Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
BAILEY
The second I answer Chad’s call, his warm, low voice comes down the line. “I need you.”
It makes me hum. “Fuck, I need you too. So bad.”
Peals of laughter meet my response, and it takes a moment for me to realize I’m on speaker. My face floods with heat.
“I take it you’re not the only one who heard that,” I say.
“You’d be right. Say hi to Robbie and Zeke.”
Robbie and Zeke? “Uh … hi? Chad, a quick word?”
He switches me off speaker, and his voice sounds much closer this time. “What’s up?”
“Me, what’s up? They’re going to wonder why you’re calling me.”
“Oh, yeah, that. No, they know.”
“They … what?” I can’t have understood him correctly.
“I told them.”
His words are clear, but I’m sure I’ve missed a step. I pull back the phone and check the screen like it might have answers for me there. Nope. I press it back to my ear. “About us?”
“That we’re dating, yes. I also told them the prank was only you initially and that you didn’t plan anything last weekend.”
“You’re telling me you risked pissing them off with our relationship so you could clear my name?”
“That was part of it.”
Despite everything that’s been happening lately, that makes me smile. “Back to the part about how you need me?”
“Don’t get me wrong, I definitely do need you like that, but for real this time. Any chance you can come over?”
I quirk a brow. “If it wasn’t you asking, I’d for sure think I was walking into a trap.”
“Like I’d let that happen.”
“Maybe not you, but … how do you know they’re not planning something?”
“Because they’re my brothers, and I trust them. But also, there’s something going on with this whole thing, so we need you here to help us figure out what happened.”
“What, with the prank?”
“Yeah. Can you come?”
“Of course.” We hang up, and even though there was nothing more to it than a prank gone wrong, I hurry to get changed and sneak out.
The last thing I want is for anyone to see me visiting Sigma House right now.
Besides, even if it turns out this whole thing was a messed-up plan and I’m still enemy number one, I’ll get to see Chad.
The fact he told them about us with so much uncertainty going on is …
I don’t get it. I’ve held off for so long, not knowing how people would react, and there’s Chad walking headfirst into whatever repercussions come for him.
I don’t think I’ll ever get over the awe I feel for him.
Even knowing he’s waiting for me, I’m nervous as I approach.
It’s late afternoon, almost night, and it seems like most people are doing …
well, whatever people do on a Sunday that stops them from being outside.
No one from my house saw me leave, and as I reach the end of the street, I quickly look around before darting up the front steps and knocking on the door.
I’m antsy that I’ll be made to wait for a while, but barely a second later, Chad is there. His warm expression sends flutters through me before he tugs me inside and slams the door.
“Hey, beautiful.” His hug is tight and warm, and I lean into the comfort. The familiarity of his body, his scent, relaxes the knot in my stomach. Then he pulls away and takes my hand. “Come on.”
I’m led through the house, past rooms where people throw curious looks our way that kick up my nervousness again.
Zeke, Robbie, and Brandon are waiting in a back room, sitting around a table, and they all look up to stare as we enter.
Not awkward or anything. I fake a confidence I don’t feel as I meet Brandon’s gaze.
“How are you?”
“Recovered fine.”
The scowl Robbie throws his way is enough to frighten anyone, but Brandon just flips him off.
I’d be ducking under the table if he looked at me that way because while Chad is big as in muscle, Robbie is just …
big. He’s one of the largest guys I’ve ever seen, and if that isn’t intimidating, I don’t know what is.
I’m suddenly very grateful Chad spoke up for me.
He takes one of the seats, and I pull out the one next to him, very conscious of all the attention on us.
“Thanks for coming down,” Zeke says.
I glance quickly at Chad. “Yeah, that’s fine. Chad said you guys wanted help with something?”
He chuckles softly. “You look like you’re about to shit yourself, dude. Relax, we only want to talk.”
“Can you blame me when all I’ve heard for the last week is that you guys are out to get me?”
“Sorry,” Robbie grunts. “We were told the prank was all you, and I wanted to get you back so bad, but …” His gaze flicks to Chad as well. “Doomsen vouches for you. So now we wanna hear your side.”
“My side?”
“Yeah. What happened? Because it was one of our pledges who told me it was you, but he’s conveniently forgotten where he heard that.”
“Okay, that is weird.”
“Right? So talk.”
“About what? We weren’t even here.” I pull out my phone and unlock it before navigating to the chat. “There’re all the messages they were sending about it. I didn’t write back to shit. We were, uh …” How do I say fucking like bunnies without saying exactly that? “Busy.”
Robbie smirks as he takes my phone, and that helps break some of the tension.
“Busy, right.” He starts to scroll through the message thread.
I don’t feel bad showing it to him, because there’s nothing there they don’t already know.
Despite what happened, it wasn’t malicious.
All the messages are plans about who is buying what, the time they’re coming down, who’ll be on lookout, and who’ll do each part inside of the house.
I’m not sure what they hope to find.
“The house will be empty at ten,” Robbie reads aloud. “That’s not right. We had people here, didn’t we, Zeke?”
“Yep. The pledges were here all weekend.”
I lift my eyebrows. “No, they weren’t.”
“They were. I’ve already asked them if they left, and they said you guys must have snuck in while they were sleeping.”
“Well …” I nod to my phone. “Apparently they had between ten and midnight to get everything set up.”
“There’s no way.”
“I’m only pointing out what the messages say.”
“He’s right,” Robbie says, tilting my phone toward Zeke. “It’s there. Lucas. We’ve got two hours to get in and out. Maybe one and a half if we want to be careful.”
“How the fuck did Lucas know that?” Chad asks, snatching the phone to look for himself.
At first, I think it’s his jealousy speaking, but actually, that’s a good question. How did he know? They’re all looking at me, and all I can do is shrug. “I don’t know.”
“Wait.” Chad looks up at me. “It says right here to make sure no one touches the windows.”
“Yeah, of course. We wanted to piss you guys off, not”—I gesture at Brandon—“you know.”
“But they were sealed,” Chad says.
I shake my head. “They can’t have been. Even after everything went down, no one could work out why you guys didn’t open them.”
“I tried,” Brandon argues. “That was the first thing I did after we tried the doors, but they were stuck.”
“They can’t have b—”
“I had to get a crowbar to unstick them,” Chad says. “They were glued.”
I lift my hands. “There’s no way that was us. Seriously. Charles was very clear.”
A long silence stretches between us all.
Chad’s the first to talk. “So someone glued the windows, told people it was all Bailey, even though we weren’t here, and then there’s this apparent two-hour window the Kappas knew about.” He looks pointedly at Zeke.
“Plus, your pledges lied,” I helpfully remind them. Maybe I should keep quiet about it, but I’m starting to get the impression that there was inside help. “Maybe you need to talk to them.”
“We already asked Carter,” Robbie says.
“So what about the other one?”
Zeke stands. “I think Raymond’s here. I’ll go get him.”
Brandon whistles when he leaves. “This is getting wild.”
“Yup,” Robbie agrees before nodding at me. “It sounds like you really weren’t involved, so I’m, you know, sorry.”
“Thanks.”
Chad grabs my hand and presses a kiss to the back of it.
“How are you smiling right now?” I ask him.
“Can’t help it when you’re around.”
Brandon groans as Robbie says, “Smooth, Dooms. You got gay moves, brother.”
“Gay?” Chad snorts. “I’ve got moves, period. You guys are lucky I’m off the market now.”
“Of course they are, sweetie.” I pat his hand. “Your snuggle game is strong.”
Robbie huffs back a laugh as Zeke returns, a younger guy with dark hair in tow. Chad settles back, arm flung across the back of my chair. This Raymond kid looks as intimidated as I felt when I first walked in.
The four of them aren’t exactly a panel I’d want to mess with.
Raymond’s eyes fall on me, and his gaze narrows. “What’s he doing here?”
“He,” Robbie says, “is Chad’s boy, and we asked him here. Just like you.”
“Yeah … what’s, umm, what do you want?”
“What the fuck went down last weekend?” Chad asks, jumping straight on the attack. And yep, I’m very, very glad he’s on my side, because seeing someone as normally easygoing as Chad turn angry is an experience.
“What do you mean?” Raymond hedges.
“The prank. Apparently, Lucas said there was a two-hour window where everyone was out, but you and Carter said you were here the whole time.”
“We were—he’s lying.”
“Except it wasn’t only him who said it,” I add. “All the guys said they snuck in and out at that time.”
“You think anyone here is going to believe you?” he asks.
“Actually, he’s the one we do believe,” Zeke says. “Everything Bailey’s told us checks out, and everything Carter’s told us doesn’t. So you have a choice here. Either tell us what happened, or Carter will get the chance to. Whoever we find out is lying will be packing their bags.”
Ouch. Being a pledge is hard enough, but having your president warn you that you have one foot out the door?
“Fuck …” he sighs.
“Whenever you’re ready,” Chad taunts.
Raymond glares at him. “It’s all your fault.”
“What do you mean?”
“Someone from Kappa told Carter you two were together. It’s a joke.
You guys go on and on about this rivalry, and the rest of us buy into it, then you do whatever the hell you want.
Carter was pissed. Said this is why you’re going soft.
Then the guy from Kappa said Bailey somehow got his hands on high-point items from your room for King of Thieves and showed him photos as proof.
What happened to putting your brothers first? ”
Zeke holds up his hand before Chad can respond. “We’ll come back to that. Who told Carter about them?”
“Can’t remember his name. The blond guy. House manager.”
“Lucas?”
Raymond clicks his fingers and points at me. “Yep. Him.”
Chad’s face goes tense. “That little fuck. I’m gonna—”
“So he told Carter about us,” I say over Chad. “What does that have to do with it?”
“Lucas told him they wanted to prank Chad and make it look like it was you. Then you guys would break up and everything would go back to normal. All they wanted from us was to go out for a few hours, and I agreed—but I didn’t know about that part until later.
Carter said he’d be here and I could go and see my girlfriend!
It wasn’t until everything went down that he pulled me aside after and said I needed to stick to his story because we’d both end up in trouble for ditching the place.
” Raymond’s knuckles are white where he’s gripping the table. “How much shit am I in?”
“So much shit,” Chad growls. I reach up to grab his hand and kiss him this time.
“But Chad wasn’t here last weekend,” I point out.
Raymond shakes his head. “It was all supposed to happen when he got back. Then one of the Kappas distracted us, and as we were chasing them down to get our lawn ornament back, the others crept in, and …” He drops his face in his hands. “I’m so goddamn sorry, Brandon.”
Apparently no one knows what to say because we all exchange looks over Raymond’s head. I’m fucking pissed Lucas was part of this, but not surprised. So he wanted to break me and Chad up, did he? Well, joke’s on him, because this is actually the thing that’s brought us closer than ever.
I am the tiniest bit hurt, because I really did think he was my only friend in the house, but turns out that was all an act as well.
Carter, though, his part is going to hit the Sigmas hard. He lied and went behind Chad’s back, basically offering the house up on a platter.
“There’s still one thing I don’t understand,” Zeke says. “What about the windows?”
“Windows?” Raymond echoes.
“Who sealed them?”
He looks legitimately confused. “The Kappas did … didn’t they?”
Raymond seems to be telling the truth.
Does Lucas hate Chad enough to glue the windows shut? As much as he’s been a dick, I don’t feel like he would. But then the alternative is Carter selling out his brothers, which is equally as unlikely.
“Carter will be home soon,” Chad says. “I say we ask him, point-blank.”
“And if it was him?” I ask.
“He’s already betrayed his brothers,” Zeke says. “He’s out.”
Raymond pales. “And me?”
“You’ll go to a vote. You might not have known what was happening, but you lied. So good luck with that, dude.”
The look on Raymond’s face would make me feel bad if I hadn’t very nearly taken the blame for the whole thing. If Chad hadn’t spoken up, I would have.
The only reason they were caught out is because my boyfriend is a thousand times braver than any of them.
And goddamn I love him for it.