Truth or Dare You (The Love Game Book 2)

by Elizabeth Hayley

  I’d spent the last twenty-four or so hours running through every possible explanation for why I was sitting here. Maybe they’d tried to email someone else with the last name Mason and had a first name that began with an S, and they’d just selected the first name that popped up in the address field without realizing.

  But a reminder that the office knew exactly who Sophia Mason was, as if they’d been expecting my call, proved my theory incorrect.

  Which left me with another possibility: There was another Sophia Mason at Lazarus University, and that Sophia had done something wrong. I’d go in, and they’d realize I wasn’t who they’d been trying to reach, and we’d all have a good laugh before they contacted the other Sophia.

  I tried to be discreet when I wiped my clammy hands on my black pants. I didn’t want to look nervous, because nervous meant guilty, and I wasn’t guilty of anything.

  This must be what it feels like to await a jury’s decision when you’re falsely accused of murder. Okay, maybe that’s a little extreme. But this feels pretty bad. I should’ve taken the Xanax Brody tried to give me.

  Another possibility, which I hadn’t ruled out yet, was that they wanted to interview me about another student’s misconduct and not my own. Sure, the email made it seem like I had been the one they’d wanted to discuss, but the wording had been ambiguous in places. Or maybe I’d just read it in a way that would allow for ambiguity.

  “Ms. Mason?”

  Tearing my attention from the piece of navy nail polish I’d just picked off, I jerked my head up toward the receptionist’s voice.

  “Yes?”

  “You can go in. Dr. Martin will see you now.”

  I stood from the antique floral couch slowly, collecting my belongings before I turned toward the dark wooden door. Taking a deep breath, I suddenly had no interest in finding out what was on the other side of it.

  From the moment I’d read the email, I’d been dying to know what Dr. Martin wanted to discuss. But now that the moment had arrived, I wanted no part of it. I fantasized about what it would feel like to turn around, sprint for the stairs, and never return. Then I composed myself, walked over to the door, and knocked.

  A stern voice replied, “Come in.”

  Despite the invitation, I entered cautiously, closing the door as soon as I was fully inside.

  “Sit,” she said, gesturing to the beige cloth chair on the opposite side of her desk.

  She’d been standing, but she sat before I did, causing me to follow suit quickly to not look rude.

  Carolyn Martin was a waif of a woman. Petite and slender with brown hair that was beginning to gray, she looked more like someone’s grandmother than a person responsible for disciplining misguided students. Thin wrinkles framed her thin lips, and they deepened when she spoke.

  “Do you know why you’re here, Sophia?”

  I shook my head before I answered verbally. “No, I don’t. I mean, the email said you wanted to discuss some sort of misconduct with me, but I have no idea what it could be regarding.”

  Dr. Martin placed her hands on her large desk and folded them with a type of seriousness that was rarely directed at me.

  “There have been some allegations, Sophia.”

  “Allegations? Of what?”

  She lifted the paper she had in front of her and gave it a cursory glance before deciding not to disclose what was on it.

  “We’ll get to the specifics in a moment. But for now, I was hoping you could just tell me about the business you have with your brother and your boyfriend, I believe.”

  When I didn’t answer promptly, she continued.

  “You have a business, correct? Some sort of delivery service or something of that nature?” She looked back at the paper, moving her finger down the page. “It’s here somewhere.”

  “Nite Bites,” I provided quietly. Maybe if I were forthcoming, she’d go easier on me. I knew other students had odd jobs or little businesses they’d started up to make some extra cash, but now that I thought of it, none of them required driving around campus to people’s residences.

  My heart was suddenly beating so quickly, I couldn’t tell if it was beating at all. What allegations were made, and who were they actually made against? I was the one who was getting questioned by the university, but Drew and Brody might have to face an interrogation on a grander scale if a girl was accusing them of something…

  “I’m sorry, but can you please tell me what the accusations are? Are we in any kind of legal trouble? Will the authorities be involved in any way?”

  Dr. Martin seemed to sympathize with my concern, because she settled against the back of her chair. “Can I offer you a bottle of water or something?”

  “Yes, actually. That would be great. If you don’t mind.”

  She reached under her desk, and I heard what I assumed was a refrigerator opening. A few seconds later, she handed me a bottle of cold water, which I opened immediately.

  When I was done taking a drink, I said, “Thank you.”

  Nodding, she replied, “Let’s get back on track, shall we?” Dr. Martin had been kind enough to offer me a drink, but she wasn’t going to let her small gesture of compassion detract from the severity of the situation. “To answer your question, I doubt the authorities will be involved. There are some illegal activities listed here, but I don’t think they’re anything serious enough that the police will want to get involved.”

  “Okay,” I said slowly. “That’s good news, I guess. So should we have gotten a permit or something? Is there some sort of campus policy we’ve broken?”

  “I’ll make this as simple as possible, Sophia. While there is the general issue with running a business on campus, the problem is greater than that. A few students have cited that your business has been involved in some activities that the university definitely does not condone. And while the students have requested that their identities remain confidential, I spoke with these students myself, and their stories seem to have some merit to them.

  “For starters, they reported that you delivered alcohol to minors, which is not only an issue on campus but could potentially have legal implications.”

  “I didn’t realize… I never made the deliveries myself. And all of our customers have an account and need to provide personal information. To my knowledge, I don’t think Drew or Brody would’ve bought alcohol for anyone under the legal drinking age.”

  “But you don’t know that for sure,” Dr. Martin pointed out. “And while the person ordering the beer or liquor may have been twenty-one, I highly doubt every person in the house was.”

  I had no defense for that because there wasn’t one.

  So she continued. “You mentioned that the students provide personal information, correct?”

  I nodded but remained quiet.

  “I’m not sure what program you’re using to secure that content, but some students reported that their school accounts were hacked,” she said, using air quotes. “I’m not sure if that term is entirely accurate here, but for lack of a better one, we’ll go with that for now.”

  I understood that none of us knew much of anything about cybersecurity, but we’d used a financial application that was well-known and reliable.

  “I don’t understand how that would be our fault exactly. People enter personal information at their own risk anywhere.”

  Dr. Martin didn’t look up from the paper, but she raised her hand. “You will have a chance to speak out in defense of yourself and your business, but right now is not that time. And I do hope, Sophia”—now she was looking up at me—“that many of these aren’t true, because if they are, you’ll find it a difficult feat to convince the panel of your peers that you should remain a Lazarus student. This university has a reputation to uphold and, quite frankly, looking at who your parents are, so do you.”

  “Can you tell me what the rest of the accusations are?” I tried to keep my voice steady, but I was sure Dr. Martin could hear me shaking. And there was no doubt she s
aw the tears forming in the corners of my eyes.

  “Of course. It says here that Nite Bites was distributing drugs. Prescription for sure, but illegal drugs I’m actually not certain of.”

  I wanted so badly to yell out that the prescription drugs she was referencing were actually prescribed to the person we were delivering them to. We’d just gone to the drugstore for them. And as for the illegal drugs, I just prayed to God Brody wouldn’t have been so stupid. I didn’t think Drew would’ve been.

  “A customer also mentioned that a nursing student administered an IV as treatment for a hangover?”

  Since she’d said that one as a question, I replied. “That’s completely false.”

  “Uh-huh,” she said absent-mindedly. “The rest of these are fairly innocuous, considering the others I mentioned. A delivery that never came and no refund was offered. Mr. Nolan or Mr. Mason—I’m not sure which, or possibly both—were especially ‘flirty’ with some of the female customers. Some other complaints regarding customer service and things of that nature.” She raised her eyes from the document. “You’ll receive a copy of all of it before the hearing. As I mentioned, you’ll appear before a panel of your peers in one week’s time. We’ll email you once an exact time and day has been confirmed.”

  Breathing deeply, Dr. Martin locked her eyes on mine, and she looked like she felt a little bad for me. She gave me a tight smile that barely turned up the corners of her mouth. “I’d like to believe that the majority of this isn’t true, at least not to the extent that it’s listed here. But unfortunately, my opinion doesn’t matter. The students decide what will or will not happen to you, and these students take that responsibility extremely seriously. Oftentimes, they’re law students or kids involved in the political world. They don’t take allegations like this lightly, and they won’t let bias play into their decision.”

  She’d said all of it so quickly, I was still processing most of it when she added, “Do you understand?”

  I choked out a “Yes.”

  Dr. Martin gave me a terse nod, no longer maintaining eye contact with me, which I was thankful for because the tears that had threatened to fall were beginning to touch my cheeks.

  “My assistant will provide you with a copy of all this on your way out.”

  “Okay.” I’m not sure how I got the word past the lump in my throat, but I was glad I did. Then I stood, composed myself as well as I could, uttered a “Thank you,” and left Dr. Martin’s office.

  After getting the folder of documents from the assistant, I grabbed a few tissues from her desk. I’d definitely be needing them for my walk home.

  Once I exited the building and stepped into the cool wintery air, I dug into my purse for my phone so I could call the only person I knew might be able to help. It only took one ring for him to pick up.

  “Dad,” I said. “I have a problem.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  S O P H I A

  “Here? He’s coming here? Now?” Brody was pacing in front of where I sat on the couch, my head in my hands.

  “Yes, Brody. I’m sorry that my potentially getting kicked out of school is threatening your AWOL status, but I needed to call him.”

  “No, no, I get it. And it’s fine. Totally fine.”

  From the panic-stricken look on his face, it was clearly not fine.

  “You don’t have to stay,” I told him. “I didn’t tell him you were home. As long as you’re not here when Dad shows up, he’ll assume you’re still in Europe.”

  Brody stopped pacing and looked at me. I’m not sure what he was hoping to see, but he was calmer when he spoke again.

  “No, we’re in this together. I’m not going to run out on you.”

  My eyes began to sting as a lump rose in my throat. Even though he wasn’t a student at Lazarus so we therefore weren’t in this together in a disciplinary sense, I appreciated the show of solidarity.

  Drew, who’d been sitting silently beside me, put his hand over my thigh. “Do you want me to leave?” he asked.

  “Do you want to leave?”

  “No.”

  I smiled at that. “Then I want you to stay.” My dad knew we were living here together anyway, and despite the fact that the conversation might be easier without Drew there, I wanted him near me whenever he could be.

  The three of us sat around in dejected silence until a knock came at the door.

  “Oh fuck,” Brody whispered, freezing in place.

  Drew looked like he was going to vomit.

  “I’ll get it,” I said drolly as I got up and headed for the door. I pulled it open and stood back. “Hey, Dad.”

  “Hi, Soph.”

  His voice was soft and his eyes were kind. He stopped to kiss my cheek as he walked into the apartment. Having him here made me feel like everything would be okay. No matter how badly my father and I disagreed, he’d always been there for me when I truly needed him, and I knew it would be no different this time. Since he was still dressed impeccably in a sharp gray suit, I knew he’d dropped everything to come to me.

  My eyes prickled again. Even though he drove me batshit crazy, I needed to appreciate this man more.

  After closing the door, I turned to see Drew standing and walking toward my father with his hand outstretched.

  “Good to see you, Mr. Mason.”

  My dad hesitated for a fraction of a second before seeming to sigh into the gesture of returning the handshake.

  “Drew. Good to see you up and about.”

  “Thank you, sir.”

  My dad moved slightly to the side so he could see my brother, who was hovering behind the couch as if it were a turret protecting him from enemy fire.

  “Brody.” My dad’s voice held no inflection: neither surprise nor anger.

  “Dad.”

  “Finally ready to stop hiding from us?”

  “I wasn’t hiding,” Brody replied indignantly, crossing his arms over his chest like a stubborn child. “I was…vacationing.”

  Dad scoffed. “Is that what they’re calling dodging responsibility nowadays? Not that it even makes sense, given the fact you’ve been home for months.”

  We all stilled.

  “You knew?” Brody asked, not even bothering to hide the surprise in his voice.

  My dad pushed his hands into his pockets as he scoffed. “Come on, Brody. You do know how credit cards work, don’t you? Anytime you use it, it tracks where the charge came from.”

  I slowly panned to my brother, who had somehow just proved himself dumber than I’d already thought. “You’ve been using your credit card?”

  Brody looked exasperated with me. “What did you think I used to start the business? You think the supplies just magically appeared here?”

  I gritted my teeth. “I thought you used the money you’d earned from your job.”

  Brody shot me a dry look. “Sophia, I was delivering pizzas, not trading stocks on Wall Street. How would I have ever made enough doing that to get us up and running?”

  Okay, well, when he put it like that, it seemed stupid not to have wondered.

  “I’m not sure. I guess I assumed you’d used your savings.”

  “I’d already put a dent in that when I went to Europe,” Brody muttered. “I didn’t want to totally decimate the account. And people say she’s the smart one.”

  “Compared to you, I’m a genius.”

  “Compared to me, a Golden Retriever is a genius!”

  “I…” I wasn’t really sure how to argue with that, so I changed tactics and turned toward my dad. “How come you never said anything?”

  “Why bother? He clearly wasn’t ready to talk to us, and we knew he was safe, so we figured we’d let it lie until he grew up and came to us.”

  “Wanting to explore other countries doesn’t mean I’m not a grown-up,” Brody argued.

  “You’re right, Brody.” My dad’s voice couldn’t have dripped with more sarcasm if he’d tried. “Hiring a stranger to go to classes for you while y
ou took off to parts unknown without telling anyone in your family is the mark of a truly mature man. My mistake.”

  Brody opened his mouth to argue, but Dad lifted a hand, silencing him. “I know it’s hard to not make everything about you, Brody, but I’m not here to discuss you and your life.” He turned toward me. “Sophia, let me see the documents they gave you.”

  It took me a moment to move. I couldn’t help but be shocked by the fact that my dad—who’d never in his life missed an opportunity to make a situation about my brother—was actually shutting him down and putting my needs first.

  When I noticed everyone staring at me oddly, I realized I’d been standing frozen for too long. I quickly scooped the papers off the coffee table and handed them to him.

  I’d gone over the major points when I’d called him, but my dad was a thorough businessman, and he gave all his attention to the copies of the accusations the dean had collected against me.

  The rest of us stood around quietly, allowing him to concentrate.

  Finally, he looked up at us. “Walk me through the business, showing me everything you have accompanying it. Website, terms of service, pamphlets, everything.”

  Brody, Drew, and I shared a look before flying into action. Drew grabbed the laptop while Brody opened the app, and I went into the bedroom to pull out the box that served as our filing system. My dad looked more than a little overwhelmed by everything, but he removed his suit jacket and settled in as we took turns explaining the business from the beginning.

  As Brody was explaining how we took and filled orders, there was another knock on the door.

  Now who could that be?

  I got up to answer it, pulled it open, and my jaw fell when I saw Aamee.

  “Brody called and told me what happened. I brought reinforcements.” She gestured over her shoulder at the mob that was collected behind her.

  Gina and Emma were there, along with Carter, Toby, Aniyah, and Xander.

  There was no stopping the tears this time. I threw open the door so they could enter, unable to speak due to how moved I was.