29
M usic pumped, vibrating through the floor under my boots, but all I could think of was her. One couple fucking in the corner, another girl on her knees by the TV sucking some dude’s cock, another girl wearing nothing but a thong dancing with a couple of guys, struggling to contain themselves. It stunk to high hell of cum and liquor, discarded condoms, and unrecognizable fluid spilled all over the floor.
But all I could think of was her.
On my left was a girl trying to grab my attention, and on my right was a girl sitting on a guy, fucking. Yet, all I could think about was her. I wished she was here, lips wrapped around my cock because no other girl pulled me under her spell like she did. Annika. Riley. Whatever.
I lit a joint, took a pull, and relaxed back on the couch, wondering why I came. Oh yeah, that’s right, because I lived here. In this fucking frat house. With deadbeats.
And Annika…I mean, Riley hadn’t replied to my messages. She disappeared midday, and I lost track of her as usual when she boarded the bus. I had yet to see her return. I parked down the road from Hallen Hall, expecting her to arrive home in time to go to work, but nothing.
“Let’s have a party to cheer you up,” was Callum’s idea.
I never said I was unhappy.
“Rark it up. Get us some pussy,” Shaun suggested.
Fine.
A stray hand ran down my thigh to my crotch, and I slapped it away. “If I wanted someone to scratch my balls, I’ll call you,” I hissed at her, and she got up and left me alone for two seconds before another girl who looked the same as she sat down. Jeez, is this a fucking rotating whore conveyer belt?
“Hi Gunner,” too cheerful for her own good, but that long elegant neck looked easy to snap.
The surname Kaiser sure attracted some pussy, but not the pussy I wanted, yet if I told the pussy I wanted, my surname was Kaiser, I might never see that pussy again. I pulled on the joint, then took a swig of my liquor, the cheap stuff, and considered heading into Savile. But Mikky and Ronan would send me home again if I came in high and morose. Morose and high.
Why the fuck was she not answering my messages? Has something happened to her? Maybe she got into an accident.
A girl stripped off an item of clothing with every shot poured down her throat. I took another drag of my joint as the girl took it from my fingers and took a pull.
“Do you wanna get a room?” she asked.
“Is your name Riley?” I snarled.
“Um, no,” she replied, handing back the joint.
“Then I’m not interested,” I snapped.
She fell quiet, and I hoped she’d just fucking leave. “I know a Riley,” she informed me. “Actually, I know two Riley’s. One is in my dorm, and the other is in one of my classes.”
“Which dorm?”
“Philip Hall,” she replied.
“Wrong Riley.”
She took my joint from my fingers and took a drag as her hand landed on my thigh. Fuck. If I wanted to fuck her, I would tell her. These women are tone fucking deaf.
“Then, of course, there’s the loser Riley,” she laughed. “With glasses. I heard she accused someone of breaking into her room. Apparently, it was all made up.”
It sounded as though we had the correct Riley, but why the fuck did she call her a loser. She’s gorgeous. Sweet. Pretty smile. “How do you know it was made up?”
Her body shook next to me from laughter. “The director told me.”
“Sounds like the director is the loser. It could’ve been a serious complaint, and you’re laughing about it.” The irony was that I ordered Shaun and Callum to break into her room, but this chick didn’t know that. Fuck, why was she hating on her? Riley wouldn’t touch a fly. Unless Riley was Annika, and that’s a different story.
“Were you at the last frat party?” before I could answer. “Oh my god, that was so good.”
This chick is getting too comfortable here. I'll kick her off the couch if she doesn’t move in ten seconds.
“Oh my god,” she screamed as the chick doing the shots was down to her bra and panties. “Strip it all off. Strip it all off.”
My phone vibrated in my pocket, and I flicked it out, eager for a reply from Riley. No, it was Ronan.
Ronan: Where r u?
Me: Killing myself.
Ronan: Use a rope. Less blood.
Me: Ha. Funny.
Ronan: People?
Me: Girl won’t stop talking.
Ronan: lol. Date?
Me: Fuck off. I have eyes for one girl.
Ronan: Do u know a Merk?
Me: Heard of him. Filth. Runs grooming gangs. Why?
Ronan: Running roads inside Savile. Mik wants to send him on vacation.
Me: I won’t cry. Be careful. His reach is far. Heavies everywhere.
Ronan: Have a good night. Talk to u later.
The girl was still chatting non-stop, but I caught the last part when she said, “The one Shaun slept with and abandoned that night.”
I assumed she was talking about the girl stripping for shots.
Then she added, “Remember that?”
“No,” I snapped, wishing she’d find someone else to blabber to. Besides, her perfume was aggravating the back of my throat. She’s a fucking fire hazard. I was surprised her hair didn’t explode when she took a puff of my joint. Yuck. She left lipstick on it. “You can keep this,” I added, handing the joint back, cringing. Then, I reflected on what she said. “Wait. Who were you talking about?”
“What? When?” she looked at me, bit her bottom lip, and a shudder ran down my spine. It’s a real problem when you have eyes for only one girl because every other girl starts to look like a swamp ogre.
“The chick Shaun slept with then abandoned. Are you talking about her?” I pointed to the now fully naked chick dancing about as men squeezed her ass and tits. Jeezus, she’s a cow in the shed about to get milked.
“No,” she tipped her head back and laughed. “Riley. One of the Rileys we were talking about.”
“Shaun slept with Riley?” I needed clarification, and she better not fuck me around.
“Yes,” she laughed, “then for a joke, they forced her to walk home in the dark. I mean…that could be dangerous, I guess…”
With every irritating word she spoke, my left eye twitched, and the pumping music faded, replaced by a high-pitched siren bleeding inside my head. The drunken students' movements slowed to an unnatural pace as everything seemed surreal. Hollowed. Thumping heart. Rising anger.
All I could hear was the siren.
All I could see was the color red.
Culprit number two, Callum, had his tongue down the throat of a cheerleader, and with fists clenched, I rose from the couch, pulled by an overpowering magnet, and strolled through the crowd to him.
My finger landed heavily on his shoulder. “Fuck off,” he spluttered inside the mouth of the cheerleader.
White flashed behind my eyes, and my fist struck the side of his neck. He jolted forward and turned around, expecting to punch the man before him, until he realized it was me, Gunner Kaiser, pleased to meet you.
My hand went to his throat as his back slammed against the wall, and the cheerleader screamed in my ear to get off him. Callum was bigger than me; in fact, he was bigger than most men in this frat house, but when a man had something to fight for, it took physical strength to a new level.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Confusion washed across his face as his eyes rolled about in his skull, forehead furrowed, hoping I was just fucking around drunk and stupid.
I leaned in and hissed quietly, so no one could hear, “Did Shaun fuck Riley Laws?”
His Adam’s apple bobbled under my hand as he swallowed, hesitating, fretting as he considered how to answer the question.
“Answer me,” I rammed him harder against the wall.
“Y…es,” he squirmed.
Something cold snaked down my back, and I gave him another shove. “Where is he?”
“I…I don’t know-”
Knocked his head against the wall again. “Where the fuck is he?”
He swallowed again, and Adam’s apple bobbled. “Gunner, fuck, I saw him go upstairs, alright, with a girl. Fuck, Gunner, what are you going to do?”
My hand dropped away, and I turned and ran up the wooden stairs as the siren still rang in my head and the color red blazed behind my eyes. The atmosphere was swirling, walls waving in and out, and I could hear my name shouted from the ground floor.
I tried the handle, but it’s locked. Panting and fucking noises hammering through the wood. I stepped back and kicked the door down with one blow as the siren in my head drowned out sounds, and a fire burned behind my eyes.
Shaun was naked, lying on some chick, legs spread. She startled and screamed, but Shaun was stunned, momentarily dazed. I could see the guilt on his face. He knew. He knew why I was here.
“Get out,” I ordered the girl, focusing on Shaun.
“What’s going on?” she cried out as Shaun rolled off her and threw her clothes at her to leave.
As soon as she was gone, I slowly shut the door behind me so it was just me and Shaun in the room. He tied a sheet around his waist and stepped back to the window, perhaps considering jumping as an escape. But even if I let him go, I’d still hunt him down and make him pay one way or another.
So, he had two choices. Now or later.