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“Oh.” She sighs, puffing her bangs out of her eyes, then sinks back into the couch. “You’re one of those.”

“What?”

“A nice guy.”

That’s not the reputation I want to convey during this experiment, but there’s no other choice. “I guess I am.”

A moment later, she’s slumped into the corner, curled into a tight ball, asleep. Again, I let my eyes flutter shut. I don’t know how long I’m out, if it’s a few minutes or hours, but I awaken to the feel of a thumb running over my bottom lip. “Brianna,” I mumble. “I told you, I can’t.”

Blindly, I reach out for her hand. I come in contact with flesh, but it’s warm. And big. And a little hairy. My eyes pop open.

Miller stands over me, a bottle of beer loose in his fingers.

“Wake up, Prince Theo.” His eyebrow lifts and his upper lip curls. “Or, should I say, Princess Reagan?”

Fuck.

7

Miller

I’d been watching him since he walked in the door. It wasn’t anything in particular that gave him away. Knox didn’t notice. Royer was too busy getting his cock sucked in another room. To the rest of the party, Theo Hart looked like any other skinny freshman pledge. There was just something familiar about him that kept nagging at me all through our meeting.

That mouth.

My fraternity brothers think I’m just a player. A joke. They think I got into Wittmore on my family name and the fact the gym is named after my grandfather. It’s fair. I’m lazy. I didn’t do much work during high school, but my test scores are off the charts. Colleges care about numbers. Tests, GPAs, bank accounts. Two of the three is enough.

And if I’ve learned anything in my twenty-one years, it’s that sometimes it’s better if people don’t realize you’re the smartest person in the room.

If Royer hadn’t been so focused on initiation (and his cock) he would have been more suspicious of the letter we got, suggesting we give a pass to this kid, Theo Hart. I suppose he figured that if we agreed to take him, maybe the council would stop nosing around so much. It didn’t hurt that this guy, Theodore, is all about tradition. Just like Royer. I love my best friend, but he’s obsessed with the new members of Zeta Sig being forged by fire and committed by pain. We all went through it, the gauntlet, when we rushed, and I’m not ready to give it up either. I’m just not fixated on it like he is.

When Theo walked through the door, Royer was still high from that stunt he pulled with Andrea. They destroyed little Reagan Lake. If I’d known that blow job would be the last time I saw her, I’d have raised the stakes.

Knox walks up. “You look like you need another drink. Hey, Parker—” he shouts to a sophomore, chatting up a freshman on the couch, “get your VP a drink.”

“Yes, sir,” the kid says, untangling from the girl. She pouts as he runs toward the kitchen, but Knox gives her a wink and her face lights up.

“Why are you lurking over here alone?”

“I’m not lurking,” I reply. “I’m observing. Getting a feel for the vibe of this new group.”

“They seem solid enough.” A kid across the room bumps into a girl, spilling her drink down her white lace top. Knox snorts. “Well, most of them, at least.”

I spot Theo Hart clinging to the wall across from us. “What about him?”

“The late entry?” Knox shrugs. “I dunno. He was checking out Brianna earlier. I told him to go for it.”

“How generous of you.”

We both know Brianna is as easy as it gets. No chase. No work, but she’s always down to suck cock or if she’s drunk enough, anal. Parker returns with not one, but two, beers and hands us each one.

“Good work, brother,” Knox says, taking an exaggerated drag. It’s mostly for show for the new recruits. Knox puts too much time into his sport to fuck it up with shitty beer.

“My pleasure.” Parker looks between us. “Anything else?

“Not now.” Knox grins over at the girl waiting on the couch. “Go lock that one down. She’s cute.”

Parker takes off, grabbing the girl’s hand and pulling her toward the stairs. Knox looks at me. “That new kid. Theo Hart. You worried about him?”