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“If she’d just pull the damn stick out of her ass, she’d see the humor in this.”

Bell lunged for her sister, hands raised, ready to claw her favorite sibling. Hayden wrapped her arms around Bell’s waist, trying to settle her.

“Go,” Hayden demanded. “Let her calm down before everyone sees her lose her cool.”

“Sheathe your claws,” Zoe said as she stomped off. “You’re doing nothing to attract new members.”

Bell complied. Above everything, her twin was right. The red haze covering her vision cleared. “What am I going to do?”

“You know, if you gave your lioness what she wanted, you’d be a whole helluva lot less confrontational,” Hayden quipped.

“Huh?” Bell’s brows furrowed. “What are you talking about?”

“Don’t play dumb. It’s not becoming.” Hayden reached up to push Bell’s wayward hair behind her ear. “You need to mate with Christoph and Jackson. The need you’re experiencing, the bitchiness? It’ll only get worse.”

“How’d you do it, Hayden?” She hated the tiny wobble in her voice. The last time she’d had sex, it was more a hurry and get it over with, even if he was sweet and kind to her. This, with Christoph and Jackson, scared the crap out of her. Add in the other stuff, and she wasn’t sure she was ready.

“I left Nico, remember? I was determined to make a new life for myself. Don’t be fooled, though. It killed me every single day,” Hayden admitted, love clear in her voice. Bell had been ecstatic when her cousin got her happily ever after. But what ifshewasn’t so lucky? “Look, Bell, can we talk about this later? Bodhi is done setting up the music. The food is out. So are the drinks. You need to relax. Otherwise, instead of drawing in pledges, you’re going to scare them away.”

Hayden had a point. “Did we get a good turnout at least?” She would do whatever it took to get the pledges needed, so she didn’t lose the house.

“Yes. Raquel is here.” Hayden scanned the raucous crowd in the yard. “She’s over by the fire pit.” She pointed to a spot near a group of giggly girls drinking the punch. “Short girl, all in black, long black hair with multicolored streaks running through it. I think she might have more tats than Zoe. She’ll be a good fit here. I’ve already talked to her. She’s interested. Go talk to her.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Hayden smiled.

Strolling to the fire pit where Raquel lingered, she glanced around. People mingled, their conversations filled the shabby area, while others relaxed, drinking and eating. For the first time since the idea had been brought up, and she subsequently freaked the fuck out, she could take a deep breath and unclench a little.

Maybe.

“Raquel?” She tapped the girl on the shoulder.

She faced Bell. Her cornflower-blue eyes, rimmed heavily with black eyeliner, met Bell’s gaze. Raquel had style, even if it wasn’t something Bell could pull off on a good day. It was as if goth and punk had a love child, and said person sat in front of her. Like in the photo she’d sent along with her application, there were random-sized paw-print tattoos above her right brow to her hairline and down her temple. On anyone else, it would’ve looked horrible. But on Raquel, it worked perfectly with her dark locks and pretty blue eyes.

“That’s me. You must be Bell?” Raquel’s husky tone held a slight accent to it. One she couldn’t quite place.

“Thank you for coming. Hayden told me you guys spoke, but I wanted to introduce myself and thank you for taking a chance on us.”

She froze. They’d agreed to Top 40 hits, stuff with a beat so their guests could dance. Instead, a popular children’s song about a purple dinosaur began a nauseous loop of sickly-sweet baby music.

“That’s an interesting selection of music to play at a sorority party.” Raquel took a sip of her drink. “Or I’ve had way more of this punch than I should have. Props to its maker. Stuff is wicked.”

“I’m sorry. Would you excuse me?” Without waiting for an answer, Bell ran to where Bodhi stood furiously pressing keys on his laptop.

“Bodhi?” The earlier panic returned, and her hands trembled. “What is this?”

“I’m not sure.” He glanced up at her. “My laptop has locked up on me.”

“Locked up? What do you mean?”

“I can’t turn the damn music off unless I unplug the entire system.”

“Do it! Anything is better than this!”

The music changed, and “The Wheels on the Bus” played.

“I’ll take care of it, Bell. Calm down.” He pulled the plug, cutting off the preschool music.