Linden: Rocking Pleasure: New Adult College Romance (Coral Gables Series Book 3) (18 page)

I laugh out loud. “Because you asked me about him, you moron!”

“
Thanks, you little bitch,” he counters with a wink.

Ave focuses on the road, and only fifteen minutes later, he parks the car on a lot close to the club. We saunter over to the front door together, talking about school and exams. He always gets good grades, while I’m still struggling, but he offered to study with me for the next while. He also suggested we form a study group with Delsin, though that one is rarely seen studying at all. Delsin listens to the professors and effortlessly memorizes all that stuff, while Avery and I have to work a little harder to cram it all into our heads. Me especially. But together, we could explain and repeat things to each other, and thus make study time more efficient. Sounds like a plan to me.

When we step into the darkened club, I can’t see anything. Fortunately I’ve linked arms with Avery, because the very next moment, the lights go on, and I’m blinded. A bunch of people yell, “
SURPRISE
!”

I give a start and then do my own screaming. “
OH MY GOD! Y’ALL ARE CRAZY!
” I laugh as I place my hand over my heart, which is beating fast despite expecting the surprise.

I greet and hug everyone, both the guests Cami invited and my friends who are waiting for me at the bar.

“
Happy belated birthday,” someone whispers into my ear, just before the music starts blaring from the speakers.

I turn around. “Thanks,” I breathe, when I realize it’s Linden.

“
I came a little earlier than we said because your friends invited me, too. Camille gave me her number last night and asked me to call her back.” He pulls me into an embrace und presses me close to his body.

I pull back quickly. “Wow. Thank you. And I’m glad you came.”

Linden smiles at me.

Damn.
I meant to start drinking early, so I wouldn’t be all tense and insecure when he arrived. Too late now. That’s when I discover a tub filled with ice cubes and a bunch of Jell-O shots. They might be of help here. “Dale has made her famous Jell-O shots again. Would you like one?”

“
What’s that?” he asks, clueless.

“
Don’t tell me you’ve never had one!” I blurt.

“
I don’t know them, no. So what are they?”

“
Vodka with Jell-O,” I explain. “And they’re delicious, so try one.”

He grins and follows me to where the generously stacked tub is waiting. I take as many as I can carry without dropping them.

“
Thanks, Thally,” Ave and Delsin say as I hand them each a shot. Hailey and Cami each take one, but then trade each other for the different colors and flavors. Dale refuses, as she doesn’t drink, and Logan says, “No, thanks,” too.

All the more for me,
I think, handing one to Linden, placing two on the bar before me, and slurping one down right away.

“
Whoa, how much vodka is in these things?” Linden asks after he’s swallowed his.

“
They’re made from vodka, Jell-O, and extra sugar.” Cami grins. “Don’t eat too many, or you’ll wake up with a massive hangover. Ask Delsin—he’s got a cautionary tale for you.”

When she looks at me again, I ask, “Where are Nathaniel and Draven, by the way?”

She glances around the room and then points to a darker corner, where they stand at a table, grasping a bottle of beer each. “There they are, just like Statler and Waldorf from the Muppets.”

I wave at them when they look in my direction. Then Linden suddenly hands me a tall glass. “Try this. It’s sweet, but not as strong as the Jell-O thingies.”

“
Okay. Thanks.” I look at the greenish liquid. “What is it?”

“
I think they call it ‘Green Widow.’ Sweet, but not too sweet. I like it,” he says.

“
Cheers.” I raise my glass and clink it against his before taking a cautious sip. “Not bad. What, exactly, is it?”

“
Blue Curaçao with orange juice,” he answers with a smile.

“
Oh, that is really tasty,” I say after taking another sip.

“
I know. Otherwise I wouldn’t drink it.”

We chat a little about me, my studies, and my plans for the summer, then about him and his plans for the future. All he knows is that he’s going on tour all over the U.S. and even Europe.

“
Test. Test. One, two. Is this thing on?” It’s Cami, speaking into a microphone.

“
Yes, Caramel, it is,” Delsin calls to her.

“
We can hear you,” Avery agrees.

“
Go, Cami, go, Cami, go, Cami!” Hailey starts cheering.

I pull at Delsin’s collar. “What’s this about?”

“
Karaoke?” he says, as if it were a question.

“
Fuck, no,” I groan. “Please!”

“
I’m afraid that’s not going to stop her.”

I narrow my eyes at Cami, who goes on. “Okay. We all know Thally is a great singer, but she keeps refusing to step up and show us, so Linden has offered to sing a duet with her,” she says, giggling. “Let’s give a big round of applause for our birthday girl and Linden Priest.”

I freeze. “I want out.” I look for the back exit, but Linden has already grabbed my hand.

“
Come on, it’s going to be fun.” He smiles.

“
It’s going to be awful,” I hiss back.

“
Keep your eyes on me, and we’ll do it together,” he tries to convince me. “I picked a simple song, I promise.”

“
What song?”

“
Ricky Martin and Christina Aguilera,” Delsin laughs.

Beetlejuice, come and free me!
I know the song they’re referring to, but I won’t be able to sing the female part well, because Aguilera has a unique and impressive voice.

“
Come on,” Linden urges, pulling me with him to where the small stage is lit up. When we climb up there, standing maybe thirty inches above the rest of the room, he forces me to look at him. “Keep looking at me, and it’ll be fine.”

“
What about the lyrics?”

“
Oh, I’m sure you know them,” he says with a smile.

I shake my head. “No, I don’t.”

“
Oh. Well, there’s always the screen.”

Cami pushes a microphone into my hand. “You’ll do just fine.”

I shake my head, panicking now, and raise the mic to my lips. “Sorry, people, I can’t do this,” I say to my guests. “Why don’t you all sing and enjoy yourselves, but please leave me out of it.”

Delsin starts clapping his hands. “Thally, Thally, Thally!” he cheers, and then all the others pick up his refrain.

“
I said no,” I repeat.

“
But you can do it!” Nathaniel yells from the back.

My friends can be so annoying. I’m getting really upset, but I swallow it down and resign myself to embarrassing myself. “It’s not my fault if you lose your hearing,” I warn them. “And I want to sing a different song.”

“
Which one?” Cami asks.

“
Do you have a list?”

“
Yep.” She goes to fetch it and hands it to me.

I scan the list and find a better song. Mariah Carey and Luther Vandross singing “Endless Love.” That should be much easier than Ricky and Christina, because Mariah just belts it out there, in my opinion.

I ask Linden what he thinks about the song, and he just nods. Then I tell Cami my selection, and only a few seconds later, the video starts flickering across the screen. Linden and I both focus on that, or to be honest, I just stare in the general direction of the screen and try to forget that I’m not all alone in this room.

“
My love, there is only you in my life
,” Linden starts, his voice deep and velvety.

Then it’s my turn. “
My first love, you’re every step that I take …
”

We look at each other as we sing the chorus together. It’s incredible how well our voices mesh, how they harmonize … but this will be a one-time-only event, and I am still extremely uncomfortable standing on this stage. Whenever my voice is off or misses a note, I feel my stomach churn, but Linden throws me reassuring glances, so I go on despite the slips.

And then the song is finally over, and my friends are whistling, cheering, and clapping for us. I flinch when they start chanting, “We want more! We want more!”

I refuse with a fake smile on my face and step down from the stage as quickly as possible, glad to be away from the heat of the bright lights up there. Once I’m back at the bar with Delsin and the rest, I’m relieved. After ordering a glass of water from the bartender, I grumble, “I hate you.”

Delsin laughs. “Why? You did great.”

“
Because you know full well that I only sing for myself,” I state, “and that I don’t want to be up on some stage, whether it’s karaoke or anything else.”

“
Calm down, because that was cool and you guys were so cute together,” Cami gushes, after Linden has joined us again, too. “The loving glances you exchanged; that was so romantic.”

I roll my eyes. “We did not exchange loving glances. If you saw any feelings, they were for the song.”

“
Yeah, you go and tell yourself that,” she giggles, patting me on the back.

I sigh and take a large gulp of the water the bartender poured for me.

Hailey smiles at me. “I thought you were awesome, and I didn’t know you could sing so well.”

“
What she said,” Dahlia agrees. Avery is standing behind her with his arms wrapped around her. Seems they made up.

Suddenly my song comes through the speakers. I love this song, and I throw Avery a glance, because we always dance to it when it’s played anywhere. I nod at the dance floor.

He lets go of Dahlia and places a kiss on her forehead. Then he comes over, takes me by the hand, and leads me into the middle of the dance floor, which is slowly filling up. Once we’re standing face to face, we start to move. It’s wonderful to dance with him, because it is so light-hearted. Still, I feel a little awkward now, because I know all my friends are looking at us—Linden especially. It’s a great song to dance to, and Ave is a great dancer, which I wouldn’t say about any of my other male friends.

Ave grabs my hand and twirls me, which makes me laugh. I haven’t had a fun, carefree day in weeks, what with worrying about college or Colton. Dancing feels good. My back is against Ave’s stomach, and he sways with the rhythm, making me sway with him.

“
I don’t think your girlfriend is enjoying this,” I warn him, because Dale is already approaching us.

“
I can see that,” Ave laughs.

“
May I?” she asks, and I step aside.

Ave and Dale continue to dance, while I walk back toward the bar. But Linden intercepts me.

“
Where do you think you’re going?” he asks with a smile.

“
To the drinks and my friends?” I venture, pointing at the bar.

“
You don’t want to grant me a dance?”

I cock my head to the side and can’t help grinning at him. “I’m afraid not.”

“
Outrageous,” he says in mock shock. Then he grabs my hand and leads me back to the dance floor.

I giggle. “I know. Outrageous—that’s just the way I am.”

Linden pulls me close and moves with me, not as effortlessly as Ave did, but I can’t complain. His hands slide down my back and come to rest on my behind. He grabs my ass, which makes me press closer.

He chuckles. “You’re getting down to business.”

“
That only happened because you grabbed my ass, and you know it,” I laugh.

“
You’re putting all the blame on an innocent guy, who merely wanted a dance with the most beautiful woman in the room?”

I nod at him. “If the shoe fits.”

The song ends, and I go to pull away, but he holds on to me. “Don’t run from me again, Thally,” he whispers.

“
I’m not running.”

“
You always are. Instead, dance with me.”

A slow song begins, and I throw a glance in Cami’s direction. She gives me a thumbs-up and grins, like a living Facebook “like” button. She’s the embodiment of a hashtag—something like #CamiBrooksMatchmaker. Linden takes my wrists and pulls my arms up around his neck. I’m glad I’m wearing high heels, otherwise I’d be dangling a few inches above the ground now, he’s that tall. If my friends and I have one thing in common, it’s that we all tend to fall for really tall guys.

Linden slow-dances with me, which is not something I am particularly fond of, but what the heck. Hoping the song will end soon enough, I smile up at him.

“
Tell me something about you,” he says. “Why did you sing tonight, even though you told me you never do?”

“
Because y’all practically forced me to!” I say. “I did already sing to my roommates earlier today. That might have opened the door a crack.”

“
And why are you always avoiding me?” Linden asks.

I sigh. “Because … you are … were taken, and frankly I find it a little strange that you don’t seem to mind that your long-term girlfriend broke up with you today,” I answer truthfully.

“
It just showed me that she doesn’t trust me,” Linden says calmly. “It does hurt, yes, but I don’t want to spoil your evening by moping in the corner … I’d rather dance.”