Chapter 11

11

MINA

The Past

May 25 th , 8 p.m.

"Are you sure you want out here?" It was raining cats and dogs and my Uber driver had a point. The RRP cabin was in the middle of fucking nowhere, there was no way I was going to be able to catch another ride back, so Ella had better not ditch me.

But I saw lights inside the cabin, which wasn't too rustic. It had two stories, and Trent's truck was parked outside, along with the familiar rides from the rest of his frat. "Yeah—I'll be fine—thanks," I said. I rated them and gave them a tip, then pulled my coat around myself, bracing to run in using my phone's flashlight for light. I got out, trotted down the barely moonlit trail, my cute heels squelching in the mud from the last rain of spring. "Oh, Trent, you owe me," I muttered, dancing back and forth from dry spot to dry spot, until I reached the front door, half-soaked, and heels most likely ruined .

"Lamb! You're early!" Trent said, opening the door after my furious knocking.

I made a face and handed him my wet coat. I'd been a hell-of-a-lot better looking five minutes ago—right now I felt like a bedraggled poodle. "It's amazing I'm even here at all," I complained, and noticed him watching the door slam shut behind me.

"Sorry, lamb," he said, hanging my coat up. "Where's your friend, the Nobody?"

I know, I know, it sounded rude, but it wasn't, it was a stupid Odysseus joke, because both my best friend and my boyfriend were Latin nerds. It'd begun one night on the couch in my apartment when we'd all been watching a movie and Trent had made some joke about an actor's "one-eyed wonder" in reference to their dick, and innocent Ella had assumed he was talking about a cyclops.

"She can't come up till she's done with work—she doesn't get off for another thirty." I looked past him, where other frat bros I recognized, Logan, Brandon, Garrett, and Nolan—essentially his underlings—were getting things ready for the party, which was supposed to begin at nine.

"But she is coming?"

"She'd better be. Assuming she doesn't get rained off the road, that is." I scrunched my hair in an effort to get it to dry cute at least. "She's my ride home tonight. There's no way I'm waiting for your hungover ass to drive me back in tomorrow," I teased, poking him in the chest with a finger.

Trent laughed. "It's not my fault. I have to put in some face time with my boys occasionally."

I glanced around. Logan was near enough to hear, but he was the youngest of the group, and I didn't think Trent minded him knowing how we kept busy besides. So I gave Trent a girlish pout, flashing him with dark eyes that hopefully weren't raccoon-ringed with my non-waterproof mascara, before saying, "I like face time too, you know."

That made the corner of Trent's lips lift up. "Your face or mine?"

And it was times like these that let me know he really liked me. Maybe even loved me? I wasn't one hundred percent certain, but I did feel like we'd both been close to saying it before.

Because I was pretty sure someone who didn't almost-love me would let me have so much power over him in front of his underlings. "Your face," I decreed, and Trent's grin only got bigger as he reached for me.

"There's already an empty bedroom set aside for us, upstairs," he said. I mimed putting a shocked hand to my chest, even as the other started suggestively tugging up the hem of the already-short dress I had on, and he laughed. "Being an upperclassman has its privileges."

"And what about the rest of the party setup? Won't your brothers know you've gone missing?"

"They will, but I've already helped out some, and pre-gamed even," he said, sliding his hand down to my ass. "Come on." He directed me further, tucking his mouth beside my ear. "I want my breath to smell like pussy and beer—my two favorite things."

It was gross, but it was also true, and if I didn't almost-love him , I definitely loved him wanting me like that. It was as addictive as a drug. I squealed as he palmed me, and then ran up the stairs.