Rushed (The Rushed Series)

by Gina Robinson

  What did the Double Deltsies expect? When presented with the unwinnable scenario, stretch the rules. That's my motto. The smart thing to do might have been to ask Morgan to pass along my thanks. But I wasn't the type to beg for favors.

  I set the cupcake on the coffee table in front of me and signed the word for thank you to him. Nothing in the rules said you couldn't sign. Or send smoke signals. Or use semaphore code. Or Morse code, for that matter. Frankly, if he didn't know sign language, it wouldn't be communication at all.

  He simply stared back at me with a blank, uninterested look. Not a crack of a smile. Almost like I was beneath his notice. But his eyes sparkled with admiration for my guts.

  Call me crazy, but I was both intrigued and angered by him. He turned and held the tray out for Morgan.

  She took her time choosing. When she finally made her choice, she intentionally brushed his hand with hers. "Thank you, Zach."

  He nodded and walked off without saying anything, even to her.

  I sensed her seething at him. Longing for him.

  But as soon as he disappeared from sight, Morgan smiled like I'd passed some kind of test. "How many years of sign language did you take?"

  "Three years."

  "Excellent! We do some work with a deaf class at the local elementary school. Your skills will come in handy."

  I couldn't tell what she was so happy about, but she kept smiling. I got the feeling that I was going to get top marks when she reported to the president and the selection committee. I'd passed the philanthropy test and it wasn't even philanthropy day yet.

  Morgan leaned in and whispered to me, "You'll be making a suicide bid for us, I hope." Her eyes danced with amused malice and the excitement of putting a prospective pledge on the hot seat.

  "If that's what it takes to get into the house, absolutely." I kept my game face on, but beneath it, I was seething now, too. I picked my cupcake up and casually pulled the paper back from it.

  Asking for a suicide bid was supremely arrogant. And against the rules. The girls at the houses weren't allowed to talk about bids, not even to hint about them. Saying something as innocuous as "I'll see you later" was a violation. Morgan knew there was no way I could rat on her. Who would believe my word against hers, anyway?

  A suicide bid meant that when it came time to select a house, I would put in that I would only accept an offer from the Double Deltsies. And take the chance they'd screw me over and not offer back. She thought she was scaring me. But she wasn't. For me, a suicide bid could be the perfect out.

  I took a bite of my cupcake. "Delicious!"

  When the interview was finally over, Morgan led me to the lobby and made a point of introducing me to Kelly, the house president. I had been anointed.

  After my quick interview with Kelly, I met up with Emily and the rest of my group. Molly was scowling at Kelly like she was poaching in her territory.

  The Double Deltsies ended our visit with their house chant. "Delta Delta Psi, my, oh, my! Delta Delta Psi!"

  Molly led us into the heat of the day to the front walk of the house that ambled past a row of basement windows on its way to the main sidewalk. As we walked away, I caught a glimpse of a guy in the basement window. Zach. Watching us. Watching me with a look that me made me hot and flushed all over.

  I looked away from him, feeling exposed and elated, hoping he couldn't get a glimpse up my skirt and wondering if he sat there because of the view during rush. Or had he been watching for me?

  "There's a guy in the house!" A girl named Caitlin giggled and pointed. The surprise was evident in her voice—she had no idea there were men in there.

  The entire group, except for me, came to a halt and looked. From the corner of my eye, I caught the movement of Zach looking away. Conversation and speculation about guys living in sorority houses, particularly the Delta Delta Psi house, erupted around us.

  Molly grimaced and hurried us along. "The Double Deltsies are the only house that has live-in houseboys. The others have houseboys that come in for the day."

  She nodded toward the house we were walking away from. "They choose theirs based on looks, not skills. Any girl in that house should be warned to stay away from them. Those houseboys have a bad reputation and are beneath a girl in the Greek system."

  Molly's sense of class entitlement shocked me. A guy as hot as Zach would never notice her, but he was beneath her because he was working as a houseboy? In her dreams.

  I realized something else, too—not every girl had gotten the cupcake treatment, or they would have known about Zach or one of the other houseboys.

  I turned to Em. "Did they offer you a cupcake?"

  "Cupcake? Are you joking?" She rolled her eyes in a way that made me laugh. "Feed the masses? Let them eat cake? Ha-ha!

  "I barely got water. And they withheld that until my throat was so dry I could barely talk. It's like they were torturing us in there."

  "You got water?" someone else asked Em with admiration in her voice. "Lucky! You must have had one of the nice interviewers."

  I had gotten special treatment, then. Very special treatment. And Em had gotten semi-special treatment. Maybe she had a chance after all.

  I linked my arm with hers.

  "Did they actually give you a cupcake?" she whispered in my ear.

  "No," I lied. "Just wondering if they gave refreshments to anyone or if I had the least pleasant interrogator in the house."

  She gave me a puzzled frown. "Did you even get water?"

  "At the very end." That much was true.

  "Hey, maybe they like us!" Em squeezed my arm, but she didn't seem particularly impressed.

  "Let's pledge the same house!" I said on impulse. "A house with lots of cake." I figured she had at least a ghost of a chance of getting into the Double Deltsie sorority with me. They'd offered her water, hadn't they?

  Chapter Two

  Zach

  "There's a guy in the house!" The group of girls going through recruitment stopped outside our basement room window and pointed down at me. My view was mostly of them from the waist down, legs and ankles made slender by incredibly tall heels.

  Shit, their surprise never got old. It was damned hilarious. We lived for this view. Give me a girl with long, sleek legs any day.

  "Seth, get your lazy ass over here before you miss the latest view," I said to my roommate.

  I looked for a particular pair of shoes in the tangle of legs passing by my window. Wondering if her ankles were as slender and fine as I remembered. I got lucky. She stood far enough away at just the right angle so I could see her stunning face.

  I was looking at her, the girl Morgan had been interrogating. And trying to get her out of my mind as our eyes met and she caught me. She glanced away quickly. I'd caught her looking back.

  Dwelling on her was fucking stupid. My head warned me against her. My mission here was to be a big brother to the girls in the house, not a lover or boyfriend. I was doing penance for not being the big brother I should have been to my real sister. I would be atoning for that for the rest of my life.

  If I were smart, I would be hoping she wouldn't get into the house. But I knew she would. Morgan had been giving her special treatment. For some reason, this girl was a VIP PNM—potential new member.

  Across our room, lounging on his twin bed, my roommate Seth laughed as he pulled his bowtie off and flung it on his desk next to the bed. "Shit! It never gets old hearing their surprise."

  "My thoughts exactly."

  Seth was the heartbreaker of the four of us, the guy who cared least about being in the servant class.

  The pudgy Rho Gam in charge of the group issued a command to move on with enough disgust and volume in it to let us know how she felt about us. Can't be late for the next appointment. She was probably a Siggy Piggy Up, as the frats and the girls unkindly called them.

  "Too late," I said. "They're moving on."

  "What did you think of this last group of girls?" Seth asked.

  I sp
un around in my desk chair to face him. "They're interested in one, at least. Morgan made me drag out the cupcakes."

  Seth made a downturned-mouth, raised-eyebrows face of surprise. "You had one. Lucky you. None this batch for me. It was a damn waste of a bowtie."

  I grinned at him. "Better luck next time."

  "What did you think of her?" Seth unbuttoned the collar of his shirt. Perspiration pooled beneath his armpits. He took the shirt off and hung it over his desk chair to dry out.

  I weighed my answer carefully. "The recruit in the living room with Morgan this morning surprised me."

  Seth raised one eyebrow in question. "Yeah?"

  "She looks the part of a Double Deltsie, right down to her blond hair and makeup. She was hot, just as smoking as any girl currently in the house. She'll be getting a bid, I'm sure of it." Which meant more temptation, surprisingly for me. Usually Seth was the guy who was tempted.

  To date, no girl had broken through the wall of my big-brotherly feelings. Damn if I would let this one. As gorgeous as the girls of the house were, I'd never been hot enough for one to jeopardize my position here. I told myself it was because I saw them the way most guys didn't. Not the guys they were trying to impress, anyway.

  I saw them hung over and pale, puffy-eyed from crying their eyes out over some douchebag, without makeup, in their ratty pajamas with their hair at odd angles, bent over with menstrual cramps. I cleaned their toilets, emptied their trashcans, and set their tables. Listened to their problems, inner turmoil, and insecurities. Kept their secrets.

  The veil was lifted for me, their illusion of perfection shattered. If this girl, the PNM, joined the house, she would be the same, just another little sister. I hoped.

  Seth sat up straighter. "Then what's the surprise?"

  "This one was different. She said all the right things to Morgan. Had the perfect smile on her face. Looked just right in just the right brand of dress. But she put Morgan in her place. Subtly, but she did it."

  Seth gave a low whistle. "A girl with spunk. I like her already. She defied Morgan." He nodded like he applauded the effort. "Why are you so sure she's getting in?"

  I didn't feel like explaining. "She did it so subtly, I'm not sure Morgan even realized." That was what I admired about her.

  That and, in the unguarded moments when Morgan wasn't looking, the look in the girl's eyes that said she would rather be anywhere but here. In the two years I'd been a houseboy, I'd never seen a girl as unimpressed with the Double Deltsies as she'd been. Or a PNM as creative and thoughtful.

  The way she signed thank you to me had been sweet and defiant with that little flourish she put in it. In two years, no PNM had thanked me for anything during rush. Most of them were too damned afraid to speak and be kicked out.

  I'd worked in the house since my freshman year, when a friend got me in. Shit, I would rather have been an RA in the dorms. I could make amends in a coed dorm as well as here. But this job gave me room and board and a small salary. The dorms only gave room and board. I needed every dime.

  So I stuck it out with Paul, Seth, and Dillon as breakfast cooks, handymen, waiters, and shoulders to cry on. And developed some genuine affection for most of the girls, despised a few as shallow and vain, and made a few true friends with both the girls and the houseboys. At least I had a sense of community and belonging. Something I never had at home.

  I unbuttoned my shirt and pulled it off. Seth and I both sat in our room naked-chested, trying to cool off. It was hard to believe, but the basement wasn't air-conditioned. It was hotter than the main floors this time of year. We had an hour to relax until the next group of recruitment girls came by. We were going to stay as cool as we could.

  "Think they'll make their quota?" Seth got up and pulled an energy drink from our mini fridge. He grabbed a second one and tossed it to me.

  "They always make their quota."

  "Girl on the floor!" The happy singsong tone reached us about half a second before its owner did. "Boys!" Morgan appeared in our doorway and shook her finger at us, playfully. "You're out of uniform."

  Her gaze slid over our naked chests, lingering on mine with hunger in her eyes, like she wanted to give me a lap dance then and there.

  She'd changed, too, into cutoffs so short her butt cheeks hung out, and a crop top so thin her dark, round nipples poked through even in the heat. She was tan and toned and wore a bellybutton ring with crystals dangling.

  She was into me and mostly ignored Seth's charms. Yeah, she flirted with him. All the Double Deltsies were unrepentant flirts. But it was purely playful. For some unfathomable reason of her own, Morgan wanted me. Maybe because I remained unobtainable. Or because I was forbidden fruit. Or she was rebelling against authority. Who the hell knew her thought process?

  I wasn't about to risk my job for a girl as changeable and vindictive as Morgan.

  "You're out of uniform, too, Morgan, babe." Seth winked at her.

  She took that as invitation, strutted into our room with hips swaying, and sat cross-legged in Seth's desk chair.

  "What brings you to our lair?" Seth pointed to the mini-fridge. "Help yourself."

  "No thanks." She rolled her eyes. "I had to escape for a minute and relax. Kelly is on everyone's case about recruitment."

  "Not going well?" Seth kicked off his dress shoes and put his legs on the bed, lounging against his pillows as he sipped his drink.

  "Not many good candidates this year. Bad crop. Kelly's on our case to up our game. Like we can magically produce girls who meet our standards." She swung her gaze back to me. "Only one or two we're even mildly interested in. Zach, you met one of them last hour. What did you think?"

  Shit. I'd guessed Morgan had an agenda in coming to see us. Agenda revealed. She wasn't dragging me into this. The way Morgan watched me, I sensed my opinion mattered more than it should. Like whether that girl got into the house or not hinged on me. I could have gotten the girl axed right then if I let any hint I found her the least bit attractive show. With the way my body reacted to her, maybe I should have. My sense of fairness stopped me. That and my raging desire to see her again.

  I shrugged like I'd hardly noticed her. "What do I know? I just handed her a cupcake. You're the one who interviewed her."

  Morgan wouldn't let it drop. "You don't have an opinion?"

  "She looks like a Double Deltsie. Talks like a Double Deltsie. Dresses like one." I set my can on my desk.

  "If she looks like one, talks like one, and dresses like one, what's the big deal, Morgan?" Seth held his hands up like he really didn't understand the fuss. "Make her your rush crush. Get her into the house and get Kelly off your back. Problem solved."

  Morgan's eyes lit up at the thought. "Good idea, Seth. I will. I definitely will. It will save me a whole lot of trouble. The girl's a third-generation legacy. There's practically no way we can get rid of her anyway. If she turns out to be a disappointment, there's no way I can be blamed." She smiled at me as she watched my reaction.

  "Congrats, Morgs. I hope you and your rush crush will be very happy together." I picked up my energy drink and downed the rest as if I didn't care about seeing the girl again.

  In reality, my heart was racing. But my head was saying slow down. A third-generation legacy? The girl had Double Deltsie blood running through her veins. And I was nothing but a houseboy. Fuck it.

  Alexis

  As we walked down Greek Row past the frats back to the dorm where we were staying, we got hoots and whistles. Some of the frat houses were just animals. They were easy to ignore. But as we walked past Tau Psi, the top frat on campus, three gorgeous frat guys lounged on the stone steps that led up from the sidewalk to the walkway of their house. They were shirtless and in cutoffs. Ripped abs slathered with suntan oil and glistening in the sunlight. And they were holding and playing with one of the cutest tiny puppies in the world.

  My Rho Gam group slowed to a halt and let out a collective sigh. "A puppy!"

  The guys got up and came t
oward us.

  Em's eyes went wide. "A Pomsky puppy!" She took a step toward the guys and the puppy.

  The hottest guy reached us, grinned, and held the happily barking puppy out to Em like candy.

  I grabbed her arm and hissed into her ear as if I was her mom or her conscience, "Are you crazy? That puppy is their version of a siren song. A hot guy with a cute puppy is simply irresistible. They know it. They'll put that puppy in your arms, and the next thing you know, you'll be talking to the guys and get kicked out of rush. Is that what you want?"

  Em froze. "You're right! Wow, devious of them."

  Molly failed us then, almost falling prey to the puppy trick herself. But then, she wasn't the one who would be kicked out.

  "Girls!" I called out to my group. "It's a trap to get you to talk to them. Ignore the puppy and keep walking."

  Heads turned to me. Eyes snapped with gratitude. "Crap! She's right," someone said. I had just made fifteen friends for life.

  The group surged ahead even as the guys stood and carried the baby Pomsky into the middle of us, nuzzling it, holding it out as they cooed to the puppy and us. Molly finally sprang into action and tried to shoo the boys away.

  The ringleader stepped in front of me, blocking my path. "Blondie," he said to me as he cuddled the puppy beneath his chin and grinned. "Future Double Deltsie." He whistled and gave me an up-and-down look full of appreciation and lust. "I'll be seeing you at a function soon."

  He pulled his cell phone from his pocket and held it out to me. "You don't have to talk to me. Type in your number so I can call you."

  I looked away from him before I gave in to my desire to put him in his place for treating me like a sex object. And yet, at the same time, I enjoyed his attention. I tried to step around him. Much as I hated to admit it, he had charisma.

  Em tried to help me. But he blocked my path whichever way I moved, tempting me to ask him to get out of my way.

  Finally Molly came to my rescue and pushed her way between him and me. "Get away from my PNMs."