Rushed (The Rushed Series)

by Gina Robinson

  I looked up just as they floated overhead, getting a look of two naked butts and dangling dicks. "Ugh." I made a face of disgust.

  Zach laughed. "Don't let those tiny dicks scare you off real men."

  "That's going to be burned into my brain."

  "Yeah, and I packed hotdogs for lunch. Yum." He turned and took my arm, propelling me away as the parasailers landed and ran through the crowd.

  We reached our group too soon. As soon as we did, any intimacy between us vanished. Zach morphed into houseboy mode, cold and aloof like a disapproving older brother.

  Morgan spotted us and ran to us, suspicion glittering in her eyes. "Where have you two been?" Her voice was almost venom.

  Zach shook his head like he was disgusted, and nodded toward me. "The Tau Psis separated one of your pledges from the herd."

  His disinterested tone seemed to satisfy Morgan. "And you saved her?"

  "They were about to throw her in the river," he said.

  Morgan laughed. "The douches. Did they try to untie your bikini top, too?"

  Paul came up and gave Zach a playful shove. "Our hero."

  Zach was caught off guard and winced.

  Morgan's eyes went wide as she saw the bruise on his back. "You're hurt." She glared at me like I was the one who'd hit him. She took his arm, caressing his hard bicep. "Let's get you some ice for that." She put a purr in her voice as she led him away.

  I tried to ignore Morgan. She fawned over Zach and held a plastic bag full of ice against his back, laughing when he pulled away because it was so cold. But it was like a traffic accident on the freeway. Morbid curiosity took over. My gaze seemed to wander back to them against my will.

  The afternoon passed slowly, even with the house guys barbecuing hotdogs and hamburgers for us. It was torture not to talk to him and watch him while he laughed and talked with the older girls who were already members. Some of the girls were friendly. Others treated the house guys as if they could snap their fingers and the guys should do their bidding. Even though Kelly made it clear that guys were off duty and our guests.

  When it was my turn, Zach handed me a hotdog with a straight face. "Perfectly charred. Just for you."

  Going along with his kidding, I took it from him, slathered it with mustard and took a big bite, licking the mustard off my lip suggestively. "Delicious!"

  Unfortunately, I couldn't linger and spar with him.

  After lunch, Kelly called us all together. "Time to pack up! Classes begin tomorrow. Scholarship is important to us."

  There was a general round of laughter like everyone knew this was tongue-in-cheek. My new house wasn't known for its high GPA.

  "But before we go, we have an important announcement." She bounced on her toes like the former cheerleader she was. "Exciting news! For the first time in years, we actually have spots open in the house for five lucky pledges to move in immediately!"

  A momentary, stunned hush fell over the girls. This was unprecedented. No one got to move into the house until second semester. At the earliest. I had been counting on that.

  Then someone whistled and everyone started cheering. I cheered with the rest of the pledges, trying not to stand out. Girls whispered to each other, speculating. I crossed my fingers, hoping that I wouldn't get one of the spots.

  Kelly whistled to quiet us. "The recruitment committee, along with the officers, spent hours coming up with the fairest way to fill these spots. We voted on which girls we thought would be the future leaders of the house, which would represent us best, and whom we thought would fit in the most. We've been watching you today to confirm we'd made the right choice.

  "It was a tough decision. We would love for all of you to be able to move in immediately. We're so excited about getting to know all of you and know you'll all be fantastic assets to the house. Remember—we handpicked each of you!

  "But we voted, taking into consideration rush crushes and recommendations. One girl stood out as the leader."

  I relaxed. There was no way that girl was me.

  "Alexis Turner, you're our top pick!"

  My mouth fell open. Either I was a better faker than I thought, or someone had set me up. My mouth went completely sandpaper on me. I panicked. Live in the house so soon? It was terrifying.

  The entire house was looking at me, the pledges with a mixture of envy and disgust. Kelly had just drawn a target on my back. I was public enemy number one. The girl to take down.

  I stuttered. "I don't know what to say. I'm overwhelmed." I blinked back tears that they all mistook for joy. "Thank you."

  Kelly beamed. "Alexis, as our top pick, you get to pick your roommate. Pick a pledge, any pledge."

  Every girl in my pledge class turned to me. Morgan was wearing a smug look and I got the feeling she was behind this. Whoever I picked would be loyal for life and everyone else would hate me until I could prove myself to them.

  The house leadership was watching to see to see what my strategy was. I could have done something democratic, like had the others vote. Or something random like draw names. I knew very few of the others and none of them well enough to make an informed decision.

  I simply blurted out a name. "Emily! I pick Emily."

  I don't know what I did right, but Kelly smiled broadly and nodded subtly to the other officers. They approved of my choice. All I knew was that if I hadn't picked her, Emily would have hated me. I would have lost the only friend I had. I still might. Emily grabbed me and squealed in my ear as she hugged me. As I bounced up and down with her, acting excited, I worried that living in the house would go to her head and separate us in the end.

  "Great!" Kelly beamed. "We'll get your things and move you in tonight. Now for the other three…"

  She called out three more names, but they meant nothing to me. I kept thinking this was like some kind of survivor reality show and I had just shown my strategy to the opposition. Next time someone took a vote, I was off the island.

  Chapter Six

  Alexis

  It was a good thing I hadn't settled into my dorm room yet. I'd barely even seen my randomly assigned roommate. Both of us had been too busy with recruitment. She had pledged another house. When she saw my Double Deltsie shirt, I think she was glad to see me move out. She'd pledged a less prestigious house. Her envy was palpable.

  My new sisters packed me up and moved me into my room in the house in less than an hour. They dumped all my stuff into a tiny cubicle of a room with two dressers, two desks, and one twin bed, leaving it up to Em and me to sort out the space. Mom had gone crazy and bought me every matching accessory imaginable for my dorm room, thinking I could bring back the extra when it was time to move into the house. There was no way it would all fit with Emily's in our tiny shared room that was less than half the size of my dorm room.

  We flipped a coin to see whose sheets and comforters to put on the bed. I won. Then we crammed as much stuff into the closets and dressers as we could and called the houseboys to help us haul the rest to the attic for storage. I felt like a prima donna or something for asking the guys to haul my junk around. I didn't want them to think I thought of them as my own personal slaves. But I wanted to see Zach so much it was worth the risk.

  Unfortunately, Paul showed up. While Em was preoccupied, he whispered to me, "Zach gave me hell for telling you to go to the cliffs."

  I was secretly pleased. "I didn't give you up."

  Paul didn't seem impressed. "I made the mistake of outing myself and teasing him about his overprotective nature." He paused and not quite scowled, but something close to it. "Be careful, Alexis. Don't lead him on."

  There was an undertone of dislike in his voice, like he didn't trust the girls in the house. Like we were nothing more than cock teases to the house guys. Ways to get them in trouble.

  "I like Zach," he said. "Girls think he's a charming guy. I would go to the mats for him. But he's been through a lot of crap. He has a dark side and he keeps to himself."

  I didn't reply.


  "If you're trying to sleep with him, you're going to be disappointed. Zach doesn't mess with the girls in the house." He grabbed my disc chair and an armful of framed posters and headed up the stairs to the attic. He didn't speak to me again.

  I spent a fitful night on the sleeping porch. I was a light sleeper. Every cough and movement woke me up. In the morning, the houseboys set out breakfast. I looked for Zach. Someone said he had an early class and was already gone. Carol, our housemother, welcomed Em and me as we ate breakfast.

  All the girls in the house dressed in their pledge T-shirts and skirts for the first day of class. Most of the girls wore flip-flops. I wore a pair of wedge sandals, which turned out to be a mistake as I trudged up the hill to campus.

  The entire Greek system was out in their house shirts. Walking up Greek Row toward campus with some girls from the house, through the shade-lined streets, the mood was happy and hung over in equal measure. The pledges like me were excited. Em bubbled over with pride.

  Em and I didn't have class together. We split in different directions when we got onto campus proper. I hoped I didn't have class with any of my sorority sisters. If I did, I was expected to sit with them. I had three classes on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I had sisters in the first two and sat in a clump with them, wishing for the freedom to choose my friends for myself. Resenting my mom and her insistence that I pledge the Double Deltsies.

  I ate lunch at the house and headed out to my two o'clock class with fingers crossed. I was looking forward to The History of Rock and Roll as my skate class to fill one of my general education requirements, GERs. The classroom was easy to find—Led Zeppelin's "Fool in the Rain" was blasting from the inside. I loved that song. Classic rock was one of the few joys I shared with my dad.

  I breathed a sigh of relief when I walked in and didn't see another Delta Delta Psi T-shirt in the room. Then I saw Zach sitting in the back by himself, wearing a Modest Mouse T-shirt, and my heart raced.

  A Double Deltsie I actually wanted to sit by! Ignoring Paul's warning, and Zach's obvious signals that he wanted to be alone, I walked right up to him. "Is this seat taken?" I sat without waiting for an answer.

  Zach

  Getting out of the house and going to class was the freest time of my days. When I was on campus, I wasn't a servant. I wasn't beneath anyone. I was just me. I was looking forward to The History of Rock and Roll as a break from my science-heavy schedule of the past few years. And time away from the girls and their drama. I'd been lucky and had had only a couple of classes with any of them over the years. When I did, it was always awkward.

  I settled in the back of the classroom. When I looked up, I caught a glimpse of a Double Deltsie light blue pledge T-shirt, nicely filled out by a pair of perfect breasts. Shit. Then I lifted my gaze, saw Alexis' face, and cursed my odd combination of good and bad luck.

  I hoped she didn't see me, afraid if she did, she would diss and ignore me. And even more worried she wouldn't.

  I don't know why I cared what the girls thought. In high school, being the star jock had been enough to impress any girl I wanted. But being the houseboy was enough to make me beneath the Double Deltsies. As I began my third year in the house, I still had my pride. Though I didn't know how I'd managed to hang on to it. Seth, Paul, and Dillon helped.

  I didn't miss the way the other guys in the class watched Alexis as she strode to the back of the classroom and took the seat next to me. Double Deltsies stood out wherever they went. She'd already mastered their confident walk. She probably came preprogrammed with it.

  "Is this seat taken?" She slid into it without waiting for an answer.

  "You're supposed to sit with the Double Deltsies." I wasn't about to encourage her. She made my pulse race too damn fast.

  When she smiled, her eyes danced. "I am."

  "Do I look like one of your sisters?" I said.

  Her gaze slid over me like she was taking full measure of me, letting it linger on my shoulders and chest. "In that Modest Mouse T-shirt? No." She grinned. "I like Modest Mouse."

  "Shit." I couldn't resist teasing her. I reached for the hem of my shirt.

  "What are you doing?" She laughed.

  "I can't wear this now. It's tainted. I'll to have to burn it when I get back to the house." I pulled it over my head and dropped it on my desk, waiting for her reaction.

  Her mouth fell open as she stared at my naked chest. "Why?"

  "By the time one of the girls from the house likes a band, they've gotten way too popular. They're tainted with the stench of pop and mainstream music."

  She grabbed my shirt and stuffed it in my hands, smiling appreciatively. "Stop showing off and put that back on before the prof shows up. No shoes, no shirt, no class."

  I'd gotten the reaction I wanted. "This is the history of rock and roll. Which is notorious for shirtless guys. There's a better than fifty-fifty chance the prof shows up shirtless."

  She laughed again and made a disgusted face. "I hope not!"

  I shrugged and pulled the shirt back on.

  She shook her head at me. "You've got me all wrong, Zach. How do you know I'm one of those pop music girls? You don't even know me."

  I raised one eyebrow. "Yeah, you really look indie. You're a Double Deltsie. They don't get into the indie music scene."

  She shrugged. "Stereotyper. I guess I won't show you my signed Thermals event poster, then. I was at their August fifth concert on Capital Hill."

  "You listen to The Thermals?"

  She'd surprised me, pleasantly. Listening to The Thermals was about as Seattle indie street cred as you could get. I had been dying to go to that concert, but I'd had to work. And I needed every penny I could earn.

  She shrugged. "Don't judge a book by its cover."

  The prof walked in, interrupting our conversation. He was a graying, aging rocker with long hair, a beard, and a love for music. And, yeah, he was wearing a shirt—a well-worn, classic Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon T-shirt that looked like it had been around since the seventies.

  He turned off Led Zeppelin just as "Stairway to Heaven" got going. "Welcome to The History of Rock and Roll. This class is going to blow your mind. I'm not here to flunk you out or tank your GPA. My goal is to give you an appreciation for the best music on the planet.

  "The term 'rock and roll' emerged from the rhythm and blues fusion music in the nineteen fifties. Most white Americans have no concept of the original meaning of the term. 'Rock and rolling' was originally used in the African American community of the day to mean 'having sex.'

  "'Sex, drugs, and rock and roll' is, therefore, a redundant statement." He laughed. "Disc jockey Alan Freed coined the term, naming his radio show, where he played a collection of rhythm and blues albums, 'The Rock and Roll Show' with full knowledge of its sexual connotations. And yes, that will be on the test."

  Sitting next to Alexis, the last thing I needed to be reminded of was sex. Like it wasn't on my brain constantly when she was around. Crap. Now I was in a class with her that was essentially named "The History of Sex." It was burned in my brain with the music.

  Near the end of the period, the prof sprang a joint assignment on us. "Pair up! I have a playlist I want you to listen to, discuss, and write a joint paper on what you experience when you listen to it."

  Alexis turned to me. "I choose you."

  Shit. More dangerous territory. There was no way to turn her down. "You sure? You don't even know me. I could be a slacker and not do my part."

  "I'll take that chance." She paused. "Besides, I know where you live and how to make you pay."

  "You're an evil woman."

  She grinned.

  The bell rang. The prof dismissed the class.

  Alexis grabbed her backpack. "Let's go to the College Grind and get a head start on our assignment."

  I froze. Until that check came, I didn't have money for three-dollar cups of coffee. "What kind of a Double Deltsie are you, overachiever?"

  "The kind who likes musi
c and good company."

  I grabbed my backpack. "I should get back to the house—"

  "And what? Study? Isn't that what I'm asking?" She started down the aisle. "My treat. I'm buying. If you can resist free iced coffee, you are not the man I thought you were."

  Like I could resist a taunt like that. I swallowed my pride and caught up to her in two steps. I bent and whispered in her ear. "I'm trying to give you an out, pledge. FYI, the girls don't hang with the houseboys outside the house and certain sanctioned frat parties and events. It's not good for your image to be seen with the help."

  She shrugged and kept walking. "They can't complain about me doing homework with my partner."

  "But somehow they still will. You don't get it—we're from two different worlds."

  She raced on, expecting me to follow her like her puppy dog. And damn, but I did.

  "I don't think we are, Zach. In case you haven't noticed, we don't have a caste system here."

  I followed her into the crowded hall. "We have something worse—peer pressure."

  She flashed me a flirty smile. "I handle pressure like a pro. Years of dealing with my mom. Come on, Zach. Chill. It's just a cup of coffee. Do I have to beg? Or are we going to do this assignment at the last minute? In the study room in full view of everyone." She laughed like the thought was delicious.

  "Yeah, beg. I like it when girls beg." She had me where she wanted me. I pictured Morgan giving us death looks. The College Grind was safer.

  Alexis laughed and grabbed my arm. "Please, please, please. Pretty please." She batted her eyes with her ridiculously long lashes, exaggerating comically for effect.

  How could any hetero guy resist that? Up close, I could see a faint spray of freckles across her nose. She had a light scar on her chin that she'd tried to hide with makeup. She wasn't perfect. She wasn't even the most gorgeous Double Deltsie in the house. But her face was arresting. Her long blond hair fell around her shoulders, tempting a guy to run his fingers through it. My pulse wouldn't stop racing.

  She was damn striking. Imperfect enough to be real. Her personality was magnetic. I liked her way too much.