Strictly Taboo(170)

At the door, the boys waved us by with a hearty welcome to Jasmine. "Jazzy!" A shorter one yelled and pulled her into a warm hug. He had drawn out the middle of her name so that it was more like, jah-ahhhh-ze. "I see you're in charge of the fresh meat!" A girl that I had heard called Caitlyn gagged next to me. She tried to cough to cover the noise; she glanced at me from the side of her face hoping I hadn't noticed.

"This is them!" She gestured. "Come on, take me inside and get me a drink Lance." Lance winked back at us and took Jasmine by the arm. Tentatively, I led the group into the house after them. Inside, the music was so loud that I could feel the music playing in my heart. Caitlyn reached for my arm in the growing sea of bodies. We were in living room that had all the furniture pushed along the walls to create a dance floor. You had to walk through the middle of everything to get anywhere else so I held onto Caitlyn as we pushed across the room. Through a hallway the kitchen had been made into a bar.

“Too bad we're not allowed to drink." Caitlyn groaned into my ear. That was rule number one from sorority orientation; pledges are not allowed to drink in other houses but their own. The university rule was at all but Jasmine promised if we were at home it was okay. I found myself nodding to Caitlyn's words as I looked around the room. Her grip tightened painfully on my arm and I heard her breath the word, "Oh." I quickly turned to see where she was looking.

A tall, dark haired man was talking to one of our sisters that I hadn't met yet. He was wearing a gray, V-neck t-shirt that clung to his pecks. Just on the right side black curling ink peaked out from under the fabric. His tight shirt outlined every line of his muscles in his abdomen. His eyes were so blue; we could see the crystal specks from where we stood in the party. "That has to be him." She said in my ear.

"Who?" I dumbly asked unable to look away from the man.

"That Jackson guy. It's like law that the hot guy is always the one you're warned to stay away from." She rolled her eyes at me. "Oh no." She said as his glaze found us. The sister he was speaking to continued chattering as he walked away from her. "No." Caitlyn's hold was now like a deathly vise against my arm.

"Hello, ladies. Can I get you a drink?" He held out his hand and all at once the pressure on my limb was relieved as she took his hand instead.

"Pledges, we can't." I explained to his amused face.

"That shouldn't stop you." He held out his hand to me now. "I'm Jackson."

"This is Caitlyn and I'm Leila." I offered in return. "I really don't think we can..." I could feel Caitlyn gawking at me as I spoke. Jackson's bemusement only seemed to increase. He looped his arm around my waist and I could feel his muscles tighten as he guided me back to the kitchen. Caitlyn followed but she wasn't necessarily invited along, Jackson cast her a lazy glance in the kitchen and told the bartender brother for the night to get him three beers, he placed the beers in our hands. I watched his eyes baring into me as raised his drink to his lips. His gaze cut through me like I was a cow being lead to the slaughter.

"So new pledges." He remarked turning his gaze towards Caitlyn now. "Are you ready for the most hellish couple of months?" Jackson's grin contorted into a wicked sort of smirk, she giggled at his words. My beer tasted like watered down gasoline mixed with cat piss. I tried to pretend like I was drinking it when someone shouted Jackson's name from outside of the room and within seconds he was gone again.





The next time that I ran into him was a few weeks later; he was smoking a cigarette outside of the chemistry lab two feet from the no smoking sign. He flicked the glowering butt into the brushes and half jogged up to me. "Hey Lily." He swung an arm around my shoulders.

"It's Leila actually." I corrected him.

"Are you sure?" He asked dropping his arm from my shoulders. I didn't reply to his comment. "Any way, Leila," he paused to look at me for confirmation that he finally said it right so I nodded ever so slightly. "Listen, I know Greek life can be an adjustment. There is a lot of expectancy that comes with being part of our families. If you ever find yourself feeling overwhelmed and looking for a friendly shoulder to lean on, I'm your guy."

"I think I can handle it." I told him looking down at my feet as we continued to walk. So far, all the rumors I heard about him seemed to be true. Jackson seemed unfazed by my distance.

"What are you doing right now?" He asked now looking off into the space ahead of us. There were groups of students walking through campus.

"I'm headed to class." I examined him now. I knew whatever came next it would take some hard pressing to get out of it. I got the impression that Jackson was not accustomed to being told no, if he ever was told no.