Frat House Confessions--Ridge Page 5

  “Nah, we’d better head out.”

  “Sounds good, let me grab my bag,” Karrie said, leaving me alone in the doorway while I tried to gather my wits.

  I mean, I’d chosen her because I figured she’d clean up nice, but this was ridiculous. My dick was hard and I kept seeing flashes of her full pink-stained lips, and I knew if I didn’t get my shit together I’d wind up saying or doing something I’d regret.

  Remember your deal, I told myself mentally, turning from the doorway and closing my eyes as I tried to soften my hard-on.

  “Ready,” I heard Karrie say behind me, the door clicking shut.

  “Great, let’s go,” I replied, not turning to look at her again, but instead crossing to the stairs and hurrying down them.

  I was quiet as we got in my car and I turned us toward the mall.

  “Is everything okay?” Karrie asked softly, her tone conveying her nerves.

  “Yup,” I said, and it was, now that I had my hormones under control. “You have any issues at the house this morning?”

  My voice must have sounded normal, because the nerves were gone when she answered, “Nope, none at all. But, when I got home wearing yesterday’s clothes, I did get shit from Mina, which made me wonder … can I tell her about our deal, or is she supposed to think we’re dating for real? I didn’t mention anything, because I wasn’t sure and wanted to talk to you about it first.”

  I shifted to look at her, before turning my attention back to the road as I pulled into the parking garage.

  “I’d rather we keep the fact that it’s all bullshit to ourselves,” I told her, somewhat harshly.

  “O-kay,” Karrie said slowly, and I could feel her eyes on my face. “Are you all right?”

  Once I was parked, I turned in my seat and said, “Yeah, and, not to be a dick, but I was clear about wanting our deal to be kept a secret. It doesn’t take long for rumors to spread on campus, and if this was going to work, for both of us, we need people to believe what started as a frat house game turned into a real relationship. That won’t happen if we started letting people in on the secret.”

  “Okay, and that’s fine. I didn’t tell her anything because it apparently wasn’t clear to me, and I wanted to make sure. And, full disclosure, you are being a dick.”

  Before I could respond, Karrie hopped out and shut the door behind her with a bang.

  “Shit,” I exclaimed, as I hurried after her calling, “Karrie…”

  I tried not to notice how good her ass looked in that dress, and failed.

  “Look, Karrie, wait up, okay?”

  I reached out and put my hand on her arm, but when she shot a glare at me, I let her go.

  “Hey, I’m sorry.”

  Karrie stopped walking and let me catch up with arms crossed and foot tapping.

  “You’re right, I was being a dick.”

  “You’ve been weird since you picked me up.”

  I nodded, secretly liking the fact that she called me on my shit. “You’re right, I’ve been feeling off, and I took it out on you.”

  “Did something happen?”

  I shook my head.

  “No, I don’t know what crawled up my ass,” I lied, but I wasn’t about to tell her I couldn’t handle being around smokin’ hot Karrie. “Today was actually a good day … I had a run-in with Drake earlier.”

  “Really? What happened?”

  “Well, I may have insinuated that we’re together together. I told him we’re going on a date tonight, and that I’d left you in my bed this morning.”

  Her mouth formed a surprised “O,” which brought more dirty thoughts to my mind.

  “You didn’t.” Karrie smacked me on the arm.

  “Yeah, I did. The whole point is for him to see you moving on, right? Well, I helped that along this morning.”

  “Was he pissed?” she asked hopefully.

  “Totally jealous,” I assured her with a grin.

  A movement out of the corner of my eye caught my attention, and I glanced over to see the man himself glaring at us from the entrance to the food court.

  Taking a step closer, I tipped my lips up in a cocky grin and lowered my voice.

  “What are you doing?” Karrie asked, watching me get closer, eyes wary.

  “Showtime,” I whispered. “He’s watching us right now.”

  “Who, Drake?” she asked, and I could see it was killing her not to look around.

  “Yup. You ready?”

  “For what?” Karrie asked, those big blue eyes wide as they looked up at me.

  I stepped closer, so close the material of her dress brushed against my legs.

  “Our first kiss.”

  Her lips parted at my words, and when she didn’t audibly protest, I brought one hand up to delve into her curls while the other settled on the curve of her hip.

  “Be convincing.”

  I wasn’t sure if I was talking to her, or to myself, but I needn’t have bothered. The second our lips touched the heat between us was palpable.

  Twelve

  Karrie

  There was a squeak of surprise, followed by a moan, both of which I think came from me, but I was too swept up to care.

  Because … Oh. My. God. I’m kissing Ridge and it is freaking amazing.

  His palm on my hip felt like a brand, hot and heavy and searing through my dress. Then, there was the hand that was currently fisted in my hair, tugging just enough so that I knew it was there, and inexplicably driving me over the edge.

  Drake had never squeezed, pulled, or bit anything, and as Ridge’s teeth grazed my lower lip, I found all three actions really, really got my engines revved.

  In fact, I lost all awareness of our surroundings and was seconds away from climbing him like the rope in gym class when he released me and stepped away.

  “Gah,” was the sound that came out of my mouth as I reached blindly for him, wanting to pull him back.

  Luckily, his eyes were closed and it looked like he was also struggling for composure, so he didn’t see my embarrassing move or hear me struggling to regain the ability to breathe normally.

  You’d think I’d never been kissed before, but I guess the take home from this moment for me, was that I’d never been so caught up in a kiss, in feeling every pulse point in my body, that I’d been reduced to a quivering mass of need within seconds.

  Jesus, Ridge is potent.

  I started reciting the phonetic alphabet in my head to calm my racing heart and get back to normal so I could face Ridge as a perfectly rational woman when he was done reciting whatever mantra he used to calm the raging boner in his shorts.

  Seriously, it was impressive, and I had to force myself to avert my gaze and focus on the alphabet, because my body was screaming for me to tackle him.

  After a few minutes of working on our individual techniques, Ridge and I gave each other shaky smiles and wordlessly started into the mall.

  We were crossing the entrance to the food court when I remembered what had started the kiss and surveyed our surroundings for the first time.

  “I don’t see him.”

  “Who?” Ridge asked, trying to adjust himself inconspicuously.

  “Drake.”

  “Probably ran off crying…”

  “Yeah, right,” I muttered, even as the terrible side of me secretly hoped it was true. “So, where to first?”

  “This way,” Ridge replied, taking me by the arm and leading me through the food court and past all the stores I usually shopped in.

  “Whoa,” I said, putting on the breaks when he stopped in front of Gucci.

  “What?”

  “I’m not going in there,” I said, digging in my heels when he tried to tug me.

  “Why the hell not?”

  “Because, I’m not a Gucci girl.”

  “Well, I’m a Gucci guy, and I’m the one doing the makeover, so … move.”

  I shook my head and Ridge let out an exasperated breath.

  “Ridge, I’m a brok
e college student,” I explained. “And, yes, you’re footing this makeover bill, but it still needs to be clothes that I’ll actually wear. I’m not going anywhere in a four-hundred-dollar T-shirt.”

  “Where do you want to go, the fucking Gap?”

  I rolled my eyes at him, cause, seriously?

  “No, I don’t want to go to The Gap. Look, I know you think because we’re about to be dating,” I said, using air quotes, “that you need me to look like the kind of bougie chick you’d have on your arm, and I get that. But, I also have to be me. There are two sides to this deal, remember? And, no one who knows me would believe that I woke up this morning, and your dick was so good, that I suddenly morphed into a Gucci-wearing diva.”

  Ridge looked at me for a moment before sighing.

  “Well, for one, my dick is that good, but I get your point. Where is it you want to go?” he asked. “And, don’t say Hot Topic or some such nonsense, there has to be a place that is a mix of the two of us. There’s no way I’m taking you to Thanksgiving wearing a Sonic the Hedgehog T-shirt.”

  “Hey, Sonic’s coming back,” I joked, taking his hand in mine and leading him away from the God-awful expensive part of the mall.

  I took him to a store that, although I couldn’t afford myself, I really liked. It was a mix of name brands and high-end stuff for Ridge, but cool, fun surfer/skater stuff that I liked. The perfect compromise.

  “I can work with this,” Ridge managed as I led him inside.

  We split up and started looking at clothes, each of us choosing items and putting them in a dressing room for me to try on. When I had more clothes waiting than I had in my closet, I left Ridge sitting in a wingback chair while I went to start trying them on.

  “You have to show me,” Ridge called out once I was behind the closed door.

  “Only if I like it!” I yelled back.

  I thought I heard him mutter, fine, but couldn’t be sure.

  After a few definite nopes, I put on a sweet white cropped shirt with bell sleeves and a light denim mini skirt, and declared it a winner.

  I walked out to where Ridge was waiting, but he was so engrossed on whatever he was watching on his phone that he didn’t look up.

  I cleared my throat.

  Ridge looked up slowly, and I caught the slight widening of his eyes, which made me grin.

  “What do you think?” I asked, turning in a circle.

  “Not quite Thanksgiving wear, but … schwing!”

  I barked out a laugh.

  “Did you just make a Wayne’s World reference?”

  “Yeah, why?”

  “I just didn’t think you had it in you,” I joked.

  “When we were kids, my brothers and I would escape to the movie theater downstairs and watch nineties movies. Our nanny was obsessed, and she got us into them.”

  “Did you just say you had a movie theater in your house and a nanny?”

  Ridge shrugged one shoulder. “Yeah, Karrie, what part of my family is rich don’t you understand?”

  Not appreciating his tone, I put my hand on my hip and glared at him.

  “I don’t know, Ridge McRitcherson, maybe when you don’t grow up with theaters, nannies, and closets full of Gucci, it’s hard to comprehend.”

  “McRitcherson?” he asked with a grin.

  “Yup, it’s what I’m calling you now.”

  “Please, don’t.”

  “Anyway, I like this outfit, so it’s going in the keep pile.”

  “Agreed.”

  “And, in spite of that other stuff,” I said with a wave of my hand. “I like that you make Wayne’s World references. In fact, it may be my favorite thing about you.”

  “Yeah?” he asked.

  “Yup.”

  “You know, most of the people we know would think Wayne’s World is anything but cool,” Ridge said.

  This time, I shrugged and said, “Well, most people we know are idiots,” before spinning and heading back to try on more clothes.

  Thirteen

  Ridge

  I was sitting there, chuckling and shaking my head, when I felt someone come up next to me and pat me on the arm.

  I looked up and to my right to see Caitlyn, one of the Delta groupies, standing there with an armful of clothes and a smile.

  “Hey, Ridge, how’s it going?” she asked.

  My eyes flitted to the closed dressing room door, before coming back to rest on Caitlyn. We’d hooked up a couple times, but when she’d tried to move us toward a relationship, I’d quickly put a stop to it.

  Not only did I not do relationships, but Caitlyn was almost as entitled as I was, and I needed someone who was a little more grounded. Who’d put me in my place and not let me walk all over them. Someone who’d call me on my shit and not get offended when I called them on theirs.

  A mental picture of Karrie popped in my head, but I ignored it. Karrie and I would never work. First of all, she was hung up on her asshole ex, and second of all, she was simply a means to an end.

  Not at all girlfriend material.

  Guilt slammed through me at that stray thought, but I ignored it and answered the girl hovering over me.

  “Can’t complain,” I answered, intentionally not continuing the conversation in hopes that she’d get the hint and leave me alone.

  I looked back down at my phone.

  “I heard Delta’s planning a rager for after Homecoming … something about making over girls into the perfect Delta groupies. Crush should have asked me to come be an example, not Bella. I’ve been hanging with Deltas for the last four years,” she continued with a pout.

  I sighed and brought my gaze back up to her face.

  “It was Crush’s deal, Caitlyn, I’m not involved in his shit.”

  She smirked and replied, “That’s not what I heard. Word on the street is you picked a girl for a makeover, too. Drake’s girl.”

  “Word on the street?” I scoffed, standing up and stretching, and shooting her a bored expression. “Your source is wrong. Karrie is more to me than a game Crush is playing with the rushes. And, she’s not Drake’s girl … She’s mine.”

  Just then, the changing room door swung open, and Karrie walked out wearing a tight-fitting tube dress that showed off her curves, leaving little to the imagination. By the sweet grin on her face, and the way she crossed to me and put her arm around my waist, tucking into my side, I knew she’d heard everything Caitlyn and I had said.

  “Hey, babe,” she cooed, pulling me tight. “I hope I’m not taking too long.”

  I looked down at her upturned face and felt my heart accelerate.

  “You’re worth the wait,” I said softly, my eyes falling to her lips as I remembered our kiss.

  “Aww, you’re so sweet,” Karrie said, turning her attention to Caitlyn and repeating, “Isn’t he so sweet?”

  “The sweetest,” Caitlyn replied, her tone implying I was anything but.

  “And you are?” Karrie asked, one hand resting on my abs, causing me to flex.

  “Caitlyn.”

  “Hi, Caitlyn, I’m Karrie, Ridge’s girlfriend.”

  I would have laughed at the shocked look on Caitlyn’s face, but I was too busy enjoying the feel of Karrie’s hand on me. I found myself wishing there was no barrier between that hand and my bare skin.

  Caitlyn recovered and let out a disbelieving laugh.

  “Ridge doesn’t date,” she said, like she knew the first fucking thing about me.

  “Well, that’s obviously not true.”

  Caitlyn looked to me, as if expecting me to prove her right and call Karrie a liar.

  Instead I wrapped my arms around her and kissed the top of her head.

  “I never saw a reason to date, then I met Karrie.”

  Caitlyn’s eyes narrowed, and I knew she was pissed, like I’d just said she wasn’t good enough for me.

  Which, honestly, was true.

  I looked at her pointedly, daring her to say something else, but instead she simply huffed
and threw the clothes she’d been holding on the ground.

  When she spun on her heel and stormed off, Karrie called after her, “You can’t just leave the clothes like that.” But Caitlyn didn’t stop, she stormed out of the store.

  “What an asshole,” Karrie said, untangling herself from me and putting distance between us.

  I missed her warmth immediately, and it took a minute before it registered that she was bending over and picking up Caitlyn’s discarded clothes.

  “You don’t have to do that. There are employees…”

  Karrie raised her head and glared at me, giving me the perfect view of her breasts, which I took a moment to appreciate.

  “They shouldn’t have to,” she argued.

  “Neither should you,” I replied, moving to help her.

  Once the clothes were hanging in an open dressing room, Karrie turned to me and said, “Guess we’re out of the closet.”

  I nodded in agreement.

  “Yup. Between Drake and Caitlyn, the news will be all over Greek row and the sports complex by dinner.”

  “What do you think of this one?” she asked, waving her hand across her body.

  “Fucking fantastic,” I replied without hesitation. “But not Thanksgiving attire.”

  “Don’t worry, I have the perfect dress in there for Thanksgiving, I’ll try it on next. And, this will go in the keep pile.”

  I threw my thanks up to God before asking, “What are you thinking for dinner? I’m getting hungry.”

  “The food court’s right there, we can hit it up after I’m done.”

  “The food court?” I asked, curling my lip. “I was hoping for a restaurant … you know, with service and actual dishes.”

  Karrie gave an exaggerated eyeroll that had me biting back a smile.

  “Don’t tell me you’ve never eaten in the food court.”

  “Why would I?”

  “Jeez, what kind of college student are you? Are you even getting the college experience?”

  I looked up and tapped my mouth like I was thinking about it, before saying, “The amount of alcohol and pussy I’ve consumed say yes.”

  “Ugh,” Karrie moaned, slapping me on the arm. “You’re so gross. Let’s save the restaurant with its fancy plates for next time. Tonight, you’re getting a Philly cheesesteak and greasy fries from the food court. My treat.”