Page 21 of Betting on the Bad Boy

“Are you following me?” she asked, the accusation hanging in the air between us.

“What do you mean? We’re just meeting for their group project. Brittany, Bethany, Bailey, this is Faith.”

For once, the women were speechless. They looked back and forth between me and Faith.

“No one’s ever up here,” Faith said. “The fourteenth floor is usually...”

As she struggled for the right words, I spoke up. “Your private dance studio?”

She glared at me, then whipped around and pushed through the door into the stairwell.

Brittany jabbed a hot pink fingernail into my chest. “You’re in trouble, buddy. I don’t know what that gal’s problem is, but she sure is into you.”

“What makes you think that?” I asked, removing her finger from my chest and nudging her hand back toward her lap.

“Did you see the way she looked at you?” Bailey asked. “Like she wanted to eat you for dinner.”

“Yeah,” Bethany agreed.

“Let’s just get this done.” I rested my elbows on the table and shuffled my papers around. Eat me, huh? I could think of a few parts of my anatomy she could wrap her mouth around.

Hmm, maybe these women weren’t as bad as I thought.

CHAPTER 12

Faith

The party appearedto be in full swing by the time we arrived. I followed Jess and Robin up the sidewalk to join the stream of vampires, zombies, and other party-goers on the driveway.

“I can’t see anything.” Jess pushed her Catwoman mask up onto her forehead.

“Get it in gear, Pussy.” Robin nudged her from behind. “If I’m going to survive this, I need a drink.” The tight, low-cut top of her corseted pirate wench costume didn’t quite contain all of her ample assets.

I stood on the driveway and lowered the hood of my red cape. I’d never been to Murph’s before. He shared a house not far away from campus with a couple of other guys.

“Ready to go in?” Jess asked. She’d removed the mask, but I could still see the outline where it had pressed onto her skin.

“Sure. Let’s do it.” I’d let Jess and Robin talk me into coming to the party at the last minute, so I hadn’t spent a lot of time on my costume. Jess loaned me a red cape, and since I had a tight red dress I’d worn to a formal a few years ago, I threw it onunderneath. Tall, high-heeled black boots and a basket rounded out my adult version of Little Red Riding Hood.

“Thank god, more chicks!” A gangly hobo slung one arm around Jess and the other around Robin as we ventured into the house. As he led them through the foyer and into the kitchen, I followed behind. The scent of cheap beer and male B.O. assaulted my nose. Based on the way Murph looked down on so many things that had to do with the undergrads on campus, I’d expected him to have a bit higher standard of living.

“Ladies, so glad you could make it. What can I get you? Wine? Beer?”

“Three beers.” Jess decided for us.

The hobo dropped his arm from around Robin’s shoulder and focused all his attention on Jess. “Meow!” He snapped his fingers at two guys manning a keg in the corner. “Get this kitten and her crew some beers.”

A few moments later, the hobo pressed full plastic cups of beer into our hands. I took a small sip.

“Who do we have here?” Murph appeared in the doorway to the kitchen wearing a tweed jacket and a derby hat with an unlit pipe clenched between his lips.

“Hey, Murph. Who are you supposed to be?” asked Jess.

“It’s elementary, my dear Jessica,” he said.

“A teacher?” asked Robin.

He pulled the pipe out of his mouth and frowned at her. “Not elementary, as in school?—”