Page 38 of Ice Me Out

“Oh?”

Luke tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. “The Zetas have a big house, and I’m wondering if Candace would let you stay for a few nights.”

I don’t want to burst his bubble, but I doubt it. “Why should they? I’m not a Zeta.”

He offers me his arm as he guides me out of the room. “I know. But Candace is very enthusiastic about the hockey team, and she might jump at the opportunity to have me owe her a favor.”

I read between the lines.

In other words, the Zeta president is a puck bunny.

“Hey Bex,” Shane is waiting for us in the living room. “You look stunning.”

He sounds sincere, but I giggle. “You have to say that, since I’m your boyfriend’s twin sister.”

“Nonsense.” He pulls me into a hug. “You would turn heads anywhere, even if you didn’t have Luke’s same gorgeous genes.”

I hug him back, touched by his kindness. “We both got our mom’s looks.”

It isn’t the first time that the thought that if our mom had been alive, Dad would have been a completely different person crosses my mind.

“Meow! Maw! Maw!”

The shrill sound makes me crawl out of my skin as the door behind me rattles furiously.

“Meow!”

That must be Keene’s room. “Thank fuck Keene locked the door. I think Poonani is trying to slice her way out so she can finish the job she started yesterday.” I shudder. “That cat hates me.”

“Don’t take it personally.” Luke guides me out of the front door, away from the feline demon. “Poonani hates everyone.”

“So you keep saying,” I bite out. “But I didn’t see her trying to attack you yesterday.”

Luke shrugs. “She’s had a couple of months to get used to me. It takes her a minute to trust people. Keene found her during his last deployment. She was a stray. He went through hell to bring her home with him. They had to quarantine her and everything. He loves that cat more than anyone, I swear.”

That would earn Keene my respect, if he hadn’t been a total asshole to me. And while Luke said none of the guys agreed to let me move in, I’ll bet my last few dollars that Keene would have been the hardest to convince, anyway.

We climb into Shane’s Porsche SUV for the short drive to the Zeta house and anxiety takes hold of me; my palms are sweating and I take a couple of deep breaths in an attempt to calm down.

I’m not just anxious at the thought that my destiny is in the hand of a few sorority girls I’ve never met.

The thing that causes my pulse to quicken is that Jamie, Connor and Keene are going to be at the party.

I know it’s irrational to feel rejected and hurt because they don’t want me to live in their house. They’ve barely met me, so they don’t owe me anything.

And yet, I can’t help but feeling bitter and betrayed. Especially by Connor and Jamie.

I thought they liked me. I thought we hit it off at the fair the night I got here.

The truth is, though, I don’t know them. They seemed so nice.

Connor was handsome, kind, and a little sad; Jamie was sexy, charming, and flirty. Appearances can be deceiving, though. Their nice façade changed very quickly when those men grabbed me at the bar.

There’s a dangerous, violent side to them that shocked and scared me at the same time. Granted, they acted that way to protect me, but I can’t forget how quickly they turned.

Bex

The Zeta Theta Beta house is breathtaking.