“Look, you should go talk to Phillip. He had front row seats for what went down.”
“So something did go down.” Victory flared up in me. “What happened?”
He narrowed his eyes. “You been to your stepbrother’s room yet?”
“No. Why would I?”
“So you don’t know he got kicked out?”
“I was in the bathroom for an hour.”
“Shit went down in that hour.”
I gazed around with new perspective. Carl was only manning one cooler. There were four others around the yard, along with a new bonfire pit and two tables getting set up for beer pong. A sick feeling began to develop deep in my gut, and I didn’t like it.
I asked, feeling faint, “Is Kevin here?”
“Nope.”
Caden wasn’t here.
Kevin wasn’t here.
A buzzing started in my head. “You said Phillip was there? When whatever happened?”
“Yep.”
I cleared my throat, my hands becoming sweaty. “Where’s Phillip?”
“He’s the one who just told me to stay here.”
“Lovely,” I murmured to myself. That guy didn’t like me. I had a feeling he wasn’t going to be too forthcoming.
Still, I headed back inside and asked the first guy I saw. “Where’s Phillip?”
“Downstairs.”
Oh, crap.
My knees grew weak, and my hands trembled as I made my way down the same stairs I’d been up not long ago.
I moved forward, the hallway suddenly looming. One room had a closed door, but the other two stood open. I couldn’t look away from my stepbrother’s room.
It was completely bare. Even the sheets had been stripped off the mattress. Two guys were moving around in there, one picking up garbage and the other vacuuming. They finished as I watched, then grabbed all the cleaning supplies and packed them away. They moved past me on their way out, and I gulped. Within moments they came back with new bedding and made Kevin’s old bed.
Avery, Claudia, and Shell came to stand in the bathroom doorway. One of the guys reached behind them and grabbed Kevin’s towels.
“What’s going on?” Avery asked me.
I had no idea. I shook my head.
“We’re done, Phillip,” the cleaning guys called.
“Good. Did you put condoms in there?”
One cursed. “I will now.” And he was off.
I was in shock. My knees knocked against each other as I turned to find myself face to face with the screen door guy.
I saw the hostility and rasped out, “What’d you say to Caden?”
He snorted, motioning behind me. “You can go, D. Thanks for getting that room done so quick.”
“Hey.” Claudia took off after him. I heard her asking as they went up the stairs, “What is going on?”
D nodded and nearly sprinted upstairs. I stepped forward, standing in Phillip’s doorway. He couldn’t shut the door in my face that way, and I reached out, bracing myself so I’d be ready if he tried.
“What happened?”
“Your stepbrother’s a piece of shit.”
“I’m aware,” I repeated. “What happened?”
I needed to know where Caden was. Badly. It was becoming imperative now.
“Caden called a house ultimatum.”
“Ultimatum? What does that mean?”
“Him or your stepbrother.” He snorted. “Take a big guess who we picked. Your stepbro’s out. We sent him packing as soon as the vote went through.”
“What?”
Avery pointed to the bathroom. “We were just in there. How did all this happen so quickly?”
Phillip shrugged. “Your boy decided. Called it in, and the house rallied real quick. That’s all I can say.”
“Where is Caden? I know you know.”
“You haven’t called him?”
I looked at my phone. There was a text from Kevin. Call me! Got kicked out because of your boyfriend! A second one from Sheila. Did you talk to Kevin yet? Then nothing. It was blank. No calls. The empty screen was like a knife plunged into my chest.
Caden had left me, like my mom did.
No. I pushed that fear away, stomping it down.
“Can I use your phone?” I didn’t know what was going on between Caden and me. He might not answer my call, but he would answer a call from one of his fraternity brothers.
“Why?”
“My phone’s not working.”
He snorted. “Since now?”
“Yes.” I dropped it and stomped a foot on it. Fine, you fucker. I held my hand out. “Let me make one call.”
He swore, but handed me his phone. “Fine, but I’m going to cover my own ass if he doesn’t want to hear from you.”
My hand closed around the phone like it was a life raft. “Deal.”