Chapter 5
Chapter Five
Zeke
Ilean back in my chair, arms folded tight, and watch my brothers.
Brandon and Miles are talking about something, hands flailing, mouths moving too fast for me to read.
Larken’s scrolling through his phone, one hand permanently tangled in his hair while he mouths the words he’s reading, and Robbie and Chad …
Are wrestling.
In the middle of the living room.
Because why not?
My lips tremble as I try to hold back a smile. When college ends, I’ll miss this. I’m ready to move on, yeah, but it will be an adjustment to go from living in a house with thirty of my brothers to finding somewhere of my own.
But I still have to get through the rest of college to make it there.
And these next three months are suddenly feeling like the longest of my life.
I can’t let that post go. There hasn’t been anything since, and I keep going back and forth on whether to alert our governing body, Nationals, or to keep it to myself.
Nationals are the ones who run the fraternities in the country like a business, and so whenever scandals come up, they’re the ones who step in.
Nobody else has seen it that I know of, and as much as I’d love to move on, hoping it will blow into oblivion, something in the way it was written makes me doubt that.
As far as I know, it’s only me and Charles who know about the post.
Hmph. Charles.
He was basically waving his cock in my face like a landing beacon, and I couldn’t stop thinking that that was the cock I’d wanted to touch the other night.
I’d been so determined that it would finally happen, and just like every other hookup …
nothing. Somehow being robbed of a chance to touch him had been a bigger disappointment than Charles saying my name.
And … now it’s over.
Just like that.
Which is obviously for the best.
“Help me, Zeke,” Chad calls, trying to shove Robbie off him. Our social chair is leaning all his two hundred and sixty pounds into Chad’s back, and Chad is flopping around like a fish.
“I dunno …” I rub my jaw. “You look like you’re doing okay to me.”
“Dude, mercy,” Chad cries. “Brandon, get your boyfriend under control.”
Brandon turns his attention to the two of them. “The only way I know how to do that is by getting his cock out. You sure you want help?”
“Changed my mind,” Chad wheezes as Robbie pushes down more. “I’ve seen that thing way too many times for this lifetime.”
I chuckle and give Chad another few moments to struggle before I say, “Robbie, get off him.” Unlike Brandon, I don’t need to use Robbie’s cock to control him.
He grumbles as he stands.
“I’m doing your boyfriend a favor,” I point out. “Killing another member is a lot of paperwork, and conjugal visits aren’t sexy for anyone.”
“Ooh, new role-play idea.”
I hold up a hand and purposely don’t look Brandon’s way. “Don’t need to know.”
Robbie’s panting a little as he drops down beside me. “You all good, prez?”
I’m about to tell him I’m A-okay when my phone lights up with a text and Charles’s name pops up on the display.
Robbie obviously clocks it and drops his head back. “We didn’t even do anything this time.”
I chuckle because I know better than to believe him. “You’ve said that the last three times though.”
“But this time, I mean it.”
“I’m sure you’ve said that too.” I’m smiling as I open the text, but as soon as I read the message, the smile falls right off my face.
Charles:
Don’t click this link if you want to have a good day
Charles:
P.S. it wasn’t me!
Oh, hell to the fucking no. My gut sinks as I click on the link anyway, because how am I supposed to ignore it?
The Dirt opens, and there’s that same fuckpot account with a new post. This time, they’re calling on people to reply to them with anything my house has done. It’s bullshit … and there are actually comments?
My rage hits ninety, and I type back so fast, I typo the shit out of my message.
Me:
Yet somehwo you wer the one who saw it frst!
Damn it!
I don’t bother reading the comments, just tuck my phone in my pocket and try to get my temper under control.
“Zeke?” Robbie’s gaze is trained on the side of my face.
I can feel it burning into me. I know he’s waiting on a response, but what the hell do I even tell him?
There are too many people around, and the last thing I need is Larken being scared out of the position and leaving me without a replacement.
But apparently, ignoring this fucker is going to get me nowhere.
I lean closer to Robbie. “Grab Brando and meet me in the war room in five. Don’t let anyone know something is up.”
“What are you—”
I shake my head and cut off his words. I’m not getting into it here.
He opens his mouth again, and when I think he’s going to start questioning me some more, he swings around to face Brandon and says obnoxiously loudly, “I need sex.”
The whole room goes silent, and it takes all my self-control not to whack him over the head. So much for not drawing attention.
Brandon smirks, then jumps to his feet. “What are you waiting for, then?”
Am I the only one in this house who thinks sex should be kept private? I mentally face-palm.
Robbie all but chases Brandon from the room, and I swear if he forgets the whole point of leaving, I’m gonna be pissed. I’m not above walking in on them as a reminder.
I pull out my phone and text Chad, then grab my laptop and pretend I’m heading back to my room.
There are twelve executive positions; some of us live in the house, and some of us don’t, but out of everyone, Chad, Brandon, and Robbie are the ones I trust most. There were eight in our pledge group, but they’re the three I shared the pledge hall with, and we had no choice but to become close.
There’s nothing like lying in your bunks, listening to your brothers fap away all night.
If you ask me, I earned my private room.
Chad’s the first one to join me. “What’s going on, dude?”
“We have a slight problem.”
“Oh no.”
“What?” I laugh. “I said slight.”
“Yeah, but something small to you is astronomical to the rest of us.”
“Did it hurt to use a word that big?”
He flips me off. “I’ll have you know I’ve been getting Bs in nearly everything.”
“B for Bailey,” I tease. But in Chad’s defense, he has been putting in the effort since they started dating.
“Aww, look who can pass kindergarten. I also got an A for asshole the other day.”
“Fuck, man. I’m happy for you.”
“Thanks.” He shifts, looking bashful. “He’s, umm … he’s good for me.”
“He is.”
I’m worried he’s about to get all gushy and emotional when Robbie slams open the door and Brandon trails in after him. “All right, fucker, what’s going on?”
“You probably want to sit down for this.”
Chad’s eyes widen. “You said slight.”
“And you said astronomical. Let’s agree it’s somewhere in the middle.”
Robbie drops onto the couch. “Hit us with it.”
“Someone’s trying to start shit. Huge shit. I thought it would go away, but it looks like this dickhead is determined. We need to do something about it.”
I show them the post I saved from yesterday, along with the one Charles sent me.
“Parameters?” Robbie all but yells. “That asshole.”
“Sit down and shut up. It wasn’t Chuck.”
“Like hell it wasn’t.”
And here we go, Robbie overreacting again when it comes to anything to do with the Kappas. “I already spoke to him. He said it wasn’t, and I believe it.”
“Like he’s going to admit to it. I bet this is his idea of ending his presidency in style. Being the one to get us shut down so the Kappas don’t have to deal with us anymore.”
Brandon squeezes Robbie’s thigh. “I have to agree here. This doesn’t look good.”
“I don’t give a shit how it looks. I said it wasn’t him. So it wasn’t. End of discussion.”
The three of them exchange looks they don’t even try to hide.
“Zeke—” Chad starts, but I don’t let him get out more than that.
“We’re brothers, and we’ve always trusted each other.
When you said Bailey wasn’t responsible for that Kappa prank a few months ago, what did we do?
” I ask Chad. Robbie had been the same back then, ready to take out every last Kappa for the prank they pulled on us that ended with Brandon in the hospital.
Chad sighs and leans against the table behind him. “You guys believed me.”
“Yeah, but you were dating Bailey,” Robbie argues. “Plus, he was only new around here. Charles has hated us for years.”
“And I’ve known Chuck that whole time, so if I say he didn’t do it, that’s the end of the fucking argument.”
None of them says anything to that. Biases aside, we do trust each other, and I can’t even explain it to myself, but I trust Charles as well.
This underhanded sneakiness isn’t his style.
If he wanted to get us in the shit, he could go direct to the dean with any number of pranks we’ve pulled over the year.
Unless he wanted to be anonymous.
Because if we don’t know it’s him, we won’t retaliate. I force those thoughts out because I’m supposed to be getting the others on my side here, not making myself doubt my own resolve.
No, it wasn’t Charles.
I’m good at reading people, and even if his, ah, excitement distracted me momentarily yesterday morning, it also didn’t seem like he was lying.
We’ve had a lot of one-on-one time since becoming presidents—mostly so he could yap at me about whatever shit the guys have pulled—but I’ve spent a lot of those meetings observing him. Taking him in. Reading him.
His reaction yesterday was typical for him. All flappy hands and red cheeks.
I wonder if that’s how he looks when he’s on his knees for me …
My lips twitch with a smile again. Fucking Charles. As annoying as he is, I can’t help but like him.
Just a little.
Dammit, no. Separate. I have to force myself to separate the Charles I know through frat duties and the eager guy I meet in the dark who smells like those caramel candles they’re always burning in Kappa house to cover up the smell of pretension. It always used to be so easy.
“Fine. Let’s say it’s not him.” Chad’s eyebrows are scrunched in thought. “What do we do?”
For once, I don’t have a ready answer. “I have no idea.”