Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 80986 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80986 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Hailey looked spent, and as if she could’ve easily dropped off to sleep, but instead, she smiled weakly up at me. “Your turn.”
Tentatively, she placed her hand over the bulge in my jeans, but I shook my head. “Not tonight.”
She looked up at me with what seemed like a mixture of relief and disappointment. “But I wanted to make you feel better.”
“You did, sweetheart.” I brought her hand to my mouth and kissed it. “You really, really did.”
18
HAILEY
“You’re having another party?” I asked after dinner one night. Bennett had finished his food and left, and now I was sitting with Grant, Ian, and Theo, sipping port from little glasses.
The drink wasn’t my favorite, but it was nice to be included—rather than in the kitchen doing dishes while they talked. That part would come later, but for right now, I felt like one of the gang.
“We are a fraternity, you know,” Grant said with a wink. “That’s kind of our thing.”
“Right.” I took another small sip and looked at him, since he was the second in command. “Am I going to have to work behind the bar again?”
“No,” Theo and Ian said at the same time.
“I’ll talk to him,” Grant said. There was no need to ask who he was referring to.
“It’s not up to him,” Ian said hotly, though it was. “He doesn’t own her time twenty-four seven. She’s allowed to go out with friends.” He turned to me. “Go out with friends on Friday night.”
“I’ll see what I can do.” It was sweet of him to be concerned.
“Hell, if your friends are busy, you can go out with my friends,” Theo said. “Just be anywhere but here.”
Grant listened to them but moved on. “Also, there are going to be more of our brothers around this week. The night before the party, we’re going to have a meeting to discuss the fall pledges, hell week, and our evil plans to take over the world.”
Theo leaned back in his chair and raised his glass. “You’ve got to have a plan, or you only end up ruling half the world.” He wasn’t exactly the same man he’d been when I’d met him my first day here, but he was better than he was before my visit to his room. Just thinking about it made my cheeks flush, and he cocked an eyebrow at me. Was he thinking about that too?
Grant was studying me, as if trying to figure out what had made me blush. “You’ll need to dust and vacuum the room downstairs.”
The room. The ritual room? The one he’d specifically told me to stay away from? But it made sense if he and his frat brothers were going to have a meeting down there.
“Okay.”
“That’s on Thursday night. Before that, we’re having a barbecue out back.”
I winced, leaning forward. “I know nothing about barbecuing.” But I’d also known nothing about bartending, and they’d still made me do that.
“Relax, Hailey,” Theo said, and I had a sudden memory of the way he’d stroked my body after he’d given me such a powerful orgasm. But his mind was on other topics, and he grinned. “We’re guys. We’ll channel our inner cavemen and fire up the grill.”
“All you have to do is serve drinks. Out back, I mean, not at the bar,” Grant added.
That didn’t sound too bad. “It’ll be nice to have someone else cook for a change.”
Ian nodded. “As long as you like your steak so rare that it’s mooing.”
“Again, all guys have a little bit of caveman inside of them,” Theo said. “You’ll see.”
I guess I would, come Thursday.
Grant had been right, various men did stop by, and on Wednesday evening, there were eleven people sleeping in the house. Theo helped me order an extra delivery from the grocery store. Using his laptop to click on the food was sure a lot easier than going to the store in person.
Bennett sprang for pizza for everyone on Wednesday evening, and afterwards, Grant asked me if the ritual room was ready.
Oops. I’d kind of forgotten. I’d had a test this morning in Professor Whitmore’s class, and I’d been studying for it every chance I got—but I couldn’t tell him that. “I’ll do it now.”
He didn’t look pleased, but he also didn’t make an issue of it like he might have before—and he didn’t tell Bennett. It seemed to me that Grant was a little cooler toward his cousin these days.
The huge room downstairs was easy to dust because there wasn’t much furniture, but vacuuming it looked as if it would take all night. The thick red carpet obviously needed it, though. I swept half the room and then had to take a break. It was like trying to vacuum a football field.
I settled down in a chair to rest, and that put the stripper pole in the corner of the room squarely in my sight. Did they really bring strippers down here? I couldn’t imagine any kind of meeting and ceremony that would include that. I got to my feet and went over to take a closer look. Maybe it was just for bachelor parties or something like that.