26. Little Fires Everywhere
CHAPTER 26
LITTLE FIRES EVERYWHERE
BAY
I put on a brave face in front of my guys.
If Cole, Jagger, and Ryker realized how shaken I really feel about everything that has transpired tonight, there would be no stopping them from beating Topher with their hockey sticks.
I feel safe in bed, snuggled between Cole and Ryker, with Jagger curled up at the end of the bed, against the footboard. With them by my side, nothing bad could ever happen to me. But my mind is reeling. I’m not as confident as I implied that we’ll catch Topher red handed.
My ex has proven time and time again that he’s cunning, ruthless, and excellent at covering his tracks using deception or manipulation.
I’ve been lying awake for hours, careful not to wake my boyfriends. They need all the rest they can get, since Coach Harrison has been punishing their less than stellar results on the ice with two practices a day, six days a week and mandatory time watching tapes of their opponents’ games every Sunday.
Maybe I could try to sneak out of bed without waking them and drive to get them breakfast. Torture by hockey stats and film analysis is going to be more bearable on a full stomach.
I’m still trying to lift Cole’s arm from around my waist without waking him, but all my efforts are in vain. A loud knock on my bedroom door wakes them up.
“Fuck!” Jagger sits up so suddenly, he slides off the end of the bed, landing on the wooden floor. “What time is it? Are we late for practice?”
“No,” Cole groans, dragging me back against his chest. “We’re ok. Unlike you, I know how to set an alarm.”
“Fuck off,” Jagger flips him off. “I was late to practice once. One time. And it wasn’t even my fault. The girl I was with had turned off my alarm without telling me.”
Cole chuckles, peppering my neck with kisses at the same time. “That’s because you had terrible taste in hookups.”
“ Had being the keyword here,” Jagger argues. “Since the first time I kissed Bay, I didn’t even look at another woman.”
Another knock interrupts their bickering.
“Go away,” Ryker groans. “People are trying to sleep here.”
Whoever is outside the door is persistent. They knock again.
“Let me go see what they want,” I sigh, leaving Cole’s warm embrace and dodging Ryker’s attempt to pull me back into bed.
“The house better be on fire,” Jagger mutters, rubbing a spot at the base of his spine. “I got so startled I hit the floor hard. I might have bruised my tailbone.”
Ryker hits him with a pillow. “Has everyone ever told you that you talk way too much in the morning? No one cares about your tailbone. I was sleeping just fine until you started arguing with Cole.”
I giggle at their antics. The three of them argue like brothers. But God forbid anyone even so much as nudge one of them on the ice too hard, the gloves come off and they’d protect each other without hesitation.
“Candace?” I’m surprised to see one of my Zeta sisters outside my door. “Is everything ok? Is one of the other sisters sick?”
Whatever brings Candace here at the crack of dawn, it must be serious. There’s a worried expression on her face and she’s fidgeting with her hands.
“Can I come in for a second? I need to talk to you.” She looks at either side of her, as if trying to make sure that no one is following her.
“Guys, are you decent? We have a guest.” I turn around to make sure no one has come out of the bathroom in their birthday suit or something.
Not that Candace hasn’t seen most of the hockey team naked. I know for a fact she’s hooked up with Jagger a couple of times. Jealousy makes me grab the door jamb so hard, my knuckles turn white. I wonder if she’s slept with Cole too.
“We’re good, Cinnamon.” Ryker calls out.
I move to the side, allowing Candace to come inside the presidential suite.
Candace is one of the self-proclaimed puck bunnies. It isn’t my job to slut shame her. I’m all for women embracing their sexuality and having fun just as much as guys do. Whatever there was between Candace and Jagger, that was before me. Their decoy date doesn’t really count, and I can’t be mad at Candace because Jagger and I weren’t together at the time. She’s a great sister and she would never even look at a guy who’s in an exclusive relationship.
“Oh, hey guys.” Candace greets my boyfriends. “Bay, can we talk in private?”
This isn’t a walk of shame. Candace isn’t in the red sequined dress she has on last night at the gala. So whatever this is about, she isn’t coming straight from someone’s bedroom,
“Are you ok?” I ask. “Are all the sisters ok?”
She nods. “Yeah, everyone’s fine. This isn’t about myself, it’s actually about you. Well, kind of.”
That doesn’t shed any light on why Candace is here, but if it isn’t a personal matter, she can talk in front of the guys. “I have no secrets with my boyfriends. Whatever you have to say, you can say in front of them.”
Her eyes go from me to Cole, Ryker, and Jagger. “Ok,” she nods. “Then this is a thing? Like, you’re not just hooking up with each of them like that gossip blog said?”
“It’s a thing.” I sigh. I don’t owe anyone any explanation, but I understand her curiosity. There shouldn’t be any secrets between Zeta sisters. “I’m dating all three of them. We’re exclusive.”
Candace’s eyes widen. “Oh, right. Look Bay, the thing with Jagger in the locker room, nothing happened. I?—”
“I know,” I reassure her. “Don’t worry about that. I said that we’re exclusive not because of you and Jagger. I just meant that whoever posted that trash is full of shit and knows nothing about my relationships.”
She nods. “Noted. I’m happy for you, Bay. I really mean it. You’re right that the blog is full of shit. But even if you were hooking up with three hockey players, as long as it’s consensual and no one is being cheated on, I don’t think anyone should be allowed to judge you.”
“Thank you,” I smile. “So, how can I help you?”
Candace exhales a shuddering breath. “Last night, after all that chaos went down, some of us stayed behind at the Dean’s house. There was a ton of leftover booze from the gala, and once everyone left, Bianca invited us to stay over and keep the party going. It wasn’t the first time we partied there, since our house burned down.”
I nod. “Ok.” That makes sense. I bet that’s how Bianca has managed to gain favor with some of the sophomore and junior sisters.
“Kylie, Valerie and Steph were there,” she says, confirming my hunch that the seniors among the Zetas are all on my side. “And some Gammas. Corey, Madden, Topher and Tucker. But Tucker left super early. We were drinking and then Topher had some molly for everyone.”
“Go figure,” Ryker scowls.
Molly was one of the drugs we found in the nightstand’s secret compartment.
“I just had a couple more glasses of Champagne,” Candace explains. “But I didn’t take any pills. I had a bad reaction mixing pills and alcohol once and it was scary.”
I wonder if what happened to her was similar to what I experienced during the freshman year rush party, but I don’t get the chance to ask, because Candace continues.
“That’s not the point, though. So everyone got pretty wasted. Especially Bianca. She went to her bedroom with Topher and Madden and?—”
“Was she aware of what pills she was taking?” I have to ask.
“Yeah,” Candace nods. “That isn’t why I’m telling you all this. Bianca went to her room, while Kylie and Corey were hooking up on the couch and the other two sisters left. I was about to leave too but I couldn’t find my phone to call a ride back to the Iota Alpha Kappa house. I started looking around for it, when I saw a phone screen lighting up. I went to check, but it wasn’t my phone. It was Bianca’s. Usually, I wouldn’t look at a sister’s phone, you know? But her notifications were really blowing up and what attracted my attention was that they were comments to the photos of you that were blasted on the screen during your speech.”
I think I know where this is going.
Cole figures it out at the same time as I do. “I knew it! Bianca is the mysterious blogger who posted all that trash about Lakyn last year and who tried to ruin Bay’s reputation last night?”
Candace confirms. “Yes. At first I thought she must have made some comments to the photos, and that was why she was getting the notifications. But when I clicked on the next one, I realized that she was getting that many notifications because she was the OP (original poster). To be honest, I was really shocked. I knew Bianca doesn’t like you because she’s jealous of you, but I never thought she’d stoop that low. Especially not with a sister.”
Jagger shakes his head. “That girl is bad news. But I thought she was smarter. We know she used a VPN to disguise where that blog came from, but if you go to that kind of length, you’d think you’d protect your phone with a passcode. That way, you wouldn’t have been able to access the notifications.”
Candace rolls her eyes. “Oh, she had a passcode. But it’s zero, zero, zero, zero. I saw her punching it in a few times. Who can be such a dumb ass?”
I snort out a laugh. “Bianca has been hanging out with Topher a little too much.” I explain Topher’s theory about obvious passwords. “He kept telling me to choose obvious passcodes and passwords when we were dating.”
My sister looks less than impressed. “Really? I always thought Topher was super smart. Anyway, I thought you’d want to know that Bianca is behind the ‘Not Your Puck Bunny’ posts.”
I’m not surprised, but that doesn’t change the situation. “I can’t say I didn’t suspect her.” I say.
“If you want to kick Bianca out of our sorority,” Candace says. “I’ll back you up at the next Zeta meeting.”
It’s not that simple. “Thanks, babe.” I sigh. “But it takes a little more than that to kick a sister out. It’s not that I don’t believe you, but Bianca will deny it. It’ll be down to your word against hers and the central chapter requires proof for us to be able to expel a fully fledged member.”
Candace smiles. “That’s why I’m here.” She takes a cell phone out of a pocket on one side of her leggings. “Last night I took this before I left. I just wanted to get here before Bianca wakes up and realizes that her phone is missing.”
Holy shit. I’d recognize Bianca’s purple, crystal encrusted phone case anywhere. “You stole Bianca’s phone?” I gasp.
Redness rises on Candace’s face. “I thought you’d need proof.”
“Thank you, thank you, thank you.” I squeal, pulling Candace into a hug. “I usually would never condone theft, but this is a special circumstance.”
Emboldened by my reaction Candace smiles. “Let’s just say we borrowed it. Bianca should have been more careful with it, if she didn’t want to get busted.”
I walk to my desk in search of my own phone. “Ok, let me take a few screenshots and?—”
Jagger comes up behind me, lowering himself into the chair by my desk and pulling me down to his lap. “I’ll do you one better, Nova. We have her passcode, so I can back up her entire phone to your laptop.”
“Really?” I beam, getting a little lost in the warmth of his golden eyes.
“You can bet your cute little ass on it,” Jagger chuckles, nuzzling my neck. “What’s the point of dating an IT major, if you can’t take advantage of his skills? Like this, we can prove exactly where that shit came from. And I would go to the cops before informing the Dean. I don’t trust Dean Williams not to try to bury all this.”
I’m about to agree with him, but Candace intervenes. “Guys, the blog isn’t the only reason why I’m here. I’m not particularly proud of it, but last night I might have snooped around in Bianca’s phone beyond the puck bunny blog. I’ve been seeing Tucker for a couple of weeks. It’s still kinda new, nothing serious yet but I really like him. The second Bianca realized it, she started trying to get with him.”
I sigh. “I’m sorry. I think Bianca likes it even better when her hookups are taken.”
Candace nods. “I think you’re right. Like I said, Tucker and I aren’t official or anything. But he swears left and right that he isn’t into her and I kinda wanted to see if he was telling the truth. Bianca always likes to take selfies and videos in bed with her hookups, so I thought if Tucker has been lying, I’d find proof. Anyway, I was looking at her videos, and I stumbled on something else. I think you should see it.”
She takes the phone from Jagger. “Here, watch this.”
I immediately recognize one of the upstairs bathrooms in the Zeta house.
Kylie’s face comes into the frame first.
Kylie : Hey everyone. Tonight is Rush Fair night. If you go to Star Cove University, you’re going to know that the Zeta Theta Beta kissing booth is the place to be.
Bianca : My sister is right. The booth was my idea and you can buy tokens to redeem kisses from your favorite Zeta online. We still have limited availability, so hurry.
Kylie : Whether your favorite Zeta is Bianca, or Candace, Tami or me, you’ll need a chip to get a kiss. There are different colors and you can find the explanation of what each color buys you on our sorority’s website.
Bianca : In the meantime, you get to watch me and Kylie get ready. I’m curling Kylie’s hair right now. Isn’t she gorgeous? Too bad we didn’t have a better curling iron. These Bay W. Styling tools are garbage. No wonder our president gave them to us as presents last Christmas. Here, Kylie. Despite the shitty tools, you look beautiful enough to eat. Or should I say kiss? Come on, let’s go get dressed. See you all soon, boys.
Kylie : Hey B., remember to unplug the curling iron. They should switch off automatically when they get too hot, but you never know. We don’t want to burn the house down.
We watch as Kylie walks out of the frame and Bianca leans over the bathroom counter to unplug the curling iron, but changes her mind. A devious smile appears on her face.
She walks away, leaving the iron plugged in, but turns on her heels a few seconds later and takes something out of her mouth.
It looks like a piece of bubblegum. Bianca giggles, winking at her audience as she sticks the bubblegum on the “on/off” button of the curling iron.
The video cuts off when she walks out of the frame.
No one speaks for a long moment.
“Did she just—” I finally say, still trying to come to terms with what we just watched.
“Bianca Williams burned down the Zeta house.” Cole finishes the sentence for me.
“On fucking purpose.” Jagger adds.
“Wait a second. Did she post that video anywhere?” Ryker asks.
Jagger shakes his head. “No. She saved it as a draft on a popular video app. But by the looks of it, it was never posted.”
“What I don’t understand,” Cole muses. “Is why keep the video if she never intended to post it. I mean, I get why she didn’t show it to anyone. But why the fuck keep it?”
“Because she’s a psycho-bitch?” Ryker shrugs. “I think it’s like the same thing serial killers do when they take a memento from their victims.”
I agree with him. “Or when they leave something behind as a calling card. Bianca wants a reminder of what she did. And now I’m pretty sure she used that curling iron because she was hoping that I would be blamed. Without counting the financial damage I suffered when I lost the contract with the company that made those hair styling tools. Thank goodness it was just one of my endorsements.”
Ryker looks disgusted. “I disliked Bianca from the second I met her.”
Something in his tone gives me pause. “She tried to get in your pants, am I right?”
He nods. “Yup. Several times. She had no chance, Cinnamon. I came here determined to stay away from women and drama. There was only one woman who could make me go back on my resolution.”
The smile on his face does unspeakable things to my heart. I broke my own resolution to stay away from hockey players, but I’m happy I did.
“Are we going to call the cops then?” Ryker asks. “We have proof that Bianca was behind that blog and the fire is a felony.”
“Yes,” I agree. “But first, let’s make sure we have copies of everything. I bet the Dean will try everything to shift the blame on anyone but his own daughter.”
Jagger begins tapping on the screen of Bianca’s phone. “Give me a couple of minutes and I’ll have everything backed up to your laptop and my own cloud.”
We all wait, discussing if we should call the cops or drive to Star Cove’s police station and report both incidents in person.
“Whatever we do,” Cole says. “We should keep it quiet with everyone else on campus. It’s better not to alert the Dean?—”
“Holy fucking shit.” Jagger gasps.
I walk to my desk, stopping by his side. “What happened? Did the backup fail?”
“Nope,” Jagger reassures me. “That’s all done. But while it was saving, a couple of DMs came through. Bianca must be awake and using a tablet or a laptop. She’s looking for her phone.”
Candace immediately worries. “She didn’t think I took it, right? She left it in the living room when she went to her room with Topher.”
Jagger grins, showing us the phone. “No, but you might want to see these.”
Topher : Hey B., any news on the questions of that Russian Lit midterm? Can you ask your dad? I would have asked him myself last night, but he was too busy brown nosing all the rich alumni.
Bianca : Not now, Toph. I have the hangover from hell and I don’t know where the fuck I left my phone. You know I don’t keep that stuff in my computer, just in case. My daddy was clear to use just one device. He’s paranoid about anyone finding out. He said it’s better to use my phone, since I always have it with me.
Topher : Well obviously not always, if you can’t find it. But did your dad get it, or it hasn’t been uploaded by the professor yet? We’re cutting it really close this time, the midterm is in three days.
Bianca : Relax. He emailed it to me a few days ago. I’ve been busy, and I forgot to forward it to you. But that email is saved only to my phone, so if I can’t find it, you’re gonna have to start cramming for the exam. There’s no way Dad is going to send it a second time, it’s too risky.
Topher : You two better find a way. The agreement between our fathers was clear. My dad makes a seven-figure donation to the school every year and in exchange I get all the tests with the answers before I have to sit the exams. If I don’t graduate first in my class, I guarantee your dad will have to look for a new job. You know how much influence my family has with the university board.
Bianca : I know. Have we ever failed to give you the tests since our fathers made that deal? Just have some patience, the phone has to be in the house. I had it last night right before my parents said good night. I was sure I left it on the coffee table, but I can’t find it. The cleaners are here now. If you stopped pestering me for five minutes, I’d go ask if they found it.
The conversation continues with a few more messages.
“Holy fucking shit.” I cover my mouth with my hands.
Cole looks furious. “Fuck. I knew it was impossible that Mumford nailed every exam with a perfect score pretty much without studying.”
I agree with them. “True. Whenever I asked him how he did it by studying so little, he said it was the Mumford’s photographic memory.”
Jagger snickers. “Photographic memory, my ass. He’s been cheating all along. I’m looking at Bianca’s email now. He’s been getting the exam answers all along from Bianca and she has been getting them from her father. Someone should tell her that moving a file to the bin doesn’t really delete it. Her bin isn’t even set up to auto-empty every so often. And I can see every single file in her sent items too. They all go to Topher’s email.”
Ryker hits the palm of his hand with his fist. “Motherfucker!” Then he takes my hand, pulling me to his chest. “You were right, Cinnamon. We might not be able to nail him for being a creep and a rapist, but he’s gonna go down.”
This gives me no joy at all. I’m not sorry for Topher and Bianca. They’re going to get what they deserve and God knows they have a lot to pay for.
I’m just sad that I put my trust in someone who didn’t deserve it for so long. “Yeah,” I say, a little lost in Ryker’s ice-blue gaze. “Just like Al Capone.”
JAGGER
Two days later
Gamma House
“You have a little frosting on your lips,” I whisper.
“Where?” Bay’s tongue darts out to clean her lips and I track that movement with rapt fascination.
“You missed some. Let me help you.” I suck on the corner of her upper lip, swirling my tongue over the velvety skin.
She tastes like cinnamon and sugar, and I can’t resist the urge to turn my “cleaning mission” into a full-blown kiss.
“Get a room, you two.” Ryker snorts, throwing a balled up paper napkin at my head.
“That’s not a bad idea,” I chuckle, attempting to pull Bay from her chair into my lap.
Cole clears his throat. “You’ll have to wait. Everything is about to go down any minute now.”
“I know,” I whisper.
That’s why Ryker came in with breakfast. We’re sitting at the kitchen table to make sure we don’t miss any of the action.
Right on cue, the doorbell rings and we all look at each other.
My foot taps on the kitchen floor as I wait for someone else to go open the door.
Tucker’s voice comes in from the front door. “A warrant? What is this about, officer? We haven’t had a party in a couple of weeks. If the Omega Psi made another noise complaint, this time it’s totally fake. They’re just salty that their parties aren’t as cool or popular as ours.”
The police officers explain that they aren’t here to discuss a noise complaint. “We’re looking for your president, Mr. Topher Mumford and his girlfriend, Miss Bianca Williams. We have reason to believe Miss Williams is here this morning.”
“Yeah, I think they’re still asleep. I haven’t seen them around yet.”
It’s six am and most of us are getting up to get ready for our morning skate in one hour.
We all rise from our chairs when we hear Tucker let the police into the house. Several brothers come out from the dining room and living room and we follow them, stopping at the base of the staircase when the police ask us to stay back.
Topher moved into Cash’s old room to allow Bay to take the presidential suite. As it happens, the door is right in front of the stairs, offering us front row seats to what we know is about to unfold.
“What the fuck do you want at the crack of dawn? The house better be on fire, or I swear to God, whoever has been banging on my door like a disrespectful asshole will have to find somewhere else to live. Oh—” Topher runs a hand through his mussed hair when he spots the four police officers at his door. “Good morning, officers. What can I do for you?”
The sergeant who’s been doing most of the talking since Tucker opened the door asks if Bianca is there.
“Yes, Miss Williams is here with me.” Topher steps to the side to allow Bianca to stand next to him in nothing but a tank top and a tiny pair of panties.
“Hi,” Bianca greets them. “What’s this about?”
“Miss Williams, Mr. Mumford, you’re both under arrest. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney?—”
Topher takes a step back. “Under arrest? What for? Is this a fucking prank? Are you actors hired by Omega Psi or Sigma Nu? Whoever hired you, just tell them, haha this was funny. And to fuck off.”
The police officer takes a pair of handcuffs and advances toward Topher. “The exact charges will be explained to you in detail at the police station. This isn’t a joke, son. You’re both being charged with bribing a university official with the intent of cheating. Stealing the answers to several academic exams?—”
Bianca interrupts the police officer. “This is ridiculous. My daddy is the Dean of students at this university. Talk to him, he’ll clear this all up.”
“Oh there’s no doubt we’ll talk to him, as we charge him too. Your father and Mr. Mumford have a lot of explaining to do. We have proof of bribery going on since Mr. Mumford started his freshman year. More so, we’re looking into his acceptance into this university.”
“This is ridiculous,” Topher snarls. “My father is an alumnus here. He’s always donated to his alma mater.”
The officer nods. “Yes, but the donations were pretty sporadic and modest up to four years ago, when you applied to attend here, Mr. Mumford. The trail of donations of huge sums begins right around your acceptance and continues to grow since. We have solid proof of your fathers’ agreement. We also have evidence of the answers to every single exam you took at this school having made its way from the Dean’s office to your inbox via Miss Williams.”
Bianca covers her mouth with her hands. “It’s impossible. I only ever used my phone?—”
“But that’s the least of your problems, Miss Williams. You’re also under arrest for arson. We have a video of you tampering with the appliance that was deemed responsible for the fire at your sorority house.”
In that moment, Bianca looks over the heads of the police officers and spots us at the bottom of the stairs. “It’s her! You stole my phone, you fucking bitch! You and your sister are nothing but two filthy sluts. You’ve gone after every single guy I wanted, you’ve got the presidency that should be mine. And now, now you stole my phone. Officer,” she screams. “You should arrest her for theft!”
“Miss Williams,” the sergeant warns her. “You have thirty second to put on some clothes, or I’ll drag you to the police station in your underwear.”
Bianca isn’t used to being told what to do, and this time is no exception. “Fuck you! I’m not going anywhere with you until I can speak to my daddy. And definitely not until you arrest that thieving bitch.”
I pull Bay closer to my side and Cole and Ryker flank us to protect her like they do with Tucker’s goal on the ice when Bianca lunges forward screaming.
Of course she has no chance to go anywhere. Two police officers grab her and she’s handcuffed for resisting arrest.
Topher is a little wiser and takes the opportunity to get dressed quickly before being escorted into one of the two police cars waiting outside.
“Can someone give Bianca something to cover herself at least until they get to the station?” Bay has a good heart, and she worries about her soon to be former sister, even though Bianca deserves this and more.
“Here, take this.” Tucker shucks his hoodie and Bay places it on Bianca’s shoulders right before the police escort her outside.
“I think I should call Coach Harrison to let him know that Topher won’t be at practice and that the rest of the team might be late.” Cole sighs, as he observes the turmoil in everyone in the house.
Everyone is talking about what just happened and no one seems intent on getting ready for practice any time soon.
“Do you think they’re going to be able to talk themselves out of this situation?” Bay asks me and Ryker.
“Only time will tell, Cinnamon.” Ryker pulls her into his arms.
Most people I know would be happy to see those assholes pay for all the pain they’ve caused. Bay however, looks sad for the most part.
Discovering that one of her sisters was responsible for the fire and causing it in the hope that Bay herself would be blamed was hard for her.
But I know that what hurts her the most is the enormity of Topher’s betrayal.
I can understand how she feels. She loved Topher, and she trusted him. His infidelity was just the tip of the iceberg and I hope the motherfucker does some jail time. That would be his safest option, because if we ever catch him even trying to contact Bay - Cole, Ryker and I will make him wish he was never born.