Page 88 of River of Deceit

That should make it easy to convince her to join me, at least.

“I’m Sandra,” she says, so softly it’s almost impossible to hear over the music. “I’m only here because my friend invited me.”

I look around. “I don’t see your friend.”

“Oh. No, she’s dancing with somebody.” Sandra shrinks against the wall. “But I’m okay. You probably have other people to talk to.”

Her eyes are hopeful though, a silent plea in them to not leave her alone.

I think about the effort it’ll take to put her at ease. I’ll have to dance with her, make jokes, give her my number, tell her about Asch, smile through it all, and pretend I actually want her and above all, make sure she has a good time so she doesn’t go off on eitherof us later.

Maybe Asch will be nicer to her, and take her home, and he’ll agree to see her again when the night is over.

I open my mouth to say something charming?—

And I don’t want to.

“Okay, so, I’m mostly playing wingman tonight,” I say, still smiling. I point down the hall to where River is still talking to Franklin. “See the white guy there, with the curly blond hair? His name is Franklin. He’s been too shy to approach you.”

She follows where I point, and I can see the small hint of disappointment. She’d rather have me than Franklin.

Sandra should be really glad I’m too tired and bored of it all to continue.

“Here, I’ll introduce you,” I say. I put my hand on her shoulder, and she reluctantly lets me lead her to River and Franklin.

River looks at me warily. “Bouchard.”

“Hey, River, Franklin. Congrats on surviving your first week!” I say. I nod at Sandra. “Franklin, this is Sandra. Sandra, Franklin. I think the two of you have a lot in common.”

Like both being completely boring.

Franklin looks at me in awe, though, and quickly nods. “Oh. Hi, Sandra. Um. Are you with a sorority?”

Once the conversation is going, I walk away—with River on my heels.

“What are you doing?” I hiss at him.

“Enjoying the perks of being a Kappa Alpha brother,” he says. “Shouldn’t you be celebrating the evening with your bitch boy?”

I turn and lunge for River’s neck, but he blocks me. We end up against the wall, face to face.

“Don’t call him that,” I snarl at him. “If anyone’s somebody’s bitch here, it’s you. Don’t think I’ve forgotten how you follow Pandora around like a fucking dog.”

It’s his turn to glare at me. “I thought tonight made it pretty goddamn clear what I think of her.”

“Yeah?” I pull away from him. “From where I was standing, it looked like you were very into her.”

“Doesn’t make me her bitch,” he retorts. “I can appreciate a pretty woman, and I can want to shut that smart mouth up with my cock, too.”

I chuckle, but I’m not amused. “Yeah. Well, I haven’t seen her shut up, yet.”

“She shut up when I was fucking her throat,” he says with a harsh laugh of his own.

I take the last remaining sip of my rum and set my cup onto one of the nearby tables, which is already littered with empty plastic cups.

If I can’t get Asch laid tonight, I might as well work on finding out more about Pandora.

“What’s she doing here?” I ask him. “And why’s she got you jumping at her word?”