“True.”
There we have it. A confession. It’s a small one, but it’s a good step in the right direction.
He takes another sip, and his face contorts, probably from the high amount of alcohol that he’s spiked his drink with.
“So, what do you do exactly?” I ask. “Just deal drugs or … something else?”
“Something else?” Brody laughs. “You mean the fighting?”
“Yeah.”
“No, only the freshmen do that.”
No wonder Hunter’s always drummed up like a slave. I wonder why he lets them order him around like that.
“Okay … But what about you then?” I ask.
“I’m a distributor.” Brody picks up his glass again and drinks up the rest in one go. He scowls, and then lets out a huge breath as he puts down his glass again.
“What is your boyfriend looking for exactly?”
I gulp when he says that. “Uh … What?”
“I heard some distributors talking about him, saying he wants information.”
I don’t know if I should tell Brody, or if I’m even allowed to, but at the same time I want him to tell me more. If I don’t say it, he probably won’t trust me with more. I should take the chance and hope for the best.
“He’s trying to find out who the boss is.”
“Why?” Brody’s leaning on his hand, looking terribly bored.
“I don’t know,” I say, taking a massive sip of my coke, almost choking on it. “Why are you so interested? I thought you guys didn’t even know each other,” I say.
“Who? Me and Hunter?” he says, swaying his glass back and forth.
I nod.
“I’ve been in Alpha Psi for two years. Hunter’s a freshmen. Of course I hadn’t met him before.”
“Oh, well that explains it.”
Brody puts down his glass and leans forward, gazing at me with an intent look on his face. “You know … I still wouldn’t trust Hunter. He seems to be hiding an awful lot from you.”
“What do you mean?” I say, my heart throbbing in my throat when he says that. How does Brody know that?
“Jessie, his brother, was a dealer for our frat house for years, too. Outside the grounds, of course. He wasn’t in college.”
I gape at him. “What? Are you serious?”
“Yep. Why do you think the guy’s in jail now? Wasn’t careful enough,” Brody says. “There’s a lot more Hunter probably isn’t telling you.”
“I can’t believe this …” I mutter to myself, but it slips out of my mouth too, making Brody chuckle.
“And you know what else? If Hunter goes on the way he does, doing things out in the open, he’ll surely end up there, too.”
My lip starts to quiver.
No. It can’t be.
Hunter can’t end up in jail. He can’t.
Can he?
Just the thought of it makes my heart go wild. I don’t want him to be put behind bars because of this. I don’t care why he’s doing it, I don’t want to see him in there.
He said it himself, jail was a hellhole. No way would he be okay in there.
“I have to go,” I stammer, and I get off my seat.
“See ya around, I guess,” Brody yells after me, as I stumble through the crowd to the exit of the building.
Tears well up in my eyes.
It’s all becoming way too clear now. I’ve been swooning over a guy who’s so freaking bad, he even told me he was, and I still didn’t listen. If he ended up in jail, it would break my heart.
I don’t want to see that happen. I can’t handle it.
All I wanted was to get through college, and now life has become so much more difficult than that.
And it’s all because of Hunter.
Chapter 21
Secrets and Desires
I make my way to the exit of the building and go outside. I suddenly don’t have enough air to breathe in. It feels like I’m suffocating in the realization that my life has been turned upside down by Hunter.
The door slams open behind me. I turn around. Hunter’s barging toward me with a furious look on your face.
“Are you trying to get in trouble?” he yells. “Don’t you know how fucking dangerous it is to go without me?”
“I don’t care. I want to go home,” I say.
He grabs me by the forearm, preventing me from going anywhere. “Why do you keep running away?”
“Fuck off!” I say, and I jerk my arm loose.
“What the fuck? Why are you so angry at me?” he says. “I didn’t do anything.”
“Brody told me all about you and Jessie.”
His eyes widen when I say that.
“Your brother was dealing for the frat club, too. That’s the reason he’s in jail, isn’t it?”