I shouldn’t have been surprised she’d never mentioned them to me. She’d known I wasn’t much for social events, and she’d also known I was trying to avoid the Princes. She probably hadn’t wanted to throw it in my face—but I still felt a little hurt that she’d been going to the monthly parties without telling me.
As if drawn by my thoughts, her gaze flicked up to meet mine. The laughter on her lips died at the sight of Finn’s arms wrapped around me, and for a moment, she just stared at me. Then she shook her head, going back to her conversation with Maggie and Dan and angling her body away from mine to put me completely out of her line of vision.
Well. That message couldn’t have been any clearer.
I knew it. She is pissed about this.
She might’ve said it wasn’t a big deal when I had to bail on our shopping trip, but ever since then, things had been weird between us. We hadn’t even talked in a few days. I was used to getting texts from her at odd hours about random things, but there’d been radio silence for a week.
I didn’t know how to get things back to normal.
But I missed her.
My footsteps faltered. I wanted to go over and say something, but I wasn’t sure what would repair the damage. I’d gotten swept up into a whole new life, a whole new world when the semester started, and I didn’t know how to bridge the gap between the old and the new.
“Come on, Legs.” Finn’s voice tugged my attention back to him, and he swept his arm out in front of the booze table like a game show host. “What do you want?”
I scrunched up my nose, sending one last backward glance at Leah, Maggie, and Dan. “Um… anything but vodka, whiskey, or beer.”
He quirked his eyebrows. “Hmm. A woman of discerning taste. Do I dare give you tequila?”
“I dunno. Do you?”
“Fuck yeah. Let’s live a little.”
He poured some into a cup, then grabbed an open bottle of orange juice and topped it off before handing it to me with a flourish. I took a tentative drink, but all I could really taste was orange juice. There was a slight burn, but nowhere near as sharp as the whiskey. I liked it.
Finn watched my face carefully, and as I swallowed the first sip, he crowed triumphantly. “She likes it! All right, let’s get the fuck out of here.”
“Out of here?” I asked, glancing up at him as he led me through the crowd. “I just got here.”
He squeezed my waist again, making my breath catch. I got the feeling he was a few drinks in, and it was making him friendlier than I could handle. “Oh, Legs. We’re not leaving the party. Just going to a better one.”
As he spoke, he nodded at two junior boys I recognized and pushed through the door they were lounging in front of, leading us into the back half of the dorm’s first floor. The front was where the main common room was, but the back had smaller study rooms and meeting rooms.
I could feel the difference in the atmosphere immediately. This area was dark too—even darker than out front—and soft moans came from some of the small rooms off the main hallway. Through an open door, I saw Crista King lean forward and hold a rolled up bill to her nose. She pushed it along a thin white line on the table in front of her, holding her other nostril closed with one finger. When she came up for air, she smiled, her eyes glazed as she pinched her nose and settled back on the couch.
Holy fuck.
My gaze flitted up to Finn’s. Somehow, my arm had made its way around his waist too, and my fingers dug into his side. He winced slightly then pressed his free hand over mine, flattening my fing
ers against his hip. “Don’t worry, Tal. This is the VIP area, so we let people do whatever they want, but none of us are into the hard shit… anymore.”
I caught the last word, even though he said it softly. But before I could ask anything else, he pushed through a door into another small study room off the main hall. It clicked shut behind us as Mason, Elijah, and Cole looked up. They were all lounging comfortably on the couches and chairs in the room, and Elijah smiled when he saw me.
“Hey. Wasn’t sure you’d come, Princess.”
“That’s what I said!”
Finn grinned down at me, guiding me over to the couch where Elijah was sitting. I sank down between the two of them, taking a long pull from my cup.
“How’s it going out there?” Mason asked Finn.
“Good. Pretty chill so far.”
“So, wait.” I leaned forward, my gaze bouncing between the two of them. “You throw a party for everyone, and then you escape to the back and hang out in here with each other?”
“Yup.” Finn chuckled. “Why? Does that make us sound like losers?”