The Hazards of Skinny Dipping Read online

  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.

  “What do you think your friends at Phi Omega are going to think of this?” Cara asked before we got up to our floor.

  I groaned. “Dylan’s just going to love it, especially when I cancel our dinner plans.”

  Cara patted my shoulder. “Oh, the drama.”

  “Night.” I waved and walked into my room.

  My roommate was still out, which was good. I needed to call Dylan. It’s not like we were serious or anything, but canceling dinner with a guy to spend the day at a different frat wasn’t an easy thing to explain to anyone.

  I hoped he wouldn’t pick up. The party would still be loud. I took a seat on my purple comforter as I hit call.

  “Hey, where are you?” he yelled over the music.

  “I’m back in my room.”

  “Oh. Hold on a sec.” I heard some muffled talking before it got quieter. “Sorry, I went up to my room so I could actually hear you.”

  “You live in the house?”

  “Uh huh. I’m looking forward to showing you my room tomorrow night.”

  “About that…”

  “Oh no. That’s not a good way to start a sentence.”

  “I have to cancel. It’s a pledge thing.”

  He sighed. “Fine. It sucks, but I know it’s not your choice. When do you get out? Maybe we can get drinks instead.”

  “I should be done at nine.”

  “Okay, I’ll pick you up at your house.”

  Great. I wouldn’t be at my house. “I’ll need to change, why don’t you meet me outside my dorm at nine-thirty?”

  “What dorm?”

  “Maude.”

  “Okay, I’ll see you at nine-thirty then.”

  “Great. Good night.”

  “Good night, Juliet.”

  Chapter Five

  To: [email protected]

  From: [email protected]

  Subject: Hey back

  Dear Juliet,

  I have that shirt, but I got it in an extra small by accident. Maybe it’ll fit you since your boobs aren’t as big as mine ;) JK, we all know you’d win that contest. Have you met any guys?

  Your Beautiful and Perfect Cousin,

  Amy

  I got out of the shower and put my hair back in a bun before pulling on a black skirt and a pink tank top. Every part of me wanted to rebel and wear jeans instead, but that would probably get us all in trouble. I didn’t bother with makeup. I wasn’t trying to impress anyone.

  I went down the hall and knocked gently on Cara’s door. She slipped out into the hallway. “Ready for some fun?”

  “You mean hell?”

  She laughed. “Amanda had better be there, too. If she isn’t, it would be like feeding us to the wolves.”

  “And she wouldn’t do that to us? Why do they call her a pledge mom if she’s going to treat us like crap?”

  Cara locked her door. “I don’t think they’re usually like this. Amanda’s just a bitch.”

  “Aren’t we lucky?”

  We met up with Mallory and headed to the Kappa house. Amanda waited outside. “Good, you all followed instructions.”

  I wanted to say something like, “Yes, we can handle dressing ourselves,” but I kept that to myself.

  “You all look so uptight. This is going to be fun.”

  “Great,” one of the other girls, Claire, said with enthusiasm. Suck up.

  We walked inside, and the muscle guys from the night before waited along with another dozen guys who looked just like them.

  Guy number one smiled. “Welcome, welcome.”

  We tentatively moved toward the center of the room. Even Claire slowed down a little. The house was trashed. I had a feeling our job would be to clean it. Now the skirt part made sense. We’d be bending over a lot to clean. Fabulous.

  I was trying to brainstorm a plausible way out of spending the day as a maid when Mr. Baseball Cap stood up, only he wasn’t wearing his hat. He had dark brown, longish hair and these piercing green eyes I hadn’t been able to see in the darkness of the laser tag room. “Hi, girls. It’s so nice of you to join us today.”

  I snorted. That was a bad idea because every single guy turned to look at me.

  “Hi, there.” Mr. Baseball Cap closed the distance between us and held out one of his large hands. “Great to see you again, Annie. I’m Reed, by the way.”

  Amanda made a really fake forced laugh. “That’s actually Juliet. She’s quite the comedian.”

  “Juliet?” His eyed widened slightly. I knew what was coming next. “Have you found a Romeo?”

  Original. So original. I forced a laugh of my own. “No, not yet.”

  “Good luck with that,” Reed said over his shoulder as he walked away.

  When he reached the front of the room, he started up again. “I’m sure you’re wondering what kind of work we have for you, and the answer is a little of everything.”

  Cara nudged me, and I rolled my eyes.

  “As you can tell, we need some help cleaning the place, but we also have some other jobs.”

  “We needed five girls, but it seems my friends selected six.” Reed looked right at me, and I knew something bad was coming. “Since we don’t want to send anyone home, I think I’m going to take one of you as a personal assistant for the day.”

  No-freaking-way.

  “Juliet, how would you like that honor?”

  Amanda probably expected me to curse Reed out because she answered for me. “She’d love to. But remember the guidelines.” She gave him a warning glance. I hoped the guidelines were for my benefit.

  “I’ll be a perfect gentleman.” He grinned at me.

  My stomach flipped. Great. I had to open my mouth—or, okay, make a noise, and now I’d be stuck spending twelve hours with baseball cap.

  “The rest of you, report to Aaron.” He gestured to one of the guys from the night before.

  Aaron told us where all the cleaning supplies were, and I started to follow the other girls when Reed touched my arm. “You’re with me, remember?”

  “How could I forget?” Cara and Mallory gave me sympathetic looks while Reed led me away.

  “What am I going to be doing exactly?”

  “I thought I made that clear. You’re my assistant today.”

  I put a hand on my hip. “What does that mean?”

  “You’re about to find out.”

  I shivered.

  He laughed. “Ready for your first job?”

  “Sure.”

  “It’s upstairs.”

  “Upstairs?”

  “In my room.” He cocked an eyebrow.

  “Hell no.”

  “It’s not anything that exciting. Trust me.”

  “It has nothing to do with removing clothes?”

  “I’m afraid that would violate Amanda’s rules. But it does involve clothes.”

  “Okay…”

  I tentatively followed him upstairs. He pushed open the door to a room that was a total disaster. “You’re going to find all my dirty clothes and bring them down to the laundry room.”

  “Wait, you want me to do your laundry?”

  “I told you it wasn’t exciting.” He sprawled out on his bed, propping himself up with a pillow.

  “Are you just go
ing to watch me search for your dirty clothes?”

  “Yes.” He put his hands behind his head.

  “Great,” I mumbled.

  “Would you rather be cleaning up down there? Do you want to have a room full of guys hollering at you while you scrub a floor?”

  I turned to him. “No. I’d rather be home sleeping.”

  “If you’re tired, you are welcome to join me.” He patted the bed beside him.

  “Really? Oh my god, I can’t believe you’d be so generous.”

  “I like you, Juliet. You’re feisty and fiery, and I just know we’re going to be good friends.”

  “Friends? That’s likely…but what are the rules today?”

  “I can’t force you to do anything of a sexual nature.” He grinned wickedly. “But you know, if you really want to, it’s fine if it’s your idea.”

  “Oh yes, because I’m just dying to rip my clothes off and have sex with you.”

  He laughed. “I was just putting it out there.”

  “Don’t put anything out there. I already have enough on my plate trying to figure out one frat guy—”

  “Another one? My, you’ve been busy in the week you’ve been here. Who is he?”

  “None of your business, and it didn’t happen this week. Ugh, why am I even telling you this?”

  “I don’t know. Why are you?”

  I laughed, not sure what to say. “I’m going to take care of your laundry.”

  I searched his floor for dirty clothes, careful to avoid bending over in front of him. I refused to make it any more enjoyable than I had to.

  After a few minutes of silence, Reed spoke again. “Who is he?”

  “Why do you care?”

  “I don’t, but I’m bored.”

  “Then go do something.” I finished putting the last of his dirty clothes in a hamper. I was careful to make the most minimal contact possible with his underwear. “Where’s the laundry room?”

  “The basement. I’ll take you.” He hopped off his bed and opened the door. “After you.”

  I hoisted the overflowing hamper. Couldn’t he at least lug it?

  “I believe in equal rights,” he whispered in my ear from right behind me. He was enjoying this way too much.

  “Equal rights. Sure.”

  “What? Don’t girls like that?”

  “No comment.”

  I groaned and headed downstairs. I quickly realized I had the good job. Reed wasn’t exaggerating. My friends were cleaning with a bunch of guys watching, making obscene comments, and drinking beer. Yes, drinking beer at ten a.m.

  “This way.” Reed opened another door.

  I thought about how I could be walking into a torture chamber, which made me think about walking into Christian Grey’s playroom. I laughed. I was sure plenty of girls would like doing that with Reed, but I wasn’t one of them.

  “What’s so funny?” He flipped on the light.

  “You don’t want to know.”

  “I bet I do.”

  I put his hamper down on the floor. “Do you usually separate your darks and lights?”

  “Why would I do that?”

  “Okay… I’ll just do lights.” Most of his boxers were dark, so I wouldn’t have to touch them.

  I sorted through the hamper and threw clothes in the washer.

  “Where are you from?”

  I figured it couldn’t hurt to make conversation. “Maryland. Right outside D.C.”

  “Yeah? I have cousins there.”

  “Where are you from?” I poured in detergent.

  “I went to high school in Charleston.”

  “Cool, where?” I turned on the washer. It was an old model and extremely loud.

  “West Ashley.”

  “Oh, that’s cool.” I leaned back against the dryer.

  “Ready for your next job?”

  “Sure. I can’t wait.”

  “We’re going back to my room.”

  “Why?” I wasn’t worried this time. If he was going to try something, he would have done it already. He’d been surprisingly well-behaved.

  “I need to change.”

  “I’ll wait downstairs.” I definitely didn’t need to watch him change.

  “Not a chance. Let’s go.”

  “Fine.” I followed him back upstairs. It was quiet. “Where is everyone?”

  “Out back, hanging out.”

  “What?” Maybe I did get the bad job.

  “You didn’t really think they were going to clean all day, did you?”

  “Then can’t I go?” I started to head toward the back door.

  Reed gently touched my arm. “Nope. I’m not done with you yet.”

  “This isn’t fair.”

  “Life isn’t fair.”

  I followed Reed upstairs where he promptly pulled off his shirt. Wow, the guy was in incredible shape. He could have been on one of those exercise equipment commercials where you know the guy wouldn’t be caught dead using the stupid equipment he’s selling. Every inch of his chest and abs was perfectly sculpted. It wasn’t my fault—it was impossible not to gawk at him.

  He grinned when he caught me staring. “Like what you see?”

  “Nope. I’m not into the ‘roid look.” I preferred my men fit but not too built—like Dylan.

  “It’s all natural, baby.”

  “Do you live at the gym?”

  “Funny you ask that…”

  “Why?”

  “That’s our next stop.”

  “We’re going to the gym?” I took a step back, nearly tripping on a sneaker.

  “Yup, you’re spotting for me.”

  “What? I can’t spot you.”

  “Sure you can. You kick ass at laser tag and can carry tons of dirty clothes. You’re capable.”

  “Oh, this is going to be fun.”

  He smiled. “It will be.”

  I followed him out through the house. The streets were fairly empty as we headed to campus. I guessed most people were sleeping off their hangovers. I liked the emptiness, though. There was something relaxing about it. “What year are you?”

  “I’m a junior.”

  “Oh, I thought you were a senior.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Yeah.” A car raced by. I took a step closer to Reed to move away from the street. In the dorms, it was easy to forget we were in a city, but if you left campus at all, you got the reminder real quick.

  “I know the real reason you’re asking. Yes, I’m twenty-one.”

  “Why would I care about your age?”

  “You’re probably already coming up with ways to ask me to buy you booze.”

  “Excuse me?” I crossed my arms. “I’m dating a senior. I don’t need your help with that.” I didn’t mention that I also had a fake ID. I wasn’t going to use that more than I needed to.

  “Oh... mystery frat guy again, huh?”

  “His name’s Dylan if you have to know.”

  “I don’t have to know, but it’s good to know. Dylan Bradley?” He said the name with distaste.

  “Uh huh. You know him?”

  “Unfortunately…”

  “I’m sure there’s a story there.”

  “Not as good as the one you have with him.” He glanced at me.

  “That’s not one I’m going to share.” Not with Reed or anyone else if I could help it. I still couldn’t believe I’d hooked up with him like that.

  Reed laughed. “Oh, come on. Now I have to hear it.”

  “It’s not that good. We’ve known each other for years, and we’re kind of dating.”

  He shook his head. “No way. There’s more.”

  “What’s your story?”

  “I don’t have one. I just know he’s a pompous asshole.”

  “As compared to you?”

  “I’m not pretending to be citizen of the year, but I’m also not trying to date a nice girl.”

  “Nice girl? I’m a nice girl?”

  “Aren’t you?” He looked
at me questioningly.

  I shrugged. “Sometimes.”

  “You’re something else, Annie.” He held open the gym door.

  “Why do you keep calling me Annie?”

  “Because you’re a good shot.”

  “And Annie relates to that because…” I waited for Reed to swipe his ID for entry. I followed him.

  “Annie Oakley.”

  “Ohhh.” The gym was as empty as the streets. Reed quickly climbed the stairs and headed to the weight room. I trailed behind.

  “Sharp one, huh?” He went right over to the free weights.

  “What am I supposed to do?”

  He moved over to a bench. “You can work out too if you want.”

  “In this?” I gestured to my outfit.

  “You can’t lift weights in a skirt?”

  “I could… but I’d rather be in gym clothes.”

  “You like to complain, don’t you?” He set himself up with a barbell that I’m sure weighed a lot more than I did.

  “You know what?”

  “What?” He lay back.

  “Arrh. Forget it. Just lift your damn weights.”

  “I plan on it.”

  I took a seat on a bench. “Why’d you single me out?”

  He started to lift. I forced myself to look away. “Isn’t it obvious?”

  “No.”

  He took a moment to answer, probably because he needed to catch his breath. “I wanted to mess with you.”

  “Great.” I refused to look at him the rest of the time he worked out. I purposely stared at everything else. It was a nice weight room, something I hadn’t cared much about when I’d taken a tour of the school. I was more of a cardio and light weights at home kind of girl. Luckily, Reed didn’t actually ask me to spot.

  “You ready?” He wiped sweat off his forehead. Lovely.

  “It’s not up to me. Is it?”

  “I guess not.”

  I followed him out and back to his house. I could still hear everyone out back.

  “I’m going to shower. You can wait in my room.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Yes, seriously. I’ll only be a few minutes.”

  I decided to use the time to snoop. I know it’s rude, but if he didn’t want me to, he shouldn’t have made me wait for him in there. I didn’t open drawers or anything. I just sorted through the stuff that was out—and there was lots of it. After looking at some books—mostly history—I guessed that was his major. I found a t-shirt with the name of a local pizza hangout on it.