Prologue #2
“Hey! Wait up!” Duncan yelled after me, but I was already down the hall, shoving past the sorority girls and frat boys packed into the Gamma Theta Pi Pierce Street house. All the bodies had the temperature inside pushing eighty degrees, leaving my skin dewy with sweat.
For once, there wasn’t a line for the bathroom, so I ducked inside. As I closed the door, Duncan pushed his way in.
“I need a minute,” I gritted out, barely holding back tears.
Duncan frowned and shut the door behind him, flipping the lock while he finished his beer.
“I mean it. Get out!” I shouted, violently gesturing at the door.
The big doofus smiled at me, crossing his arms over his overly muscled chest. “You’re upset.”
“Yeah, there’s a big asshole who won’t leave me alone.”
Duncan’s jaw twitched, and my stomach dropped to my ass. His nice-guy smile morphed into something far less friendly. Suddenly, the bathroom was too small, and he was too fucking big. It didn’t matter that we were friends once he became a giant obstacle between me and freedom.
How the fuck did I get in this situation?
Licking my lips, I softened my expression. “I should probably go home.” My voice was soft, pleading without having to say the words.
Please let me leave.
Duncan stepped toward me, his meaty fingers brushing a lock of blond hair from my cheek.
It took everything in me to not jerk away. The smell of cheap beer and vodka wafted off him as he pinned me to the vanity. I swallowed a few times, working up a little bile in case I needed to throw up on him.
“I can walk you home.”
Forcing a smile on my face, I said, “I’m really not feeling well. I’m going to call a sober ride and go pass out.”
He nodded. “Okay. Text me when you get home?” He squeezed my arm in what he probably thought was a reassuring gesture, but it only served to remind me of just how fucking strong he was.
“Will do,” I forced out as I slipped around him and opened the door. Racing through the house, I caught one last glimpse of Carter holding court over the beer pong table. Thankfully, Sarah was nowhere in sight.
Cool air hit my face as I stepped outside, and I could finally take a deep breath. Frat parties had never been my thing, but fuck if that party didn’t suck extra hard.
I stumbled past house party after house party on my way toward my apartment on the square, but I slowed when I reached Elson.
The entire sorority is at the mixer.
Before I could think too much about it, I was passing the VFW. The Elson Gamma house was silent since the mixer was happening blocks away, so I walked around to the back.
“Damn it,” I muttered, squinting at the dark steps leading up to the Beta Alpha Epsilon apartment known as Frattic.
They didn’t leave the lights on?
Probably for the best, considering it was pretty weird to go inside other people’s homes when they weren’t there.
Not to mention illegal.
Shaking my head, I turned to leave, but the sound of gravel crunching underfoot caught my attention.
A figure stepped out from behind the dumpster at the end of the alley, and I backed up against the cracked siding.
Maybe it was the fact that I was drunk and alone late at night in a dark alley, or perhaps it was because I was planning a quick B&E, but I was in no hurry to be acquainted with the stranger.
I held my breath and slid behind the rickety stairs. The closer the person got, the slower they walked.
Fuck this.
Not giving myself a chance to overthink it, I raced up the stairs. The structure swayed under my hurried steps, creaking and groaning so loud I couldn’t hear anything else. I reached the door, praying it was unlocked.
Of course it wasn’t.
I glanced down at the alley and yelped, catching the shadowy figure looking up at me. Picking up Sassy the Garden Gnome with shaky hands, I snagged the extra key. As I slipped it in the lock, there was a thud at the bottom of the stairs, and I rushed to throw open the door.
The sound of blood whooshing in my ears blocked out everything as I slammed the door shut and locked it. Holding my breath, I strained to hear any signs of movement outside.
There were none, so I cautiously inched toward the window. Pushing the curtains aside, I let out every bit of air in my lungs.
No one’s there.
“Fuck.” I laughed, my body relaxing. “I’ve clearly been under too much stress.” Smoothing back my hair, I set the extra key on the counter and went to the refrigerator for a seltzer.
Cracking open the can, I leaned against the wall and stared into the living room.
Due to weird local ordinances and agreements made between the sororities, our official houses and chapter rooms were in a dorm building.
But that didn’t keep sororities from starting up legacy houses and apartments where sisters passed the lease down through pledge classes.
Frattic was one of those unofficial Beta Alpha Epsilon houses, and the place where I’d made some of my most precious college memories.
Pre-gaming formals, screaming BAE drinking songs, and sisterhood events that usually devolved into late-night movies and gossip.
I’d thought the best was yet to come . . .
I blinked back tears.
This year has not gone to plan.
It all started last spring when I was pushed out of my rightful place in Frattic. Everything just snowballed from there. I didn’t get the room or the guy, but at least I could still get the presidency.
Shoving off the wall, I stumbled up the narrow stairs off the kitchen to Sarah’s room. My big had lived in that room for two years, and I had always assumed I would move in when she graduated.
I flicked on the lamp on Sarah’s desk and flopped down on her bed. Glow-in-the-dark stars covered the ceiling, and I smiled, remembering the night we put them up after a drunken trip to the twenty-four-hour supercenter.
“Look at the stars. The great presidents of the past look down on us from those stars. Whenever you feel alone, just remember that those presidents will always be there to guide you,” Dee said, falling off her bed laughing.
“I think you’ve had enough.” I took the bottle of Popov from her hand.
“You’re probably right.” She yanked her comforter from the bed and rolled herself up like a burrito. “I’m going to miss this place.” Sighing, she peered up at me from her blanket cocoon. “At least I know I’m leaving it in good hands.”
Things were so much easier when Dee was around. With a heavy sigh, I rolled off the bed and shuffled to the window. Cracking it open, I took a deep breath. The crisp air filled my lungs, and I shivered. The warm weather was clearly on its way out.
I snagged a throw blanket and clumsily climbed onto the roof. The sky was clear, and despite the bright lights of the university buildings, you could still make out the stars.
Wrapping the blanket around my shoulders, I shut my eyes and enjoyed the distant noise coming from the various parties. Up on the roof, I wasn’t weighed down by midterms, boy drama, or Panhellenic bullshit. I could just breathe.
“I can’t believe she left without saying anything.”
“Not exactly the smartest move.”
I knew those voices—Kat and Mona.
“Bitches,” I muttered and glanced down the alleyway.
Gravel crunched under their feet as they strutted past dumpsters, talking shit about the party.
“Carter’s so pathetic,” Kat scoffed, and I sat up a little straighter. “How many different ways can Sarah tell him to fuck off before he finally listens?”
Mona chuckled, stopping in the middle of the alley. “I stopped trying to understand rich kids in high school. Best to just let them do whatever they’re going to do.” She bent over and tied her shoe.
Kat looked up at the roof and spotted me. “Hey! Who’s up there?”
“So much for peace,” I groaned, waving at the two of them. “Just me.”
Mona jumped, and the glow of her phone lit her face. “I’ll let the girls know we found you.”
“Perfect,” I breathed out as I stood to meet them inside. The roof had lost much of its appeal if Ms. Perfect and her sidekick Queen Cunt would be joining.
I turned toward a scuffing sound from the other side of the pitch. Swallowing, I peeked over but saw nothing.
“Damn squirrels.”
The stairs creaked under Mona and Kat’s drunken stomping as I carefully inched toward the window. The shots and beers were finally catching up with me, and all I wanted was to be in my bed, wrapped in thousand-thread-count sheets.
The blanket slipped from my shoulders and tumbled off the roof onto Mona’s head.
“Hey!” She laughed, balling up the expensive throw.
I peered over the edge and said, “Sorry.”
“You’re just lucky I caught it. Sarah would freak if one of her precious soft blankets hit the mud.”
Rolling my eyes, I said, “Like she doesn’t have—”
Something hit the middle of my back, and I stumbled forward, flailing my arms in a worthless attempt to regain my balance. My foot caught in the gutter, and I went headfirst over the edge of the roof.
In the blink of an eye, my head met the cold, wet ground below, forcing my neck into an unnatural angle.
With a sickening snap, I died.