by Addison Jane
A dishcloth went flying past my head, barely missing my nose. I looked up just in time to see him rush at me, so I planted my feet and leaned in, ready for the attack.
“Oh, Mr. President thinks he’s hot shit now!” Slate hooked me around the neck, his other hand messing with my hair. “I’m sorry, your majesty, I didn’t realize you were in today.”
Throwing my elbow back, I caught him off guard, hitting him right up in between his rib cage. It forced the air from his lungs, and he stumbled back, coughing hard, fighting to catch a breath, but not before I hooked my leg out and swept his feet out from underneath him, his body going down like a fucking block of concrete in a river. The long hard groan of pain he let out should have made me feel guilty.
It didn’t.
The shit this fucker has done to me—
I’ll be paying him back for the rest of his damn life.
Because he’s a bastard.
And because I fucking love him.
“That was uncalled for,” he croaked, still writhing in pain. I held out my hand, and he slapped his into it, letting me drag his aching body to his feet. “Mother. Fucker.”
“Come on, dumbass,” I said and smacked him on the back. “Go get your panties on. We have to get back for church.”
He gasped mockingly. “You come in here, interrupt my booty call, then issue demands?”
“It’s Scarlet’s fucking birthday. I’m going to be the least of your worries if you aren’t there.”
“Can’t risk her coming after me,” he joked, rolling his eyes. “Your sister is a little psycho.”
AVERY
The cool night air whipped at my face, sending an instant chill sweeping through me.
The second the heavy library doors clicked shut behind me, the lights one by one began to flicker off like a Mexican wave until the entire building was cast into darkness. The librarians had been waiting impatiently for me to leave, and I’d used every single second of time up until eight o’clock.
It was now 8:01 p.m., and I needed to hurry and get to Empire before my shift started in thirty minutes.
I rushed down the stairs, pulling up the app on my phone that told me my Uber was just around the corner. As I was about to slip the phone back into my pocket, it started to buzz, Holly’s grinning face lighting up the screen.
Smiling, I rolled my eyes and hit answer. “I’ve got work,” I stated, knowing that this was probably another ploy to get me to go out with her tonight.
“Ave?” she croaked, causing my back to snap straight and the amused smile to fall from my lips. “Can you come get me? Please?”
I looked up, seeing the lights of my Uber cruising down the street toward me. “What’s going on? What’s wrong?”
Holly was never anything but bright and peppy, yet, thanks to my run-in with her buddies the other day, I was starting to wonder what she was covering with that constant smile. Which was why my heart dropped when I heard her whispering to me through the phone, “I’m at Beta Beta. I think someone put something in my drink. I can’t walk. The room is spinning.”
Silence.
The sound of violent vomiting made my entire body cringe and the hairs across my arms stand on end.
“Holly!” I yelled into the phone, my voice echoing up the dark street and making a couple of people walking practically leap out of their shoes.
I held my breath for a second, releasing it when I heard her voice again. “Ave, please, I don’t know what to do.”
Fuck.
“Where are you?”
“Upstairs. Bathroom.” The tears in her voice almost broke me, and I could feel my own start to burn at my throat.
“I’m coming,” I assured her, trying to cover the way my voice cracked with emotion. “I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
“Okay.” She sniffled as I grabbed the door handle to the car and ripped it open like I was the Hulk.
“I need to change the address,” I told the driver urgently, my heart in my throat as I dove headfirst into the back seat. “Can you take me to Beta Beta’s frat house?”
My foot tapped nervously against the floor as we cruised the streets. Since I was still on campus, the frat house wasn’t far from the library, given Greek Row bordered the school’s edge. The traffic seemed to be moving extra slow—Friday night, people heading out, probably to Empire, where I should be starting my shift in less than twenty minutes.
I shot a text to Meyah, letting her know I’d be running late, and that something urgent had come up.
I knew she’d understand.
I never missed a shift.
I’d even come in on days that other girls had bailed, in the middle of exams, and studied during the quiet moments and while I made drinks. I never half-assed anything. If I said I would do something, it would be done, and it would be done to the best of my ability.
Maybe that made me an overachiever.
Then again, maybe I was determined to make something of a life I learned a long time ago wasn’t promised to us.
Maybe I was determined to have something left to hold on to when I lost everything else. Everyone else.
The Uber pulled up to the curb, the heavy music already making it feel like the car’s windows were bending and shaking with the vibrations moving through the air. I took a deep breath, praying for strength, knowing I was probably about to make a scene.
But hey, what’s new?
I knew I had to get in there.
Find her.
Then get the both of us out.
“Thanks,” I called, throwing my backpack over my shoulders before sucking in a deep breath and making a run for the side of the building, avoiding the front. Beta Beta was Cooper’s frat house, and since meeting him briefly the other day, it was clear we didn’t exactly see eye to eye.
It was a trust fund fraternity for fuck boys like him, who were the exact reason I chose the club.
Being a club girl—my duty was to the men there.
Keyword—men.
No dating outside.
No parties without permission.
Both things frat boys couldn’t understand because their entitled, arrogant, rich-boy attitudes vehemently denied there were any women at this college who didn’t want to spend their weekends getting drunk and fucking them.
Wrong again.
I slipped in a side door, carefully sliding past three couples who looked like they could seriously use a bedroom or something. There was smoke in the air, fruity smelling, letting me know it was coming from vaping, not cigarettes.
“It just gets better and better,” I choked, finally making it through the thick crowd of drunks to the upstairs bathroom and slamming my fist against it. “Holly!”
I held my breath.
Please still be breathing.
Please still be breathing.
“Avery?” she slurred my name, her voice so quiet I was lucky I caught it in between the pause of the music. A second later, the lock flicked, and I said a silent prayer, turning the handle and pushing softly, not knowing how close she was.
“Fuck.” I dropped to my knees and scooted across the floor, shoving the door closed with my foot as I scrambled toward Holly’s limp form. “What the hell have you taken?” I whispered, pressing my palm to her cheek and stroking away the fresh tears that were falling.
Her body was struggling, her breathing unnatural and unnerving.
What the hell did I do?
I couldn’t carry her.
Did I call the police?
Campus security?
Letting out a groan, I pinched the bridge of my nose, knowing exactly who I needed to call, and exactly how much shit I was going to get into because of it. But I couldn’t just sit here and watch Holly die.
I couldn’t lose her too.
I swallowed the hard lump in my throat and pulled my cell from my pocket, my heart racing as I pressed it to my ear.
“Yo.”
“Ty, can you come get me?” I stuck my finger in
one ear, a useless attempt to block out the thumping music vibrating the walls of the small bathroom I was hiding in.
“Where the hell are you?”
My eyes drifted down to my very drunk, possibly roofied friend who lay across the pristine white tiles. She hadn’t moved for at least a few minutes, and my eyes were constantly watching her stomach, my heart skipping a beat every time she took a little longer to inhale.
“I’m at a frat party.”
Silence.
Thick silence.
“Jesus, Ave! What are you doing at a frat party? You know you ain’t meant to be there.”
I did know, but at that moment, it wasn’t my biggest concern. “Can we skip the lecture,” I pleaded, sweeping my hair back from my face. “I think Holly got drugged, and I can’t get her out of here on my own.”
He groaned loudly into the phone, but I could hear his feet scuffing at the gravel outside the clubhouse as he made his way across the lot toward his Harley. “I told you. Avery—”
“And I fucking heard you,” I snapped back before quickly realizing who I was talking to. Tyler was a prospect but still a club member. They didn’t deserve my disrespect. “Sorry.”
“Text me the address.”
It was harsh, but every muscle in my body collectively relaxed when I realized he was coming.
And I wasn’t on my own.
I hung up, quickly tapping out a text message and crossing my fingers that he got here soon before I wasn’t just dragging my drugged friend from here, but my dead friend.
“Avery, let me in!”
I almost collapsed to the floor in relief as Tyler hammered at the bathroom door around twenty minutes later. The music was so damn loud I couldn’t hear a thing outside this tiny bubble, which meant the usually comforting sound of a motorcycle pulling up outside was totally drowned out.
I leaped up, quickly flicking the lock and pulling the door open. He rushed inside, his eyes scanning the space—something I noticed the boys from the club always did when they were in a place they didn’t know well.
“What’s he doing here?” Holly slurred, her brows pulled together, and her eyes narrowed. She’d come alive a little in the past ten minutes or so, but despite the glassy, dazed eyes, and having no idea what the hell she’d been given, the tone of her voice wasn’t one I appreciated.
“He’s here because you were unconscious, and I couldn’t get you the hell out of here and to the hospital without help.” I tried to keep calm and not yell at her about her issues and the fact that she had called me pleading for help. It was the assholes in this house who drugged her and caused her to pass out, but she’s going to look at Ty like he’s the damn enemy?
All because he’d called her out the other day.
Reaching out, I grabbed her arm and hauled her to her feet—not as gently as I could have, might I add—while Ty came around her other side. He hooked one of her arms over his shoulder and wrapped his arm around her waist. “Come on,” he urged, already heading for the door. “I’m scared if I spend too much time in this place, I’ll start wearing bowties and sipping tea on Sundays.”
People stopped and stared as we struggled past, Tyler fighting to keep a confused and droopy Holly from rolling head-first down the frat house’s staircase. At the same time, I shoved drunk college students out of the way.
Holly and I had agreed to disagree about the choices we made during the past year or so that we’d been friends. I was focused on school and had found safety and a comfort within the club. She was determined to get that ‘college experience’ she kept rambling on about. She wanted to party hard and drink herself into an early grave. At one point, I’d convinced myself our differences had been what made us such close friends. That whole opposites attract crap they tell you about, but honestly, I was starting to question everything.
Maybe we were more alike than I wanted to admit.
We simply handled our pain differently.
“Hey!” The sound of his voice over the music sent a shudder down my spine. I kept walking, moving a little faster. Tyler did too, almost making it to the front doors. “Hey! You aren’t leaving just yet, are you? It’s only early.”
We pulled to a halt, and my lip curled in a sneer. “Get out of the way, Cooper. I’m taking her to the hospital.”
He didn’t move, holding his stance in front of the two double doors, a couple of his buddies beside him. The foyer we were standing in was hot, and my skin was covered in a sheen of sweat. Most likely the result of so many damn bodies in one space, bumping and grinding or what the hell ever these rich boys called it.
Cooper grinned at me while his friends all whispered between themselves. “Come on, Avery,” he urged with a sigh. “She’s just had too much to drink. She needs to sleep it off. It’s not that big of a deal. Just breathe.”
“I am breathing,” I snapped through gritted teeth. “Which might be more than I can say for my friend here if I don’t get her checked out.”
I knew what was going on.
He was worried.
Worried I would take her to the hospital, and they would figure out what kind of drugs she’d been slipped, and all roads would lead back to right here.
Ding-dong—Beta Beta’s reputation is suddenly under a lot of fire.
Cooper shook his head, huffing a breath out his nose. “You’re so uptight,” he noted matter-of-factly. The calm façade a good show, but the way he was shuffling from foot to foot was a sure sign he was nervous as fuck about what might happen. “Calm down. Let’s chat. Have a drink.”
“Go to hell.”
I was done with this conversation.
Holly was fading in and out of consciousness. Even though Cooper was pretending like there wasn’t a six-foot tattooed biker standing in his frat house right at this moment, I could tell Tyler was on his last nerve. “Little fucker…” he murmured under his breath, shuffling Holly’s body so he could pull his phone from his pocket. I could only make out a few words he was mumbling as he pushed a few buttons on his phone. “Beta Beta bullshit…”
“Get out of the way, Cooper,” I ordered, a little louder, a little sterner, even my heart skipping a beat at the thought of what might happen if Tyler is calling for reinforcements.
He shook his head. “Holly stays. She can sleep it off in a bed upstairs.” He tried to bargain with us. “I’ll make sure she’s fine.”
I took a step forward. “I’m not going to let her die because you’re scared someone will find out the truth.”
He huffed out an amused breath. “It’s funny how you think anyone will believe you over me.”
The doors suddenly pulled open behind them, sending a flood of cold air rushing over me, feeling like heaven on my burning skin. But it was what was on the other side of those doors that had my body freezing in place and my mouth suddenly incredibly dry.
“Funny how you think you’d still be around to have a say at all,” Shotgun growled, bracing his hands on the wide doorframe and leaning forward. The agitation on his face was at a level not often seen. The frat house lights highlighted the deviance in his eyes and lighting a fire in my belly.
Since the day we met, I’d never failed to be instantly turned on by the way this man carried himself and this club. Strength and power go to some people’s heads, but Shotgun had never done anything but use his to protect the people he loved.
There was a reason he was the president.
He fucking earned his title.
The man was honest, respectful, loyal, and when he needed to be, ruthless as fucking hell. All because the responsibility fell on his shoulders. It was up to him to push the club forward, to hold them together, and to defend what the hell it stood for.
No matter what.
No matter how.
I suddenly realized that he was here and not in Colorado, and I wasn’t sure whether I was absolutely petrified of the lecture I would get after this shitshow or whether I was already wet at the idea of him punishing me.
> Either way, I knew one thing.
I was in so much fucking trouble.
SHOTGUN
“Outside.”
Tyler moved instantly at my sharp order, lifting Holly bridal style and carrying her limp body past me and out to the street where a car was waiting. A handful of my brothers stepped into the entrance of the enormous fucking rich-kid home, their presence behind me forcing a lot of the kids to back away.
Avery paused for a second, her lips pressed together tightly, eyes meeting mine in a mixture of nerves and fear. She knew I’d never hurt her, but she’d broken rules tonight, and she knew there was going to be some kind of repercussions.
Just what? I hadn’t decided quite yet.
“Now, Avery.”
Myth stepped around me, walking to Avery and putting a hand to her back. She pushed back against him for a moment, her lips open just a breath. I raised my eyebrows, daring her to fucking say something, my dick straining at the thought of being able to redden her ass for it.
But apparently, she must have learned her lesson for today.
Avery finally pursed her lips, but narrowed her gaze, letting me know she was going to play along, but that she wasn’t fucking happy about it. The girl had grilled my ass on more than one occasion—she wasn’t afraid to let me know when she thought I was being a bastard—but she had enough respect to do it behind closed doors.
She was smart.
Because whether either of us liked it or not, she knew her role. And when it came to club matters, it wasn’t to have a fucking say. It was to do what she was told.
And she had made this a fucking club matter.
Which was why she was being removed.
We kept the girls separated from this shit as much as possible.
Partly for protection.
Partly because it meant they didn’t have to lie if someone came asking questions.
Deniability.
“Search the house,” I ordered, not taking my eyes off this Cooper kid as he scooted back into a corner of the room. “Make sure there are no more unconscious girls hidden anywhere.”
