Chapter 32 Alex
ALEX
Ihadn’t been alone with Dante for a week. I’d seen him in class, but other than acknowledging me when I raised my hand to ask a question, we hadn’t spoken.
I knew better than to confront him at school.
I didn’t want anyone figuring out we were involved, but I was over not seeing him.
I thought about him constantly. He usually responded when I texted him, but that wasn’t enough.
I needed to touch him. I needed to see how he was healing, and I wanted to know if Adenine had become an inside cat.
I’d pretty much kept my distance from everyone else.
I didn’t know what the other Chi Rhos thought was going on with me, but people had stopped asking.
I hadn’t even seen Mitch in a few days. I’d texted him last night to check in and hadn’t heard back.
He was probably with some girl wrapped up in a sex haze. I sure as hell wished I was.
I got breakfast at a coffee shop on campus to avoid talking to any of my Chi Rho brothers. When I left, I saw the tall, thin blond man I’d seen near the house when I was headed out this morning. He was older than most students, and I was fairly certain he was following me.
Had Dante sent him? I’d expected he might have a guard watch the frat at night, but the guys who’d been at his house were very discreet. There had been a few other times I’d been sure I was being followed. I should’ve asked Dante about it, but I figured I was just being paranoid.
If he really thought I was in that much danger, he would do something about it, right?
This man must have been sent to follow me.
I wanted to be safe, but I didn’t like Dante keeping tabs on my like that.
I looked for the guy as I went into class and saw him down the hall, filling a water bottle at the fountain and acting overly nonchalant.
You’d think these mafia guards would be better at this.
When I left class, I looked around for my tail and didn’t see him, but I noticed him following me a little later. Everywhere I went for the rest of the morning, I saw him. I wouldn’t have noticed if I weren’t looking for him, but since I was paying attention, I knew he was there.
The fact that Dante was barely speaking to me, but he had people following me around, pissed me off. By midafternoon, I’d had it. I was going to confront him about it. He couldn’t push me away, ignore me, and then get to invade my privacy and keep eyes on me all the time. It wasn’t fucking fair.
I marched right to his office. “Dr. Theriot?”
He looked up, and his eyes went wide when he saw me standing in the doorway. “Come in, Alexander.” He gestured to the chair in front of his desk as I scowled at him.
“Do you have people following me?”
“Yes.”
“You can’t do that.”
He sighed and closed the book he’d been flipping through. “I can. There’s still a chance you’re in danger.”
“Why? If you’re going to have me followed, I need to know more.”
He shook his head. “That’s not possible.”
“Dante, I deserve to know why I’m in danger.”
I heard footsteps pause by his door and realized how loudly I’d spoken. A woman leaned in, “Is everything all right in here?”
Dante gave her a fake smile. “Yes, he’s just worried about his grade.”
She looked at me. “Dr. Theriot’s tough, but he’s fair. You’ve just got to put in a lot of work.”
I turned and smiled at the man. “I’ll do that, ma’am. Thank you.”
“Keep your voice down,” Dante hissed when she’d left.
“And what if I don’t?”
His eyes narrowed, and he suddenly looked as dangerous as he was. “I’ll make damn sure you regret it.”
I refused to be intimidated. “No, you won’t. You won’t even let me come to your house.”
“I told you it’s not safe right now.”
“Yes, but you won’t tell me why.”
“I told you enough.”
He was so damn sure he was right about everything. “I don’t want to see anyone else following me.”
“Alex, I—”
I didn’t stay to find out what he would say. I left, walking fast, needing to be out of that building. Tears stung my eyes, and I would not let him see me that upset again.
I didn’t care if Dante wanted to control me in bed; in fact, I liked it. But I wasn’t okay with him having people follow me around when he wouldn’t talk to me, wouldn’t see me, wouldn’t let me in. I was done with it.
I barely slowed down to open the door to the building, then took off running.
I kept going, racing past everyone as they were moving across campus in the midst of a class change.
I passed the bus stop I would usually take to get back to the frat.
I didn’t feel like waiting on a bus. I ran on and on until I was home.
Except, ever since staying at Dante’s house, the frat no longer felt like home.
I took a few moments to catch my breath, and then I stepped inside and went straight to my room, hoping Mitch wouldn’t be there. He wasn’t. He hadn’t come home last night. I didn’t think I’d seen him the day before either. I’d been so lost in my own world I hadn’t been paying enough attention.
The last time I remembered communicating with him, he’d texted me, saying he found a job offer. He’d met a guy who was looking for people to do some remote work. He said the guy told him to bring his roommate because he needed more than one person.
It sounded like a scam to me, and I told him I wasn’t interested, and he should just ignore the guy. Had he gone anyway? Had something happened to him?
Shit, I was the worst friend in the world. I should’ve checked on him after that.
I sent him a text, but he didn’t respond. When I called him, his phone went straight to voicemail.
Someone knocked on my door a few moments later. I considered not answering, but whoever it was had probably seen me come in. I opened the door, and Randall stood there.
He held up his hands. “Man, I’m sorry about what happened. I just want you to know, like, I didn’t mean it. I was drunk and stupid, but I need to talk to you.”
“Fine. What is it?” I was annoyed as hell that he was here, and I didn’t want his fucking apology.
“It’s Mitch, man. He hadn’t been here in a while, and I got this weird text from him a few days ago about some sketchy job. I just wanted to know if you’ve seen him. A bunch of the guys were talking about him last night, and we’re wondering where he is.”
“I haven’t seen him in a while either. I figured he was shacked up with some girl.”
“Has he texted you or anything?”
If Randall was worried about him, that was bad. I explained the last conversation I’d had with Mitch.
Randall shook his head. “I’m worried, man.”
“Yeah, me too. I told him not to meet the guy with the job offer.”
“Do you think he did?” Randall asked.
“Maybe. He really needs money since his parents cut him off.”
“Shit. Should we, like, do something?” I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen Randall this worried. Did he think he’d be blamed?
“Who else is here tonight?”
Randall shrugged. “I don’t know. Most of the guys.”
We gathered up a few of the guys who knew Mitch best. We talked through what we knew and decided we’d all try texting Mitch and calling him. If no one had heard from him in the morning, I said I’d talk to our house mom.
Except that wasn’t what I actually intended to do. I was going to talk to Dante. If anybody could solve an issue like this, it was him.