Someone had contacted me earlier in the day with a note stating that Todd James wanted to talk to me. I thought now was as good a time as ever to get the conversation out of the way.
Since the night of the Sacrifice, Todd was one of the ones who had treated me with even more respect, which was surprising given the fact that he was Alpha’s president. I figured he was the political type and would have been covering his ass as hard as humanly possible.
After several moments, the door swung open. Todd was standing there shirtless and wearing gym sweats, a grin on his face. “Stefan, my man,” he greeted me cheerily. “Come on in.”
I stepped into the room and Todd shut the door behind me. Being the president of Alpha, he had the best room in the dorm, but it wasn’t saying much. His room was a mess, littered with clothing on his bed and floor and several sets of dumbbells scattered all around. Posters of hot supermodels hung on his wall. Nearby, his laptop was open on his desk, the screensaver set to an eye-catching photo shoot of Kate Upton.
“What’s all that out in the living room?” I asked, staring at the screen. “I thought they were supposed to be interviewing us individually.”
Todd made a face. “The school decided they wanted to question a group of us all at once, as if that was going to change our story. So far, everyone has been sticking with the same storyline—nothing really happened that night, and the Sacrifice is just a game of destroying your most-prized possession for the fraternity.” He gave me a look. “Of course, we know what the Sacrifice really is, but we can’t let those assholes know that.”
I still thought it funny that Bella and I were being protected by our peers only because none of them wanted to see their chapter fall. I also found it amazing that no one had cracked and told the school administrators what really happened. They were loyal—I have to give them that.
I suppose I should have been relieved, all things considered.
“There’s just one problem,” Todd said slowly.
I tore my eyes away from the laptop’s screen saver and looked at him. “What’s that?”
“Craig Parker. He’s not happy about having to cover for you after you hit him.”
I let out a derisive grunt. “Fuck that dude, seriously. He deserved exactly what I gave him,” I growled. The words that Craig said to me that night still made my blood boil. “All he had to do was keep his fucking mouth shut, so I shut it for him.”
Todd scratched at his armpit. “Come on, man, do you really have to be that way? Everyone is covering for you and your sis, and you should be on your knees counting your lucky stars. All you have to do is apologize to him and it will help smooth things over.”
“Never gonna happen.” I said, shaking my head.
Todd stared at me for a long time before seeming to give up. “We can talk about Craig later.” He scratched at his hair nervously. “There’s actually something else I wanted to talk to you about.”
I raised a questioning eyebrow.
Before Todd could answer, the door swung open and in walked Jace Randall with a cocky grin on his face that I immediately wanted to punch off. Since the night of the Sacrifice, he’d gone from being one of my biggest ass kissers to being so passive-aggressive that I wanted to kick his ass pretty frequently.
“’Sup, Livingston.” He nodded at me as he closed the door behind him. He walked over next to Todd and crossed his arms over his chest, still giving me that fucked-up grin.
I looked to Todd. “What the hell is this?”
Todd took a deep breath. “Everyone is going around saying you banged your sister and that we're running some kind of prostitution ring, offering the sorority sisters to our brothers.”
“And?” I asked. Judging by Todd’s nervous expression, I could tell I wasn’t going to like where he was going with this. “We already know what they’re saying. And those are just rumors until someone admits to it and can prove it.”
Todd looked to Jace, who just nodded at him, his annoying grin growing wider. “So, uh, yeah. Jace wants to pretend to be your sister’s boyfriend. He thinks if he’s seen around campus with Bella, it would quiet all the rumors about your sleeping with your stepsister and help our damaged image.”
“I ain’t gonna lie, Livingston,” Jace chimed in. “I’ve wanted to hit that ever since I saw her sexy ass picture in your billfold.”
My pulse pounded in my head and I instantly saw red. “You son of a bitch!” I rushed Jace with every intention of breaking every bone in his face, but Todd sprang in between us, holding me back and probably saving Jace’s life.