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I was leaving out a lot on purpose. “Surname in Blaine. My dad wanted to name me Amory because of it.”
When she dropped her hand from mine, I pointed toward her house, which was in desperate need of a good power wash, paint job, and new windows—at least three that I could see from here.
“I’ll let you get back to dinner,” I told her before she could ask me any more about myself.
She was smart, and I was going to have to be smarter. Starting with getting my attraction to her under control. I liked beautiful women, but I fucking loved intelligent ones who were well read. In order to keep from getting distracted by this girl, I was going to need someone else to keep me sated sexually.
She nodded, but said nothing as she watched me closely. Too perceptive. I winked as I rolled up my window.
She stepped back and then turned to walk toward her house, only glancing back once when she reached the yard. I lifted my hand in a wave, then pulled out onto the road and drove away. Leaving her behind and forcing my thoughts elsewhere.
It was time I asked out the Dolvin Cosmetics heiress my mother had kept pushing me to do. Just because Hattie Dolvin was a wealthy socialite that did some modeling didn’t make her shallow. I needed to give her a chance. This seemed like the perfect time.
•Five •
“I mean, you said it all. I heard it. Life moved on.”
Royal
So far, I’d been lucky. Not one sighting of Merce while I’d been upstairs, showing face at the Alpha Epsilon Tau party.
Milo had rescued me from a nosy Omega Theta—I believed her name was Becky, but I wasn’t sure. She’d been panting after Merce for over a year, and the word that he had broken up with me seemed to make her giddy.
I sighed in relief as we reached the basement to the frat house. The noise from upstairs had faded, and the only thing other than the damp smell of the room was the round poker table and bar set up beside it, stocked with expensive bourbon, gin, and cognac.
Cody, Witt, and Julian were already down here with their drinks sitting at the table. Cody had his signature cigar in his mouth, but he’d yet to light it. He always waited until the first hand was played. Some superstition of his. I didn’t always win these games. If I did, then they’d figure out the hustle. The nights I let them win, Milo covered the loss for me by giving me the money to play.
Tonight was not one of those nights.
I was here to take them all to the cleaners.
“Might as well start out the new school year with a bang,” Milo had told me.
Witt raised his eyebrows when he saw me. “Royal, didn’t expect to see you here tonight. Seeing as how things went down with you and Merce,” he said.
Cody shoved him. “Fuck, man,” he scowled. “That’s harsh.”
Witt shrugged. “What? We were all thinking it.”
“I wasn’t,” Julian said, then winked at me. “I was hoping our little card shark would still come around. Makes game night a hell of a lot more fun.”
Cody snorted. “You say that now, but when she’s walking out with your five grand, you’re gonna be cursing her and every relative she’s ever had.”
Julian glared at him. “Shut up and light the damn cigar. You look like a moron with it hanging out of your mouth like that.”
This was typical. All of it.
“I missed y’all too,” I chirped with a bright grin.
Two hands landed on my shoulders and squeezed. “You came. That’s my girl,”
I recognized the voice. It was Landon McGill. His father was a big-time CEO of a large appliance company.
“Heard you were free of Merce,” he said, entirely too close to my ear. “I’m claiming my turn now. Before you take my money.”
Milo grabbed my arm. “All right, Landon, take your overused, diseased penis over there. She’s not here to mess around with another one of you fuckers. She’s here to play.”
I moved closer to Milo as Landon walked down the last stair and gave me a smirk. Landon was beautiful in a pirate sort of way. There was a Jack Sparrow look about him. But Milo was right; Landon was also popular with the ladies and had been known to sleep with several a night—often at the same time. When you played cards with the guys, you learned all about their sex lives.
