After The Ex Games(17)

“Yeah, I do wonder if she’s the one sending the letters though. I know she and David are hooking up, so maybe it’s them. David seems like the sort that would leave a bullet on the table as a threat.”

“I don’t understand why she would want to hurt one of us that badly.” I turned around then and walked back to my desk. That was a lie. I knew why she would want to hurt me. I sighed as I thought back to that night so many years ago.

Her in my bed. Her on top of me, fucking me. Her screaming in pleasure as she came. Her turning on the light and seeing my face. I’d been so drunk that I hadn’t cared who I’d been fucking at the time. I’d seen her face though. I’d seen the look of surprise and then resignation. She’d known as well, but she hadn’t cared.

It would have been fine if Greyson hadn’t dumped her a few days later. I don’t think she would have hated me so much. I was pretty sure she thought I was the reason he’d dumped her, but I’d never told him. I mean, there is never a good time to tell your best friend you fucked his girl, even if the girl wasn’t that special to him.

“I don’t know either,” he sighed. “Maybe seeing me happy with Meg made her realize she’s never going to have me, and then we know why David hates us.”

“Patsy knows the truth though.” I stared at him then with real fear in my eyes. “What if she tells David?”

“I don’t know.” Greyson’s eyes looked bleak, and I could see my worry reflected in his gaze.

“We need to find Nancy. We need to make sure she’s okay.” I ran my hands through my hair and tried to calm my beating heart. “Sorry, you’re going to have to excuse me. I need to go and think.”

“No worries. Oh, and Brandon.” He walked over to me and grabbed ahold of my shoulders. “Don’t worry. It’s going to be okay.”

“You don’t know that, Greyson.” I shook my head. “This isn’t college anymore. We’re grown men. We fucked up and now our deeds have come back to haunt us.”

“We can’t change the past.”

“I’m sorry that you haven’t been able to tell Meg the truth.” I took a deep breath. “I hate that you’re lying.” I stopped as soon as I heard the footsteps running down the hallway. “Shit.” I ran out of the room and to the bedroom. When I entered, Katie was sitting on the edge of the bed with a red and angry face.

“I’m going to tell Meg!” She burst out as soon as I entered the room.

“Tell Meg what? There’s nothing to tell,” I said slowly, unconvincingly.

“What is Greyson up to, Brandon? What is he hiding from us?” She jumped up and walked over to me with flashing eyes. “Tell me. I need to know. Meg is my best friend. I will not let her get hurt.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” My heart beat fast and I tried to grab ahold of her hands. I flinched as she pulled away from me.

“I heard you, Brandon. I heard you telling him that you hate that he’s lying. If you hate it so much, why don’t you tell us the truth?”

“I can’t do that.” I shook my head. “Not yet.”

“I got a call this morning,” she continued, her voice rising. “A lady named Patsy called me. I had no idea who she was. She said she works at the club. She said that maybe Meg and I would be interested to know more about the relationships you and Greyson had at the club. She said that we don’t know the full truth. She said that there are other people involved. That there are lives at stake. I asked her what she meant. She said ‘Be careful, very careful, because someone’s going to get hurt.’ Then she hung up.” She looked up at me with wide eyes and sat on the bed. “I can’t take this, Brandon. What is going on? I don’t want this guy dating my best friend. He’s a douche.”

“Katie, you need to listen to me.” I took a deep breath. “Greyson used to date Patsy. They used to have sex. For him, it was sex. For her, I guess it was love or infatuation or obsession or whatever you want to call it. He ended it pretty quickly, but when Meg showed up, she started going crazy, doing weird things. She’s trying to hurt Greyson. I think that she knows she can’t go through Meg, so she’s trying to go through you so you can try and break up the relationship.”

“I don’t know.” Katie shook her head. “I think it’s more than that.”

“Katie, there’s something I need to tell you.” I sat down on the bed next to her. “There’s something that happened a long time ago and Greyson and I tried to cover it up. There’s no excuse for our behavior, but we were young and dumb and I don’t think we fully realized what we were doing.” I paused to see Katie’s reaction and took a deep breath. “I don’t want you to hate me.”