“Yeah, you’re right. Our Erin here embodied the Zeta standard of twenty-five years ago, when being fat was acceptable. But if you had access to more recent Zeta history, you’d find that things have changed in the last two decades. You might think that I’m being a bitch but I just want what’s best for my sisters and I know how important it is to Erin to fit in the sorority and benefit from the great advantage that being a Zeta can give you in life. If I seem harsh it’s because I care. Isn’t it darling?”
Valeria’s hazel eyes shine with a hard light as she looks at Erin as if challenging her to step out of line and see what consequences may befall her.
When Erin nods in agreement, thanking Valeria for offering her help and counsel, the Zeta president’s smile widens and her triumphant gaze lands on me. “I hope you pass tonight’s tests, Kaya. I’m sure it’ll be really fun to make a Zeta out of you.”
Her tone is sickly sweet and she’s smiling at me, with her head slightly tilted to one side. To anyone who heard her words or looked our way, our exchange would look perfectly friendly but I can’t help the growing feeling of uneasiness that spreads from my chest up to my face. I flush like a child who’s just been caught playing with her mother’s makeup.
I take advantage of the arrival of other people who want Valeria’s attention to step aside and take a sip of my drink, thinking that she made me look like an asshole and that maybe I should have minded my own fucking business.
After all, Erin is an adult and she should be more than capable of defending herself.
Parker immediately picks up on my discomfort and wraps a soothing arm around my shoulders.
“Are you all right, K?”
I nod and look up into his bright silver eyes. “Yeah. I just wonder what Valeria’s deal is. Is it me or was the way she spoke to Erin completely unacceptable?”
Parker nods, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear and letting his fingers linger to tease that sensitive spot.
“It was unpleasant, you’re right. I guess Valeria plans to follow in her predecessor’s footsteps. The previous Zeta president graduated last year and she was known and feared all over campus and the Greek council. She ruled the sorority with an iron fist imposing all sorts of rules and standards. Like which colors to wear on which day of the week, how many dates before a Zeta was allowed to sleep with someone ...”
“You seem to know a lot about those rules,” I say looking at Parker through narrowed eyes and causing Bryce to chuckle as he takes pity on his best friend and comes to his rescue.
“Yeah well, remember our rebound on spring break that we told you about after we got dumped? We quickly realized that the Zetas weren’t rebound material.”
Right. Well, I guess that should be good in a way. At least if I get into ΖΘΒ, I shouldn’t be too worried about my future sisters having fucked Parker and Bryce.
I’m about to inquire about where they rebounded aside from the ΙΑΚs but our conversation is interrupted by Valeria’s voice.
The Zeta president is standing on a stool and is tapping the edge of her glass with a teaspoon to get everyone’s attention.
“Zetas and Gammas, welcome to our first event for this year’s rush week. Tonight we’ll select the pledges for our prestigious chapters. The pledges will be judged on an array of different areas but passing tonight’s challenges will be a fundamental aspect that will influence our choice. The panel of judges who will be responsible for selecting the pledge candidates to be subject to the vote of each house is made up by myself, as the Zeta president, Oliver, as the Gamma president, Rachelle as my deputy, and the Gamma deputy, who I believe hasn’t been announced yet. Oliver?”
My eyes drift to the new Gamma president, the guy who took the position Reid wanted so badly.
Oliver is tall and athletic with strawberry blond hair that falls defiantly on his forehead and magnetic green eyes that seem to make everyone hold their breath, awaiting his next words.
His full lips quirk in an amused smirk as if we’d all have to earn whatever secret he was privy to.
“Good evening Zetas and Gamma brothers,” his low, sexy voice laced with a strong British accent makes all the girls swoon as soon as he speaks. “First of all let me all tell you how excited I am to be attending my senior year at Bridgeport. And let me thank Valeria and the gorgeous Zetas for having me and my brothers here tonight. The reality is that I’m new to this esteemed Atheneum and I’ve just recently met my brothers. This is why I haven’t been able to make up my mind on who’s the best candidate to be my deputy this year. This might be a little unusual but I’ve decided to use rush week to observe my two top candidates: Hoyt Bradley and Reid Hudson. So I think they should both have a spot on the judging panel.”
Reid steps near his president followed by a tall, stocky guy with a buzz cut and dark beady eyes that arrogantly scan the room.
Reid
KAYA DOES PRETTY WELL on the first challenge: a jeopardy style game where the candidate pledges are asked questions about the history of our respective chapters at Bridgeport U.
I know Karen gave Kaya a lot of material to study, knowing that a knowledge quiz would certainly be a part of the selection process.
The second game is a lot more what I’d expect at a sorority house: each girl gets paired with a Gamma pledge and each player is given a pair of sky-high platform heels. Like a porn star kind of shoe and a solo cup full of margarita that gets poured from heavy looking glass pitchers.
There’s one pitcher per team and the game consists of the team members standing at opposite sides of the room in their heels (yes the guys are wearing them too), the pitcher gets balanced on the first person’s head. Each aspiring pledge has to walk to their team member in their heels, while drinking the margarita with the glass pitcher balanced on their head. The game is over when the pitcher is empty or it falls, determining that team’s elimination. Obviously, the more margarita one drinks, the lighter the pitcher but the drunker one gets, the harder it is to keep your balance.
Parker and Bryce are like two fucking little annoying cheerleaders, encouraging Kaya every step of the way. I immediately feel a pang of guilt toward my best friends. Yes, those motherfuckers are dating the girl of my dreams but it’s not their fault if my father decided to marry Karen and that his idea of the perfect family includes Kaya and I to have a sibling relationship. We’re like a fucked up version of the Brady bunch, I swear. My guilt is caused by the secret I’m asking the guys to keep. I know that they feel that Kaya has the right to know that I was the one who kissed her that night of three years ago, in the dark.
They’re loyal to her and that means that they’re not just playing a game or using her as a hookup, it means that they care about her. And I fucking approve with my whole heart. Bryce and Parker are the best guys I know and even though I’d like to kill each of them with my bare hands when I think about them kissing and touching my Kaya, I know that they’ll treat her right. They’ll treat her better than I ever did.
Parker came to talk to me earlier, pleading with me to release them from the promise to keep the secret about that kiss.
Kaya’s first kiss.
For a moment the guilt is replaced by pride swelling in my chest at the thought that I was the first to kiss her and that she still thinks about it. Of course I think about it too, I’ve been thinking about that kiss and replaying it in my mind constantly for three years. I felt like a fucking loser, telling myself that she probably didn’t even remember it. Now I know that for as little as it might be, I’ll always have that kiss. Even if she doesn’t know it was me, even if she might’ve never let me kiss her if she’d known.
I tried to reason with Parker that telling her about that kiss isn’t going to change the situation, it’s just going to make things worse.
Kaya knowing about it won’t set the clock back to three years ago and sure as fuck, it won’t prevent our parents from falling in love. All it will do is dig up all the reasons why Kaya and I could never be. I to
ld Parker it’s not his secret to tell and that unless he and Bryce talked, there’s no way Kaya will ever find out.
I understand how he wants to build his relationship with my stepsister on complete honesty but I seriously don’t think that telling her would do any good to anyone. He reluctantly agreed to let sleeping dogs lie and that if nothing would change the current situation, her knowing would only dig up a painful past.
“Oh, shit!”
Kaya’s voice rips me away from my thoughts and for a second, I can’t stifle the smile that appears on my face at the sight of Kaya drenched in margarita. Our eyes meet for a brief moment and that’s when I keep myself in check and settle back into my usual indifference.
The pitcher shattered on the hardwood floor and broke in a lot of pieces but thankfully Bryce is immediately at her side telling her not to move while Valeria instructs someone to sweep the glass away before someone gets hurt.
My stepsister looks disappointed with the outcome of the second task but in all honesty, I didn’t see her doing particularly well at a drunken party game. That’s not who Kaya is.
Once the game is over and points are awarded for the task, Oliver announces the third and final challenge for the aspiring pledges.
“The kissing challenge! We all know that both the Gammas and the Zetas are coveted as the best dates all over campus. Everyone wants to be one of us or be with us. And to make sure that you’re worthy of being a Gamma or a Zeta, you have to prove that you’re a great kisser. We’ll draw a name from these hats.” He extends his hand and Hoyt passes him two black fedora hats, one with a blue ribbon and one with a pink ribbon on it. “And the aspiring pledge will have to kiss the member of the judges panel whose name he or she draws for a minimum of sixty seconds. At the end of the kiss, the judge will decide if ‘yay or nay’. A yay is worth ten points, a nay zero. That will mark the end of tonight’s challenges and the results will be communicated to you tomorrow via text message from me or the Zeta president. Are you ready?”
There’s twenty pledges on each side. My name is drawn twice and I have to kiss one blonde freshman who definitely knows what she’s doing and another girl who uses way too much tongue and definitely earns a resounding ‘nay’ from me.
Kaya is waiting for her turn between Parker and Bryce. She looks worried, probably thinking that my friends will object to the game. But they both look relaxed: this kind of game means shit.
Kaya is among the last few girls to draw a name. She picks one folded piece of paper and hands it to Hoyt, who’s been looking at her in a way I really don’t like.
And you know what’s the crazy thing? I’ve been so worried about my earlier conversation with Parker, about trying to hide my jealousy and getting used to having Kaya around and seeing her cozying up to my best friends, that I didn’t see how this game is a potential train wreck waiting to happen.
Hoyt reads the name Kaya just drew: “Reid Hudson.”
Kaya
“REID HUDSON.”
At first Hoyt’s words don’t even register, I was too worried about hoping that I wouldn’t draw his name.
I don’t like the look in his beady eyes and the way they slide up and down every girl’s body, as if he were looking at a piece of meat trying to decide if he wants to sink his teeth into it.
And I must’ve had too many skinny margaritas, because my reaction upon hearing my stepbrother’s name is odd to say the least.
I burst into laughter. Well done, Kaya. Way to look like a total dork in front of your new friends. And then Mom gets surprised that I don’t make friends easily.
Anyway, I don’t even have time to analyze my own feelings, from the immediate physical reaction I had at the idea of kissing Reid – my heart picked up its pace and a swarm of butterflies began fluttering their wings in my stomach – to the thought that I’ve always wanted to kiss him and now I might get to do it ... to the odd way Parker and Bryce look at each other, to the furious look in Chase’s eyes and the clenching of his fists. I have no time to process all this because Reid’s voice cuts through everything else loud and clear.
“Fuck no! I’m not kissing Kaya.”
Again, I have no time to react in any way because Oliver looks really taken aback.
“Why the bloody hell not? She’s a stunning looking girl, you bastard.” The British guy looks positively confused but Reid explains himself immediately.
“Because she’s my fucking sister, that’s why!”
Oliver apologizes to Reid, clasping his shoulder with a perfectly manicured hand. “Oh, shit. I’m so sorry, mate. I had no idea.”
Valeria’s voice interjects itself in the conversation. “Hold on a second, that sounds odd. If she’s your sister, why don’t you two have the same last name?”
This time it’s Chase that intervenes. “Because Kaya’s our stepsister. Our parents got married three years ago.”
A sly smirk appears on Oliver’s handsome features, his green eyes shining with a devious glint. “Ah, but this changes everything. Come on, dude. If you aren’t blood, then she’s totally fair game.”
Reid folds his powerful arms across his chest, in an immovable stance.
“I ain’t kissing my sister, Wellesley.”
Oliver nods, suddenly serious. “Is this your final answer?”
Reid seems to think about it and then confirms that he isn’t up for playing this game. His frat president suddenly sets his intense green gaze on me.
“Well Kaya, it looks like we have a problem. The rules of this game clearly state that if you fail to perform a task, the challenge is doubled. So now you owe us two kisses.”
I open my mouth to protest: I really don’t care about kissing Oliver but I especially don’t want to kiss Hoyt.
The burly master of ceremonies smiles in what I’m sure he thinks is a seductive grin but I’m ready to gag at just the idea of locking lips with him. Especially because of the way he’s rubbing his hands together. I swear to God if he does anything more than kiss me, I’ll knee him in the balls.
Don’t ask me why but I instantly disliked him. The look in his eyes reminds me of Marc.
But I know that there’s no way out of this without looking like a poor sport and instantly withdrawing my attempt to rush the Zetas. I debate it internally for a second: I don’t feel particularly strongly about being a Zeta but I know how much it means to Mom.
If I don’t get in, fair enough but with my legacy status, the only way for me not to get in is pretty much refusing to complete a challenge. And Mom would live through the disappointment but knowing her, she’d think that I didn’t want to do this challenge because of Bryce. She’s already harping on about not letting my first ever ‘boyfriend’ deprive me of a great college experience and I don’t want her to dislike Bryce, despite the fact that Mom is totally projecting her own regrets on me.
I look at Oliver trying to sound as nonplussed as possible, not wanting to give anyone the satisfaction of seeing how uncomfortable I feel. “Ok, so let’s get this over and done with. Who is it, you and Hoyt?” I internally shudder at the way Hoyt adjusts himself, trying to actually show off his hard-on. Yuck, it’s just a kiss dude, gross.
But Oliver’s smile widens as he shakes his blond head. “I applaud the eagerness, darling but it’s not going to be Hoyt.” He turns to look at the rest of the room, everyone is paying their full attention to our game. “You’ll be kissing me and Chase.”
Tonight I don’t seem to be able to put a word in edgewise, because Hoyt booms his protest, his face growing red with fury.
“Hey dude, what the fuck? The rules say that she had to kiss one guy in the panel. If she has to kiss two and Reid ain’t doing it, it’s me and you.”
Oliver’s head snaps to his ‘brother’, his voice totally devoid of the well mannered tone he was using before.
“Not quite. And if you want a chance at deputy, I wouldn’t interrupt your president. The rules say that if a pledge can’t perform a task, the challenge is doubled a
nd the details have to be decided by the president. So that would be me and Valeria. And I’ve made my decision. To pass her challenge, Kaya needs to kiss me and Chase.”
I don’t get why he’s so hellbent on making me kiss Chase, so I ask. “Why Chase?”
He smirks. “It’s either complete your original challenge and kiss Reid, or kiss me and Chase.” He then leans closer to me and whispers in my ear. “The reason? You’re cute and I don’t mind a little kiss. And quite honestly, the idea of seeing you kiss one of your stepbrothers is quite a turn on. Deliciously naughty.”
The Gamma president looks at my stepbrothers. “I’ll get started. In the meantime, decide who’s taking one for the team. Come on, don’t look so pissed. Your stepsister is a little cutie, I’m sure you must’ve rubbed more than one out thinking about her.”
And then, just like that, he pulls me to him and crushes his lips on mine.
How was it, you might ask. And I’d be lying to you if I said that it was bad in any way, shape or form.
This hot looking, sexy sounding, super posh and slightly douchy guy definitely knows how to kiss a girl.
His lips are daring and aggressive but not overwhelming, he attacks my mouth in a sexy, confident exploration and I don’t even realize that I’m kissing him back until I feel his tongue tangle with mine and compelling me to let him taste me while I savor his manly and decadent taste. Like whiskey and with a touch of spicy smokiness, like a good, expensive cigar.
When we part, my chest is visibly rising and falling, and I’m trying to get my bearings as the room comes back into focus.
Oliver’s arrogant smile is back in place as he looks at my stepbrothers. “So, who will it be? Let me just guarantee you that you’re missing out. Your stepsister is delicious.”
“Fuck you, Wellesley!”
Reid is about to walk out of the room when Chase takes a step forward. “Yeah, my brother is right, fuck you!”
And for the second time tonight, I’m pulled against a strong chest but this time it’s different.
Illicit (Perfect for them Book 2) Page 4
