The Hazards of Skinny Dipping Read online

  “Same to you.”

  The brother grinned at me as I walked out. Poor kid, he really needed to get a girlfriend.

  I thought about stopping by Cara’s room, but I opted to go for a walk instead. I’d been on campus over a week, but I’d barely done anything that didn’t involve Sorority Rush or the Delta Mu house. I took a walk around the quad before cutting across campus to the sorority houses. I turned onto Coming Street and went up the front steps.

  I was starting to get a hang of the pledging thing—or at least I thought I was. We spent at least half of the time being forced to memorize every minute detail about the history of Delta Mu and our local chapter. It would have been somewhat interesting if we didn’t have to prove we’d taken in every word. I also wasn’t a huge fan of our pledge mom, Amanda. Sometimes, I felt like she wanted us to screw up. The look of disappointment that crossed her face when I correctly named each of the original chapters and their school affiliations might have been comical if we hadn’t been at it for two hours already.

  After an hour of history, the topic of conversation moved on to the social scene. “I want all of you girls out and about tonight. Make sure to show off your pins, but remember, nothing with the actual Greek letters.” Jana smiled.

  “Because you haven’t earned them yet.” Amanda always had to play bad cop. “But that doesn’t mean you aren’t representing us. Make sure you dress cute. People are watching.”

  I wasn’t one hundred percent sure what dressing cute actually meant. In my book, that meant a nice tank and skirt, but I had a feeling it also entailed something other than flip flops and a messy bun.

  “I heard there’s a really fun party over at Phi Omega tonight.” Mallory applied mango scented lotion to her hands.

  “Yeah?” I tried to sound nonchalant, but my heart was racing a mile a minute. I knew from my internet stalking that, not only was Dylan in that house, he was the president. Dylan and I hadn’t interacted in any way since the night at the beach house. I doubted he even had my number. Maybe he’d just pretend it never happened. I wasn’t sure whether I’d be more relieved or disappointed by that reaction.

  Chapter Four

  To: [email protected]

  From: [email protected]

  Subject: Hey!

  Dear Amy,

  Don’t worry about Dylan. I haven’t even seen him yet. Don’t do anything you wouldn’t do? Based on that list, I’m guessing you’ve done some pretty crazy things. I may take you up on those shirts. Do you have last year’s formal shirt?

  Your Sweet and Well-Behaved Cousin,

  Juliet

  Cara, Mallory, and I grabbed drinks from the big vat and explored the party. I kept glancing around for Dylan, equally excited and terrified at the thought of seeing him. The place was happening, and it wasn’t even nine-thirty. I didn’t recognize too many people, but other than the girls in my house and my floor, I’d barely met anyone yet. The crowd was so noisy I couldn’t even make out what kind of music was playing. I concentrated really hard, determined to figure it out. Two arms slinked around my waist.

  I spilled a little of my drink as I was yanked back against a solid chest. “You have some explaining to do.” I didn’t need to turn around to know it was Dylan whispering in my ear.

  “Hey…” I needed to stay calm. It wasn’t a big deal—I’d already slept with him.

  “Hey, yourself. You were supposed to stay the night.”

  “I wasn’t tired. I figured you wouldn’t notice.” I tried to move out of his arms so I could look at him, but he didn’t loosen his hold.

  “I woke up in the middle of the night wanting you so bad, and you weren’t there. Not even a note with your phone number. Your house was empty the next day. And are you the only person on the planet without Facebook? I couldn’t even find you that way.”

  “I have it, but only my friends can find my profile.”

  His lips brushed my earlobe. “Add me as a friend, Juliet.”

  I shivered. Why was I shivering? “Okay. Are you going to let me go now?”

  “Only if you promise not to run off on me again.”

  “I promise.” He moved his arms, and I took a step away. I glanced at Cara and Mallory. They both looked shocked.

  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, b
ut 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 cl
ass 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.”