Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 104501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 523(@200wpm)___ 418(@250wpm)___ 348(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 523(@200wpm)___ 418(@250wpm)___ 348(@300wpm)
I circled around him. “Stop.”
He had two massive black eyes, half his face was swollen and bruised, and he had a cracked lip. I checked his knuckles. They were split open as well, dried blood covering them. “When did you clean these last?”
He snorted, tucking them back by his side. “Right. It’d be nice if someone helped me with that.”
“No one did?” I sat on his bed as he went back to his closet, pulling out more clothes. “What are you doing?”
“What do you think? I’m moving out. This fucking fraternity isn’t a brotherhood. Loyalty, my ass. They all chose him.”
“They kicked you out?”
“No.” He whipped a sandal at the box, but it hit the side and fell to the floor. “I’m leaving. I’m not staying here, not when they take his side over mine.”
“Okay.” Pressure built behind my temples. I felt a headache forming. “What happened? Avery told me Caden beat you up last night?”
“Avery?” He shifted back to me, going still.
I gulped. “Yeah.”
“She hates Maggie. You know that, right?”
I was confused. “No, they’re friends. But wait—are you still with Maggie?”
“Why wouldn’t I be? She’s my girlfriend now.”
My mind whirled. “Didn’t you get in a fight because of Maggie?”
“What?”
“Wait. Back up. What happened yesterday? I saw you in the parking lot. Then you took off, and the next time I saw you, you were kissing Maggie behind a palm tree at the country club.”
“You were there?”
I nodded. No thanks to you. “Caden and Marcus were talking, and I was on my way to tell you to stop, you were going to get caught, but then—” I caught myself. I’d been about to tell him Avery stopped me. “I got distracted. I had to find the bathroom.”
“What then?”
He remained uncharacteristically still.
Alarms were going off in my head. I had to tread lightly, but I didn’t know why. “I, uh, ended up just getting a ride home.”
“That was it?”
“Uh-huh.” I blinked a few times. “Why? Did something happen at the country club?”
He regarded me for another beat, then he tossed a pair of socks into the box. “You could say that again. Caden ratted us out. My own fraternity brother. Can you believe that? What a piece of shit.”
“Yeah,” I remarked. “Your fraternity brother told his real brother…that sucks.”
Kevin collapsed in his desk chair. He bent forward to rest his elbows on his knees and cradled his head. “I know, but whatever. It happened. Yes, Maggie and I were making out, and yes, we should’ve been more discreet, but Caden Banks is a huge asshole.”
I almost couldn’t take it. I had to actually sit on my hands. Kevin was a dipshit. My sarcasm went over his head. Support, Summer. Support. You’re here to support him, whether you agree with what he’s doing or not. S-u-p-p-o-r-t.
I had to clamp down on my tongue to keep from saying something snotty. I was not in a supportive mood.
I was trying, though. “Well, I mean, now you don’t have to hide anymore. Right?”
“Yeah.” He looked up, and his face relaxed into a grin. “You’re right. That is one good thing. And after tonight, I won’t have to live with these dickwads anymore.”
I eyed the box. “Where are you going to live?”
“Maggie’s parents. She said I could move in there. She’s been alternating between the house and her dorm room, but since I’ll be there, she’ll move back full time.” He perked up. “It’s a pretty big place, too. I’ve been there a few times. It’ll be nice, you know? A break from school political bullshit.”
“Yeah.” I had no other words. I couldn’t wrap my head around what was going on.
He had been sleeping with someone else’s girlfriend. Her boyfriend was the real brother to one of his fraternity brothers, and Kevin was acting like the victim. My bullshit meter was off the charts, probably along with my blood pressure.
So all I said was, “Yeah.”
He frowned, a line forming in the middle of his forehead. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
He motioned around his room. “For coming here. For checking on me.” His eyes softened, matching his smile and tone. “For caring.”
My heart flip-flopped. There he was. There was the Kevin I’d crushed on for years and fallen in love with, the one I’d slept with three and a half months ago. I instantly scowled. Brother. He was my stepbrother. Enough with the annoying feelings, and whatever was underneath them.
“Oh, no problem.” My voice was raspy. I could feel the big black hole my feelings for him were covering up. Why was I so scared to feel whatever that was? “I wanted to be sure you were okay after I heard about the fight.”
“That was bullshit too. Marcus caught us yesterday, and there was a whole huge scene, but no fighting. Maggie went home with him. I didn’t hear anything about it again until late last night. I was in my room, minding my own business, when Marcus burst into the house. Maggie dumped him, and he couldn’t take it that I got his girl out from underneath him.”