Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 77287 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77287 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
“What shit would they have on us?” I protest.
“Wes,” Noah protests, raising an eyebrow at me. “You’re kidding, right?”
I shrug. “We don’t do bad shit here.”
Roman and Noah exchange a look.
“You know people call you Frat Dad for a reason, bro,” Noah tells me.
Suddenly I feel like I’m being left out of some loop.
“And what is that supposed to mean?”
“It means some of the guys are going to purposely not tell you if they’re doing ‘bad shit.’”
He uses air quotes to say the final two words.
And something about it sends a ripple of anger through me.
“What is going on in Onyx House that I don’t know about?”
“There’s nothing going on,” Roman says. “Noah, don’t stir a pot that doesn’t exist.”
“It’s just little things,” Noah says. “You know Vance Brown, who graduated last year?”
I nod. “Of course I remember Vance. He interned for my father two summers ago.”
“Exactly,” Noah says.
“We don’t need to do this, Noah,” Roman says.
My stomach does a little flip.
They really do have a secret from me.
“Tell me,” I say in a louder tone. “Now.”
“Vance… hinted at the idea that your father may have actually paid off some of the execs for last year’s dinner.”
I feel like I just missed a step on the stairs.
Like the wind is knocked out of me, just for a moment.
No.
It can’t be true.
“Bribery?” I ask, my voice coming out dry.
“Like I said. He only hinted at it,” Noah says. “I think he didn’t want any of us to be implicated, or to fully know what was going on. But you saw what happened last year.”
“Only Onyx guys got offers,” I say.
“Vance is gone now. But if what he said was true, then…”
“Then it means the Daggers guys’ suspicions are fucking right,” I interject.
“So you can see why we need to be delicate,” Roman says. “Delicate about what happens at this year’s dinner.”
For a moment I think I’m going to be sick.
I sit down on one of the armchairs in the room, but it’s too close to the fire and the heat instantly feels cloying. I move to the side sofa where Niko is silently sitting, and I put my head in my hands.
“My father is dead and he still has his claws in our lives,” I say, scrubbing my palms over my face. “Fuck. Fuck this.”
“This is why I didn’t want to tell him,” Roman mutters to Noah.
“He deserves to know,” Noah volleys back.
I stand up again, pacing around the room. “We have to do something about it.”
“We already know what we’re going to do,” Roman explains. “Relax, Weston. Please.”
Part of me wants to snap at Roman for even suggesting I could calm down right now. But I listen to him anyway, because I need to know that someone else is trying to fix this problem with me.
Roman explains some things that he’s apparently been discussing with Noah already. Using his family connections, Roman somehow found a way to do what my father did last year, but in reverse.
Roman wants to make sure that the offers this year only go to Double Daggers and Luros Sorority members.
It’s a dirty fix.
It’s still bad, and I hate everything about it.
But hopefully it can at least help from starting full-on wars between the societies. It can’t help the people that already graduated last year, but there isn’t a better solution.
After Roman is done laying out his plans, he heads off into the kitchen and Noah goes out on a date with some girl he thinks is going to be his soulmate.
I’m left with Niko in the living room.
“I know you’re going to tell Sev,” I say softly.
Niko looks up at me and shakes his head. “I won’t, if you don’t want me to.”
“Thought you’d be loyal to him.”
“I am loyal to my cousin. But if Roman’s goal is to help the other societies this year, then we should let that happen.”
“I agree. I’m so fucking mad at my father it hurts.”
“He’s my father, too,” Niko says. “I know he wasn’t a part of my life, but he’s still my blood. And this feels unfair to me, too.”
“It’s worse than unfair.”
Niko pauses for a moment, watching me. “And I know you don’t hate Sev like you used to,” he says.
I can feel a heat creeping up to my neck.
I look over at the embers in the fireplace, smoldering at the bottom.
“Well, I know him better than I used to. Makes it hard to hate someone.”
It feels like there’s a heavy weight pressing against my chest.
I don’t like the idea of having a secret from Sevan. If this were last year, I would have no problem with that, and I might even relish the idea of keeping something from him.
But it feels so wrong now.
Almost like I have my own loyalty to Sev.
For… what?
Because I like the way his cock feels, and because he kissed me in the middle of the night after too much red wine?