“This was easier when there were four of us, or when there weren’t girls involved. Damn, they make life more complicated.”
Brock chuckled. “No shit. But the sex is worth it.”
I rolled my eyes. Sex was not the reason Brock was with Josie. He could get ass any time he wanted with a push of a button on his phone. The difference was having sex with someone you loved. I was just starting to realize that myself. I had plenty of opportunities, but none of them interested me. Not the way Mads did.
It took me two years to figure that out and endless meaningless lays.
He twisted the watch on his wrist, checking the time. “Should we call in Gray and Fynn?”
I shook my head, glaring out the big picture window that overlooked the field. Patters of evening rain hit the glass and watered the dry grass. “Not yet.” With this just being the start of the semester, they had plenty on their plates between classes and football practice. The first game of the year was coming up in two weeks.
His arms dropped down to the couch as he glanced sidelong over at me. “What do you want to do?” he asked, tossing the ball into my court.
He was letting me call the shots, something he normally took on himself. My mouth tightened as I thought about the numerous ways I wanted to destroy Sterling Weston. It wasn’t just that he had intimate pictures of my girlfriend but how he was using them to manipulate her. “Did you call Fynn?”
Brock nodded. “He’s working on it. I’ll call him tonight, see if he can rush it along,” he said, fishing his phone from his back pocket. “See if he can get access tonight and wipe it by tomorrow.”
It was a start. “Good. I want those photos gone.” My voice was dry and harsh, not bothering to conceal my resentment. If we took away his leverage, then perhaps he would stop using my girl and come straight for me.
Brock typed out a message as he replied, “He’ll take care of Sterling’s phone and computer. I also asked him to check into the other guys as well. I figured it couldn’t hurt just in case this is a frat thing and not just a personal vendetta.”
“Good thinking.”
“It’ll take him a few days to get through those.” Brock had gotten a list of every member currently living at Chi Sigma. His gaze lifted from his phone. “What about any hard copies he has stashed?”
“I’ll take care of those myself,” I said with a tight smile. “I want another poke around the place.”
His gaze flattened. “You thinking August 29 at midnight?”
I gave him a lopsided grin, appreciating that Brock knew how my mind worked. “I mean, it’s fitting. He did give us an invite to rush.”
“What if he finds it suspicious when we don’t show?” he countered. It was what he did best, pulling apart ideas, looking for plot holes and unexpected errors. One small mistake or oversight could get us caught.
“That’s why you’re going.”
I anticipated Brock’s scowl, as well as the rebuttal I knew was coming. “I don’t like it. You going into that house alone.”
“I need you to keep Sterling and his cult buddies busy,” I said. “Keep an eye on them. With just the two of us, it’s the best idea we have.”
He couldn’t argue with that. “Grayson and Fynn are only two hours away. We might need to bring them down for this.”
“It’s too close to the first game. Fynn needs to keep his head on football, not what’s happening here,” I argued, serious for once in my fucking life. I didn’t want anything getting in the way of Fynn’s chance at the pros.
Brock dropped his head back onto the couch. “God, I hate it when you’re reasonable.”
My lips twitched. “I know. It feels wrong, doesn’t it?”
The week flew by without a single sighting of Sterling. His silence made me edgy, and for good reason. Although he didn’t show his face, which I had been looking forward to admiring my handiwork on, the prick had no problem tormenting me. The first photo arrived Thursday night right before I was about to drop off to sleep. It came from an anonymous number. Most weekdays Mads stayed in her dorm, but on the weekends, she was mine.
Had he deliberately sent these knowing she wouldn’t be here? That I would wonder if she was safe in her room? If Sterling was creeping outside her dorm, staring at the light in her window? If he was lurking outside her door?
In the utter dark, I hurled my phone across the room, hearing it smash against the wall and shatter to the floor.
“Fuck,” I whispered, realizing moments later that if Mads needed me tonight, she had no way to get a hold of me.
Sleep was pointless. No way would I be able to relax my mind enough to drift off, not without all these crazy scenarios running wild in my head.
Well past one in the morning, I tossed the covers aside and rolled out of bed. My intuition urged me to take a late-night jog to clear my head and perhaps cruise by the girls’ dorm. It couldn’t hurt and might just let me get a few hours of sleep that were left in this night.