Page 81 of Ruthless Ambition
“No,” he said with exasperation. “Of course not, but Angel’swhite, white. Like never been outside white,” he said and looked between us as if we were too slow to get there. “Like never been in thesunwhite,” he explained. “Like vampire white,” he tacked on uselessly.
“You complete dick,” I said with a shake of my head.
“Yeah, and you know, you’re Transylvanian or something.”
“I’m American,” I deadpanned.
“Your grandparents or something were, you know . . .”
“Romanian.” I was pissed off again, and, shoving my hoodie down, I pointed at my shoulder. “And I’m not the one with the biting fetish,” I snapped.
Jeremy immediately covered his eyes. “Girl, I donotneed to see this,” he declared.
“It’s her shoulder, doofus,” Chrissy muttered as she sat down. “So she needs a tan; no need to be mean and call her a dead bloodsucker.”
That earned her a look from me. “Wow, thanks.” Turning back to Jeremy, I waited. “And the rest?”
“It’s stupid,” he said as he looked at me guiltily. “We knew you from . . .” He looked at Chrissy. “Before. We kept an eye on you to ensure you kept it to yourself. You did. We were all at the party and you came in and you looked hot.”
“I was hot?” I blurted in surprise.
“Yeah, you were.”
“Don’t flirt with my friend, asshole,” Chrissy snarled at him.
“I wasn’t,” he said as he looked at her in bewilderment. “Anyway, I said — and I apologize so much, Angel — I said it was obvious in that dress what Dave had seen in you, because we hadn’t seen it before, you know, because you cover up.”
“And the insults just keep rolling in,” I muttered as I looked down at my hoodie self-consciously.
“No, it’s fine, but you know, that night you looked . . . um,” he faltered.
“Hot.” Chrissy rolled her eyes, and I saw Jeremy shift on his feet. Was my tiny roommate getting to him? Making him feel uncomfortable? Good.
“Hurry up,” I demanded. “Your time ran out a few minutes ago.”
“I brought attention to you at the party, I said I wouldn’t mind catching you during Mayhem.” He had the decency to look embarrassed. “One of the guys bet Onyx he couldn’t catch you.”
“Why him? Why not you?” I asked.
“I have a girl,” he said as he scratched the back of his neck. “It was Onyx who said you weren’t the type to, you know.” He glanced at my open bedroom door.
“Sleep with a guy on the first night?” I guessed. Bastard knew me well, and he didn’t even know me.
“Yeah.”
“So you bet him he couldn’t?”
“Not me exactly, but when the others said it, I didn’tnotbet against him.”
It was nice to see someone of Jeremy’s size and stature squirm. It felt right as I made him feel as uncomfortable as I had earlier.
“And the dickhead, Cooper? He bet on hisboy?” My sarcasm was dripping.
“He did.”
“And you’re here because?”
“I didn’t think he would go through with it, and I didn’t know you would find out and especially not with Coop here.” Jeremy sighed. “It was shitty what we did, it was a shitty way to find out. They’re . . .” He took a breath. “They’re good guys, they’re just a bit—”
