His brow furrowed as he turned to stare at Mike in disbelief. "Why, because she turned you down?" he quipped.
Mike shook his head. "I've never tried."
Liam started to laugh as he shook his head. "Yeah right. I know you, and there's no way you wouldn't try with someone like her!"
Mike shook his head and bent to refill his cup. "Seriously, I haven't."
Liam stared at him in astonishment. He knew Mike as well as he knew himself, and he knew he intended to try with her. He didn't believe Mike for one second. Mike took hold of his cup and bent to refill it. "Why not?"
Mike shoved the cup back into Liam's hand. "I don't know. I mean she's hot, don't get me wrong, but..."
"But what?"
He ran a hand through his disheveled hair. "I don't know. We had Trig together last year, she helped me out a lot. I couldn't have passed the class without her, you know how I am with math, but there's something about her..." his voice trailed off as he frowned thoughtfully.
Liam sensed that there was more, that Mike had used his amazing powers of deduction on the girl, and hadn't liked what he'd discovered. "What about her?" Liam prodded.
Mike's frown deepened as he turned troubled eyes to Liam. "Honestly, it's almost as if she's scared of something. The few times I accidentally touched her, she would get this look on her face that, well... it just wasn't normal, wasn't right. I didn't want to scare her even more by making a pass at her. Plus..." Mike broke off, his brow furrowed as he stared at Sera and Michelle.
"Plus what?" Liam prodded.
Mike took a sip of beer. "I don't know; there's something about her, something that I can't put my finger on, or describe. Something different."
Liam couldn't believe one word that he was hearing. Mike usually didn't care about a girl one way or another. No matter what. The fact that he had actually restrained himself from going after someone was astounding in itself, but to hear him actually talk about her as if he truly liked her was an absolute miracle.
"Are you okay Mike? Are you sick or something?"
Mike's frown disappeared as he grinned merrily. "No I'm not. Trust me when you get close enough you'll see it, and you'll understand."
Liam turned to look at her. "Who said I was going to get close enough?"
Mike laughed. "I think you should leave her be, but I know you, you'll be heading in that direction. For now though let's go see what other options we have available to us tonight. You're going to need them."
Liam didn't think that he would need any other options. He had marked his conquest for the night, and he was going to have her, but it never hurt to look. "Sounds good to me."
Liam watched as she slipped out the door. He almost went after her, but decided against it. She would be back, of that he was certain. When she came back, he would make his presence known. Until then, he decided to give her time alone, and to inspect the rest of the women that were available for another night.
He followed Mike onto the crowded dance floor, instantly finding himself swamped by a group of girls that made it quite obvious that he could have whatever he wanted from them that night. He tried to focus his attention on them, but his thoughts kept wandering to Sera, and when she would return.
CHAPTER 2
"Here you are!" Sera looked up as Kathleen stumbled toward her. Beer splashed out of her cup, splattering onto the ground. "Whatcha doing out here?"
"Just getting some air."
"Hmm, it does feel nice. Having fun?"
"Yeah, you?"
"Of course, but I got to show you something."
"Now?"
"Yup, get up!" She began to pull on Sera's arm, spilling more of her drink onto her hand and down her arm. "Come on Sera!"
"Can't it wait?" Sera protested, not ready to go plunging back into the house.
"No way! Come on!"
