Chapter 2 #2
I already figured Damon was seeing someone, considering how secretive he was being, and the hickeys that kept appearing on his neck were a pretty solid indicator that he was getting some.
But I never expected him to be hooking up with Xavier Hawthorne, a high-ranking member of the Rebels, a rival frat to ours.
I originally went to his room to talk to him about his side gig, but I ended up walking in on him and Xave when they were getting their freak on.
I didn’t get an eyeful of anything I shouldn’t have, and they were fully dressed, but seeing my best friend wrapped around another man was a shock, and I’m not proud of how I reacted.
Instead of apologizing and talking about it like a rational person, or just leaving the room and waiting for him to find me later, I panicked.
I don’t remember exactly what I said, but I do remember begging Damon not to let his boyfriend kill me, stumbling over my words and probably coming across like a homophobic twatwaffle when I was trying to explain that I wasn’t reacting to him being with a guy, I was freaking out over him being with a Rebel, especially one with Xave’s reputation and status.
Thankfully Damon understands that I tend to act like a moron when I flail, and what I say isn’t always what I mean when I get flustered, so we were able to get past everything pretty quickly.
The looming silhouette of Romeo House appears as I cut around a sharp corner, and I pull my ID out of my pocket when I approach the main gates.
I’m still distracted by my spinning thoughts as I tap my ID on the sensor on the gate to log my entry, and I’m barely paying attention to my surroundings as I hurry down the main walkway and up the steps so I can tap my ID against yet another sensor next to the main doors.
The entire campus, save for a few places, is covered with multiple layers of security cameras and an ID tracking system that uses our school IDs to log everywhere we go.
It’s invasive and annoying, but at least we don’t have to deal with that in our dorm since we have our own cameras and security team, and no ID sensors once you get inside the building.
I’m just tucking my ID away as I push the door open with a hard shove.
Normally I’m a little more careful when I open the door because you never know if someone is on the other side, but I’m too distracted to pay attention to anything around me, and I don’t see the group of guys just beyond the door until I literally run into one of them.
“Oof,” I grunt as I crash into the lead guy, our chests hitting hard enough to make me stumble back.
Strong hands grip my arms, and I nearly choke when I see who I just ran into.
Anthony Medici and his three best friends aren’t just my frat brothers; they’re frat royalty, and even though we’re in the same year, I always feel like a naive kid around them.
“Oh shit. I mean, sorry. That was my bad,” I say quickly, trying to cover up my awkwardness.
He releases his hold on my arms, and I take a hasty step back.
A weird heat lingers on my arms, and my stomach does a strange wobble at the little smirk he shoots me. “Sorry.”
“You’re fine. Shit happens.” Anthony shifts to the side.
I give him what I hope is a breezy smile, but it falters as I look at the space between him and the door.
It’s big enough that I can get past him, but it’ll be a tight fit. I could ask him to move back a step, or wave him and his friends through first, but that would just make things weirder.
Making up my mind, I paste what I hope is a friendly smile on my face and squeeze between him and the door, my cheeks heating uncomfortably as my ass brushes against his crotch.
“Have a good night,” Anthony says in a low voice as I pass him.
His warm breath ghosts over the back of my neck, causing goosebumps to rise on my skin as my chest tightens with awareness.
“You too,” I say, trying my best to act normal and not like my body is glitching out at the simple encounter.
He shoots me a knowing smirk, like he can tell how off-kilter and flustered I am, and I do the only thing I can think of: I speed walk away like the devil is on my ass.
I’ve barely made it inside the western stairwell when I’m hit by the overwhelming urge to do something. I have no idea what, but I need to burn off some of my restless energy.
Instead of taking the stairs up to my room, I push the side door open and leave the house.
The night air is cool against my skin, and I feel marginally better as I circle around the building and leave the property through the back gate.
There are dozens of parties and events going on tonight, but none of them are even remotely interesting to me right now. I meant it when I told McKenna I’m not in the mood to go out, and I go into autopilot as I take the familiar path that will lead me to The Crypt.
What happened at the main door with Anthony isn’t anything out of the ordinary, and even after three years of being frat brothers and living in the same house, I still have no idea what it means. Or if it means anything at all.
Half the time I’m not even sure there’s anything actually happening, and I wonder if I’m reading into things that aren’t there.
Almost every encounter we’ve had for the past three years has gone down like that. On the surface it looks innocent, but in the moment, it feels like so much more, and I’m left flustered and confused.
Usually I can at least act like a normal human around him, but I’m in a weird headspace tonight, and my defenses are down, so I can’t mask like usual.
That conversation back in McKenna’s room—and her not kissing me goodbye—threw me off, no question, but I’ve been in a weird headspace since I saw Damon and Xave together. That’s probably why I was so hyperaware of Anthony tonight, and why I reacted so strongly to him.
Seeing Damon and Xave together triggered something in me, and it’s like a switch was flipped. After years of ignoring it, it feels like my bisexuality has been reawakened, and I’m having a hard time putting it away again.
The Crypt is dark, and the area is quiet as I come around a corner, and I breathe a sigh of relief as I eye the large, two-story house tucked up against the woods.
No one knows exactly what the house was used for, or why it was abandoned, but the rumor is there was some sort of death or murder back in the nineties, and the school decided to keep it maintained, but not use it for anything.
That’s how it became a sort of No Man’s Land, where the house and the patch of land it’s on aren’t under the control of any of the four frats on campus.
I like to come here to walk around when I’m feeling overwhelmed and need to decompress.
This entire section of campus is empty except for some utility sheds, a few access roads, the woods, and The Crypt, so I rarely have to worry about running into other people if there isn’t a party or event going on.
I try to shut my brain down as I follow the familiar path around the field, but it’s no use. A highlight reel of all the things I don’t want to be thinking about right now is on repeat in my head, and the more I try not to think, the louder the thoughts get.
The quiet snap of a twig or something breaking pulls me out of my distraction, and I freeze, my senses on high alert as I scan the area.
I’m on a side section of the path that runs in front of The Crypt, and as far as I can see, I’m completely alone.
The woods are behind me, the house is beside me, and the dark path is in front of me.
I do another sweep of the area, but I don’t see anything.
I’m just about to start walking again when I hear another snap, then there’s the scrape of a shoe dragging on the concrete path.
I dart across the thick grass and duck behind the side of The Crypt as a tall figure rounds the corner and comes down the path in the opposite direction, heading right for where I was just standing.
I don’t know why my first instinct was to hide when I’m not doing anything wrong, but for some reason, my gut is telling me to stay out of sight.
I press myself against the building as he passes me, but he stops when he’s near the porch steps and pulls a phone out of his pocket. He flips the phone in his hand a few times, then he flashes the screen up as he presumably checks something, then tucks it away.
Seconds, then minutes, tick by, and the more time that passes, the more my anxiety spikes.
Is he waiting for someone?
Or maybe he knows I’m here and he’s waiting me out?
Should I keep hiding? Or should I make a run for it and hope he doesn’t see me?
I’m on the verge of working myself up into a panic when I hear a set of soft footsteps on the grass, and I sink deeper into my hiding spot as another guy seems to almost materialize out of the darkness as he walks toward the first guy from the opposite direction.
“Do you have it?” he asks the guy who was waiting for him.
He’s talking quietly, but not whispering, and I’m able to hear him without having to strain too hard.
“Depends,” the first guy says in an equally low voice. “Did you bring it?”
The second guy pulls what looks like an envelope out of his pocket and holds it up.
The first guy digs something out of his own pocket and also holds it up. It’s too small for me to make out clearly, but whatever it is, it’s at least partially metallic as moonlight flashes off it.
They stare at each other for a few beats, then slowly exchange items.
The first guy quickly slips the envelope into his pocket. “You’d better have counted right,” he says, a note of warning in his voice.
“I always do,” the second guy says, and I’m impressed at how much sass he manages to inject into those three words.
They kind of stare each other down for a few seconds, then the first guy spins on his heel and takes off in the direction he came.
The second guy watches him for a moment, then slips whatever he exchanged that envelope for into his pocket. Something shiny falls out of his coat pocket when he pulls his hand free, and tumbles to the ground.
He doesn’t seem to notice, and instead of picking it up, he also heads back the way he came.
I stay in my hiding spot for almost thirty seconds just to be sure they’re both gone, then cautiously creep over to where they were just standing.
Lying in the tall grass is a flash drive, and I carefully pick it up like it’s a bomb and not a memory stick.
Did they meet out here so they could exchange whatever was in that envelope for this flash drive?
I know I should probably put it back down on the ground and pretend I was never here, but my curiosity won’t let me, and before I can change my mind, I shove the flash drive in my pocket and head back toward the main part of campus, my senses on high alert in case whoever dropped the drive comes back to look for it before I can get out of there.