by Linda Kage
Reggie slid his hand down her arm to her hand and interlaced their fingers so they wouldn’t get separated, but she still felt lost and overwhelmed as she trailed him down a jam-packed hall and into another enormous room.
Someone rang a bell as soon as they entered, and everyone in room cheered, lifting their plastic red cups before chugging. When Reggie noticed she wasn’t following along, he yelled into her ear, explaining it was the house rule to drink whenever someone rang the bell.
As if on cue, the bell rang again. Paige didn’t lift her cup.
Reggie leaned in again to speak into her ear. “Don’t worry. Campus cops never bust these parties. You won’t get into trouble.”
That wasn’t exactly her problem. Leaning in close to his ear, she lied, “I don’t like the taste.”
A light dawned in his eyes as he nodded his understanding. Taking the cup from her, he held up one finger, motioning her to stay put. Abandoning her in the middle of a horde of strangers, he disappeared.
Her heart immediately dropped into her stomach. Paige wrapped her arms around her middle, glancing left and right, hoping to spot someone she knew. When she saw Kevin from her grief group, she waved and tried to make her way to him, but he didn’t even glance in her direction. He was so busy talking to the girl with him, focusing all his attention on her, he didn’t notice Paige.
She paused, watching him. He didn’t act like someone who attended a regular meeting to get over the loss of his father. He didn’t act as if he felt like an outsider among the world of the living.
Suddenly self-conscious because she obviously hadn’t healed as much as he had, she turned away and almost ran into Reggie as he returned with a glass bottle in hand. “Here you go.”
He gave her the wine cooler, and she sighed aloud, though he didn’t hear her disappointment over all the commotion. Maybe she should’ve just been honest and said her father was an awful drunk and she didn’t want to be anything like him.
Holding the bottle as if she had every intention of drinking from it, she followed Reggie as he circulated the party, shouting good-mannered insults to his friends. He never introduced her or included her in his conversations. He simply held her around the waist as if she was an accessory.
When she tried to smile at another piece of arm candy dangling off another guy’s arm, the girl with devil horns in her hair scowled back. Paige gulped and looked around for an ally. A couple of guys were checking her out, running their gazes appreciatively down Mariah’s tight red dress. But none of them made eye contact. Adrift in a sea of strangers, loneliness crept in, squeezing her lungs and making it hard to breathe. She wondered if her suitemates were having a good time.
After an hour passed of Reggie ignoring her except to yell into her ear to direct her to another part of the party, Paige was ready to go home.
When her date leaned in to asked, “Having fun?” she didn’t bother to hide the boredom on her face as she lifted her eyebrows his way.
He grinned, sliding his hand down from her waist to cup her butt. “Want to go somewhere private?”
Right. What girl didn’t love being ignored all evening only for her date to haul her off to a dank corner where he could grope her for the rest of the night? She shook her head and refrained from slapping him away as she answered. “Is there a bathroom around here?”
He pointed and gave her a bunch of confusing directions. She smiled, nodding her fake thanks. When he let go of her butt with a degrading pat, she took off with no intention of returning.
Tess and Bailey had to be somewhere. She rambled through every downstairs room, and had to wallop three drunks with wandering hands. When she didn’t spot her suitemates anywhere, she began to feel a little frantic. Had they abandoned her? She escaped out the front door, nearly running right out of her borrowed heels in her haste.
Finally, she caught sight of bouncing red curls. Some guy in a ball cap and a bright red shirt was helping Tess and Bailey slide into the back seat of an old, huge boat of a car. Upset they were deserting her and even more leery of whose car they were climbing into, Paige hurried after them.
“Bailey! Wait!” Waving her hand, she raced to catch up. What were they thinking, getting into a car with a complete stranger? But she barely glanced at the words Designated Driver branded across the guy’s chest before relief swamped her. Oh, what a good idea. And in that case…
“Can I ride back with you guys?”
Bailey frowned. “What about your date?”
Paige made a pained face. “He’s lame. I’m ready to leave.”
Scowling as if she wanted to say something snide, Bailey studied her a moment before rolling her eyes and muttering, “Okay, fine. Get in.”
When she disappeared into the car, Paige hurried to follow her. The designated driver continued to hold the door open for her, and she managed a winded, “Thanks,” as she brushed past, ducking her head before crawling into the backseat as well. When the door shut, Tess squealed out an excited sound.
“Paige, oh my God. There you are! I’m so happy to see you.” She leaned across Bailey to send Paige a huge, sloppy grin. Then she began to crawl over Bailey’s lap. “I want to sit by Paige.”
Paige’s mouth fell open as she watched the show. “Wow. You’re, like, totally drunk.”
“Gee, you think?” Bailey sent her a dry look, and then nudged Tess along when she got stuck trying to wiggle across her knees.
So busy watching her friends, Paige didn’t even notice the driver had gotten in and put the car into the gear until he turned a corner and Tess lost her balance. She tumbled off Bailey’s lap and began to roll into Paige’s.
“Whoa. Easy there.” She caught the drunk girl and deposited her back in the middle of the seat.
Satisfied with taking the opposite window seat as Paige, Bailey scooted to her new spot and arched a brow as she watched Paige try to keep Tess from rolling around. “So you’d seriously rather help me babysit Miss Lush here than stay at the party with your date, huh?”
“Yes.” Paige wrapped a seatbelt around Tess, fastening her in.
“But—”
“Where to?” the DD asked, his voice barely audible over the hum of the engine.
“Grammar Hall,” Bailey answered, not taking her gaze off Paige. “What happened, Paige?”
Smoothing her hair back behind her ear, Paige shrugged and turned to stare out her window. “What do you mean? Nothing happened.”
“Ooh, is that why you wanted to leave?” Tess asked with a messy giggle. “Because nothing happened and you wanted it to?”
Paige wrinkled her nose. Maybe she’d been hopeful something might happen before she’d left this evening. But actually being in Reggie’s company outside of the classroom for more than five minutes had cured her of that. They totally did not mesh.
“Not hardly,” she muttered. “I was ready to leave because he was too busy socializing with everyone else and ignored me pretty much the entire evening. I didn’t know anyone but you two, and you all disappeared about as soon as we got there. Where did you go?”
Bailey sighed. “I don’t know. But this hot guy invited us into some room where a bunch of people were taking Jell-O shots. No way could we actually to say no to him. He was just so…hot.”
“Then Derick showed me how to properly take a Jell-O shot,” Tess announced, speaking up as she nodded enthusiastically.
Paige blinked. “Who’s Derick?”
Looking momentarily blank, Tess murmured, “I don’t know.”
“It was Dorian.” Bailey rolled her eyes. “Not Derick. And he’s the star quarterback of the football team. You know, Dorian Wade. I didn’t like how he kept looking at her, so I got us out of there.”
Tess puckered her brow in confusion. “How was he looking at me?”
Bailey sighed and stared at her window. “Like he wanted you for breakfast.”
“Oh God, I think I’m going to be sick.”
“I know. It was so gross I—”
Instantly, Bailey and Paige hugged both backseat doors, one taking the left, the other taking the right.
“Driver, could you pull over?” Paige asked as Tess leaned over her lap. “Now!”
But it was too late. Even as the car swerved to the curb and screeched to a halt, Tess vomited all over the front of Mariah’s sparkling red dress.
Closing her eyes so she didn’t join in, Paige tried to hold Tess’s hair back by feel alone. When the car jarred to a halt, she fumbled blindly for the door latch and spilled onto the sidewalk, gasping in a lungful of fresh air.
Tess and Bailey tumbled out behind her. Though it was virtually impossible to shake out such a tight skirt, Paige tried to grasp hold of the hem and shake the bile off her dress while Bailey hustled Tess to a row of nearby bushes. Unable to believe her ears because she’d thought everything inside Tess now dripped from her lap, she listened to her suitemate retch some more.
The driver had already gotten out of the car and popped the trunk. When he emerged with a spray bottle and thick roll of paper towels, Paige pounced. Turning to him, she opened her mouth to ask if she could borrow some paper towels.
But he was already lifting them, offering them her way. “One step ahead of you.”
She grinned and lifted her face to thank him. But when she focused on a familiar pair of cerulean eyes, she stumbled in her heels, gasping.
“What’re you doing here?”
“Um…” Logan sent her a strange look, and she wanted to slap her palm to her forehead for such a stupid, here’s-your-sign question even as he answered, “I’m designated driving.”
A month’s worth of thoughts and daydreams about him rushed to the surface. A hot flush instantly coated her skin as her gaze gobbled him from head to toe. She couldn’t believe she hadn’t recognized him immediately outside the party before she’d even gotten into his car. Then again, she’d been a little preoccupied and hadn’t bothered to focus on the face below his hat or above the DD shirt.
Though the red shirt was short-sleeved, he wore a white thermal underneath, the sleeves long enough to cover his wrists. She paused at his veiled wrist as he silently held out the bottle of disinfectant, then moved on to his fingers. Beautiful, long fingers that sketched his deepest desires for love on paper and had tended to Paige’s injury with such gentle kindness. And had balled into a fist to kill her brother.
“Uh…thanks.” She quickly accepted his offering even as her stare moved up to his face.
He didn’t make eye contact but stiffly turned away to fetch more cleaning supplies from the trunk. As he leaned into the back seat, she watched him wipe away the mess Tess had left.
Something inside her seemed to click into place. Looking at him, standing near him. It just felt right. Even if it should be wrong.
Disturbed by the direction of her straying thoughts, she whirled away to find both Bailey and Tess watching her.
“You know him?” Bailey asked.
“Uh…yes,” Paige answered vaguely as she put all her attention into tearing off a handful of paper towels and scrubbing at her stained dress.
“But he’s so gorgeous.” Tess squeezed her eyes closed and gave a low moan. “Oh, how horrifying. I just barfed on the side of the road in front of a totally gorgeous guy.”
She promptly turned back to the bushes as if she was going to be sick again.
Drawn back to Logan, Paige watched him duck his head out from the back seat and straighten, both his hands full of dirty, wadded paper towels.
Over the past few weeks, she’d actually been planning what she wanted to say to him if they ever crossed paths again. But when he looked at her now, her mind went blank.
“If that doesn’t work.” He motioned toward her spray bottle. “There’s an entire crate full of stain removers in the trunk you could choose from.”
Paige frowned slightly, confused. “You have a crate full of stain removers in your trunk?” As soon as she quirked an eyebrow, thinking that was the strangest thing she’d ever heard, Tess heaved out an awful sound, emptying more of her stomach.
On the other hand, if he played DD a lot, it might be the smartest thing she’d ever heard.
Still, Logan flushed at the question. “It’s not my car.” After tossing his cleaning supplies into the trunk, he rubbed the back of his neck, looking embarrassed. With his hat on, he looked so different; she could almost pretend he was someone else. Someone she was allowed to smile at.
She nodded. “Oh, so then you’re stealing cars now, huh?”
The words spilled out before she could stop them. They were meant to be a joke, and her teasing smile supported that.
But his eyes widened to nearly the size of golf balls. “What? No! I—the fraternity house got a grant to buy an old clunker for designated driving use only.”
She bumped his elbow. “I was teasing.”
“I—” He cleared his throat. “Thanks for telling me.” But a moment later, one corner of his mouth hitched up and the skin around his eyes crinkled with amusement.
His crooked half smile was so charming she felt the impact of it directly in the center of her chest. And she knew instantly she’d gone over the line. Just because she didn’t outright abhor him any longer didn’t mean they could become friends.
Like ever.
God, what was she doing, trying to make a joke with Logan Xander? It had just felt so nice to see him again after so long…and she had no idea why. Their last encounter hadn’t been pleasant. However, it had been eye-opening. It had changed her entire perspective of him. And strangely, of herself too.
But just because she didn’t out-and-out hate him now didn’t mean she could become friends with him.
His blue eyes warmed as he scrutinized her, melting to an almost smoky gray. When he seemed to shift closer, she skittered back a step. “You know, I think I will try a different spray.” Clutching the spray bottle in her hands to her chest, she veered past him, hurrying toward the opened trunk of the car that wasn’t his.
Chapter Fifteen
LOGAN STARED AFTER PAIGE as she hurried off. He wasn’t sure what shocked him more: the complete lack of loathing in her gaze when she’d looked at him, or the fact she’d actually teased him.
Teased!
Him!
Too unbalanced to make heads or tails over what this meant, he glanced at the two girls still huddled by the bushes.
The sober one shook her head and snorted. “Don’t look at me. I didn’t think it was that funny of a joke either.”
But Paige had actually tried to make a joke. With him. Utterly boggled, he stared at her friends until the drunk one sat back on her haunches as if she was finally finished being sick.
Feeling like an ass for not checking on her before, he hurried forward and knelt beside her. “How’re you doing down here?”
Her head fell back as if she’d lost all control of her neck muscles, and she looked up at him, studying him from glassy, dazed eyes and slightly parted lips. “It’s all good,” she slurred and smiled dreamily. “I’m Tess.”
When she held out her hand, he shook it, charmed and beyond grateful she was a cheerful drunk instead of the other kind. “Logan.”
Her brow wrinkled. “I thought they called you Dave. Yeah, they pointed and said you were Designated Dave.”
Logan sighed. “That’s part of another joke I don’t get. Trust me. My name’s Logan.”
With a sigh, she swayed toward him. “Hi, Logan. You’re really pretty.”
Her friend gasped. “Tess!”
Tess glanced at the sober one. “What?” Then she smiled at Logan and pointed to the other girl. “Oh, and she’s Bailey.” Leaning closer to him, she lowered her voice. “But she doesn’t think I should call you pretty.”
Feeling a grin coming on, Logan shook his head. “You can call me whatever you want, but I’ll warn you, I tend to look better through beer goggles. Here. Let me help you up.” Whe
n he held out his hand, she took it, and together they pulled each other upright. Remembering he’d snagged a bottle of water for her, he pulled it from his pocket and passed it over.
“Oh God, I love you.” She snatched it without hesitating. “Will you marry me?”
His lips twitched once again with amusement as he watched her chug. “That depends. Do you like shoes?”
She swallowed and lowered the bottle. “Yeah. I’m a girl, aren’t I?” She looked baffled by the question.
He gave a sad sigh as he gently grasped her elbow and escorted her back to the car, where all the doors hung open as it aired out. “Well, we have a slight problem then. I live in a dinky apartment where the only closet is smaller than the trunk of this car. I’m afraid too many shoes just wouldn’t fit at my place.”
Face falling, Tess nodded as if she completely understood. “Yeah,” she mumbled. “You’re right. It’d never work out.”
“Probably not.”
Bailey, who’d gotten up when they had, was keeping pace with them. Holding onto Tess’s other arm, she pulled a fingernail she’d been chewing on from her teeth. “Do you own a cowboy hat?”
Huh? He glanced her way to find her studying him intently. “No. Why?”
With a wave of her hand, she sighed and turned away. “Yeah, I give up too.”
When he sent Tess a baffled glance, she gave his arm a sympathy pat. “She only does cowboys.”
Ah.
Busy by the trunk, Paige moved to join her friends. “I think I got it as clean as it’s going to get. I hope Mariah isn’t too upset.”
Even with a wet spot covering a good portion of her dress, she looked amazing. Logan forced his attention away as he helped Tess into the back seat.
“Yeah, well, Hooker should’ve known she might get a few stains if she lent her things out.” Bailey climbed in next, following Tess, and Logan suddenly found himself alone outside the vehicle with Paige looking up at him from her gorgeous dark eyes. With so much makeup lining her lashes, she looked different and yet exactly the same, like a more intense version of herself. It gave him a more intense reaction to her.
