I instantly tensed. It was Shelly, massively dolled up and sporting a very tight, short yellow dress.

“Welcome pledges. You’re all here tonight to attend the final initiation of this respected and first-class sorority. All in this room will find yourself part of a tight sisterhood and a family while you are here at college and for the rest of your life.” She began pacing in front of the crowd. “Tonight is about having fun. But before the party starts, we’ve decided to give you one little task… to prove just how much you wanna be here.”

Foreboding filled my stomach at the smug grin on her face.

“The task is really quick and easy,” she stated as she drew to a stop beside a table covered in a black sheet. With a giggle, she tossed the sheet back, revealing the surprise underneath—lines and lines of blindfolds.

Shelly strutted before each and every one of us, her beady eyes assessing each of her victims, and they tightened somewhat when they landed on me. “My, Molly. What’s this? I thought you didn’t find this kinda thing fun? Hmm? Maybe you think joining a sorority helps you better understand the human condition, huh?”

I closed my eyes and breathed in slowly through my nose, ignoring the questioning looks from Cass and Lexi.

I seriously disliked that girl.

With a smug smile and a chimed laugh, Shelly continued. “For the initiation task, we will be using brothers from our linked fraternity. You will be blindfolded and will have to kiss—with tongues—a fellow Greek brother and guess the food they’ve just eaten. It’s not a lot to show your commitment, and we will all get a great laugh from it.” She tossed her shampoo advert-worthy hair to the rest of the sorority sisters, who all giggled in response.

Bugger.

I didn’t like the sound of this.

I grabbed Lexi’s arm and leaned in close. “I thought you said hazing wasn’t allowed anymore due to some recent scandal or something? Look at those blindfolds. This is going cause us all to be completely humiliated—that certifies as friggin’ hazing! I can’t do this, Lexi. I’m way out of my depth here.”

Lexi hit me with her black-rimmed puppy-dog eyes. “Please, Molls. For me? It’s not exactly bad hazing; it’s just a kiss with a guy, for God’s sake!”

I dropped my head and groaned. There was no use fighting her. She’d only cry on me again, giving me a guilt trip. “You totally owe me one!”

“Walk to the table and take a blindfold. We’ll put you in a line and the guys will be brought in,” Shelly sang, thoroughly enjoying herself at our expense.

We did as commanded, and after a few minutes, I heard the door click open and several pairs of feet shuffle into the room. I sensed someone stand before me and nearly puked at the stench. He had liquor and strong, putrid body odour humming out of his pores.

Disgusting.

“When I tap y’all on the shoulder, make out, guess the food correctly, and you’ll be in—simple,” Shelly informed with a gleeful lilt.

I could tell I was at the end of the line because when I waved a hand out beside me, all I felt was thin air.

I would be the last pledge last to go.

The distinct sound of slurping tongues and girls making guesses filled the room, and a chorus of sorority sisters emitting bitchy laughs mid-process came from every direction.

I could feel my pulse racing in nervous apprehension and my hands fidgeted, betraying my burgeoning panic.

Time seemed to still as my turn approached. The frat guy smelled… bad. But I’d do it for Lexi.

A light tap on my back signalled that it was my turn. I braced myself and leaned forward, only to feel a rush of air pass my head and a loud crash come from the side, male laughter echoing around me.

“Move, Macmillan. I think you’re in my spot,” a voice drawled.

“Ah n-no… B-b-bullet! Shelly said… said…” Macmillan slurred from the direction of the floor, semi-coherently.

“I don’t give a shit what she said. Go and get a f**kin’ drink, or pass out, or somethin’. You get me?” The menace in this ‘Bullet’ guy’s voice was unmistakable.

“I-I get you. I get you, man.”

I had no clue what was going on or who would be fighting over kissing me. This day just kept getting weirder and weirder by the second.

“Wait! Mac has to—” Shelly shouted.

“Shut the f**k up, Shel.” His tone left no room for argument, and Shelly fell silent.

I was busy chewing on my thumbnail—a nervous habit I adopt in uncomfortable situations—when the new frat guy moved before me, smelling deliciously better than the previous person—summer, soap, and mint. It was familiar. Comforting. Enticing.

A large, calloused hand pulled my thumb from my mouth and placed it on a hard waist. My fingers crept along the cotton-like fabric covering his torso, identifying the ridges of hard muscle and defined abdominals underneath. Blindfolding was definitely a sensory awakening; you smelled, felt, and heard so much more.

Hands grasped both sides of my face and I could feel the moment he began to move in towards me, only to suddenly caress my lips, teasingly, softly with his own.

Without warning, my captor expelled a frustrated groan, dropping any gentleness, and his eager, wet tongue invaded my mouth, duelling against mine, fighting for control. I gave it over gladly. There was no other choice.

I’d never felt anything like it.

With every passing second, the kiss grew more frenzied, more intense, and I could clearly taste the cool flavour of mint—the food or flavour I had to identify was mint. I could taste it all over his mouth, in every corner, and along the surface of his full lips.

I suddenly broke from my lust and remembered where I was—in a room full of people—and before I lost myself completely to his touch, I pulled my thoughts back in check and reluctantly went to break the connection.

I withdrew my tongue first, holding onto his wrists, and his hands remained fixed on each side of my face. My lips slid from his, but I licked along the seam to relish in the last of his taste, earning me a satisfied grunt.

I tried to catch my breath and noticed that for the first time the room was absolutely silent.

My captor’s hands tightened on my cheeks in an unyielding, dominating vise, and his hot, sweet breath fanned across my cheek in rapid, shallow pants.

I cleared my throat and announced quietly, “It’s mint. The flavour in his mouth is—”