On His Knees by Tabatha Kiss
Chapter 34
Jenna
Strappy black high-heels.
A revealing lavender nightie.
Nipple pasties.
It’s gonna be a good night.
For me, that is. You know who won’t be having a good night?
Seth fucking Newbury, that’s who.
I check myself in the full-length mirror on my bedroom wall. The nightie covers… just about everything it legally has to. It ends just below the curve of my butt. The jet black boy shorts cover the rest. Hair up. Gloves off.
Let’s do this.
“Okay, I’m ready.”
I spin around and sigh at Heidi standing in my doorway. She’s wearing… well, pajamas. Baggy flannel pants with a baggy flannel shirt, the buttons buttoned up far higher than her cleavage would be.
“You know the point of a sexy pajama party is to look sexy, right?” I ask.
She glances down her body. “Is this not sexy?” she asks, clearly joking.
“Heidi.”
“I don’t need to look sexy. I have a boyfriend already. I barely even shave anymore.”
“Well, that’s… a kind of happiness, I suppose.”
“But you…” She looks me up and down. “Should I be on the lookout for a hair scrunchie on your doorknob tonight?”
“Perhaps.” I shrug. “If I have time. I have a mission first.”
“Right, right. Your bet with Seth. What’s that about, exactly?”
A little bit of petty revenge.
A little bit of sinister delight.
“Just a friendly wager between friendly people. No big deal.” I turn back to the mirror, but I keep my eye on her reflection. “Why do you ask?”
“It just…” She bites her lip in hesitation. “Never mind.”
The front door opens and Drew’s voice echoes from down the hall. “Choo-choo! The party bus is here!”
“We’re in here!” Heidi shouts, signaling for him to come to us.
Drew approaches the doorway with a far better understanding of Pajama Night. He sports a tight, black tank top that does a spectacular job of showing off the muscles of his arms and torso. Below the belt he wears a pair of flannel pants — the same color as Heidi’s.
How cute.
“What kind of bus goes choo-choo?” I ask him.
“A party bus,” he answers as he wraps a thick arm around Heidi and kisses the side of her head.
“Ah.”
He looks me up and down and smiles. “Hair scrunchie kind of night, huh?”
I smile back. “Maybe.” I glance over his shoulder. “Is Seth in the car?”
“No. He’s already on his way to Delta Xi. Said he needed to get there early to prime his hunting grounds or something. He seemed really… focused, like his eyes were much more piercing than usual.”
I furrow my brow.
Damn. He got a head start.
But I have a secret weapon.
Oh, it’s on, Seth Newbury.
“Yeah…” Drew points at me. “Kind of like that.”
Heidi chuckles nervously.
* * *
A line extends across the lawn of the Delta Xi house.
Dozens upon dozens of Chicago North students wait to flash their IDs and gain entry to the party of the semester — but they say that about every party thrown by the Delta Xi fraternity. Truthfully, every party here has the potential to be the party of the semester, so it’s best not to miss it.
Back in the day, we’d have to stand and wait along with everybody else, but as Seth pointed out earlier — Delta Xi alumni are gods around here.
And my roommate is dating one.
We walk right in.
Heidi and I stall in the entryway, our eyes scanning the absolute perfection that is this party. They covered the entire surface of the floor with large pillows. An intricate blanket fort is under construction in the sitting room to the right. Nighties and PJs and onesies galore.
Drew grins with nostalgia in his eyes.
“Drew!”
Seth excitedly waves us down from the back of the house, but he stands out in the crowd even without the shouting… and for good reason.
He wears a white crop top as if he came here from the gym. The bottom hangs loosely around his navel, barely revealing the edge of the Alpha Delta Xi letters tattooed on his side.
And his sweatpants.
His grey sweatpants.
My eyes wander downward.
I force them up again, quickly making contact with Seth. He smirks. He witnessed me gawking at him.
Dammit.
He tosses his empty red plastic cup aside and starts bounding in our direction. I straighten up, ready to tongue-lash him back down, when he angles away from me to talk to Drew instead.
“Drew…”he says, raising his voice slightly over the crowd. “The pledges…”
Drew deflates. “Is it worse than we feared?”
“No! They’re better!”
“Better?”
“They’re geniuses, Drew.”Seth reaches out and cups Drew’s face. “Geniuses. Come on.”
They bolt together into the kitchen toward the back of the house.
I glance at Heidi. Her brow furrows in confusion, too.
We quickly follow, careful not to trip on the uneven pillow terrain before the crowd can block the path outside.
Boom boom clap.
Boom boom clap.
We hear it before we see it. Strings of white lights cover the deck and stretch beyond the open backyard. This space, usually tricked out in fitness equipment and goals for sports ball or whatever, now features a sturdy, above-ground pool in its center. It’s about twenty feet wide on all sides, three feet deep, and filled to the brim… with pillows.
Boom boom clap.
Boom boom clap.
Two couples engage in a rowdy game of Chicken Fight in the pool. Two girls in nightgowns perch on the shoulders of a few strapping young Delta Xis based on their tattoos, each holding a hockey stick with large pillows duct taped to the ends. They swing at each other, mostly missing because they can’t stop laughing while the crowd surrounding the pool stomps their heels and claps their hands to a steady rhythm.
Boom boom clap.
Boom boom clap.
“Oh, my god,” Heidi says, laughing with me.
We catch up with Drew and Seth on the upper deck. Their eyes shine with delight; the expressions of proud Delta Xi men.
Drew raises a hand to his wide-open mouth. “Geniuses,” he whispers.
He spins around, his frantic eyes in search of Heidi.
When he finds her, Heidi puts her foot down.
“No.”
“Please!” he begs.
She points at the pool of pillows. “I’m not going in there!”
“But look how much fun they’re having!”
We peek at the pool as one girl slams the other in the face with the padded hockey stick. She plummets off her man’s shoulders into the fluffy world below and the crowd recoils with a painful oof.
Heidi raises her brow.
“It’s perfectly safe!” Drew says. “See? She’s fine. A little wobbly, but fine!”
“You might as well go for it, little sister,” Seth says. “Because this theme is definitely getting re-banned by morning.”
“Yeah. Do it, Heidi.” I grin. “What’s the worst that can happen?”
“Brain damage!” she says, pointing at the wobbly girl in the pool.
Drew touches her shoulders. “Think of your number one,” he urges. “That newly minted vision board ain’t going to complete itself.”
Heidi glares. “Balancing on your shoulders while wailing on a girl with a hockey stick is not a life skill!”
“Wail on Jenna,” Seth suggests with a smile. “That’s a life skill.”
I roll my eyes. “Oh, ha-ha.”
“Drew…” Heidi tilts her head in the cutest way, “I love you, but I’m not doing that.”
Drew sighs, but he doesn’t really mind. He’s already lost in her little golden eyes, anyway. “All right,” he says, so very in love. “We won’t do it.”
She smiles. He smiles. A flock of doves flies down from the sky and carries them away on a rainbow.
Not really. But they might as well.
I glance at Seth as he looks at me.
I turn away.
“Let’s go grab a drink,” Drew says before gently guiding Heidi through the crowd.
She turns back. “You coming?”
“Right behind you,” I say.
I have some business to attend to first.
With your brother.
They leave, quickly disappearing among a wave of people rushing outside to get a sight of the action in the pillow pool.
I look at Seth again. He’s closer to me now, having taken several steps in my direction while I wasn’t looking. I tighten up, not willing to let him see me flinch.
Seth looks down, his golden eyes purposefully lingering on my cleavage. “You better have my money between those bongos,” he says.
I smirk. “Nope.” I reach deep between my breasts and pinch the small cylinder inside. “Just lipstick.”
I pull it out, pop the cap off, and smear an extra coat along my bottom lip. Seth scoffs as I press my lips together, but his eyes reveal a heavy, weakened soul.
Scarlett Shag.
Works every time.
“Well, if you’ll excuse me…” He steps forward, standing tall as he leans closer to my ear. “I have my work cut out for me tonight.”
He happily scans the crowd inside and around the pool. Dozens of fresh, promising young women just waiting to be seduced by Delta Xi royalty.
He leaves without another word, but his gaze hovers on me — my tits, specifically — until the last possible second before he disappears among it all.
Oh, no…
However will I stop you…
Dear me, I’m so helpless…
I search for a face in the crowd.
Bingo.
Blonde-haired, blue-eyed Trudy Belfort. We pledged together once upon a time. I would have roomed with her, too, if I had moved into the Beta Kappa house.
Any Beauty would do, but I’m glad it’s her.
She notices me as I step closer and greets me with a bright, big smile. I raise two fingers and cross them, slowly bringing them to my lips. She goes quiet and tilts her ear in my direction.
“Seth Newbury,”I whisper in her ear.
Trudy leans back, smiles, and nods her head.
I watch as she taps the shoulder of Shiri Heinlein, another Beta Kappa about a year younger than us. She crosses her fingers just as I did and leans close to Shiri to whisper in her ear.
Shiri leans back, smiles, and nods her head.
And that, Seth Newbury, is why you don’t fuck with a Beta Kappa Beauty.