Mistakes : A College Bully Romance

I’d always been an outsider.
Maybe that’s why I always acted up, acted out. I never found a place where I wanted to belong.
I walked along the street beside them for a while, slowing once I found a house that was currently throwing a party. I had no idea what the Greek letters on the second floor of the house meant, whether this was a fraternity or a sorority, but I didn’t care. People hung out outside, drinking from red solo cups—because no college party in America was complete without those damned cups.
You know what? I could definitely use a drink. Or two.
Or maybe three.
Eh, who would be counting? Certainly not Ash, because she wasn’t here, and definitely not my parents, because they were back at home, living under the same roof until they got divorced. After that, they’d never have to see each other again.
Tonight might be the night I make a mistake, but you know what? I didn’t care. I didn’t care what the outcome of tonight was. I dropped my bag near the front steps as I headed up to the door, walking inside like I owned the place.
Loud music, alcohol aplenty, and enough people practically having sex in the open to fuel any guy’s orgy-filled dreams.
Oh, yeah. This was a party.
Time to get fucking wasted.

Chapter Eleven – Levi
Sigma Chi threw a lot of parties. Most of them I just watched. After last year, I didn’t really want a part of it. What went on at these parties…it wasn’t something I was proud of, but it was a tradition of the house. A sick tradition that I was a part of last year, but still.
Dean wanted to drink himself into oblivion tonight, and I’d let him. I wouldn’t stop him, mostly because if he wanted to kill himself, he would. I was a firm believer that someone who wanted to dig their own grave would dig it eventually, whether you stood in their way or not. Why bother trying to stop them?
I stood in the corner of the living room, leaning against the wall. Some girls tried to come up to me, asking me to dance, practically purring out their words, attempting to be seductive and enticing, but I shook my head, told them no. I didn’t want to dance with them, and I sure as shit didn’t want to do more.
How the hell could I want to do more with anyone when that girl was on my brain, refusing to leave it? Like some kind of infection, a tick. It wasn’t like I wanted to think of Kelsey so much—I simply did. It was not something I could stop, not something I could change.
I actually looked forward to lab, to sitting beside her and hearing her rude comments. I liked the way she glared at me, how she tried to frown to hide her smiles. She was not a quiet and meek girl; she was the very opposite. She was…she was Kelsey.
I hadn’t mentioned Sigma Chi’s parties to her, mostly because I didn’t want her to come to any. She’d only serve as bait to the other members of the fraternity. And with how erratic Dean had been lately—begging for Mel to take him back and then calling her a bitch in the next breath—I didn’t trust him not to try something. I knew better.
So imagine my fucking surprise when the front door opened and Kelsey herself strolled in, acting like she owned the place. She didn’t even glance in my direction, in the direction of the living room, where people were either grinding against each other or making out. She went straight down the hall, I imagine trying to find the kitchen.
She looked…not good.
Did another one of the guys invite her to this party? Was she their mark tonight? Fuck that. Fuck that every which way. I wouldn’t let that happen. After what took place last year, I swore I was done with that shit—but if that was the case, why the hell was I still here, still a part of this thing?
Right. My mom’s insistence.
I pushed off the wall, tailing her. I found her bent over the coolers in the kitchen, and someone had already pounced on her, checking out her ass like there weren’t dozens of other asses around to look at. The keg and the cups were outside in the back; this was just what she found first.
Dean stood behind her, wearing a smug expression. He waited until Kelsey’s back was straight and she got herself a beer before he said, “You’re Kelsey, right? Mel’s roommate.” Dean was already buzzed from the alcohol; in a few hours he’d be raging drunk. His black hair was moussed to the side, his clothes a bit rumpled.
Kelsey wasn’t impressed by him, using the edge of the counter to pop open the bottle. She took a long swig, staring at him all the while. “Yeah, and you’re Dean, the dickbag who cheated on her.”
“It wasn’t like that,” Dean muttered with a frown, not convincing her at all.
All Kelsey did was shrug.
“You told her to stay away from me.”
“Once a playboy always a playboy,” she said. “I just told Mel the truth. I might be new in her life, but I know a douche when I see one, and you are definitely douchebag central.”
Dean’s hands curled into fists. “You’re not welcome at this party, bitch—”
Ah, that was my cue.
I strolled into the picture, throwing my arm around Dean’s shoulders, giving him a look. “I invited her,” I told him, and I held back a laugh as he pushed me away and stormed off, ticked off to the extreme, but that was Dean for you. Once Dean was gone, I turned my attention to Kelsey.
My attention was always on her, even when she wasn’t around.