12. River
RIVER
I stare at the Chaos frat house from across the road. Zayden is standing by the door, welcoming the new pledges. They all seem excited to be there.
Me, on the other hand? I can’t fight the sense of dread that keeps threatening to overwhelm me. I’d never planned on pledging to any frat — least of all Chaos — and I have a feeling I’m about to be reminded of why.
Pandora bumps her shoulder against mine. “Blaze has to know something about Rachel. The dahlia thing can’t be a coincidence. And they both definitely know who was going around roofieing girls at that party.”
I want to tell Pandora that they’re only flowers, that it had to be a coincidence, but I’m not sure.
She might be onto something, and that means one of us has to get closer to Blaze and the others.
Sure, they’ve hyper focused on her, and they want her around, but that doesn’t mean she’ll be able to get the kind of information I can from the inside.
“Maybe, maybe not,” I say, but I don’t actually think she’s wrong. “Anyway, I should head in there.” I’m not looking forward to hell week, not looking forward to finding out why it’s called hell week, but I’ve been through worse.
My hand throbs just thinking about it.
“Hey, River.” Pandora reaches out for my hand, the same one that’s throbbing, and steps closer to me. “Thank you for doing this. Rachel deserves a friend like you.” She leans up and presses a soft kiss to my lips.
Even though I know I’m being manipulated, I let her kiss me. I even kiss her back, albeit briefly, lightly, and I run a hand down her back. “Yeah,” I say, feeling awkward. “Anyway, wish me luck.”
I have a feeling I’ll need it.
I go over to the frat house, tensing when Zayden pats my shoulder.
“Rafael!” Zayden says, all smiles. “Glad to have you. I’ve got a good feeling about you.”
I smile back at him. “Please, call me River,” I tell him. “The only person who calls me Rafael is my father.”
And the last thing I want to think about is him .
“Sure, sure. Well, all the pledges are bunking in the basement tonight. There’s twenty-five of you. Let’s see how many of you survive hell week.” Zayden laughs. “That’s a joke. It’ll be tame.”
I don’t believe him, but I don’t think he expects me to. It’s all optics . “But fun, I’m sure,” I say, still grinning. “All in the name of brotherhood, right?”
“Yep. This is where we weed out those who can’t handle what it takes to be a Kappa Alpha Omega Sigma brother.” Zayden waves me in. “You can mingle with your fellow pledges. I know Asch will be your big brother if you survive, but it wouldn’t hurt to get to know your other future brothers either.”
If you survive doesn’t exactly bode well, not given what I know of the fraternity. I know that in theory, they’re not supposed to engage in any sort of hazing that could have permanent damage, but I also know that guys at Dyschord think they’re too important to be touched .
Scratch that.
They are too important to be touched.
“Sure thing,” I say, heading toward the basement so I can meet the other pledges.
When I get downstairs, they size me up every bit as much as I’m sizing them up. They’re all rich assholes, trust fund babies, heirs to organizations that don’t see the light of day.
I’m the anomaly here, but they’re never going to know that. As far as they’re all concerned, my father is higher up in Giulio Pavone’s organization — and so am I.
It doesn’t matter that I’ve all but been blacklisted from ever advancing because of Pandora.
“Hey,” I say to the closest of them.
“Hi.” He’s obviously trying to sound casual, but there’s an edge to his voice — nerves, maybe?
“River,” I introduce myself. I may as well make as many friends as possible, even though I doubt more than half of these guys are going to make it through pledging.
“Franklin,” he replies.
The others introduce themselves as well, and I carefully file away their names. They might be useful later on.
After another few minutes, Zayden and the other frat members join us in the basement. Blaze and Asch are there too. Blaze gives me a smug grin, and I have no idea what that’s about.
I keep my expression blank. They don’t need to see my nerves, only my determination. They know it’s because of Pandora, but they don’t know how deep it goes. They don’t need to.
The other pledges and I fall silent, understanding that paying attention is the very first part of all of this.
“All right, future Kappa Alpha Omega Sigma brothers!” Zayden says. “You all should’ve received printouts of the fraternity’s history, as well as the lyrics to our song. Yes, we have a song. If you think that’s funny, you can leave right now.”
Nobody so much as snickers .
“Great,” Zayden continues. “You get to sleep here tonight. We’ve set up mattresses and sleeping bags. You can duke it out amongst yourselves who sleeps where. Of course, the more people drop out, the more comfortably you get to sleep.”
I did notice there were only five of the nicely made mattresses, to the twenty sleeping bags laid out almost on top of each other. Between the close proximity to each other and the basement’s concrete floor, sleeping here won’t be comfortable.
I doubt it’s supposed to be.
“Tonight, you get to memorize the history and the lyrics. You’re going to be tested tomorrow.
And there will be a little icebreaker game too.
Think about what you’d like to share about yourself with your future brothers.
It better be juicy. Your favorite color isn’t good enough.
” Zayden glances at Blaze. “You want to add anything?”
Blaze shakes his head. “Nah, you covered it all. Good luck, pledges. It’s not going to be easy, but if you make it through the pledging process, know that you’ll have lifelong brothers.”
Lifelong brothers who will always remember making our lives miserable for at least one week, if not several. We’ll be making memories, but they won’t be good ones.
I start to think about what information I could give them. There isn’t much. Most of the skeletons in my closet need to stay there. I can’t get kicked out for not having anything, though, which means I need to make something up.
As soon as Zayden and the others leave, the pledges around me scramble for their bedding. I notice the door to the basement click shut.
We’re locked in.
Franklin lets out a long sigh. “All the mattresses are already claimed,” he says morosely, sitting down on a sleeping bag close to us.
I shrug. They’re a bunch of rich brats who have probably never known a day of discomfort in their life.
I settle onto a sleeping bag, starting to flip through the pages of the frat’s history, as well as the lyrics to their song.
It’s a lot to remember, and I really need to be cramming for my first quiz, but I’ve always been quick.
“So are you here because you want to be or because Daddy wants you to be?” I ask, keeping my voice down. I’m curious, though. It’s never too soon to start building up information, and who knows? Maybe I’ll make a friend along the way.
“It’s the most prestigious fraternity on the east coast,” Franklin says. He looks down at his own phone. “My dad was a member of it too. He says it opens a lot of doors.”
I nod. “Yeah. Mine wasn’t a member, but he?—”
“Would the two of you quiet down?” someone hisses from one of the mattresses. “Some of us want to study.”
Rolling my eyes, I lie down on the sleeping bag. It’s as uncomfortable as I expected it to be, but a little discomfort isn’t going to scare me away. I fold the top for a makeshift pillow and focus on memorizing the text.
The song is really, really stupid, and I’m going to hate singing it.
Everybody reads quietly, until one person goes to turn the lights off without even consulting the rest of us. There’s grumbling, but I tuck the papers away and close my eyes.
The sooner morning comes, the sooner this will all be over.
Somebody yanks on my arm, hard, and I instinctively punch them in the gut.
“What the fuck!” a familiar voice cries out.
I blink, trying to get my bearings. I’m still in the basement, surrounded by other men. Chaos brothers are forcing the pledges to get up.
Judging by the small window at the top of the basement wall, it’s nowhere near morning yet.
“This asshole punched me!” Zayden says. “That’s grounds for getting kicked out right now. ”
“You woke me up out of a sound sleep by grabbing my arm,” I retort, trying to wake up fully. It’s on the tip of my tongue to say something nasty, but I refrain, if only barely. Instead, I temper my voice. “I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”
It probably would, if the asshole is stupid enough to grab me again.
Zayden glares at me, then shakes his head and turns to Blaze. “He’s your responsibility, Bouchard. Since you vouched for him.”
Blaze rolls his eyes, but he strolls over. Asch is right behind him.
They’re both carrying wooden paddles.
I freeze, and my heart starts to race.
I lick my lips, trying to swallow around the lump in my throat.
I’d thought I was free from that, if only for a little while.
“All of you fuckfaces, strip down to your underwear,” Zayden announces. “Anybody who refuses is out.”
There’s only one small hesitation before all the pledges start undressing. I spot Franklin’s lip wibble, but he pulls his shirt off all the same.
He’s not going to last, but then, if his daddy was a part of Chaos, he might get through it anyway through loopholes somewhere in the system.
I strip down, tossing my clothes down onto my sleeping bag, then I glance between Blaze and Asch — then at the paddles they’re carrying. I’ve dealt with worse. I can handle worse.
“You,” Zayden says, pointing to one of the guys on the mattress. “What year was the fraternity founded?”
The guy’s eyes go wide. “Nineteen… nineteen twenty-five. No, six.”
“Well, which is it?” A frat brother asks, tapping his paddle against his hand. “Get it wrong, and you have to present your ass for the paddle.”
“Nineteen twenty-six!” the pledge announces.