Chapter 36
Stefan
“Holy shit!” Bella exclaimed from the kitchen, where she’d just gotten off the phone.
It was several days after the explosive argument with our parents and our coming to a new agreement with each other. Since then, while Bella and I were enjoying every new day as we explored our new level of relationship, our parents hadn’t called or tried to check on us, but I knew they were planning something. I just didn’t know what.
It made me nervous as fuck.
Sitting on the couch, I looked up from my laptop and over at Bella. I’d just sent in yet another application to another company for a job. It was hard finding a decent job without a college degree, and I refused to work a minimum wage job. The type of money I would make flipping burgers was just not enough to support Bella and me. Unfortunately, if I didn’t find a steady job soon, that's exactly what I'd be doing.
Maybe I can try my hand at modeling again, I wondered.
The last company had accepted me in less than twenty-four hours. They had really wanted me for the job, stating that I had the looks of a Hollywood movie star and the type of face that could sell millions of magazines. Obviously, if I couldn’t use my brains to support Bella, maybe I could use my looks.
“What?” I asked curiously.
“That was Sara Delany who just called.”
“Sara?”
“Yeah, the girl I roomed with back at school. Remember?”
“Oh yeah,” I said, remembering the girl who had greeted me at Bella’s dorm and eyed me like I was a piece of meat. They’d stayed in touch, although Bella and I had both agreed to wait a little longer before making the general public aware of our relationship. There was a chance to rebuild a relationship with our family, so we weren’t ready to nuke that bridge just yet. “What'd she say?”
Bella walked out of the kitchen and over into the middle of the living room. She was wearing some of her short shorts that always got me hot under the collar and a light pink top. The shorts hugged her hips and showed off her growing ass. She still wasn’t sure I wasn’t bullshitting her, but I felt pregnancy had done her body good, filling her out in all the right places, and it was hard to keep my eyes off her. “You’re not going to believe it.”
“Spit it out already.”
“Well, first, she said the school has finally concluded its investigation. Both institutions will remain open. Kappa Beta was hit with probation, but Alpha Gamma basically got off clean, which is not surprising at all.” She paused dramatically and her expression became darker. “Second . . . it's Veronica.”
My heart jumped in my chest, but I kept my expression cool as a thousand doomsday thoughts ran through my head, mainly about our sex tape that I knew Veronica still had in her possession.
Had the bitch spread it to the internet now? I might not have cared if people knew that I loved Bella if they found out, but there’s a big difference between declaring my love and having my dingus on the Internet for everyone to see. But if she was up to something else, there wasn’t shit I could do about it.
“She quit school.”
I looked up at Bella with surprise.
“Quit?”
Bella nodded, and I could tell she was trying not to crack up laughing. “Yeah, Sara said that someone in Alpha finally cracked and told everyone in Alpha and Kappa that Veronica had planted the camera. Apparently, she was planning on blackmailing me over the Sacrifice no matter what. Hanna, the Kappa president, found her diary, and Veronica had hated me from first semester, for some damn reason. She wanted to ruin me no matter what and get me to quit school.”
“Damn,” I muttered. “That’s fucked up. Why?”
Bella shook her head. “I don’t know for sure, but I think it was even before the stupid damn dildo sucking contest. During one of the Rush Week parties, a guy hit on me. I heard afterward that Veronica had her eyes on him. I didn’t fuck him, but neither did Veronica. I’d blown it off. He was a drunken asshole. I guess the bitch didn’t.” I was taken aback by the hatred burning in Bella’s eyes, but I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised. Veronica had done some really fucked up shit to us, and the worst thing about it was, none of it made sense. To try and ruin a girl’s life over a drunken idiot hitting on you? Fuck my life.
She got exactly what she deserved as far as I’m concerned, I thought to myself. And she’s lucky she didn’t end up with worse. Fucking with people's family is asking for bad shit to happen.
“She’s lucky,” I finally said. I shook my head. “We don’t like her, but if she had done that to some of the people I know on campus . . . a lot of crazy, messed up dudes have no qualms putting their hands on women. I knew a couple back at Alpha.”