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I shoot Brighton a quick text to let her know I’m here as the five of us approach the house. I’m not even sure who lives here; the St. Patrick’s Day party changes location every year. Not that it matters. There are so many people here, most of which are complete strangers to me and to each other.
The second we step inside, I’m sucked into the chaotic atmosphere. Students are dancing and singing at the top of their lungs to pop music that blares from a couple of massive speakers in what I would assume is normally a living room off to the right of the entryway. There are green balloons and streamers hung everywhere, and most of the partygoers are either dressed in green like me, or have on hats or different bright green headpieces.
I turn to tell the guys that I’m going to find Brighton—and a drink—only to find that Lex and Kade have already disappeared into the crowd. Part of me is relieved I won’t have to explain them to my best friend, but another part of me is nervous they’re loose in a house full of people.
Atlas lingers slightly behind me to the left, glancing around the crowd of people and looking wholly disinterested by the entire event.
I bite my tongue to keep from telling him that he should have stayed home. My head turns toward Gabriel when he places his hand against my lower back.
He leans in, grazing the shell of my ear with his lips and sending a shiver down my spine. “Drink?”
I fight the urge to lean into him and close my eyes. Everything about Gabriel makes me want to wrap myself in him, and I’m still trying to figure that out. “Sure,” I say, “anything is fine.”
“I don’t think there will be much of a variety at a frat party,” Atlas chimes in, glancing at me from where he’s leaning against the wall.
I prop my hands on my hips. “You look like someone’s dad who’s about to bust in and break up the party,” I tell him, “just so you know.”
His eyes narrow, and my stomach dips in response. “And shall I tell you what you look like in that dress?” There’s a thinly veiled challenge in his tone, one I can’t help but take the bait for.
“Please do.”
Atlas pushes away from the wall and closes the short distance between us. I stand my ground, but my pulse races when I realize that Gabriel slipped away to get our drinks.
He couldn’t save you from me, anyway, the dark expression on Atlas’s face says.
Before I have a chance to react, Atlas manages to back me up against the wall next to the living room. We’re tucked into an alcove between the other room and a staircase. To any onlooker, it would likely appear as if we’re a couple trying to find a more private spot, but the race in my pulse tells a different story.
“You’re nervous,” he says in a low voice, dipping his face so his lips are close to my ear. “Do I make you nervous, Calla?”
I close my eyes as my name rolls off his tongue, and my head tips back against the wall. I want to open my mouth and tell him no, but he’ll know I’m lying the second the word leaves my lips. Instead, I turn my face away, exposing my neck. I wore my hair in dark brown curls, pulled away from my face in a high pony. Was it to taunt the guys while we’re here tonight? There’s a pretty good chance.
I swallow hard, wishing Gabriel would hurry back with that drink. “You make me a lot of things.”
Atlas presses closer, and heat floods through me at the hard contact of his body against mine. His hands are flat against the wall on either side of me; I’m caged in with nowhere to go. “What about right now?”
I turn my head to meet his gaze and lose myself in the inhuman color of his irises. I guess they could be mistaken for a really light shade of blue, but not up this close. “Right now…” I echo, feeling bold even as the alarm bells blare in my head. “Right now, you make me want to find the first empty room in this house and let you make me forget why I should hate you.”
He tilts his head to the side, staring into my eyes, and I have the fleeting thought that he’s about to kiss me. My stomach swirls with nerves and excitement, and the heat between my legs is a pulsing reminder of what my body desperately desires.
I catch a glimpse of Gabriel over Atlas’s shoulder and my stomach clenches at the thought of the three of us.
“Not here,” Atlas finally says.
When he moves back, my stomach drops, and I try to hide the disappointment weighing heavy in my chest by smiling at Gabriel and taking the red Solo cup he hands me.
“It’s some sort of hard lemonade,” he tells me, handing a cup to Atlas before taking a drink from the remaining one in his hand.
“Have you seen the others?” I ask, sipping the drink. I grimace at the sharp tang of vodka. Clearly, whoever mixed this went heavy on the booze. Oh well, it’s free, and I’m really hoping it’ll help me get through this party. “They aren’t, like, eating the psychology majors or anything, are they?”
Gabriel grins from behind his cup. “They’re in the backyard playing beer pong with some people. Kade’s pissed because he’s no good at it, and Lex is having the time of his life beating Kade.”
Atlas sighs, but I think I almost catch a ghost of a smile on his lips for a second.
“Callaaaaaaa!”
I move around Atlas and find Brighton swaying her hips, dancing through the growing crowd in the hallway to get to us. She throws her arms around me, and her drink slops over the side of her cup, splashing a bit on the hardwood floor at our feet.
“Damn, Bri. Did you drink an entire keg already?” I tease as she pulls back. Her hazel eyes pop with bright green sparkly eyeshadow that has left bits of glitter across her cheekbones, and she smells of her favorite Chanel perfume and hairspray. The black cocktail dress she’s wearing is a second skin, but it looks freaking hot on her.
