Lace—no—Stace started yelling at him. I’d never been able to tell those two cunts apart. They weren’t related at all. It was just their thing to dye their hair the same color of blonde, wear coordinating outfits, and tan until they were the same shade. It was like they were both trying to fit this insane mold of what sorority girls should look like.
Their words didn’t filter through the windows, only the high-pitched tone that hurt my ears. One of the girls made nice again, trying to cling to his chest. It was so pathetic. Emmett’s face turned red and a vein in his neck started to throb. He was going to blow.
Elise sighed like we were the biggest pains in her ass. We probably were.
“Should I go save him? I have a real knack for scaring away bitches.”
Milo grinned crookedly as he turned sideways in his seat to look at her. “Nah. He put himself in this mess, he can get himself out. Maybe this will teach him not to mess with uppity bitches.” They both laughed.
Careful not to let Elise see what I was doing, I signed to Milo. I thought you were supposed to be doing damage control? We won’t be able to make this work if she thinks he’s a manwhore.
Very seriously, Milo said. “But he is.”
Okay, true. We all knew how he was, but why rub it in her face? Damage control.
Milo tapped his fingers on the steering wheel while he apparently had to think it over.
“He’s what?” She leaned forward, pressing her cheek against the headrest of my seat.
Milo held my gaze for a few more seconds, then turned back to Elise. “He’s the playboy of the three of us, but he’s a good guy. He never gives promises or sets false expectations. The girls all know the score and come to him willingly. Then they act desperate and crazy, believing that will get him to change his ways.”
She looked at him like he was the crazy one. “I know that. It’s all over campus how Alpha Delta Omega operates with their selects and rejects. Any girl that sleeps with a frat boy is, in my opinion, stupid. Especially if they think it could be more than a one-hour stand.”
Well, fuck. This might be harder than I had thought. It never occurred to any of us that she would be anti-frat. Milo and I exchanged a look as the back door opened.
“Those girls are crazy. They never even got the dick, and they’re acting like they’ll never have an orgasm again.” He shook his hair, then pushed it to the side.
Dropping my head, I sighed. There was no hope for Emmett, no matter how we tried to talk him up. Milo and I should tell him to at least dial it back a bit. I would have liked to say he could change his whoring ways, but even I wouldn’t have believed it.
“What?” Emmett must have sensed something was off when no one laughed at his joke.
“Nothing.” Milo put the Caddy in reverse and backed us away from this shit hole. The whole time, Stace and Lace stood on the top step, watching us with more animosity than I liked. But what were they going to do? Complain to Daddy that Emmett didn’t want to dick them?
I turned on the music to cover the awkwardness that was Emmett’s sex life. The rest of the way to The Purge was conversation free, and that was just fine with me. When we got there, we took our backpacks out of the back, where they’d stayed since Friday. Elise had hers with her in the backseat, so she waited on the sidewalk for us like she did this all the time.
Inside, you would think that a celebrity gunfight was about to go down. Students and workers all stopped whatever they were doing to watch us. This was normal for the three of us, even as I internally rolled my eyes. What was new, was our fourth member, who walked in the middle of our group like she owned us. She didn’t notice or didn’t care that she was the center of attention.
Milo approached a couple of leather couches by a fireplace in the corner. He smiled gratuitously as he approached. Three girls and a guy were sprawled over the furniture with their books spread over the table. As if his smile was the sun, they warmed under Milo’s attention.
“Good afternoon. I realize you’ve claimed this spot, but I wondered if I could persuade you to share it with us?”
Well that was different. Why not make them move? Unless this was Milo’s way of showing our gentler sides to Elise, but if that was the case, I didn’t think she cared either way.
“Uh, sure. Dot, clear some of that stuff off the couch.” The guy motioned to his friend on the other couch, and within minutes, their stuff was in neat stacks and they straightened, allowing a couple seats on one couch and a seat on the other. They all looked at us expectantly, waiting to see which of the kings would sit. Except for the guy, he only had eyes for Pin-up, and I hated it.
Shaking my head at Milo, I jerked a thumb at Dot who had a whole couch to herself. Immediately he moved to her extending his hand.
“Hi, Dot. I’m Milo.” She smiled up at him so prettily, having no idea he was about to crush the hopeful look in her eyes. “Do you mind moving over to your friends? My friends and I would like to sit together.”
Just as expected, her smile dimmed but she nodded, quickly moving to the other couch. They still seemed excited about the idea of spending time alone with us. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught one of the other girls staring at me. It hadn’t bothered me when Pin-up looked at me, but it irritated the hell out of me with this girl. Her gaze caused my skin to itch uncomfortably.
Emmett took the end, and when he looked at Pin-up, I pushed her forward so I could take the spot next to him. I almost smiled at his put-out look. Elise settled beside me as I stretched my arm behind her on the couch, and Milo squeezed into the other end. It was a tight fit, only made for three people, but it worked out. We all set our backpacks at our feet, Milo even taking it a step further by placing his hand on Elise’s knee while he dug around in his for his ancient history textbook.
Dot and the other girls across from us weren’t so happy to be sharing our space now that they noticed how we huddled around Elise. The guy though, he stared at her with a calculated gleam in his eye. One that wasn’t hidden at all. Emmett tensed, leaning forward slightly, glaring at him until he met Emmett’s gaze and looked away. Good.
Milo propped his feet on the table, balancing his textbook on his knees. “So tell me, what are your names?” The mask he wore for others slid perfectly into place, morphing him into Mother Theresa or some shit. We might as well get comfortable, because when he shared this side of himself with people, it was hard as hell to get them to leave our bubble.
“You know I’m Dot,” said the girl who had moved. She had a pixie look about her, almost delicate, except when she cut her gaze to Elise every now and then. “These are the people in my study group.” She pointed as she introduced her friends. “Matt on the far end, Kelly between us, and Georgie next to me.”
Milo leaned forward, bracing his hand on Elise’s knee yet again. Sneaky bastard, he wasn’t trying to show Elise how we could be tame, he was manipulating the situation in order to touch her, seduce her slowly. I might as well take advantage, dropping my hand to play with the ends of her hair dangling from a loose ponytail at the top of her head. It gave her a cute, I Dream of Jeannie look, only her sex appeal was much more intense.
Elise whipped her head toward Milo, as some of her blonde strands slapped me in the face. Whether she knew what we were doing or not, she had definitely caught on to the fact that we maneuvered her in the middle of us for a reason. I couldn’t see her face, but Milo’s acquired this slow, devious smirk.