Push the Envelope Read Free

worry. Jackson will be there in case we run
into any problems. You know my big bro will look out for you just as much as he
does me, maybe even more. He’s always been so protective of you. Which will
work out great for me because you can distract him while I flirt with all his
frat brothers!”

 
    Aubrey wasn’t joking when she suggested that I run
interference for her with Jackson. That was part of why he and I had grown so
close over the years. As the closest in age to her, Jackson was often tasked
with running us around town and watching out for us at school. With us all on
the same college campus now, he would definitely take his big brother role
seriously. He had been bad enough in high school, scaring boys away from Aubrey
left and right. I was surprised he was willing to get us into the party
tonight.

 
    “How did you get him to cough up an invite to the
party tonight?” I asked.

 
    “Well, I might have suggested that I was hoping you
were finally ready to hit some parties tonight after working so hard all summer
and settling into school the last couple weeks. And that I was worried you were
never going to leave the room unless I had a really good reason to get you to
go out tonight. And that if you knew we were going to a party he was going to
be at, then you would feel more comfortable.”

 
    “So you basically guilted him into it then? Using
me? And making me sound like a hopeless shut-in?”

 
    Aubrey laughed. “Yup. Worked like a dream! He even
said that Faith and Natalie could come too, so maybe I did lay it on a little
thick.”

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
    chapter
2

 
 
    Damn. Aubrey wasn’t kidding when she’d said that the
Sigma Chi party was supposed to be epic. The house was packed with people,
music was blaring, and drinks were flowing. Our IDs had been checked out the
door, so we were stuck with lame under-21 hand stamps for the night. Not that
it really mattered once we made it through the door, since Aubrey talked the
first guy she saw into grabbing us two beers from the keg.

 
    As we wandered through the downstairs area with our
red Solo cups in hand, I had to admit that she was right when she’d said that
we wouldn’t be overdressed tonight. I could swear that I had the longest dress
on, and that was with a hem a good two inches shorter than what I was normally
comfortable in whenever Aubrey talked me into wearing a dress. Some of the
outfits tonight showed more skin than bikinis with cover-ups did at the beach.
And you’d think we were on the set of a music video with the way the girls were
grinding against each other on the dance floor. I was so out of my element it
wasn’t even funny.

 
    Aubrey was busy chatting up a totally hot redheaded
guy when I noticed Jackson across the room. I tapped her on the shoulder and
nodded my head in his direction so she would know where I was heading. I barely
got a glance from her as she was busy flirting. That girl went through boys
like water, with no particular type that appealed to her. She flitted from
boyfriend to boyfriend, breaking hearts wherever we went.

 
    Speaking of broken hearts, Jackson had a flock of girls
around him tonight. I hated to interrupt, but his was the only other familiar
face at the party I had seen so far. Faith and Natalie were nowhere to be
found, and I highly doubted any of the friends I had made in class had been
invited to this party.

 
    Jackson glanced up as I approached the group of girls
surrounding him. A wide smile broke across his face. With his curly blond hair
tousled from running his hands through it and his eyes twinkling at me, I could
understand why I was receiving death glares from his fan club. I had drawn his
attention away from them.

 
    “Alexa, you made it!” Jackson reached out to pull me
over to him, wrapping me up in a bear hug. “Fuck, you clean up nicely. I think
the last time I saw you in a dress was at graduation. And your dress then left
a little more to