Chapter One
Jackson
Spinning my phone around on the kitchen counter, I thought about what Mom had just asked me to do.
Their best friend’s daughter had transferred to where I was at Northern Arizona University after going through some things at her first one back home in Florida, and they wanted me to check in on her and make sure she was okay.
Checking the time, I figured why the hell not. From what I could remember of Sasha Adams-DeWitt, she’d been a cute book nerd who’d never paid much attention to what was going on around her. That was probably why they’d hazed her as severely as they had at her previous college because she was an easy target.
I hated bullies and the different tactics they used to break someone mentally and emotionally. If checking on her and letting her know I was here if anything happened helped, I could do that.
Making my way toward the front door, I texted Mom back.
Me: Okay, just on my way now. Text me her address.
It was like she was primed and waiting for me with it because my phone binged before I’d even opened the door, making my eyes narrow.
Mom: Here it is. Thank you so much, my handsome boy. Adam and Ryan are really worried about her after what happened, so it’ll make them feel so much better having someone to keep an eye on her.
Wait, hold on a second.
Me: Uh, you didn’t say I was going to be a full-time babysitter. I thought I was just saying yo, and then keep saying it when I saw her?!
I’d just sat down in my truck when she replied, making me sigh. I knew what was coming, I just knew it.
Mom: Jackson Townsend-Rossi, her dads are like uncles to you. She’s been to hell and back recently and needs a friend and some security.
Boom! Fucking awesome.
I was now a babysitter for a teenage girl who’d probably be afraid of everything. If something went to shit, I’d be duty-bound to intervene and sort it out.
Knowing resistance was futile with Mom, I tossed my phone into the cupholder and drove toward the address I had, drumming my fingers on the steering wheel.
I don’t think I’d spoken to Sasha since I was about fourteen. She’d gone to a different school than us, and once I hit my teens, I’d grown like a weed and joined the basketball team. When I wasn’t doing that, most weekends, I was either out playing with my friends, attending games, or just doing shit teenagers with brothers did. We were always active and out having fun going boating, diving, and fishing to relax. A little girl never factored into that, especially once puberty hit.
If I remembered correctly, she’d also stopped coming with her dads to the barbecues and get-togethers my parents threw, so I really didn’t know how long it’d been since I’d seen her.
And now I was headed to insert myself into her life because Mom thought it’d help her.
Apparently, when she’d joined her previous college, she’d been invited to join what was labeled a ‘superior sorority.’ The fact it was the sorority themselves who called it that was neither here nor there—although you’d have thought it would have made alarm bells start ringing for her—because these girls were the ‘elite.’ The members had the highest grades, and they were basically what every new student wanted to be, but it was by invite only.
Sasha’s GPA had drawn them in, but they’d had different tasks and challenges for smart nerdy girls. Ones that’d turned out to be brutal.
In short, Sasha had been waterboarded, she’d had rats released into her bedroom, they’d put laxatives in her bottles of water in her dorm, they’d sent love letters from her to one of her professors… and that was all Mom was willing to tell me. It was fucked up.
Their final act had been too much on the girl who was, by that point, fragile. They’d filled her car with pig’s blood and put the head on the back seat. Her dads had gone in and spoken to the dean, lost their shit when he hadn’t taken it seriously, and then she’d transferred as far away from there as possible.
The whole thing pissed me off. One of the sororities here had almost killed a guy, so I’d had it with them acting so irresponsibly. The point of joining one was to have a brotherhood or a sisterhood, a strong family away from your own. They were people you’d have that link with for the rest of your life, with fond memories that you told your kids and grandkids. Why the hell did people always have to go too far?
Pulling up in front of the small apartment block, I looked around the area to make sure it looked safe. Her dads would’ve made doubly sure before they agreed to her renting it, but still.