“A frat party? Really, Aubrey? I let you get me all dressed up so we could go to a frickin’ frat party?” I was not happy. I didn’t feel like partying tonight, and now I had to deal with a bunch of drunk frat boys trying to get in my panties all night long. “You are so lucky I love you right now. Or else I would be kicking your ass for putting me through this.”

“Don’t worry. Jackson will be there in case we run into any problems. You know my big bro will look out for you just as much as he does me, maybe even more. He’s always been so protective of you. Which will work out great for me because you can distract him while I flirt with all his frat brothers!”

Aubrey wasn’t joking when she suggested that I run interference for her with Jackson. That was part of why he and I had grown so close over the years. As the closest in age to her, Jackson was often tasked with running us around town and watching out for us at school. With us all on the same college campus now, he would definitely take his big brother role seriously. He had been bad enough in high school, scaring boys away from Aubrey left and right. I was surprised he was willing to get us into the party tonight.

“How did you get him to cough up an invite to the party tonight?” I asked.

“Well, I might have suggested that I was hoping you were finally ready to hit some parties tonight after working so hard all summer and settling into school the last couple weeks. And that I was worried you were never going to leave the room unless I had a really good reason to get you to go out tonight. And that if you knew we were going to a party he was going to be at, then you would feel more comfortable.”

“So you basically guilted him into it then? Using me? And making me sound like a hopeless shut-in?”

Aubrey laughed. “Yup. Worked like a dream! He even said that Faith and Natalie could come too, so maybe I did lay it on a little thick.”

chapter 2

Damn. Aubrey wasn’t kidding when she’d said that the Sigma Chi party was supposed to be epic. The house was packed with people, music was blaring, and drinks were flowing. Our IDs had been checked out the door, so we were stuck with lame under-21 hand stamps for the night. Not that it really mattered once we made it through the door, since Aubrey talked the first guy she saw into grabbing us two beers from the keg.

As we wandered through the downstairs area with our red Solo cups in hand, I had to admit that she was right when she’d said that we wouldn’t be overdressed tonight. I could swear that I had the longest dress on, and that was with a hem a good two inches shorter than what I was normally comfortable in whenever Aubrey talked me into wearing a dress. Some of the outfits tonight showed more skin than bikinis with cover-ups did at the beach. And you’d think we were on the set of a music video with the way the girls were grinding against each other on the dance floor. I was so out of my element it wasn’t even funny.

Aubrey was busy chatting up a totally hot redheaded guy when I noticed Jackson across the room. I tapped her on the shoulder and nodded my head in his direction so she would know where I was heading. I barely got a glance from her as she was busy flirting. That girl went through boys like water, with no particular type that appealed to her. She flitted from boyfriend to boyfriend, breaking hearts wherever we went.

Speaking of broken hearts, Jackson had a flock of girls around him tonight. I hated to interrupt, but his was the only other familiar face at the party I had seen so far. Faith and Natalie were nowhere to be found, and I highly doubted any of the friends I had made in class had been invited to this party.

Jackson glanced up as I approached the group of girls surrounding him. A wide smile broke across his face. With his curly blond hair tousled from running his hands through it and his eyes twinkling at me, I could understand why I was receiving death glares from his fan club. I had drawn his attention away from them.

“Alexa, you made it!” Jackson reached out to pull me over to him, wrapping me up in a bear hug. “Fuck, you clean up nicely. I think the last time I saw you in a dress was at graduation. And your dress then left a little more to the imagination. Did Aubrey have to tackle you to the floor and wrestle you into this one?”

Yup, those death stares were now hitting my back like laser beams. Add in the snarky little laughs and I was starting to get pissed off. Could they not tell that we were practically brother and sister? Geesh, catty bitches were guaranteed to drive me crazy. I kissed him on the cheek and kept an arm wrapped around his side just to put them in their place.

“Nah. She worked her guilt magic on me just like she did you to get the invites to the party. You know how she is.”