Chapter 28 Damon
DAMON
Pulling in a deep breath, I exit out of my texts and bring up my father’s contact information.
Damon: are you busy?
Damon: I need to talk to you about something important
Damon: it will only take a few minutes
It could be a while before my father answers, so I tuck my phone in my pocket as I get up off my bed.
I might as well see if I can track down one of the leaders and get that conversation out of the way before I lose my nerve.
I’ve never been especially close with this year’s leadership, and I’ve found myself on their shit list more than once thanks to my loner ways and my tendency to do the bare minimum of what’s expected of me, but I’ve never pissed any of them off or gotten in any real trouble.
Hopefully, they’ll remember that when I talk to them.
I’m just closing the door to my room when Anthony comes around the corner.
“Hey, Ant?” I ask as he approaches.
“What’s up?” he asks.
“Have you seen Graycen around?”
Out of our four leaders, Graycen is definitely the most level-headed and logical, and he’s always treated me fairly. He’s also the head of the leadership team, so he’s the best choice to talk to about this.
Anthony shoots me a curious look. “Is something going on?”
“I need to talk to him about something important.”
“Something important?” he asks, not quite pulling off the innocent look he’s going for.
“Yeah.”
“Like what?” he asks, still giving me that not-quite innocent look.
“Just something personal.”
“Does it have anything to do with a certain someone who’s been sneaking into your room for the past few weeks?”
My jaw nearly comes unhinged as the world kind of shimmers around the edges.
He knows about Xave sneaking into the house?
How the fuck does he know about Xave sneaking into the house?
“Chill, dude,” he says with a laugh. “You look like you’re about to have a panic attack.” He nods toward my room door. “How about we go in there for a second before you collapse and I have to revive your ass.”
Woodenly, I push the door open and stumble back into my room.
“You know?” I croak when he closes the door behind him.
He leans against the heavy wooden door and nods, his big arms crossed over his chest and all traces of his laughter gone.
“How?” I scrape out.
“I saw him on the cams about a week ago and tracked him to your room. Once I knew what to look for, I tracked him coming back almost every night.”
“You did?” I can feel the blood draining from my face, and the world sways around me. “Does anyone else know?”
“Just Liam.”
Liam is in charge of our security systems, so if Anthony saw him on the cams, then of course Liam did too.
“And you didn’t say anything?”
He shakes his head.
“Why not?”
He gives me a long look. “Do you remember back during hell week when you didn’t take me out during the Hunt when you had the chance to win?”
I nod. He knows about that? I thought I did a good job of covering it up and he was unaware for all these years.
The incident in question happened when we were both pledges, and we were forced to participate in the frat’s annual Hunt challenge.
My strategy was to hide for as long as possible while Anthony and the others did the challenge properly and spent hours tracking and hunting each other to be the last man standing.
I had the chance to take Anthony out when we were the last two left alive, but I didn’t. Winning wasn’t important to me, and it was obviously important to him, so it was a no-brainer to let him have it and pretend like I never had the chance to win at all.
“I owed you one, so that was me paying my debt.”
I stare at him for a few beats. “This feels like an overpayment considering how many rules I broke and how much shit you could get in for helping me cover it up.”
“I thought about turning you in, but I decided to track him to get the full picture of what the fuck was going on.”
“And you still kept quiet even after having the bigger picture?” I can’t help asking.
He gives me a long look, and I resist the urge to squirm under his scrutiny.
“He had the ability to go anywhere in the house and could have fucked with our security or done a dozen other things to sabotage us, but he didn’t.
He only ever went to your room. I figured it was better to keep an eye on things than it was to tattle on you guys.
Information is the most powerful thing you can have around here, and any leverage I can get over the Hawthornes was worth the risk of being an accomplice. ”
“But we broke the rules,” I say stupidly, still trying to process everything. “He got past our security. Multiple times.”
He chuckles. “I know. I was tracking him, remember?”
“How are you so chill about this?”
He shrugs again. “I could freak out if you want me to.”
“No,” I blurt. “Definitely don’t want that.”
“So,” he says, a hint of a smile on his lips. “Is that what you wanted to talk to Graycen about?”
I nod, still not fully recovered from the truth bombs he just dropped on me.
Anthony knew about Xave breaking in, and he didn’t get us in trouble. I get what he’s saying about gathering intel and repaying a debt, but I still can’t wrap my brain around any of it.
“I’ll make you a deal,” he says. “You tell me how he’s been breaking in, and I’ll handle Graycen and the others.”
“Really?”
He nods. “And we’ll keep this conversation, and me knowing about this, a secret. Kind of a you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours, mutually assured destruction kind of deal.”
“Yeah, okay,” I say quickly. “He has a program that has an interactive map of the house, including access to our cams. That’s how he can get in without being seen. Well, mostly without being seen, since you obviously saw him.”
Anthony nods, a serious look falling over his features. “How many people have access to this program?”
“Just him and his cousins. But he’s the only one who’s ever used it.”
Anthony nods again. “Get me a copy of it. I want to know everything about it and how the fuck it was created.”
“I will,” I promise.
“And tell him and his cousins to delete it and never use it again. I don’t give a fuck who they are, I will kill all of them if this comes back to bite me in the ass.”
“It won’t. I promise.”
I actually have no idea if Jace and the others would be okay with deleting the program or even giving Anthony a copy, but hopefully Xave can figure something out and handle them if this is going to be an issue.
“Is he worth it?” Anthony asks, his look piercing and his voice weirdly soft.
I nod. “He is. I’d give up everything for him. No hesitation, no regrets.”
He studies me, that piercing look still on his face.
“I’m actually on my way up to meet with Graycen right now.
I’ll talk to him about this and see if I can smooth things over.
” He rests one hand on my doorknob. “Don’t make me regret this.
I promise it will end very badly for not just you, but everyone and everything that you care about. ”
“I won’t. I promise.”
He gives me a long look, then slips out of my room.
“Holy shit,” I mutter as all the energy drains out of me in a rush.
What the actual fuck just happened?
Not only does Anthony know about Xave and me, but he knew Xave has been sneaking into the house. And now he’s going to talk to the leadership about us?
Anthony and the Keepers royalty have more pull and influence than anyone in the frat, and that includes the leaders. If Anthony is on my side, then Graycen and the others will fall in line, and so will the rest of the royalty.
This is literally the best-case scenario that could happen, and it all started because I didn’t give a fuck about winning a house challenge and took the easy way out by giving him the win he so obviously wanted.
I have no fucking clue how I got so lucky, but after all the shit I’ve been through in the last few months, I’ll take whatever wins I can get.
I’m still trying to wrap my head around this turn of events when my phone rings, and all of my shocked giddiness melts away when I see it’s my father calling.
“Hello?” I answer before the phone can ring a second time. My father doesn’t like to be kept waiting, and he considers me not picking up the phone the moment he calls or texts a personal insult.
“Damon?” my father says curtly. “I’m very busy at the moment. Can whatever this is wait?”
“No, it can’t.”
There was a time when every phone call or conversation with my father would send me into a terrified panic, but it’s so much easier to deal with him now that I’m an adult and I don’t have to depend on him for everything anymore.
“What is it?” he asks impatiently.
“I have a boyfriend,” I say bluntly.
“What?” he asks, his tone flat.
“I have a boyfriend,” I repeat.
“You’re not gay.”
I want to laugh at how confident he sounds. It’s not like he’d know if I was considering he’s never paid any attention to me over the years and has never cared about my personal life as long as it’s not causing trouble for him.
“No, I’m not gay,” I tell him. “I’m bi.”
The line is silent for several moments, and I brace for whatever he has to say about that.
My father is old-school when it comes to most things, and I’ve heard him drop a lot of homophobic comments over the years. But, just like everything else in his life, he has no problem keeping his bigotry to himself and will happily work with queer men if it means he’ll make money.
I have no idea if I’ll be extended the same courtesy, but it should help that he sees me as a resource and an extension of himself and his empire and not as an autonomous person.
“And you felt the need to bother me to tell me you have a boyfriend?” he asks dryly.
“Yes.”
“Are you expecting me to congratulate you?”
“No. But there’s more.”
“What is it?” he asks, and I can hear the irritation in his voice.
“His name is Xavier Hawthorne, and he’s a Rebel.”
The silence that stretches between us is long and heavy, and I just cling to my phone as I wait for the fallout.