Instead, his grip tightened on my waist, holding me in place. His thigh stayed wedged between my knees, and he just kept rocking his hips forward in a steady rhythm.
I arched up, chasing the contact, but I couldn’t find the leverage I needed to finish. “Don’t stop,” I mumbled, my lips moving against the palm of his hand.
He pushed harder, using his weight to pin me flat against the racks of coats. And I could hear Aleksey taking short, ragged breaths right next to my ear, his own control slipping.
Suddenly, loud voices echoed almost right outside the closet.
“Check the back!” Trenton yelled. “I know someone’s out there!”
Aleksey froze. Every muscle in his body locked up tight against mine. In one quick motion, he dropped his hand from my mouth and took a massive step back.
He then shoved the closet door open, letting a slice of dim yellow light from the mudroom spill over us. Without a single word or a backward glance, he stepped out, crossed the few feet to the exterior door, and slipped out into the freezing night.
The exit door clicked shut behind him.
Left alone in the closet with the door now standing half-open, I slumped back against the racks, my body still aching for release.
I stayed there in the dark, trying to catch my breath as the cold draft leaking under the exterior door drifted right into the closet and hit me, freezing the sweat on my neck.
I was incredibly frustrated and painfully hard. And Aleksey had, once again, used me to grind out his bad mood and then vanished.
Adjusting my jeans with shaking hands, I took a slow breath. I really didn’t want to go back out to the party, but hiding in here by myself was pathetic. So, I pushed the closet door therest of the way open and stepped out, heading back into the loud hallway.
Navigating the crowded party felt like a massive chore. But I shoved my way into the kitchen and leaned my weight against the island, ignoring the sticky puddle of spilled beer under my hand. A few of the older legacy players were standing right next to me, laughing over the music rattling the floorboards. I just kept my mouth shut, hoping I could blend into the background until I could leave.
A girl with perfectly styled blonde hair stopped next to me at the kitchen island to refill her cup. She looked me up and down, a bright, calculated smile spreading across her face.
“Wait. You’re Karter, right?” She asked, her tone polished and a bit too eager. “Elliot’s baby brother. My friends said your dad just bought you that ridiculous black SUV parked out front.”
I tried not to grimace.
The SUV had been waiting in the frat lot when I arrived for orientation, keys delivered to my dorm with a note in my father’s handwriting that readDon’t scratch it.A matte-black tank, fully customized, still reeking of new leather. I never drove it back to my own place; parking a hundred-thousand-dollar car outside the dilapidated Ice House was basically begging to find it sitting on cinder blocks by morning.
More importantly, keeping it far away from my housemates was the only way to avoid rubbing my family’s wealth in the scholarship guys’ faces and stirring up bad blood.
Instead, I kept it permanently stashed here in the frat’s secure lot just to maintain a low profile. But clearly, that hadn’t worked.
“Yeah. That’s me,” I said, putting a polite amount of space between us.
“You should take a few of us for a drive later,” she suggested, leaning against the counter and twirling a strand of hair. “I love guys with nice cars.”
“No thanks,” I said, keeping my voice politely neutral. “I’m taking it easy tonight.”
Her bright smile dropped instantly into a flat, unimpressed line. She rolled her eyes, muttered something to her friend about me being a stuck-up asshole, and walked away toward the living room to find someone more useful.
Trenton watched her leave before taking a quick sip from his red cup with a smirk. “Careful, Karter.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Keep turning down the easy girls,” Trenton called out over the music, “and people are gonna start wondering if you’re holding out for one of the guys.”
A few people around the kitchen island burst out laughing. I bit down hard on my bottom lip, my whole body going still. But years of habit kicked in before the anger had even fully registered. I just did what I always did to keep things smooth.
“Go to hell, man,” I said, forcing out a laugh to match theirs.
Trenton grinned, likely thinking we were having some great bonding moment. However, the fake laugh made me feel sick to my stomach.
I pictured Aleksey leveling Trenton on the ice, but standing here in the kitchen, I didn’t say a single word.
