Free Premature Evacuation (Underground Sorority #1) by Rachel Shane Page A

but my leg still pressed against his. The swirl of his breath in the cold curled toward me, the only part of him that leaned in my direction. We passed into darkness, surrounded by trees, scents of pine filling my nose. My stomach flipped with each bump of the cart. Corey seemed so haunting and distant, like a ghost along the path. It was as if he wasn’t even there. Fallon squeezed my hand, which gave me something to hold onto.
    “This is so awkward,” I whispered in her ear. The scrape of the truck along the dirt path covered my words.
    “He keeps glancing at you. At one point he reached out a hand to steady you on a bump but—” Another lurch crashed her head into mine. We both fell into giggles.
    “But clearly he should,” I said instead.
    Fallon leaned over me toward him. “You having fun?”
    Corey didn’t acknowledge her, just stared at the Styrofoam gravestones lining the path. But a moment later when she faced forward again, he ducked behind me and grabbed her shoulder while screaming, “Boo!”
    She yelped and crashed into the guy on her other side.
    Corey let out a chuckle. “I admit, that was pretty fun.”
    My cheeks flushed from both the cold and my resulting giggle. It wasn’t directed at me, but it was something.
    The drive back to the sorority was far more awkward than the ride there. No one spoke the entire time, except for Nate who belted out hardcore rock songs like nothing was wrong. When we stepped out of the car, Bianca looked green. She turned to Nate. “Will you hold my hair back?”
    If Nate didn’t know about her crush on him before, I was sure he did now. And he looked just as flushed as her at the idea.
    Before he could answer, Bianca cupped her hand over her mouth and darted to the bathroom.
    “Maybe we shouldn’t have given her those pills if she was going to be drinking,” Fallon said as we breezed inside.
    “Whoops.” I seemed to recall something on the label about the meds causing stomach-related side effects if mixed with alcohol, but I defied that rule all the time and always came out unscathed.
    The only light streamed from street lamps through the window, creating large patches of darkness that surrounded small circles of light. Corey hid in one of the shadows and shoved his hands into his pockets while Nate sat on the steps, cradling his hands in his knees. Fallon plopped down next to him.
    “Hey, Mackenzie, do you guys have chips here or something?” Corey asked. He wore a blank, unreadable expression.
    I stifled a twinge in my chest. He used my full name . “Yeah, in the kitchen.” I hesitated. “Do you want me to get you some?”
    “I’ll go with you.”
    I took a slow and steady pace he matched stride for stride. On the floor, our shadows mixed together, the only parts of us still connected. I flipped on the light and both of us blinked at the sudden brightness. He reached above my head and slid the dimmer down a few notches, effectively setting the lighting to romantic ambiance. He leaned against the wall, one foot propped up, leaving a scuff mark on the white paint. I fiddled through drawers and cabinets until I found something that resembled chips and handed him a granola bar.
    He squinted at it. “This doesn’t have quite the salty goodness content I was craving.” The tip of his index finger touched my hand when he grabbed the bar.
    I spun around and tossed him a salt packet. “Better?”
    The corners of his lips quirked. “Listen,” he said, swallowing hard. “You okay? I mean, how are you?” He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “God, that sounds so informal after everything.”
    My shoulders tensed. I looked away. “I’m fine.”
    He nodded, his eyes glistening in the unflattering florescent light.
    “If we’re continuing with informalities,” I said. “The impolite thing for me to do is not ask you the same question.”
    He raised a brow. “So what you’re saying is you don’t want to know how I am?”
    I shuffled my feet.