Crushed (Rushed #2) (12 page)

"I'm looking for something specific." She was squinting, reading labels. In front of the jars, there were cellophane bags of pre-bagged candy. She came to an empty jar and frowned. "They're out of tiger eyes. How can they be out! They only get them at Halloween."

My eyes were sharper than hers. I spotted one last bag, grabbed it, and held it up. "You're in luck."

"Yay! My hero." She snatched the bag from my hand. "I'm getting these." She took them to the counter.

I pulled out my wallet as she waded through her purse for hers. "I said I was buying. What else do you want?"

"Nothing." Her eyes shone.

"No chocolate? Don't girls want chocolate?"

"Stereotyper! Get some for yourself if you want it."

I laughed, paid for her candy, and bought a couple of things for myself. I handed her her bag. Saturday had been full of freezing rain, but today was sunny and surprisingly warm for this time of year. Out on the sidewalk, she opened her bag of tiger eyes and slipped one round ball into her mouth. She rolled her eyes and sighed as she sucked on it. "Delicious."

I imagined her sucking something of mine. "Are you going to share?"

"No." She shook her head and held the bag of candy behind her back. "I'm just going to tantalize you." She stuck her tongue out at me with the tiger eye balanced on it.

Shit, she was succeeding. Egging me on. I wrapped her in my arms, held her against me so tightly all she could do was squirm, and pressed my mouth to hers, taking possession and wrestling that candy free from her mouth and into mine.

She fought me. Feebly. I released her and stepped back, making a show of sucking on her candy. "You're right. It's delicious." I held it out on my tongue for her to see, just like she had to me.

"If you think I'm going to come get that back, you're crazy." She was breathing hard. Her eyes were dark and wide. Her lips were pink and puffed from cold and kiss.

I shrugged. "My gain."

She narrowed her eyes at me. "That was a kiss, sobriety bud."

"No, that was theft."
 

Fuck, I wanted her.

I was lying. Stealing her tiger eye was an excuse to kiss her. Tasting her like that, pressing her up against me, gave me ideas I shouldn't have. I had a girlfriend who loved me. Why the hell should I risk that relationship? That was what my mind said. But my heart was a smooth-talking son of bitch who didn't have any problem pursuing Morgan. My body was a traitor, too. I lusted after her. I couldn't get the picture of her in the slutty ref costume out of my mind.

I'd thought screwing her that night we walked in on Zach and Alexis would get her out of my system. I was wrong. I only wanted her more. But I also liked hanging with her.

I did the thing every self-respecting guy does when he's trying to get a girl out of his system. I didn't text or call her. I buried myself in my studies. But Saturday and our party ref plan was never far from my mind.

Thoughts of Morgan popped up at the most inconvenient times. Like in the communal shower in the frat, which was nothing more than a huge shower stall with showerheads sticking out at random intervals. Like PE showers at high school gyms. Shit, getting in the shower every morning without getting a hard-on was hard enough without Morgan on my mind. The walls of the shower were covered with pictures of hot naked girls that had been decoupaged to the walls over the years.
 

It was epic watching the pledges hit the showers the first time. But I was a seasoned junior. I couldn't afford to be caught with my dick up.
 

I talked to Jordan daily. On Thursday, she called while I was studying and grumpy to begin with.

"Halloween is on a Saturday, Dak. You have to come home." She'd gone from having a sexy pout in her voice earlier in the week to just nagging.
 

"I can't, babe. I can't drive."

She swore beneath her breath. "Take the bus or catch a flight home. I'll pick you up."

"I can't. I just can't. I have too much studying and too much to do at the frat. I can't break away right now."

And I had too much to do with Morgan.

"Fine, Dak. Be that way." The line went dead.

Shit.

Morgan

Sometimes I wanted to scream at myself for being stupid. Any girl who waits for a guy to text her was being just the kind of stupid I was talking about. And whether I liked to admit it or not, I was waiting for Dakota to text me. I mean, friends text each other, right?

But no. He kissed me and then nothing but silence. He was obviously the smart one here. People thought girls were hard to figure out. They had nothing on guys.

Sure, I could have manufactured an emergency to draw Dakota out. But I was damned if I was going to. The week slid by slowly. The big news on campus was a prank that someone had pulled on that awful Dr. Rogers I'd had for Chem my freshman year. Someone had put a smoke bomb in her ancient overhead projector and given her the scare of her life. It was the best trick on campus and it wasn't even Halloween yet.

Finally, on Friday afternoon, he texted to confirm our party-crashing date.
 

Pick you up at ten tomorrow night.

Brief. To the point. Totally frustrating. What could I read into that?

I amused myself by reading my favorite blog. An article on why a straight male best friend was better than a gay one caught my attention. Perk number one—straight guys had straight friends. And there were no competition issues.

Dakota had some hot friends. I decided I would take advantage of that. All I needed to get Dakota out of my mind was one hot, straight guy who was ready for a relationship. In other words, a unicorn. Then I could stop imagining something was, or might be, going on between me and my sobriety buddy.

Saturday at the sorority was totally dedicated to getting into costume. Every girl in the house was going as a slutty something—slutty cop, slutty maid, slutty colored candies, slutty witch. Looking appropriately slutty was no easy feat. It took skill to apply the perfect smoky eye makeup or paint your face to look like a slutty kitten.

Excitement ran high. As I got ready with the rest of the girls, I felt Brenda watching me.

She came up to me in the bathroom, so close she was in my face. "Going out tonight?" What was she? A personal Breathalyzer? Her gaze ran over my costume. "Or is this just for show?"

"I'm not chained to my room." Shaking, I brushed past her and out the door.

Halloween was when the weather here changed from fall to winter. We often got our first snow of the season. This year winter had threatened to come early. We'd already had a bout of freezing rain. But no one wanted to put a coat on over their slutty costumes. So it was tradition to put on an alcohol blanket. Meaning, you took a few shots before heading out. Not in the house, of course. That was an alcohol-free zone. Just outside, out of view.

That wasn't happening for me tonight. I couldn't afford another MIC.

I was still upstairs when Dak arrived to pick me up. Victoria called up to me before Dak could text that he had arrived. "Your fellow ref is here, Morgan."

Dak had texted me he was on his way. But I was running late.

When I came downstairs, Brenda was batting her eyes at him and laughing in that giggling, flirty way that means, "I'm interested." It was bad form to poach another sister's escort for the evening. And she knew it.
 

I made my grand entrance. "Hey, partner." I neatly divided Brenda from him, stepping between them as I hugged him.

He'd gotten a haircut and shaved. His cheeks had that freshly scrubbed look that made me want to rub them with mine. And he smelled good enough to snuggle up to.
Must resist urge to hook up.

He held me at arm's length, ignoring Brenda and studying me. "You look good enough to eat."

"Do I look good enough to rule a game? That's the question."

Next to me, Brenda was dressed like a slutty green candy-coated piece of chocolate. I could tell by her scowl that she thought she was the one who looked delectable enough to consume. Too bad for her.

Alexis came into the foyer from the living room just then. She threw herself at Dakota. "I thought I heard your voice!"

Odd. Strange. Totally uncommon for exes to be this friendly. Their behavior kept everyone gossiping and guessing about the true nature of the relationship between the three of them—Zach, Dak, and Alexis.

Dakota smiled at her. "Why aren't you in costume?"

"I'm not going out." She bit her lip, prettily.

Ah, poor innocent child. I wanted to scowl at her, but I made myself play nice.
 

"What?" His eyes were wide.

For a second I feared he was going to invite her along with us.

"I'm Skyping Zach later. And I have a bowlful of candy and a bunch of Halloween movies to watch. I'll be fine."

Dakota wore a black microfiber referee jacket over his uniform. It emphasized his broad shoulders and narrow waist. He was by far the hottest ref I'd ever seen. I pushed the thought out of my mind, telling myself the attraction I felt was simple transference. He was a lot like Zach, and I guessed I had a type.
 

"Get your coat and let's go," he said to me.

"I don't have a coat."

He looked at me like I was crazy. "Then get one. I'll wait."

I shook my head. "And ruin my outfit?" I looped my arm through his. "I don't have a cool ref jacket like yours." I nodded at the two girls next to us as I pulled Dakota toward the door. "Alexis. Brenda. Happy Halloween!"

"It's freezing outside," he whispered to me. "I don't have a car, remember? And we're alone on this mission, just the two of us. No one to carpool with."

"I'll be fine."
 

He looked skeptical. And rightly so. It was freezing outside.
 

I immediately started shivering. "So what's the plan? Where are we going?"

"My friend Collin is throwing his usual big Halloween bash at his apartment. I've never been before. Let's start there."

I wrapped my arms around myself. "Let's go."

"Your teeth are chattering." He slid his coat off. "Damn it, Morgan. You're going to freeze to death." He put the coat over my shoulders.

I slid my arm around his waist and cuddled in to him. "We'll share." I was just huddling for warmth, so I told myself. But it felt surprisingly good to be tucked against him. Safe.
 

He put his arm around me, too, resting his hand on my hip. Walking with him like that shouldn't have been so exciting. But it was, and nothing I told myself made the surprisingly giddy feelings go away.

Dak insisted on taking the bus. We got lucky and didn't have to wait for one. Five minutes later we were in the parking lot of Dak's friend's apartment in the middle of a brand-new complex on the edge of the wheat fields surrounding town. The apartments weren't much different in atmosphere from the frats. They pulsed with music and the air smelled like booze. People spilled out on the lawn and cluttered the clubhouse.

Dak knew where he was going. He led us directly to his friend's place.

At the door to Collin's apartment, I reluctantly released my grip on Dak and handed him his jacket. "Put this on. You look hot in it."

"Is that a come-on?"

"You wish." But, yeah, it could be. It would have been in the old days.

He pulled two masks out of his jacket pocket. "What do you think?"

I grabbed one from him and slid it on. "You can never be too careful."

The party was in full swing. Dak grabbed my hand and pulled me inside. "Where's our host?" Dak looked around the party. "Ah. There he is!" He pulled me through a throng of monsters, witches, and assorted characters. "Collin!" He slapped him on the back.

Collin turned. His eyes lit up when he saw me. "It's about time the refs arrived! This party is getting out of hand. And you brought a lady ref." He whistled.

I laughed.

"You know where the beer is." Collin hitched a thumb at a nearby keg. "We have the harder stuff. In the kitchen." Just then, another guy walked by. Collin grabbed him. "This is my roommate, Zave."