Chapter 1

Sekani

A load of vomit splattered right in front of me, missing my ballet flats by a few millimeters.

To all that is pure, and holy, why does this always happen to me?

The guy who had been retching at my feet, doubled over, and slowly raised his unfocused eyes at me. His blonde hair was matted with sweat and some other unidentifiable fluid, and there was a big grin stretching his thin lips. He must have had spinach for dinner because pieces of regurgitated spinach clung to his teeth and tongue piercing.

“Maria? Is that you?” Who the hell is Maria? “You’ve always looked like one of those hymns back in church. Hail Mary, mother of—”

He belched loudly, wretched, and shot out a projectile of vomit from his mouth again. This time, a firm hand clasped around my shoulders and pulled me several steps away. Not even a second later, the spray of stale vomit covered the spot I was standing in.

“Yeah, that's definitely molly.” Luca's voice said into my ear. “And you should sharpen your reflexes around here, Kina, stoned dude over there would have bathed you in his vomit.”

Slowly, I moved my eyes to give him a sideways stare. He was grinning, completely unfazed by the freak of nature we had just witnessed. And we hadn't even stepped into the mansion where the proper party was in full swing.

Reading the absolute horror on my face, he winked, “Welcome to college nightlife.”

At the same moment, a drunk girl chose to jump into the massive pool, only to remember seconds later that she couldn't swim. While normal humans would have been panicking and trying to help her out, her friends laughed and recorded her splashing around and struggling. It was a circus out here.

“I want to go home.” My voice was a squeak.

“Not a chance. We just got here, and it's my mission to make your first GetdirtyatCove party, the best ever! Let's go.” He chuckled, tightening his grip around my shoulders.

Like a sacrificial lamb, I let my best friend pull me towards the entrance which loomed over us like the gates to hell. Literally, it was. Once inside, the sheer vibration of the music grated through my bones, my heart, and my soul. The flashing neon lights were blinding, and the smell of booze, expensive perfume, weed, and sex was overpowering.

The GetdirtyatCove annual parties were notorious, even among non-partygoers like me. It was a quintessential part of studying at Cove University. A rite of passage. A tradition to be honored by all, according to Luca. I couldn't disagree more, but he had finally managed to convince me to come with him this time.

He had even gone as far as to buy me a party outfit, because I had nothing party-worthy in my wardrobe, unlike Simone, my perfect twin sister, who sported entire designer runway collections in her multiple closets.

I hoped I didn't bump into her tonight.

As I struggled to keep up with Luca, I bumped into some gyrating couple. I mumbled apologies which got drowned out by the music, and pulled down my nude dress for the umpteenth time. The skimpy fabric kept riding up my thighs. Luca had given me a look I'd never seen before and told me I looked sexy.

It made me embarrassed, so I brushed him off. He couldn't convince me to wear the heels he bought, so I switched them out for ballet flats instead. Wish I had switched out the dress too.

“Hey, Luca!” Someone called, and Luca let go of me to half-hug the guy.

Big mistake. The surging crowd of dancing bodies and drunk students pushed me away from him. I gasped, stretching my hand out for him to save me, but he was lost in conversation with the other guy. The meathead hadn't even realized I was no longer at his side!

I tried to free myself from the tangle, but a sweaty hand grabbed my arm.

It was a guy with rank beer breath, drunk beyond his wits. “Hey beautiful, haven't seen you around here before. Let's hang! You look like fresh meat, unlike all the ran-through whores around here! You a freshman?”

“No, thanks!” I slipped my arm away with a grimace and ran in the other direction. Hobbled, rather, as running in this dress was impossible.

“Hey! Freshman!” He called after me, but I jumped into a room and slammed the door shut.

It thankfully muted the migraine-inducing music and blocked out the rest of the party. This is what partying was? And people found it fun?

I had to catch my breath for a bit, as I was incredibly unathletic. Reading books and watching corny romances didn't involve much physical strength, now did it?

The room turned out to be a large hallway that branched out into different sections of the mansion. And there was a familiar voice filtering out from one of the other doorways. I could recognize that entitled high-pitched screech from my nightmares. Simone Salvador, heiress to our family’s billion-dollar company, Ultra Media, and my younger twin.

I would have walked back into the arms of that sweaty guy rather than risk bumping into her, but I heard a second voice. A deep male voice. One I recognized, this time, from my secret fantasies. Sean Remington, heir to Atrix Communications, Simone's boyfriend, and the love of my life.

I snuck closer, and there they were, facing off against each other in the middle of an argument.

“I can't believe you're actually talking to me, like this, Sean!” Simone flipped her luscious brown hair over her shoulders, “Do you know how many guys would kill to even be my boyfriend?! And here you are, taking it for granted—”

“—this is exactly the problem, Simone!” Sean exploded with a temper I had never seen before. “You don't fucking care about anyone but yourself! So you keep flirting with every fucking guy on campus and the moment I say something about it, you gloat about easily replacing me?!”

“That wasn't what I said!”

“Don't fucking play with me, Simone.” He clenched his fists. “That's all you've been doing all through our relationship.”

She shook her head slightly, “You’re just mad because of all the attention I get. You don't want to see me happy, hell, you just want a puppet you can fucking control! I don't even want to look at you right now!”

She grabbed a glass from the counter and smashed it against the wall. The click of her heels filled the room as she stormed off in the other direction.

I was so engrossed in their argument, that I hadn't realized I was leaning heavily against the door. It gave under my weight and I buckled noisily, alerting Sean to my presence.

His gorgeous amber eyes landed on me, knocking my breath away. I awkwardly smiled, “S-sorry, I didn't mean to eavesdrop. I just…”

Sean didn't seem to care. He shrugged off his leather jacket, exposing the magnificent, swirling, and dark tattoos that spread from the side of his neck, to reappear down his strong, veiny arm. His grey shirt did nothing to hide the strong, hard muscles lining his six-foot-two frame of sex and appeal.

My mouth dried. My twin sister had to be a different kind of bitch if she could willingly toy around with a guy like this.

He grabbed a bottle of liquor and turned its contents into two glasses. “Come have a fucking drink, Sekina. You look miserable. That makes two of us.”

“You don't look miserable,” I blurted out before I could stop myself. His perfect eyebrow arched at me, and I blushed, “I mean, you just seem a little sad. I'm sure Simone didn't mean any of what she said.”

He finished his glass in a few gulps, and refilled it. I had never had alcohol before, but I wasn't telling him that. So I forced myself to finish the entire glass of the liquor, just like he did. It tasted like ass, and my head was suddenly swimming in disorientation.

“You a fucking lightweight?” He chuckled, looking me up and down before finishing his second glass. “Want more?”

Anything to spend more time with him. So I nodded. A few more glasses and an empty bottle later, I had lost all of my inhibitions. My eyes were laser-focused on every tiny movement he made. The subconscious bite of his bottom lip. The way he dragged his fingers through his dirty blonde hair. The sexy way his strong thighs were spread.

The bulge in his crotch, that I had been dreaming about for a long time, wondering how it would feel—

“Who knew you looked like this, under all those clothes.” His drunken voice was raw sex, making my inner thighs clench with need.

“What?”

His gaze raked over me. “That dress. You look fucking good in that dress.”

“Thanks,” I muttered, cheeks aflame. The room spun again, and I swayed off my chair towards the floor. Even drunk, his reflexes remained sharp. He shot out of his seat and caught me, an arm pressing me into his chest.

He felt divine. He smelled divine. My breasts were squished against his chest, and our faces were so close I could feel his warm breath laced with alcohol. His eyes were hooded and hungry, staring down at my cleavage, and up at my parted lips.

He cursed softly and bridged the gap, devouring my lips in the wildest kiss possible. Something snapped in me, and I grabbed him hard, and needy, kissing him back as passionately as I could manage.

It was a whirl of pleasure I had never felt before, as he backed me up into another doorway, and we got tangled in the soft bed. It was better than my dirtiest fantasies when he hitched my dress up and flexed his erection against my soaking mound. My own moans sounded strange and foreign, yet so right when he finally penetrated me.

Apart from the initial pinch of pain, the barrage of pleasure that followed had me fisting his hair and grabbing the sheet, as his body rocked mine over and over again, making the bed creak in protest.