Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
Brandon
Idon’t drink at first, watching Robbie to see if he follows through on his promise, but the only thing I see him pull out of his pockets is cans of soda, and his fanny pack only appears to be holding snacks and gum. A few hours into the party, I relax enough to throw back a few shots.
As much as I don’t want to admit it, Robbie has things covered. He’s doing a constant loop of the party, checking in with our pledges stationed at the doors to make sure only the guest list has been let inside, and he’s thrown off any potential trouble before it’s had a chance to get started.
It’s pissing me off that everyone is on their best behavior for him. It almost makes me want to drunkenly jump on a table to give him a taste of his own medicine.
And maybe there’s a tiny part of me that wants to do it for his attention too.
He’s barely glanced my way all night, and the more buzzed I get, the more it’s getting to me.
He said he was going to find someone to hook up with, and cockblocking a brother isn’t the frat way …
unless they’ve done something to earn it.
For once, I can’t even make that claim. He’s left me and Jenny alone all night—and I hate it.
The thought of him kissing another guy turns my stomach. It’s our thing.
Which is hypocritical as fuck, seeing as how I have a girlfriend.
I burp loudly and push away from the wall I’m leaning against, tipsier than I thought I was.
“Brandy, where are you going?”
“Away from …” I almost say her friends but catch myself in time. Insulting sorority chicks would be a disaster, and I’m not interested in having the Sigmas blacklisted. “Going to check in on Robbie.”
“O … kay?”
I stumble away from them and approach the big guy. He’s watching the people dancing in our living room with an intensity I don’t like.
“Hey, risk manager.” I slap his ass. “How does the stick feel up there?”
“It fits good. Why didn’t you ever tell me what a power trip this is?”
Power trip? He’s got to be kidding. “Yeah, go a few parties without drinking, and it loses the fun fast.”
He’s still watching the dance floor as he lifts a can of Coke to his mouth and downs the rest. I greedily watch his neck working with each swallow, caught off guard by how fucking hot it looks.
I rock where I stand, mind filled with images of leaning forward and running my tongue over his throat.
“What?” he asks.
“What?”
Robbie bursts out laughing. “You just said you want to taste my neck.”
“The hell I did.” Did I? Goddamn, how drunk am I?
“It’s the Rob-dog effect.”
“Thank you.”
Confusion crosses his face. “For?”
“Calling yourself Rob-dog again. Like that, all urges have miraculously disappeared.”
There’s definite curiosity on his face as he eyes me. “How much have you had to drink?”
“I didn’t think much at all, but apparently my brain-to-mouth filter is defunctive—”
“Defective?”
“Uh-huh. So maybe a big more than drunk. Big—bit.” I frown and flex my jaw.
He chuckles and gives my shoulder a squeeze. “Better pace yourself, or this party will be a fast one.”
I watch as he turns his attention back to the dance floor, and annoyance sparks in my gut. I step in front of him, which does sweet fuck all because he looks right over the top of my head. “What’s so interesting out there?”
Robbie shifts, rubbing at his arm like he’s … nervous? “See that guy?”
I follow his line of sight to a blond twink. I’m not proud of the aggressive snort that leaves me. “You’ll break the poor kid in half.”
“Maybe, but he’s made it clear he’s interested, and I’m starting to think I should … do it.”
“Right.”
“What’s that tone?”
I shrug. “I’ve never known you to settle for the first piece of ass to walk by.”
“That’s literally all you’ve ever known of me. I’m not picky.”
I narrow my eyes at the guy and turn back to Robbie. Before I can think it through, I grab his T-shirt and tug, forcing him to meet my eye. “If you’re looking for someone to kiss, you know Jenny’s rules. I can go get her.”
His eyes immediately drop to my lips, but then … he shakes his head. “Nah, if we keep doing that, things are going to get weird. I’m not interested in drama.”
“No drama.” I push onto my toes, bringing our faces close. “I’m just trying to be a good guy and help you out here.”
“Right. And you get nothing out of it, do you?” The flirty tone matches the spark of interest in his eyes. I’ve known Robbie so long, and he’s such an open person, that it’s too easy to read him.
“Well, maybe I think it’s pretty hot too.”
A corner of his lips lifts in an evil smile. “I think I’ve moved on from kissing now though. I’m ready to get some dick.”
Heat flares below the belt, and like it’s been summoned, my cock starts to take interest.
“I wanna touch one … suck one … maybe replace that stick up my ass with one …”
Now there’s an image.
“So, Brando, still want to be a good guy and help me out?”
“I … I …” Holy shit, I think I might.
But there’s one very big thing stopping that from happening. I’m not a cheater. Kissing him with Jenny’s permission is one thing; wanting to take it further than that is another.
I step back. “I’ve got to go.”
“Wait, I was kidding.”
“We both know you weren’t.”
He opens his mouth to say something, but I leave before he can.
I find Jenny where I left her, and when she tries to pull me back into their conversation, I step away and shake my head. “Come with me.”
Thankfully, she follows, because the last thing I want is to break up with her in front of people. She might annoy me sometimes, but she doesn’t deserve that.
“Where are we going, Brandy?”
“To talk.”
“Talk …”
I lead her upstairs to my room, and when I close the door behind us, it muffles the music from downstairs.
“What are you …”
“We need to break up.”
Her mouth drops, and she watches me for a long moment. “What?”
“Sorry.” I watch her cross my room and drop onto the side of my bed. “I wanted tonight to be fun, and I was going to wait to do this in the morning, but …”
“You want to break up?”
“Ah, yeah …”
“Right before the holiday?”
I don’t have a reply to that. It’s shitty timing, but it would have been no matter when I did it.
“You were going to meet my parents,” she says.
“What? When did I agree to that?”
“It was going to be a surprise.”
“We’ve been together … a month?”
“Ten weeks, actually. And all you’ve done in that time is treat me like shit.”
Okay, now I’m offended. “What do you mean? I do everything you ask. I show up to your little get-together things, I play nice with your friends, I pose for all your couple photos that get plastered all over social media.”
“You don’t like or comment or anything.”
“Am I supposed to?”
“You do when it’s your brothers. Whenever it’s someone from your house or your football team, you always at least drop an emoji, but I get nothing.”
“Fuck, sorry. I didn’t realize that giving you everything in real life wasn’t enough.”
“It would be if you were present.”
“Present?” I begin to pace. Any thoughts of this being an amicable split are going down the drain. “I’m always present. I do more with you than my friends.”
“Yes, but you always make it very clear who comes first.”
“We’ve been together a month, maybe two. They’ve been my friends for years.”
She glares. “I don’t ask for much, but you whine about coming to a little Gamma mixer with me, yet you have no issues with letting Robbie use you as his flavor of the week.”
Anger ripples along my spine. “Excuse me?”
“You were a throwaway bit of fun for him, but I know you. I know you liked it.”
“You’re the one who pushed me into kissing him in the first place. You.”
“Yeah, but I didn’t realize my boyfriend was going to suddenly like dick.”
That’s rich. A hollow laugh comes from me. “Let me get this straight. It’s okay for me to kiss guys when it’s all for show? When you can use it as evidence of what a cool girlfriend you are, but if I actually enjoy it, then I’m the bad guy?”
“You have a girlfriend.”
“Who taunted me into doing it in the first place. Surely you knew there was a chance that maybe I’d like it.”
“I thought you were straight.”
“And the fact that I might not be makes you uncomfortable?”
“Obviously.”
“You do know that I can be interested in guys and girls but still be committed, right?” If I had feelings for Jenny, it wouldn’t matter how many people I kissed, she’d be the only one I wanted. But we never had that moment where we clicked. Everything has been superficial—on both sides.
What started as hooking up led to sleepovers, and then everyone assumed we were dating and exclusive, and I went along …
until now. Even with her obsession with status, she’s mostly harmless.
But I don’t like the way she’s implying if I’m anything less than straight that I’m not who she thought I was, and I really don’t like that she was okay with me kissing Robbie as long as I didn’t like what I was doing.
What kind of girlfriend pushes her boyfriend into a situation she expects him to be uncomfortable with?
“I think that’s the problem,” she says. “You’re confused. Everything with Robbie has twisted you up. The kissing was a mistake. You need to stop, and then we can talk again when we’re back from break. You’re drunk, and you’re not thinking clearly.”
“This has nothing to do with Robbie.”
“Doesn’t it?”
“No.” And I mean that. Sure, I might want to experiment with him at some point, but my relationship with Jenny was over long before I ever kissed him, and if I hadn’t been so worried about her reaction and the blowback on our house, I would have ended things way before now.
“I don’t believe you.”
“What do you want from me?”
“The truth.”
I shake my head. “Trust me, you don’t.”
“Of course I do.” She crosses her arms, not planning on leaving.
And apparently I’m drunk enough to give it to her because I start talking.
“Fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. The truth is, I’m not even sure when we started dating, but you were suddenly introducing me as your boyfriend to everyone.
I thought we were just hooking up. Having a good time.
Meanwhile, you’re trying to create this fairy-tale romance that’s complete bullshit.
You’re a cool chick, but you get so caught up in image that nothing is real.
Right now, I’m willing to bet that you’re not upset about us ending, you’re upset about having to tell people about it. ”
She opens her mouth, but nothing comes out.
I fall back next to her. “I know I was a shitty boyfriend too.”
“You were.”
I have to clench my teeth against her fast agreement, because I never signed up for the boyfriend thing in the first place. “If it’s easier, you can tell everyone you broke up with me.”
“Fine. But I’ll be telling them it’s because I knew I deserved better.”
“Sure.” It’s not like I’m worried about my boyfriend material status. I don’t want a relationship, and with the end of college not too far away, I’m going to use that time to figure some things out about myself.
“Well, I guess that’s it, then.”
I nod.
She doesn’t leave for a full minute, and then as though she’s realized there’s nothing else to discuss, she gets up and walks out.
Thank fuck we got through that with no tears.
I flop back onto my bed, planning on waiting out enough time for her to hopefully leave the party, but instead, I pass the hell out.