Free Something Wicked by Jillian Sterling Page A

take a look yet?"
    He almost sounded genuinely concerned. Almost.
    "It just really took me by surprise," I explained,
swaying a little bit. "I mean, one minute I have my nose in a book, and
the next, hello! You owe twenty. Five. Thousand. Dollars. You are like the
opposite of Publishers Clearing House."
    "You're very funny."
    There he goes, flashing those white teeth again. The
interest from my loan must go straight to his dentist.
    "And very cute," he added.
    I smiled in spite of myself. He was definitely disarming.
    "I should go back to my friend." I nodded my head
towards the booth, where Amanda was shooing away a group of three co-eds and
their token male friend.
    "How about me and my buddy Rick join you two?"
    Did he just invite himself over to our table?
    "Well, uh," I stammered, suddenly feeling neither
terribly funny nor cute. "It's just, maybe, not such a good idea."
    "Boyfriend?"
    "No, not one those!" I laughed.
    He winked at me. "That's a relief."
    "We," I pointed between us. "We're
enemies."
    He choked on his beer. "Enemies? Or frenemies?"
    "Well, I think enemies. I owe you money," I
paused. "I owe you a lot of money. And...you're an ass when I clean
the frat house. Maybe we're mortal enemies."
    "But I know your name. Isadora," he said, rolling
out the word syllable by syllable. It sounded vaguely pornographic.
    "My friends don't call me that," I said.
    A look of disappointment flashed over his face.
    "How about I buy all the drinks tonight?" he
charmed. "So in a way, your money is actually going towards getting a nice
buzz."
    "Okay," I relented. Free drinks were too tempting
when broke. "But we continue being mortal enemies tomorrow."
    "Deal," he said, motioning for his friend to
follow us.
    I turned and kind of staggered to the booth. I was just in
time. Amanda was cracking her knuckles, like she was about to deck one of the
group trying to usurp our four top.
    "About time," Amanda groused when I dropped her
beer on the table. "I almost had to throw down with those idiots."
    "Amanda, I'd like you to meet Danny Stevenson, the guy
who wants to take away our house. And this is his friend..."
    I plopped into the booth, my blood alcohol level just high
enough to dull the pain of the vinyl burn on the back of my bare thighs as I
moved down to make room.
    "Rick," Danny added helpfully before sliding in
next to me. "And I thought we were taking a break from being mortal enemies
tonight."
    Amanda pursed her lips. "Clearly I am not as drunk as
you."
    "Did you eat dinner?" I asked her.
    She nodded. "Did you?"
    "I don't think I did," I responded, taking another
swallow of beer.
    She snatched a menu. "We'd better get something in you
before the kitchen closes."
    I took it out of her hands and shook my head. "Not
enough cash. Maybe we should go?"
    "I told you, it's on me," Danny said.
    "The beers! There was nothing in our deal that said you
had to feed me."
    "It would be an honor to share a table with two
beautiful women, so we are happy to feed you both," he said gallantly.
    Amanda snorted and side-eyed Rick, who was sitting next to
her, beaming.
    "I'm gay, you know," she said flatly.
    Rick only looked more interested. Amanda bit down on the lip
of cup and chewed the plastic, shooting me daggers with her eyes.
    "So what do you want to eat? Wings? Nachos?
Fries?" Danny asked, eyeing his own menu.
    "Fries, definitely," Amanda chimed in.
    "Burgers are good," I added. If Richie Rich was
paying, I wanted something substantial. Too bad steak wasn't on the menu.
    "Cool," he looked around for a waitress.
    "Better to just put in the order with the
bartender," Amanda offered. "They seem short staffed tonight."
    He nodded at Rick and they both got up and headed to place
our order at the bar.
    "What is going on?" Amanda hissed. "You think
this is going to get you out of owing that money?"
    "No, of course not," I said. "But he's being
nice."
    "For a loan shark!"
    "Well, what can I say, he's buying me dinner," I
tried to keep my voice