A small smirk tugs at my lips. “He’s not worth it.”
“No, but you are.”
Affection warms my chest, pumping through my veins to the rest of my body.
I don’t say anything.
I can’t.
I’m too afraid of what might come out if I respond to Stephen’s notion that maybe I’m worth a damn.
“Ladies,drop your panties. The Ospreys just walked in!”
I glare at the DJ across the room as cheers fill the air.
Frat parties aren’t my thing, and they never will be my thing. But every once in a while, I have to appease my teammates and show face for a celebratory drink, which consists of me holding a Solo cup filled with disgusting keg beer, and pretending to sip on it throughout the night.
Nobody but Stephen knows about my father’s alcoholism, so he’s the only one who’s aware that I’m stone-cold sober, and he doesn’t give me a hard time about it like he does with everything else.
“Look at this place.” Stephen’s eyes bounce around the room at the potential hookups like he’s a kid in a candy shop. “Take your pick, Kellerman. We’ve got the whole football teamandthe cheerleading squad.”
I roll my eyes. “I’m here to spend a little time with the team, and then I’m out. I have?—”
My gaze snags on a girl dancing with her friends on the other side of the room, and my brain erases all other thoughts.
Her dark-brown hair is in a messy bob, the shorter pieces falling over her eyes while the ends of her strands hover just above her shoulders. Her toned arms are covered in a myriad of tattoos, each one weaving into the other like it’s telling a story; the mandala on her throat in particular catches my attention, along with the thin, sparkly ring dangling from her septum. Her tiny black tank-top saysEmo Girlin big white letters, and rippedbaggy jeans sit low on her waist, rounding out her rocker-girl appearance with black combat boots.
This girl is my fantasy come to life.
Apparently, she’s Stephen’s fantasy too, because he’s staring just as hard as I am.
“Dibs,” he murmurs.
I roll my eyes. “She’s out of your league.”
He scoffs. “No such thing.”
Regardless of how good-looking Stephen is, he hasn’t yet learned that you can’t call dibs on a woman likethat. You don’towna woman like that.Shedecides what she wants and who she wants, and you’d be wise to obey.
Stephen grips my elbow and pulls me across the room. “Occupy her friends.”
I dig my heels in as we get closer. “I don’t dance, man.”
“You’re my wingman. I need you.”
This guy doesn’t need a wingman. Women and men alike throw themselves at him.
The hazel-eyed beauty glances up as Stephen makes a beeline right for her, dragging me behind him. She wears a playful smirk on her lush lips as she moves her hips to the beat, waiting to see what he’ll do.
Stephen releases my arm and slides up behind her, his body moving in sync with hers. He whispers something in her ear, and her shoulders shake with her laughter.
I’m about to spin around, ready to disappear from the crowded dance floor. Stephen gets the girl, and I’ll sneak out of the party and go back to my dorm alone.
But then her gaze shifts to me.
With Stephen’s hands sitting on her waist, she reaches out and her fingers wrap around my wrist. “Where do you think you’re going?”
I dip my head so she can hear me over the music. “Looks like you’ve got a dancing partner.”