AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Flowing blonde hair flashes by in front of me, and my eyes instinctively follow it. My jaw loosens when I see Emree with her long hair perfectly curled and flowing down her shoulders, dressed in a short emerald-green wrap dress with thin straps holding it up. The fabric is molded to each of her curves, and the bust is clutching her full chest, dipping low and showing off a gracious amount of cleavage.
She looks fucking hot, and my pants tighten the longer I stare at her. Emree is the kind of woman who is unaware of her own beauty. While she doesn’t try hard to be sexy, it comes naturally in the way her body moves and with her looks alone. Tonight her face is covered in minimal makeup, but her high cheekbones and naturally glowing skin make her the most stunning woman in the room.
Emree throws her head back and while she is too far for me to hear it, I know that laugh by memory and can hear it in my head. She is beautiful and unashamed when she laughs, not hiding it behind her hand like some girls do. Hers is loud and proud. I miss hearing it.
“Uh, Conrad?” Camden asks beside me.
“Yeah,” I answer without looking away from Emree.
“You going to stop being a creep anytime soon?”
Tearing my eyes away from her, I look at him. “What are you talking about?”
He raises an eyebrow and lightly laughs. “You’ve been intensely staring at Em for, like, five minutes.”
“Oh, shut the fuck up.” Looking back at Emree, there is now an arm hanging over her bare shoulders and a tall, dark-haired guy holds her against his side. She comfortably leans into him as if she has known this guy for a while.
Camden must have just seen what I’ve been looking at because he laughs even harder. “Oh shit.”
Turning my head, I look over at him. “Who the hell is that douchebag?”
“No clue, but he and Em make a cute couple,” he jokes.
I narrow my eyes at him. “You want to take that statement back?”
“Not really,” he says while shrugging his shoulders. “You didn’t expect her not to move on, did you?”
Truth be told, I never even considered Emree dating someone else. I have been too concerned with my fucked-up engagement and her finding out about Liliana. There has been too much going on for me to think about her moving on with someone else.
Looking back at Emree, I take in her relaxed posture beside this guy. She’s looking up at him as he talks to someone else in front of them. She sips on a drink in a red cup as she hangs on to every word he says. Her eyes scan the room, passing over me. She freezes, and her head turns until she locks her gaze with mine. The relaxed posture she had before is now rigid as we stare at each other.
Fuck, I’m ready to snatch Em away from that piece of shit touching her and it’s taking everything in me not to storm over there and get my girl.
14
EMREE
Ian is close to the picture-perfect date. He is sweet, attentive, handsome, and a great communicator. After picking me up at my apartment, where he brought me a beautiful bundle of flowers, we went to a local Mexican restaurant. There I learned that he is from Cleveland, Ohio, where he is the oldest of four sons and one sister. His parents are still together and very much in love. Growing up, he played hockey but wasn’t good enough to make anything of it in college, so he is focusing on working toward an engineering technology degree and wants to work with an up-and-coming tech company in the future. I also learned he is a senior but plans to further his education at Braxton and work toward a master’s degree.
He’s sweet, and while I could see myself being with someone like Ian, I can’t stop comparing him to Conrad. It’s not fair, but I couldn’t help the thoughts running through my head. Like the way Ian talks with food in his mouth while Conrad always makes sure to finish what he is eating before saying anything. Or how Ian talks with a lot of hand movements, whereas Conrad is less jerky when he speaks.
Comparing the two comes automatically, and I have tried my hardest to stop. Ian is a great date and a sweet guy. Plus, I need to get Conrad out of my mind. He shouldn’t be living there, especially after the way he treated me. I deserve someone who wants me.
After dinner, Ian brought me to his fraternity’s pledge ceremony. While I have never spent much time with the likes of Greek Row, the ceremony was not what I thought it would be. When I think of frats, my mind instantly goes to hazing and bullying. The swearing in of pledges seemed normal enough, and there were a lot of laughs shared as the guys told stories of what went on over the last year.
While that event was fun and light, the party here could not be any more opposite. The house is shaking and filled with sweaty bodies. While this is a large place, with the number of people here, it feels like I’m squished inside a sardine can. Ian has kept me held close to his body, but people still bump and rub up against me as they move around.
We made our way around the house, and he introduced me to friends and frat brothers of his as we passed by them on our way to get a drink from the kitchen. Ian stopped us in a noncrowded corner in the living room to talk to a couple friends of his, and they have been sharing stories of this year’s pledges and what Hell Week was like for them versus Ian’s freshman year.
Even though Ian has made sure to never exclude me from the conversation, I can’t help but look away when I feel a set of eyes on me. As I scan the room, everyone seems to be lost in their own conversations or dancing to the beat of the music. There are a few people cheering on a group of girls in the whipped cream pools in the dining room, and I swear I see a flash of bare breasts. Just as I’m about to give Ian my full attention again, a pair of dark-brown eyes come into view.
Looking back, I’m staring into the eyes of the man I have been trying to get out of my mind all night. The same man who owns my broken heart. My body goes rigid as he takes me in from head to toe. I feel naked under his stare, even though my dress and heels are on the modest side at this party. When he reaches my shoulders, his eyes narrow at Ian’s arm that is lazily hanging there.
While my immediate reaction is to move out from under Ian’s hold, I remain still. Conrad has no right to be angry that I am here with another guy. He is the one who made the decision to end our relationship out of the blue. He’s the one who didn’t want me anymore. He’s the one who hurt me and let me go.
Breaking our eye contact, I focus on Ian and his friends as they talk about their upcoming graduation.
“I can’t believe you’re going to stay here for another two years,” Ian’s friend says. I have been introduced to too many people tonight, so all their names are running together. I think this one’s starts with anS.
