Destroying the Game

by L. Grubb

  “I have no idea how to flirt, Callie!” She throws her arms up in frustration and growls, which she does when she’s stressed.

  “After a glass of wine, you’ll be fine.” I hand her a plastic cup filled with wine and her shaky hand takes it from me. Dorm houses are strictly alcohol free but since when do I abide by the rules?

  “I-I don’t drink, Cal. I’ll be drunk as a skunk before I even get there.” She stares at the white liquid swirling in the cup with her brows furrowed.

  “Drink until you start feeling light and airy, then stop. That way you won’t get pissed.” I shrug a shoulder. Any normal person would know that but little miss goody-two-shoes has a lot to learn.

  She drinks back three hefty gulps before blanching, her nose scrunching up at the taste. “Ew, gross!”

  “Oh shut up, you big baby.” I laugh at her as I start cleaning away my make-up bag and hair products. “If you hate it that much, hold your nose when you take a swig.”

  She takes a few more gulps before placing the cup on the makeshift table between our beds. “Okay, I think I’ve had enough. My nerves aren’t jingling about and my head feels pleasantly fuzzy.”

  “Perfect!” I clap my hands in glee. God, this night is going to be insane.

  The knocking on the dorm room door has our heads spinning to eye it. I check the time on my wristwatch before strutting over and swinging it open. “Who are you?”

  “Hey, beautiful. I’m Jay, Dante’s brother. Callie, right?” He puts a hand out between us and I shake it.

  “Right, and what are you doing here?” Crossing my arms under my breasts, I raise a brow at him in question.

  “I’ve seen you around a lot, I’ve not long moved into town. I was wondering if you were going to the party tonight? Maybe we could go together?” His smirk is so much like Dante’s that I may have swooned a little at the sight. Wouldn’t this shit make Dante mad as shit?

  “Sure, why not. My roomie has a date anyway. Give me ten minutes and I’ll be out.” Blowing him a kiss, I shut the door and hurry to get myself ready. It’s the one thing I can do quickly and ten minutes later, I’m all dressed and made up.

  “Let’s go.” I put the dorm keys down my strapless bra and shove my feet into six-inch heels. “We have dates to get to.”

  “Since when did you have a date?” Jasmine asks from behind me.

  “Since Mr. Hotty knocked on the door and asked.” I wink at her over my shoulder. “Trust me, even you may drop your panties for him.”

  “As if…” Her voice trails off when I open the door. I don’t bother to look around and see why. Maybe it’s the fact that Jay and Dante are both stood there in jeans and white button down shirts looking absolutely delicious.

  “Jay, are we ready to go party? These two love birds have a date first. Total bore.” I link my arm with Jay’s, wave goodbye to Jas who for some reason looks furious and walk down the stairs with Jay talking about his hot rod car. Great, he’s just like Dante. Speaks about himself at every opportunity and not giving a shit about the chick hanging on his arm. Well, this night will be a barrel of laughs, I’m sure.

  Arriving at the Frat House, Jay offers to grab me a drink and for now I can take a fucking breath and enjoy the music in my ears instead of his incessant talking. Anyone would think he was a woman with how much he talks. If he’s like that in the bedroom as well, he can fucking forget it, unless it’s filthy talk.

  I inwardly groan when I see him walking toward me. He’s hot to look at but his voice is grating on my nerves and I’m not sure how much longer I can be around him and not punch him in the throat to shut him up.

  “Here, babe,” he says, handing me a bottle of beer. Not sure how he knew that I didn’t like solo cups but hey ho, at least he got it right.

  “Cheers!” I clink my bottle to his and smile the biggest, fakest smile I can muster.

  Two hours later and I’m starting to get a little worried about Jasmine. She and Dante have yet to turn up and I’m pretty sure dinner doesn’t take that long. I’ve practically tuned Jay out, not listening to a fucking word he’s saying… he’s definitely way worse than Dante in the vain, egotistical, sense. I’m pretty sure that if I grit my teeth any harder, they’ll start fucking falling out.

  The main door opens and in they walk. Jas does not look happy and she’s looking around the room, probably for me. I can see the panic crossing her face as she eyes the room. I keep forgetting she’s never been to one of these. When her eyes land on mine, at last, I wink at her for encouragement. I can see her face relax and shoulders sag forward just a little bit. She can do this, she has to. The look she gives Jay though could probably kill off a zombie. Can’t say I blame her, I have to say I’m starting to feel the same.

  They’re standing against the wall opposite us and Dante has an arm slung over Jasmine’s shoulders, whispering in her ear. I can see her face turn a tomato red and I have to suppress a chuckle. She’s so inexperienced and she’s been thrown in the deep end with Dante. I see her swig the solo cup and wince as the liquid pours down her throat. And then, I see the steely resolve creep over her face and she smirks at me.

  Dante starts kissing her neck and she pushes him away. He stumbles before righting himself. “What the fuck, Jas?”

  “You’re a disgusting pig, do you know that? Do you force yourself on every girl you take out?” She eyes him up and down with her lip curled back. “I’m surprised anyone would go near such a slimy asshole like you. And just an FYI, invest in some deodorant because you fucking stink.” She pours her drink over his head and walks off, sauntering out of the main doors. Dante stands there with an incredulous look on his face as I film everything from my cell. Check fucking mate, asshole.

  I stand there in utter shock as Jasmine walks away. What the fuck just happened? Did I just get set up? I don’t understand, things were going so well.

  Something out of the corner of my eye catches my attention and then it clicks, there’s no way that she came up with that plan on her own.

  I turn slowly to face Callie and Jay, my breaths becoming faster as I start to lose control of my anger.

  “Got anything to tell the people, Dante?” She laughs, throwing her head back, real fucking pleased with herself. She steps closer and I look down to where she’s holding her cell up.

  “Are you fucking recording me?” I growl.

  Stepping forward, I lift my hand up to take the cell from her when Jay stands in between us, effectively blocking my path to her.

  I look up at him and startle at the furious look on his face. What the hell is he so angry about? It isn’t like he just got publicly humiliated.

  Taking a step to the left, I try to move past him but he matches my steps, blocking the way.

  “Bro? What the hell?”

  “You ain’t gettin’ that cell,” he says to me and then turns to Callie. “You got it all?”

  She leans back, in what I assume is shock, and nods her head slowly, pressing a button on her cell and putting it down the front of her dress. Jay nods back at her and turns to face me.

  “You went too far,” he growls. “I never said you could fuckin’ touch her.” The fire in his eyes tells me that I just crossed some kind of invisible boundary and when he barges past me, I lose my balance. My hands fly out, trying to catch myself but it’s no use, I go down, hard.

  The whole room goes silent, the music that was blasting earlier is muted. I close my eyes and take a deep breath trying to keep my temper under control. I haven’t lost my temper in so fucking long and I don’t want to go back to that. I don’t want to be known for that but, when I hear Callie laugh, I find it really fucking hard to stay in control.

  I open my eyes slowly and watch as Callie grips her waist as she bends forward, the laughter taking over her whole body. Lifting her face to me, I clench my jaw at the tears flowing down her cheeks.

  “Holy fucking shit! I wish I would have recorded that!” She gasps in between her laughter.

  My ha
nds clench into fists as I look around, the whole room slowly erupting into laughter. My breaths come harder, and I’m paralyzed, my body literally won’t move. I feel like I’m watching this from outside of my own body. This isn’t what happens to me, I’m Dante fucking Frazier. Things like this just don’t fucking happen.

  How did it get to this? When did things change so much?

  I move my eyes back to Callie. It’s her. It’s all her fault. If I wouldn’t have met her, and fucked her, I wouldn’t be in this position right now. It’s all her fault and I’m going to make damn sure that I get her back for this.

  She was always one step ahead of me. But I’ll be making damn fucking sure that she wasn’t anymore. I wasn’t letting her win. No one beats me. Fucking no one. I’ll up my game to epic fucking proportions and she won’t know what’s hit her.

  Putting my fists on the floor, I push up and jump, landing square on my feet. Callie squeaks in response to how fast I move and steps back.

  Raising a brow, I smirk. Yeah, she ain’t got no one here to protect her now. Not that I would be making a grab for her cell now anyway.

  She brings her hand up to her chest, covering the cell and backs away.

  “Don’t worry, baby,” I sneer. “I wouldn’t touch you with a ten-foot fucking barge pole.”

  “You- “

  Holding my hand up to silence her, I look around the room at the faces that were a minute ago laughing at me. Right now, though, they all look shit fucking scared. They should be. I can ruin every single one of them.

  “Out,” I say, turning back to Callie.

  “What?” She gasps.

  “You fucking heard me.” I step closer, bringing my face down to hers. “Get. Out. And don’t come back.”

  “Pssshhh, you can’t stop me coming back.” She rolls her shoulders back, her face full of confidence.

  “Yeah?” I say, raising an eyebrow. I turn to face the crowd, making sure they can see the warning on my face and hold my arms out wide. “Callie is now banned from this house. Anyone want to defend her honor?”

  I turn in a full circle, making sure that I look each and every frat brother in the eye. “Anyone?” I chuckle.

  “You can’t do- “

  “She’s no longer allowed on this property,” I growl, cutting her off and getting my point across.

  Pulling my lips up into a smirk, I turn back to Callie. Her wide eyes telling me that she can’t believe this is happening. Well, she better fucking believe it. She wants to pull this shit, then I’ll pull rank and show her just how much sway I have at this college. I’ve let her get away with all this shit for far too long, she thinks she has friends, we’ll see how long that lasts when I’ve put the warning out.

  “Off you go.” I tilt my head to the door, watching as she pulls her shoulders back and tries to save face as she walks past everyone.

  I turn back to the crowd and give them all one last warning look and walk out of the room. Fuckers think I’ll forget, I never forget. I’ll destroy each and every one of them. I’ll make sure they know that no one fucks with Dante Frazier.

  Angry tears prickle the corners of my eyes as I leave the Frat House. It doesn’t upset me that he’s humiliated the fuck out of me in front of everyone, it doesn’t hurt that he has banned me from future parties. It angers the shit out of me to the point that my limbs are shaking, my cheeks are heated and my hands are shaking. Thinking I could cut up his car flits through my mind but I’m not that stupid, I could get arrested and that’s definitely not on my bucket list.

  My cell burns a whole in my chest where it’s wedged between my cleavage. I’ll make sure that video goes viral, everyone in this school will know that Dante Frazier does get rejected. It will prove what a pathetic ass he really is and will ruin is reputation. I’m going to fucking annihilate him and I have a feeling he already knows that.

  The long trek back to the dorms gives me enough time to plan where to post the video; YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram… the list goes on. I’m posting this gem of a video everywhere and there is fuck all he can do to stop me.

  Banging open the main doors to the dorm house, I stomp up the stairs and down the hall to my dorm room. I can hear Jasmine as I reach the door, screaming curse words which I have never heard her speak before. I pause as my hand touches the handle, wondering whether to go in and risk my head getting bitten off.

  Chewing my lip in indecision, I get the decision made for me when the door swings open and Jay storms out with the face like a slapped ass. Uh oh, trouble in her new paradise? I know Jay is feeling betrayed, he told me as much on the way to the Frat House though I promised him, repeatedly, that this was to fuck Dante over… he was soon on board.

  Jasmine’s sobs echo through the room and I take a few steps forward and close the door with a quiet click behind me. “Jas?”

  “Don’t, Callie. Please, just don’t.” Her muffled words seem amplified as the tension crackles between us. “That must have been the shittiest thing I have ever done in my life.”

  “Was good though. You did great, honestly. I’m going to fucking ruin Dante if it takes me ‘til my last breath.” Excitement and adrenaline makes my pulse beat faster and my head swims with ideas and the stipulations surrounding the video. I don’t give a fuck about the ramifications of this.

  “You don’t understand, Cal. Jay… I love him. He thinks that I betrayed him when he was the one that broke off the relationship in the first place.” Her voice has risen and her hands have lowered to the sheets on her bed where she sits, her fists clenching handfuls of the soft cotton and her cheeks flushed with anger and upset. I feel I’m the reason for my best friend hurting and the guilt forms a lump in my throat.

  “I didn’t mean to drag you into this, Jas. Honestly. I never even fucking knew about you and Jay and I’m supposed to be your best friend.” My apology won’t be enough, I didn’t say the word ‘sorry’ but Jas knows me better than anyone and knows I never say it to no-one because I don’t live with regret, I push past that and put it in a filing cabinet in the back of my brain.

  “But it wasn’t you that did. Dante was the one that stormed into my life, refused to leave me alone until I gave in. I stepped into it myself…”

  I cut her off. “Yeah, because he’s playing this fucking ridiculous game with me. You would never have been dragged into it if he didn’t know you were my best friend.” I close my eyes and breathe through the onslaught of anger that’s swirling through my blood.

  “Are you okay?” Jasmine finally looks up at me and her brows wrinkle in the middle.

  “Apart from Dante kicking me out of the Frat House and banning me from future parties? Yeah, I’m pretty fucking dandy.” I take a deep breath before continuing. “And I’m about to ruin his ego, his rep and everything else that’s Dante. This video is going viral.”

  “Oh God.” Jasmine’s head is back in her hands.

  “Trust me, Jasmine. I need to end this because it’s fucking tiring me out,” I mumble as I go and sit on my bed.

  I remove the phone from my dress and open the video, watching it and smirking at the look on Dante’s face. This shit is a gold mine. I go about uploading it to everywhere I can think of, including the college’s main online forums. Dante is going down.

  After a grueling workout, I walk through the gym and into the showers, ignoring everyone around me. Stripping my clothes, I duck my head under the running water, relishing in the way it relaxes my tight muscles as it hits my skin. Leaning my hands on the tiled wall, I take a deep breath and try to shut out all my thoughts that keep swirling in my head.

  For three fucking days, I’ve listened to the giggles as I walk past people, the snide comments and even the phone calls that I’ve had off people I don’t even know. Shutting down all my social media was something that I didn’t have a choice in as my cell was inundated in notifications. I’ve already changed my number twice and after another call I had this morning before I left the gym, it looked like I’d need
to change it again.

  It wasn’t knowing that I was being talked about, that made me on edge. I didn’t mind that, in fact, I couldn’t give a fuck. The more hits that I get, the better, right? Didn’t matter how I got them, my name’s still out there.

  No.

  What bothers me the most, is that she actually went through with it. After kicking her out of the frat house, I thought she wouldn’t have the guts to post it. I haven’t got a clue why I thought that, this is Callie after all. Ruthless, snide and a complete raving bitch. So why couldn’t I get her face out of my head? Or forget the way her ass curves in a certain way? Or even the way she walks?

  The way she fucking walks. What a thing to find sexy, but, fuck me, it is sexy.

  To top it off, Jay’s ignoring me. He even had security remove me from his building. He wouldn’t answer any of my calls or emails. I even drove to his ‘place of work’, but that didn’t work either. “Mr. Frazier isn’t available right now.” The hot chick on reception kept saying to me. For three fucking days.

  Then there was Jasmine. To put it lightly, she looked a mess. I mean, sure, she always flew under the radar, but she was a complete sniveling mess. I’m sure she’s been wearing the same clothes since Monday, but I didn’t want to say anything to her because every time I look at her, her eyes tell me to not even go there, that and the scowl that she points in my direction every time she sees me keeps me away.

  She’s already been hurt enough and an apology from me isn’t going to make it any better.

  The only person who seems pleased with herself is Callie. Sure, we’re playing one big fucking game but I’m starting to see how it’s affecting other people now. I need to do something that will end this once and for all.

  She puts on this front, of being the big fucking girl, one who don’t give a shit. But there must be something... something that will destroy her. Everyone has secrets, you just have to find out what those secrets are and then use it against them.