Page 31 of Cheap Shot

“I’m on a fast.” Cassie tilted her head to Sadie. “And she’s on a cleanse.”

I shook my head. “I still don’t get the difference.”

Ella giggled while stepping into her heels. “Don’t bother trying. They both mean they aren’t interested in dating right now.”

“Well, what about you?” I asked.

“If I find someone, then fine, but I’m not actively looking,” she answered.

“Same,” Krystal said before I could ask. “Which means it’s your turn.”

I didn’t bother arguing. We had this conversation before, and it always ended with them playing my wing-women. They knew the bare minimum about why I transferred––that something bad happened with an ex and I didn’t want to be there anymore––but I didn’t tell them about my recent kiss with Reid. That was too complicated to explain.

“Let’s go before it’s over,” I suggested and headed toward the hall.

I felt eyes on us as we walked through the courtyard. At first, I thought it was because we were dressed up, but when I glanced around, I noticed a few guys checking us out.

Something these ladies had mastered was the ability to feel sexy without putting it all on display. I wore tennis shoes and jeans with a tight T-shirt, but I felt more confident than ever as we walked down the street toward the party. Cassie left her sweater unbuttoned enough to show some cleavage and the other three were showing off their legs, but overall, we were the most covered-up group. None of us needed to show up in a skimpy dress or barely-there shorts to feel amazing about how we looked. We didn’t need, or want, the leering looks from guys. We didn’t dress for them. We did it because it was fun and made us feel good. Sure, men who were looking for a quick or easy hookup skipped over us, but I was grateful for that.

“There it is.” Sadie pointed to the blue, colonial house at the end of the street.

The lawn and driveway were packed with people, and I could hear the music from half a block away.

“Oh, this is going to be a good one.” Ella squealed. “I can feel it.”

I started to agree but froze when I saw the letters above the door. My stomach dropped. Alpha Gamma Nu. The one house Emery warned about.

It was crowded, and I could hear the music from the street, but it appeared to be the same as the other parties we’d gone to. How bad could it really be?

None of the girls seemed bothered about being here, so I followed them up the path to the front door. We’d be fine as long as we stuck together.

Chapter 12

Reid

Ethan was missing. Every night that the guys wanted to get together to play video games as a means to distract themselves from the parties they were skipping, he disappeared.

It wasn’t just those nights, though. It was happening more and more often, but every time I asked where he was going, he blew off my question, giving me a vague, noncommittal answer. I wanted to press and find out what was really going on with him, but the less he was around, the less often he asked me about his sister. Almost two weeks had passed without him mentioning her around me, and I didn’t want to remind him, so maybe the break from each other was good.

I was still concerned something was going on, though.

“This sucks.” Matt stuck a piece of sausage and mushroom pizza in his mouth.

“Yeah, well it’s the one you ordered so suck it up,” Benjamin teased.

“You know that’s not what I meant,” Matt said.

“It feels like we’re grounded, only we didn’t do anything fun to make it worth it.” Kevin scratched his neck while the next level of the game loaded.

“It won’t always be like this,” Benjamin said as the countdown started. “But during the season we really need to focus.”

We all focused as we entered the war zone, splitting off and calling out warnings and directions to one another.

“It’s not just parties, you guys. We shouldn’t be wasting time and energy on distractions.” I fumbled with the controller, trying to take down an enemy’s tank.

“We already don’t drink, smoke, do drugs, and we cross the street with the signal. What more can we give up?” Kevin asked. “Heads up, Becker!”

“Got him,” he replied.