vicki is your roommate.
I wouldn’t put it past my father to have set her up specifically to watch me.
Vicki wants to get into this sorority. That is all.
