Chapter 24 Pandora
PANDORA
“I don’t know how you misspelled my name again,” I say to the barista. “Pandora isn’t hard. It’s literally a famous name. Everybody’s heard of Pandora’s box.”
The barista shrugs at me. “I’ve got ten orders all at once. Take it up with whoever took your order.”
I grumble and take the tray with my order. The coffee cup says Pandra on the side, like it’s somehow possible to not hear the ‘o’ in my name.
Carly is on her phone, smiling to herself as she browses.
Who is she talking to? Tanya? Did they watch another fun movie together, one that’s desperately dull and metaphorical, full of imagery meant to elicit depression and hopelessness and beat you down with how much life sucks?
I place Carly’s drink in front of her. “Here you go.”
Carly sets her phone down and smiles. “Thanks!” She takes a sip before she sighs. “I have two essays due by next Monday. And only one is started.”
I sit down across from her and pick up my own vanilla-and-cinnamon coffee drink. “That makes me glad none of my classes require essays.”
“Yeah, but I’ve heard your complaints about molecules. I’d rather read three books than memorize chemical structures.” Carly rests her chin on one hand. “There’s a horror movie marathon at the local cinema this weekend. You want to come? It starts on Saturday at three.”
Horror movies. Those are gory, right? That would be more fun than movies where people whine about their marriages.
“Yeah, I’d love to. I think.” I check my phone calendar.
There’s an event already listed on Saturday.
Oh.
River’s boxing match.
He hadn’t even mentioned it when he’d shown up to bother me at the library. I guess he doesn’t want me there.
I guess that means he does hate me.
I scowl. Well, he doesn’t get to hate me.
“Sorry,” I say to Carly. “I’m going to River’s boxing match. It’s a ranked match for the east coast universities. But maybe we can watch horror movies some other night?”
Carly nods, pretending not to be disappointed, but I see the way her expression falls. “Yeah, that’s fine. Good luck to River.” She pauses. “You’re still talking to him? Despite…”
“Despite what?” I ask. “Did something happen?”
She shakes her head, because she knows better than to bring up the fucking videos of me getting passed around. Anyway, River isn’t in those videos. Neither are Blaze and Asch.
Except for their hands, where they’re holding me down or stroking my hair. But mostly nobody filmed my face, if you know what I mean.
Actually, I haven’t heard much about the videos lately. I still get weird looks and pitying glances, but I guess everybody has moved on to the next hot thing. Maybe there’s a viral video about open heart surgery or something.
“Well, anyway. Tanya has another friend who’s into movies. He’s actually the head of the school’s film club. I was thinking of joining. And…”
I give zero fucks about the film club.
I’ve never been a group activity person anyway. Unless we’re counting foursomes, and technically I haven’t done that yet.
I also won’t do it, because Asch and Blaze are still fighting, and River doesn’t like either of those two assholes, and I’m supposed to hate all of them even if they’re trying really hard to convince me not to.
I’m sorry.
It’s not enough. It can’t be enough.
Somebody approaches our table. I glance up, immediately on edge, when I see an older guy with dark hair and a creepy smile.
I’ve seen him somewhere before, but I can’t place him.
“Do you mind if I sit here?” he says, pointing to the empty chair next to me. “There aren’t any empty seats.”
I’m about to tell him to fuck off, but Carly nods. “Yeah, it’s fine.”
The guy sits down and takes a tablet out. I want to ignore him, like Carly is doing, but now I can’t concentrate on what she’s saying.
Finally, I blurt out, “Where the fuck do I know you from?”
The guy looks up from his tablet and grins. “Maybe a party? I was dressed as Perseus.”
Oh.
That creep.
I can’t remember his name.
“No, you were dressed as a random gladiator,” I say. “Aren’t you a bit old for Halloween parties anyway?”
“Pandora!” Carly gives the guy an apologetic look. “Sorry. Here, we can scoot our table away.”
The guy shakes his head. “Nah, it’s fine. Hi, Pandora. I’m Ezio.”
Right. Ezio.
I shift so I’m facing him directly. “Did Blaze tell you about me? Who are you, anyway?”
Carly immediately tenses up. “You’re with Kappa Alpha?”
Ezio smiles, and I bet he’s trying to appear disarming, innocent, but I can see right through that.
He’d known my name at the party.
“I am. I’m here as the new fraternity leader. Well, house manager, really. It’s a logistical nightmare, trying to get everything ready for the rebuild. They’ve only just finished clearing off the old property. It’s a real shame about the fire.”
“Is it?” I say, smiling back at him. “I don’t know. Some of the things I’ve heard about Kappa Alpha… Didn’t one of your own frat members die only a few nights before the fire?”
Ezio shakes his head. “No, he was only a pledge. Which is still a tragedy, but he wasn’t a full fledged member yet.”
Carly inhales sharply. “He was still a person. And it was a preventable tragedy.”
Yay, good job, Carly! I knew there was a reason I liked her.
“What she said,” I say, pointing to her. “Poor Franklin didn’t deserve all that.”
“But the other fraternity members deserved to be caught in a house fire?” Ezio counters. “They could have died.”
“Well, maybe they shouldn’t have microwaved a tin can or whatever it is they did to start the fire,” I argue back.
Accelerant, mostly.
Everybody thinks starting a fire is so easy, but if you don’t do it right, it burns fast and goes out because it doesn’t have enough fuel. Thankfully the Kappa Asshole Orifice house was from the right era to be mostly made of kindling.
“Is that what happened?” Asch’s voice.
I glance at Asch, who’d arrived sometime during the conversation, and I immediately notice that he’s standing right next to Blaze. Well, well. I guess they’ve made up.
“Hey, Ezio,” Blaze greets. “What are you doing on campus?”
“I had to meet with some of the university admin to figure out permits for the new building.” Ezio sits back in his chair. “You were right that it’s a lot of work. Not something a student with a full work load can handle.”
Blaze bristles, but he manages to keep a smile on his face. He pulls a chair from a nearby table. It has a jacket and a backpack on it, and he dumps both of them back onto the table he stole the chair from.
The person sitting there starts to protest, but a single glare from Blaze has him shutting up.
Blaze sits down next to me, stretching one arm over my shoulders.
“Glad you’re here to help, then,” Blaze says breezily. “I do have my hands full with group projects and maintaining a social life.”
Asch stays standing, though I’m not sure if it’s because there are no empty chairs within easy reach or if it’s because he’s back to playing bodyguard for Blaze. The look he’s giving Ezio is bland, but I recognize something deeper.
He doesn’t like Ezio.
Good. I don’t currently like him much either.
Carly is getting visibly agitated though, so I turn to her. “Hey, thanks for catching up with me. Let me know when you want to do the movie night.”
She gives me a very pointed look. “Do you want to walk back to the dorms with me?”
It’s sweet of her to look out for me, but I can take care of myself.
Mostly.
Definitely.
“I’m fine,” I say, waving her off. “See you later. Say hi to Reaper for me!”
Carly still lingers for a few seconds before grabbing her things and bidding us farewell. I’m glad she took the hint. There’s no reason she needs to get caught up in all this Bouchard bullshit.
Because whatever’s going on, I’m positive it’s Bouchard crap. Maybe not Blaze directly, but his family for sure.
“So how long is the process to get a new frat house, anyway?” Asch asks, his voice as mild as his expression. “I don’t want to be stuck with Blaze and River forever.”
That’s stupid. Of course he’s stuck with them forever. How could he even think of leaving?
Ezio laughs, and it’s a horrible sound, like weasels tittering in brush.
I must have seen a nature documentary about that once.
“The new building won’t be up for at least two years. You know how those things go.” Ezio’s gaze stays on me. “Especially since the new building will have to be more fireproof. That means more protection than simple drywall.”
“Are you going to upgrade to firewood?” I ask glibly.
Blaze’s arm tightens around my shoulder. “Sounds like a pain. But all the brothers can afford off-campus housing. We’ll rent spaces when we need to host events.” He moves his hand so it’s resting across the back of my neck. “We don’t want to bother you though. Pandora, let’s go grab lunch.”
He doesn’t want me talking to Ezio.
That piques my interest, and I stay in my seat despite the way Blaze’s hand tightens on my neck.
“Is that your full job, then?” I ask. “Figuring out logistics? What do you do when you aren’t cleaning up after house fires?” I attempt to lean closer to Ezio, but Blaze squeezes even tighter.
I let out a small, breathy gasp.
Ezio’s eyes flicker from Blaze’s hand back to my face.
“I do all sorts of things. Right now, I assist Mr. Bouchard. Blaze’s father, that is, not Blaze. It’s a little of this, a little of that.” Ezio’s slimy grin widens. “You must know. Doesn’t your father have assistants too? Like Mr. Rossi?”
I freeze.
How does he know about Damien?
More to the point, how dare he reduce Daddy to the level of an assistant. He’s so much more to the family than an assistant to order around. He’s my father, as much as Papa is.
“What did you say your name was?” I ask.
“He’s Ezio Roland,” Blaze answers. “And we’re done talking. Let’s go, Pandora. I think if we stay, something else might catch fire.”
Asch offers a hand to me. “C’mon,” he says.
Both of them seem determined to pull me away from Ezio.
Ezio waves. “I’ll see you around, Pandora. I have a feeling we have a lot to chat about.”
Yes.
We definitely do, but it’s not going to happen in front of Blaze and Asch.
I let them drag me out of the coffee shop. I toss my Pandra coffee cup into the trash can outside the shop.
“So,” I say carefully. “Who the fuck is he?”
Blaze’s hand is still on the back of my neck, like he’s afraid my head is going to roll off if he lets go.
“Bad news for you,” Blaze mutters. “Just stay out of his way.”
Asch scoffs. “Way to make her want to talk to him even more, Bouchard,” he retorts. “Miss Contrary here is going to go out of her way to find him now.”
“How does he know about Daddy?” I hiss, and I finally elbow Blaze so he lets go of me. He grunts and reluctantly releases me, but there’s a spark in his eyes that tells me he wants to keep fighting.
Right here, in front of the coffee shop.
“He’s not a secret,” Blaze mutters. “Damien Rossi, right? Your dad’s right-hand man. His…” Blaze looks around, then whispers, “consigliere.”
“What’s that mean?” I ask. “I don’t speak Italian, Blaze.”
Papa doesn’t do that kind of stuff anymore. Mostly. Probably.
Okay, he absolutely still does, but it’s a secret and we’re all pretending Papa’s gone one hundred percent legit and not simply gone underground. Right now he’s a perfectly respectable business owner.
Sure, the business is strip clubs, but somebody has to run them. It Papa wasn’t doing it, somebody else would be raking in cash hand over fist from all the horny fuckers who inhabit New Bristol.
Blaze narrows his eyes at me. “Don’t play dumb, Pandora. I’m trying to protect you.”
I burst out laughing. “Have you? Where? When?” I sidle in closer to him. “He knew my name at the Halloween party. Were you gossiping about me? Is that how he knows?”
“He thinks you’re responsible for the frat house,” Asch says bluntly, watching me and Blaze. “And nothing we say or do seems to shake that. That is what River and I wanted to talk to you about the other night.”
“I don’t know why he would think that.” I step back again, only this time Asch grabs my wrist. “Ugh. Did you two kiss and make up? I liked it more when you were fighting.”
Asch yanks me close to him, and his lips brush my ear as he replies, “But isn’t it more fun to have both of us at the same time?”
I shiver as his breath ghosts over my skin.
Yeah, I like imagining the two of them together.
I turn my head up to smile at Asch. “I had you both at the same time. When you tied Blaze down and fucked his face.”
Asch scoffs, but his expression stays impressively neutral. “It wasn’t a dildo you wanted inside of you the other night,” he tells me, wrapping his arm around me. “Anyway, you’re changing the subject. Let’s go somewhere we can talk.”
“Or not talk,” Blaze suggests, boxing me in from the other side. “I think we should give you another tour of the tunnels.”
I laugh at the reminder of the first time I’d had the two of them—of when they thought they could terrorize me. “Careful. Are you sure you want to be all alone with me in a dark tunnel, no witnesses around, nobody to hear your screams?”
Asch rolls his eyes. “Is this where I’m supposed to say, ‘the only one screaming will be you,’” he asks.
“Or maybe where you start cowering in fear.” I place my hand on his neck. “I’m sure you’ll try to disarm me, but you don’t know how many knives I’m carrying, and—”
The door to the coffee shop opens, and somebody walks out without looking. He bumps into Asch, which makes me stumble back into Blaze.
“Fuck, man,” the guy says. “Don’t block the path!”
Blaze growls and takes a threatening step toward the guy. “You want to try that again? Morrison, right?”
The guy jerks back and quickly shakes his head. “No, uh, sorry, Blaze!”
His fear of Blaze should be hot, but the mood is ruined. I yank my hand out of Asch’s grasp and skip backwards.
“Stop gossiping about me!” I say to them. “I’ve got enough on my plate trying to pass Biochem.”
I turn and jog away, because I don’t need them to tell me to be careful or to protect me or to gather more information they can pass back to Ezio Roland.
What kind of a stupid name is Roland anyway?