"There she is!" One of them pointed to me. "Grab her!"
Before I could move, the biggest one, one who could have been a former high school linebacker, pulled me from my chair and tossed me over his shoulder.
"Put me down!" I pummeled him with my fists.
He was impervious to my attack on him. Which was when I realized he was wearing football pads.
Two other guys circled us like they would defend us from any attackers. Two others kept the entrance clear.
Em stood up to protest. "Where are you going with her? Put her down now!"
They ignored her, too. And the other girls who joined in.
As the big guy raced to the exit with me on his shoulder, one of the other guys issued an ultimatum to the girls chasing him. "We have one of your pledges. If you want her back, you'll have to negotiate her ransom. Call us. You know where we are."
Out on the street, the big guy tossed me in the back of a waiting car. We peeled out as the girls spilled out on the lawn, yelling at them to stop.
Chapter Eleven
Zach
Kelly burst into our room without knocking as Seth and I were studying. She was breathless and her eyes were wild. "The Zeta Nus have stolen one of our pledges!"
Seth looked up from his laptop and laughed. "So call the campus cops."
Kelly put her hands on her hips. "We're not calling the campus police. This is just a dumb prank. The Zeta Nus are demanding a ransom, and I refuse to pay. You have to go get our pledge back."
Seth turned to me. "I don't remember anything in our employment contract about rescuing kidnapped pledges, do you, Zach?"
"I don't remember an employment contract," I said.
"Shut up!" Kelly's voice pitched high when she was excited.
"What are they demanding?" I asked. "If it doesn't involve nonconsensual sex, give it to them."
"They're demanding we accept their invitation to be their partner for the powder puff football tournament. And I'll be damned if I'll accept it now! That will just encourage them to try these kinds of stunts in the future. We don't negotiate with terrorists." Her eyes flashed with anger.
"Terrorists? That's a little extreme." Seth didn't look like he was moved to act.
Paul and Dillon wandered in after hearing the commotion. "What's this about Zeta Nu terrorists?" Dillon asked.
"Great! You're here, too." Kelly grabbed Paul's arm. "Did you hear what I told Seth and Zach?"
Dillon shrugged. "Who did they take?"
I hadn't even thought to ask. It was inevitable that we were going to have to make a rescue attempt, no matter whom they'd kidnapped.
"Does it matter? Will it make a difference?" Kelly was trying to tug Paul toward the door.
He shook her off. "It might."
"They took Alexis, okay? Grabbed her right out of study table. Tossed her over their shoulder and hauled her out kicking and screaming." She looked around the room at us desperately. "Now will you guys please go get her? The Zeta Nus are animals. She's probably scared to death by now."
I swore beneath my breath and stood up. "If the Zeta Nus beat the shit out of us, you're footing the medical bill."
"Like they could take us on," Paul said with false bravado.
"Are you crazy? This is suicide," Dillon said. "There are four of us and over a hundred of them. And they're big and mean."
"We can try to reason with them." I grabbed a sweatshirt.
"Yeah, right. That's a good plan." Seth stood and grabbed Kelly. "Why don't we take her along as a shield?" He laughed as Kelly shook free.
"Always the gentleman," she said. "You don't have to coerce me. I'm coming with you."
"No you're not." Seth picked her up and set her aside. "I was only joking. We'll get Alexis and be right back. You stay put."
It took less than ten minutes to walk to the Zeta Nu house. On the way there, we joked and discussed a strategy. In the end, we strolled in the front door. Several dozen guys lounged around the living room like nothing out of the ordinary was happening. And they were all big.
"You have one of our pledges," I said. "We would like her back."
One of the biggest guys got in my face. "Who's 'we,' houseboy?"
I'd faced badass guys like him on the football field. But there I had the advantage of speed. I couldn't tear out of the frat house without Alexis. I had to use my wits.
"Come on," I said as Seth, Paul, and Dillon backed me up. "Let's be reasonable. Give us back the girl."
"Are they willing to pay the ransom? Have they accepted our invitation?" The big guy was obviously a senior member.
Seth spoke up. "You'll have to talk to Kelly."
"And by that, he means sweet talk her," I said. "She's furious right now. And in no mood to meet demands."
"Fuck." The big guy made no move to get Alexis.
"Look," I said. "I have some experience on the field. I quarterbacked for the state 4A champs my senior year. I'm telling you this in confidence: the Double Deltsies are hot to look at, but as far as football talent, they've got squat. They're the kind of girls who are worried a helmet will mess up their hair and catching the ball will ruin their manicures.
"I understand wanting to be around hot girls." I nodded toward my fellow houseboys. "Why do you think we put up with the shit in this job?"
The Zeta Nu grinned like we understood each other.
"But we don't even watch football with them, let alone attempt to play it—do we, guys?" I looked to Seth, Paul, and Dillon for backup.
"No way." Seth shook his head. "We refuse to sit with them at games. We could if we wanted to, but their inane drivel about everything but football is enough to make you want to slit your wrists."
"Absolutely." Paul nodded.
"Positively," Dillon said. "Check out where we sit at the next game if you don't believe us."
I sighed and nodded. "Too high a price to pay, even to be around hot girls. The only girl with even an ounce of potential is the pledge you stole. The rest don't know an I-formation from a hole in the wall. One girl isn't going to make a team. Especially a slight girl like her."
The big guy stared me down. "Yeah, but they're hot."
"For serious athletes like the Zeta Nus? Not worth it, man. Find some other way to get close to them."
The guy frowned like he was thinking about what I'd said. "What about Mr. University? They have a ton of beauty queens who know all about pageant crap."
I waved a hand, brushing the thought away. "Look at you guys." I pointed at him and a few others who were lounging around, listening with interest in case they got the opportunity to fight. "You're jocks. You're built. Why do you need them?" I sighed and shook my head. "The Mr. University contest is only worth a fifth of the football tourney, anyway. Focus on football. What do you guys want to be known as? Beauty queens? Shit, that's going to hurt your image."
He looked at me with some respect. "So what would you do, QB?"
"Scope out the girls' rugby team. They're a club sport. They aren't governed by the same rules as the varsity sports. Those girls know how to play. They also know how to take direction. They're coachable."
I leaned in and whispered the name of a sorority to him as I held up four fingers. "Four girls on the rugby team, including the team captain. Look it up yourself if you don't believe me.
"They're just a midlevel house. But they have decent fundraising potential in the lesser homecoming events, too. They would be flattered by your invitation. Play their hearts out for you. Probably take you to the championship game, at least."
He stared me down. "Why are you telling me this?"
I grinned. "I've been tasked with getting our pledge back. No one gave me any restrictions on how I was supposed to do it. I'm trying to get the job done without getting the shit beat out of me and my friends."
The big guy roared with laughter and slapped me on the back. "I like you, QB. You got guts." He motioned to one of the other guys. "Get them their pledge."
We
crossed our arms and waited. A few minutes later, Alexis came down the stairs. Her face was set in anger. You could practically see steam coming from her ears. Until she saw me and her face softened and lit up. She ran into my arms. "Zach!"
I scooped her up and carried her out of the house while the others covered my back. Damn, she felt good in my arms. "Are you okay?"
"Fabulous. And spitting mad. They locked me in a filthy room that smelled like stale beer and ripe socks." She wrinkled her nose and wrapped her arms around my neck. "Then they quizzed me about football and wanted me to give them the rundown on the other girls in the house."
She was so damned adorable when she was excited. Her eyes flashed with indignation and her lips were moist and fill. It took all my will not to kiss her in front of the guys. Or laugh at her fury. "What did you tell them?"
"Zach!" She gave my shoulder a gentle shove. "It's not funny!"
"What? I asked a simple question!" I faked being affronted.
"I told them if they wanted a homecoming queen, we were their girls. Two of our members are up for it. If they wanted girl jocks, like girls who could actually play football, they should look someplace else."
I held her tighter. "Is that all they did?"
"Yeah. What did you think? That they tried to take advantage of me. Please!"
I started laughing.
"Hey!" She pushed my shoulder again. "What's so funny? It was incredibly boring in there. And disgusting. I didn't even have my phone."
"Sounds terrible. Maybe you should write your story—my fifteen minutes as a hostage of the Zeta Nus."
"Shut up." Her voice was softer.
Seth, Dillon, and Paul were congratulating themselves on a rescue well done.
"Frat rats," Seth said. "They didn't even put up a fight. Shit."
"Like you wanted a fight!" Dillon said. "What were we going to do to them? Pee on their carpet?" He laughed. "QB here outsmarted them. Good thinking, Zach." Dillon gave me a playful shove.
Alexis looked up at me. "What did you tell them?"
"About what you did—the Double Deltsies aren't the best lady jocks on campus." I grinned at her. "Then I might have given them a strategy for winning the tournament. But that's all hearsay."
Seth backed me up. "Didn't hear a thing about that. Did you guys?"
"Not a thing," Paul said. "As far as we're concerned—we asked for you back and our menacing presence convinced them to turn you over."
Alexis laughed and looked up at me like I was her hero. I didn't need her encouraging me like that, or the way she felt so good in my arms.
I'd gone half a block, hardly realizing I was still carrying Alexis.
"I can walk, you know," she said.
"Really?" I set her down so suddenly she squealed, startled. "You could have told me way back there."
"Like you thought my legs were broken." She grabbed my arm and leaned her head against it. "My hero! All of you!" She broke free and hugged Dillon, Paul, and Seth as we walked. When she took my arm again, she asked about Kelly. "I hope she didn't cave to their demands. I am not playing powder puff ball for them."
"Hell no!" Paul said. "Kelly has balls."
"She has someone's," I said, and laughed. "Looks like you'll be playing for Dakota," I whispered to Alexis, trying to hide how unhappy I felt about that. "I hear he's the Tau Psis' head coach."
Alexis
Half the house was mad at me for tanking our chances of partnering with Zeta Nu. Like it was my fault they kidnapped me while I was minding my business and writing my English paper. I wasn't too happy about it myself. In all likelihood, I'd just been thrown back in Dakota's path. He'd been ignoring me these past weeks. I couldn't decide if he'd lost interest or if I was on his bad side. You didn't turn down the president of the Tau Psis without repercussions, faked migraine or not.
Kelly called an emergency meeting after Zach and the guys returned me to the house and issued a statement. "Delta Delta Psi doesn't deal with kidnappers and extortionists. In light of the Zeta Nus' behavior, the house leadership has decided to accept Tau Psi's invitation to be their partner."
Kayla was at the house with a nerdily cute guy she introduced to me as her cousin, Dex. He was some kind of genius who'd stopped by to help her with her homework. It was hard to see the family resemblance—like, there was none. But there was clearly family loyalty and affection.
When he heard about the prank and my adventures, he just shook his head. "Dumbass Zetu Nus. They let their dicks guide their decisions instead of their brains. Hot girls before football skills." He rolled his eyes.
Kayla gave him a playful scowl. "Hey! Was that a slam? We're great fundraisers and fun to hang with, too."
"Uh-huh. I'm sure that was their thinking exactly. Those fundraising skills sold them." He made a point of sighing heavily. "They wouldn't be the first person to fall for a pretty face, would they, Lala?" He shook his head. "Looks fade, Kayla. Brains endure."
Kayla glared at him. "Shut up, Dex. When are you going to let that drop? Justin is a nice guy, but he's not my type."
"Justin?" I said.
She sighed. "Justin Green, a guy in one of my classes who's a friend of Dex's."
"He's going to be rich someday, Lala. Then you'll be sorry." He took a deep breath. "You and the Zeta Nus have a lot in common." Dex shook his head again. "Those amateurs! They should have seen the holes in their plan from the beginning. If they'd been smart, they would have made the Tau Psis look bad and swooped to the rescue."
"They're not as dumb as you think." Kayla lowered her voice to a confidential whisper. "They paired with the girl jock sorority house before we even had a chance to formally refuse them."
Immediately I saw Zach's hand in their decision. But I kept my mouth shut. The houseboys were absolute heroes in the house. I wasn't going to ruin their moment.
"That should have been their obvious first choice." Dex shot Kayla a conspiratorial look. "It's amazing that they suddenly saw the light right after they released your pledge." He turned his gaze on me.
I held up my hands in protest. "Don't look at me! Why would I help them?"
He grinned and whispered to me. "Then you have a couple of smart houseboys. You might suggest they train as hostage negotiators." He winked.
According to Kayla, Dex and his parents were legendary in the family for their pranks.
Dakota wasted no time getting our team ready for competition. He called a Saturday afternoon practice on the intramural field. Sarah, Katie, Laurel, Em, and I walked with the other girls from the house. Most of the living-out girls met us there. We were already becoming cliquish. The five of us live-ins were tight.
The Tau Psis were already on the field when we arrived, tossing the ball around and showing off. A collective sigh rippled through my fellow pledges.
Em's eyes went wide as she watched one particular Tau Psi. "I spit on that one. His name's Carter. He's in my Gen Ed class. I Facebook stalked him. He's single." She shook her hand like she'd been scorched. "Whoa! He's hot."
I stared at her. "Why didn't I know about this?"
"I'm private about my crushes." She was still staring at him. "And waiting for a function with the Tau Psis so I can get to know him better before I declare myself. Now's my chance."
Sarah was unimpressed. She dated a different guy every week, sometimes two or three. I had no idea how she did it, but there were weekends when she had a date on Friday night, a Saturday lunch date with a different guy, and a third date on Saturday night. She was still shooting for a record four dates per weekend. She just hadn't found a way to fit a Sunday date in.
Laurel had an on-again, off-again boyfriend back home and was currently in the "on" state and having a hard time remaining faithful. And Katie was just Katie and having too much fun flirting with whoever was handy.
Dakota waved us over. "Welcome, ladies! I'll be your head coach this season." He gave us some general instructions and passed out a sheet of rules. "If you lose it, look the rules
up online." He gave us a web address.
"Today we're going to partner up, one guy with one girl, and practice the basics so I can see where we stand. Everyone line up—guys facing girls."
Em maneuvered herself opposite Carter. I tried to look for a guy who knew his way around a football.
Dakota pulled me out of line. "Not you. Alexis, you're the girls' team captain. You're my partner."
"A frosh! Are you kidding?" Morgan's eyes flashed daggers. "She hasn't even tried out."
So much for my big cheering me on and supporting me.
"She doesn't need to. She knows her game," Dakota said. "Now drop and give me five pushups."
Morgan's eyes went saucer wide. "What? You have to be joking."
Dakota stared her down. "Never give your coach lip. Drop and give me five before I make it ten." I thought his lips were twitching, like he was trying to hold back a laugh.
Morgan shut up and did five girl pushups. I would have done the regular guy kind just to show him. But that was me.
"Everyone else pair up. The guys know the drills. Get on it!"
Dakota took my arm and led me to a prime spot on the field. "If you get lost, follow our lead." He whispered to me. "How good is your arm?"
"Let's find out."
He tossed me the ball he was carrying.
"Go long," I said.
He ran across the field more like a running back than a quarterback. I let the ball fly.
He had to run for it. "Nice spiral, captain!" He laughed and threw it back, hitting me right in the hands with enough force that it smarted. I didn't flinch or worry about breaking a nail like he might have expected.
"Wiseass!" I threw it back. It wasn't lost on me that I was one of the few girls in the house who could throw the ball so that it spiraled. The rest were all elbows and terrible form.
We tossed the ball back and forth, playing catch until Dakota called to the girls to watch my form and then explained how to correctly throw a ball.
When we moved on to practicing plays, I noticed two guys sitting on the hill overlooking the field, watching us—Zach and Seth.
Rushed (The Rushed Series) Page 12
