Chapter 2

chapter two

Zara

"Passenger Princess"— Nessa Barrett

" W e'll start the bidding at $50 for Davis Guidry! Who's going to win OU's favorite ladies' man? Oh, we've got one over there, annnnd another!" Kappa's president yells into the microphone.

I raise the paddle to bid… and so does nearly every other girl in front of the stage.

I'm not surprised. I knew that this guy would be tonight's hottest commodity, and I love a challenge.

My gaze finds Davis's, and he smirks, arching a dark brow as if to say, What are you waiting for?

Things are moving at breakneck speed, bidding rising to two hundred and fifty bucks within a handful of seconds. I keep raising my paddle as the bidding continues to escalate, my gaze locked with his the entire time. Already growing tired of the back-and-forth bids, I step forward and raise my paddle in the air with finality. " A thousand dollars ."

The crowd around us goes wild, a symphony of cheers and catcalls, and I smirk, dragging my gaze back to Harper and Lily. They both fall into my side, linking our arms together and giggling with me.

I said I was going to win, and I don't ever say anything that I don't mean.

"Oh, shit. Alright, going once… going twice," Kappa's president says to the room, and no one else raises to bid. "And sold for one thousand dollars to this gorgeous girl right here!"

When Davis's eyes find me, I grin and bring my fingers to my lips, blowing him a flirty kiss. He lifts his fist and closes it around the air as if he's catching it from across the stage.

The auction continues, and Harper ends up bidding on grumpy guy toward the end. Lily, of course, doesn't bid on anyone despite both of us trying to get her to try for the shy ginger-haired guy that we caught her secretly eying.

"Let's go to the bathroom so we can touch up our makeup?" I say once the auction is over.

Harper nods. "Yes, please! I've had to pee for like an hour, but I didn't want to miss anything."

I reach for Lily's hand, and she follows closely behind Harper as we make our way through the crowded frat house. The lights are still low and the music even louder now that the auction has ended. It's hot and humid with the sea of bodies crammed into such a small space.

When we make it to the bathroom, there's a short line, but thankfully, it moves quickly, and soon, we squeeze inside and lock the door behind us.

I immediately move toward the full-length mirror next to the bathtub and pull my favorite lipstick from my purse.

"I love that dress on you, Zar," Lily says from where she's sitting on the counter. "Princess Polly?"

After I finish reapplying my signature red lips, I turn to her and nod with a smile. "Yep. It was on sale too."

"Honestly surprised your warden let you out of the house wearing that tonight, babe. Or that he'd even let you come to the Kappa auction," Harper mutters, walking to the sink to wash her hands.

The warden being my stupidly overprotective older brother, Oliver, whom I unfortunately live with.

He takes protective and overbearing to a whole new level.

Groaning, I nod. "He's driving me fucking nuts. I told him that I'm an adult, and it's time for him to stop suffocating me and that I don't need a babysitter, but if anything, it only makes him more crazy knowing that I'm not going to listen."

Of course, when he found out I'd be here tonight, he gave me a lecture and forbade me from coming. Especially after he saw me wearing my new satin black minidress that's backless save for the thin corset straps.

And while I love my brother and appreciate that he wants to look out for me, I seriously cannot handle the suffocation.

The constant fighting with him like he's my father and I'm a petulant child that isn't following his orders is honestly exhausting.

"Did he break out the ruler?" Lily asks, amusement twinkling in her pale azure eyes, her white teeth flashing as she grins. "To measure again?"

"Nope, but I would've punched him in the balls if he did."

Harper whips around. "He did not try to measure your dress."

I nod. "He did! He's losing it. Seriously. If I have to come crash in your dorm, you know why. I swear, I don't put it past him to put a tracker on me or something. Anyway, we ready?"

Nodding, Harper takes one last peek into the small mirror above the sink, smoothing her blonde hair down, then helps Lily off the counter, and together, we walk back out to the party.

"Why do you think that Oliver has been acting like this since you got to OU?" Lily asks, bringing the conversation back to my brother.

"I honestly don't know. It's like he and my dad both think I'm incapable of making my own decisions or making good choices since I'm not straight and narrow the way Ollie is. Sure, I've never been perfect, but then again, like who is? All I know is that I am done thinking about it. I refuse to let him ruin the vibe tonight."

It's already been a fantastic night, and the last thing I want to do is let the same exhausting fight with him fuck up my energy.

Law of attraction.

Something I live by.

Once we head to the back of the house, where the guys have set up a makeshift table to handle the auction closeout, I hand over my black Amex and take care of the donation before scanning the room for my date.

"Okay, so I'm going to head out with… Roman," Harper says, suddenly appearing at my side once more. She glances at her date, then drags her gaze back to me. "Your phone's charged and you have your location on, right?"

"Wow, you know, you sound exactly like Lil right now."

Lily shakes her head with a small, exasperated sigh when Harper barks out a laugh. "Hopefully that means that you're both learning something from my constant mothering."

I nod. "Of course I am, Lil. Phone's charged, I've got my pepper spray, and my location is always on. Don't talk to strangers, and don't end up on a true crime podcast. No problem."

"Okay, I'm going to head back to the dorms. Call me if you need anything, okay?" she says before wrapping her arms around me and pulling me in for a tight hug.

Harper hugs me next, dropping a kiss against my cheek. "Have so much fun! You better call me as soon as you get home and tell me every single detail. Love you."

Once my girls have left, I grab another drink from the kitchen and then walk back toward the now empty stage. It doesn't take me long to spot Davis with his broad shoulder pressed against the wall, his hands tucked into the pockets of his black slacks, wearing a lazy, playful grin.

"A thousand dollars…" he murmurs when I come to a stop directly in front of him, my chin tilted to look up into his whiskey-colored eyes. "A lot of money for just one night."

My shoulder lifts in a shrug. "Guess you'd better make it worth my while, then, huh?"

A blaze of heat flares in his eyes, and my pulse races, my skin buzzing with anticipation.

His grin widens into a smile that shows two perfectly straight rows of teeth. "Seems a bit unfair that you know my name and I don't know yours. Think I should probably know the name of the girl I'm going to take on the best date of her life tonight."

"Mmm. Big talk for a guy who had to resort to an auction to get said date in the first place." I hold his gaze as I bring my cup to my lips and take a sip to hide my smile. Once I swallow down the heady alcohol, I lift my hand and hold it between us. "Zara."

" Zara ," he repeats, rolling each syllable on his tongue in a way that I feel in my core. His rough, warm palm slides along mine, curving and shaking gently as he holds my gaze with that cocky grin. A brief, electric moment, arguably the most innocent thing in the world, and yet it feels like he's currently peeling this dress off my body with only his gaze.

I nod as his thumb sweeps along the back of my hand, and he steps closer until he's nearly pressed against me. "And what does the best date of your life look like, Zara?"

My teeth rake over my bottom lip as I mull over the question. I've never really given it a lot of thought, not till now anyway.

"Something spontaneous. Something crazy. Wild. A night I couldn't forget even if I tried."

His eyes search mine, and finally, he nods, his full lips curving up. "I think I know just the thing, then. You wanna get out of here?"

Finally.

"Thought you'd never ask."

After a brief smile, his fingers intertwine with mine, and he turns, leading me through the crowd toward the exit.

I didn't expect to end up in an Uber on a spontaneous date with the hottest guy I've ever seen when I decided to go to the Kappa house tonight.

I wanted freedom. I wanted to live in the moment.

And I wanted this. This feeling.

The wild flutter of my pulse. The thrash of my heart in my chest and the erratic whispers of butterflies erupting in my stomach.

"Just so you know, if you're planning to kidnap me, my location is on, and my girls are basically the FBI," I tease as we ride down the highway, the darkened city flying by. We're heading away from campus, and my curiosity is piqued.

He chuckles. "You bought me , remember? Maybe it's you with the nefarious plans to kidnap me and steal my virtue."

"Little ole me?"

"Mhmm." He reaches out, sweeping the rough pad of his finger along the small tattoos on my fingers. "I like these. You have any more?"

I glance down at my tattoos, nodding. "A… few. I got most of them over the summer. Mostly in places you can't see."

I don't miss the way his gaze flares, even in the darkened back seat. "Yeah? I'd love to see. Big, big fan of self-expression."

My laugh echoes throughout the back seat, and I nod. "I bet. Do you auction yourself off at the Kappa house often?"

"Only when it's for charity. Find yourself bidding on strangers for dates often?"

"Fair." I laugh.

I'm honestly having entirely too much fun going back and forth with him, and part of me doesn't want our ride to wherever it is we're going to be over.

"You a freshman?" he asks as he lifts his hand and drags his long fingers through his hair, pushing it off his face, giving me a glimpse of his deliciously chiseled jaw and strong, corded throat.

"Yeah, I am."

He nods, a smile playing on his lips. "Thought so. What's your major?"

"Musical composition."

"Wow." His brow arches. "And… what exactly is that?"

It's the same question that pretty much everyone asks when I tell them I'm majoring in composition, so I'm not surprised.

"The easy answer? Creating music. I play piano, and I write my own music. I'd like to maybe do it for someone else one day." I shrug. "I don't know, maybe it'll change, but I've been playing piano for as long as I can remember."

"That's awesome. So that's why you've got the music notes?" he asks, glancing down at my fingers again.

"Mhmm." I nod, wiggling them against the seat. "The slanted pound sign means sharp, and this one means flat. It's what a composer will use when determining the pitch of the music."

Davis nods as I speak, sweeping his finger absentmindedly over the dark ink on my pale skin.

I'm surprised by how genuinely interested he seems to be as I explain the meaning behind my tattoos. Most guys have zero interest in things like this.

"Cool. Well, maybe you can play for me one day. Maybe after I get my first tattoo."

"I don't know, I'm pretty sure the auction rules say only one night. I'm a big rule follower," I respond cheekily with a flash of a smile.

"Yeah? For some reason, I had you pegged as a girl who wanted to do anything but follow rules. Guess I was wrong."

Before I can respond, our Uber turns into a packed parking lot and stops at the entrance of a black brick building that looks sketchy as shit, to say the least.

My gaze snaps to Davis, and I see that he's smirking.

Amusement shines in his eyes as he thanks the driver and reaches past me to curve his fingers over my door handle. I get a whiff of his cologne, and my mouth nearly waters.

God, he smells incredible.

Not only is he hot and has a fun personality to match, but he smells like he walked out of an Armani catalog.

"Ladies first."

I probably should question why we're at what looks like a dive bar in the middle of nowhere, but my curiosity outweighs the cautious, rational part of me.

What little exists.

My chunky combat boots crunch on the gravel as I step out, tucking my purse on my shoulder and glancing around the parking lot.

There are people loitering outside of the entrance that look like they're from Sons of Anarchy , some standing, some leaning along motorcycles with tall handlebars. Nearly everyone is wearing leather and bandanas, and that's when it hits me.

Turning to face Davis, who's just closed the car door behind him, I say, " Outlaw Oasis . You brought me to a biker bar?"

The dimple in his cheek pops as he nods. "Yep."

Holy shit.

Well, this night just got a lot more interesting.