with a textbook cradled beneath his arm and a tired smirk on his mouth.
Corey follows close behind him, but pauses in the doorway. “You’re missing out, Rose,” he says.
“On a limo ride from the house to the student center… two miles away?” Drew asks with a scoff.
“So, we’ll have the driver circle the block!”
“I’ll pass.” Drew strides toward his desk and bobs his head at me, briefly acknowledging my existence. “Hey, Heidi.”
“Hi, Drew,” I say, a nonchalant greeting.
“Pfft, whatever.” Corey points at Seth. “You’re in, though, right, Newbury?”
Seth squints. “I think I’m with Drew on this one.”
Corey grunts. “You guys are lame.” He nods at me. “How you doing, Stampy?”
“Hi, Corey,” I say with a wave. “I’m great. You?”
“Great. Hey, you want to go to the mask—”
“No,” Seth says, stopping him with a glare.
Corey backs off, hands raised. “All right. All right. Message received. Off-limits. No touchy.”
He walks off into the hallway and wanders into Devin’s room.
“Go to the what?” I ask Seth.
“It doesn’t matter,” he says. “You’re not going.”
I raise a brow. “Says who?”
“Me.”
“You’re not the boss of me,” I point out.
“No, but I am your brother, and I don’t want you to go, so there.”
I turn to Drew sitting at his desk across the room. “Go to the what?” I ask him instead.
“Greek Masquerade Ball,” he answers.
Seth turns up his hands, annoyed and betrayed.
“What?” Drew asks. “Why would I care what she does?”
“The Greeks have a masquerade ball?” I ask, but only to annoy Seth some more.
“Yes,” Seth answers, exhaling hard through his nose. “It’s the biggest event of the fall semester, I have a lot planned for that night, and I don’t want you there to witness any of it.”
“Oh, I see…”
“So, you’re not going,” he repeats.
“Well, I’m not Greek, so I don’t see how I could.”
“You can go if you’re invited by someone in the Greek system,” Drew says.
Seth twitches his hands up again. “Dude, why?”
Drew smirks. “Because it’s fun.”
“Ahh…” I smile wider. “So, that’s how it is.”
Seth glares at me from his chair. “Heidi…”
“All I have to do to ruin your fun is find a strapping, young frat boy to play with for a night.” I squint into the hallway. “I wonder how hard that would be…”
“Promise me you won’t go.”
“Relax,” I say. “I won’t go. It sounds lame anyway.”
“Yes. It’s lame. Very, very lame. So, stay away from it.”
I show my hands. “I will.”
“Thank you.” He glances into the hallway as someone passes by the open door. “Hold on.” He shuffles to his feet. “That guy owes me money. Yo, Boone!”
I chuckle as he bolts out of the room and into the hallway to chase Devin down.
Drew stands up from his desk chair, takes a wide step toward the door, and closes it. Then he spins on his heels and rushes at me.
I push up onto my toes just in time. Our lips collide in a wild and dangerous kiss, one we both know could tear our entire world apart.
But who cares?
“Hey, there,” he greets me. For real this time.
“Hey,” I say, licking my lips.
One more peck and he takes a wide, safe step back to his desk.
“Sorry, I had to get that out of my system,” he says. “You look really nice today.”
I smile with a quick peek at the door. “Why, thank you. I barely tried.”
He smirks as he sits down. “You two going to lunch again?” he asks.
“Yup.”
“Fourth time this week.”
“That’s not true. The first time was breakfast.”
“You’re definitely getting along now, huh?”
“I guess so. Until I was twelve, we were inseparable, and then... badness. It’s nice to have my big brother back again.” I raise a brow. “What? You jealous?”
He smiles shortly. “Of him getting to be seen alone in public with you without drawing suspicion? Whatever gave you that impression?”
I lean on the edge of his desk, keeping a friendly, innocent distance from him. “Hey, he’s not the one who gets to feel me up in the backseat of his car in the Moira’s Cafe parking lot anytime he wants to.”
Drew’s face screws up. “Well, I would hope not.”
I frown. “Yeah, this whole secret fling thing would be way sexier if I were married to some rich, corporate dairy farmer who didn’t love me anymore.”
“Cheating isn’t sexy.”
“I believe your sister has written a few bestsellers that challenge that theory.”
He sighs. “Please tell me you’re not reading those.”
“I got to give her props, they are hard to put down.”
His throat clears, swiftly changing the subject. “What are you up to