“Jesus,” I groaned. “That’s why he’s doing this. He thinks it’s somehow our fault he almost got kicked out.”
“There’s no escaping it this time,” Jack said. “Once I report him, he’s gone.” He peered at Mads. “I just wanted to talk to you first, and make sure you’re okay with me showing it to the dean.”
“No,” I said.
They both turned to look at me with surprise, but an idea was taking shape in my mind, and my pulse picked up as I fit the pieces together.
“Jack,” I said, “I’m going to need you to send me the link to his presentation.”
Suspicion clouded his eyes. “Why?”
A slow grin spread across my lips. “Because we’re going to give Riley exactly what he wants.”
The line to check IDs was backed up nearly to the sidewalk out in front of the Sigma Phi Alpha house, and it was fucking weird not to bypass the wide-eyed freshmen and walk right in.
I stood beside Mads as we inched our way closer to the door. The sun had set an hour ago, and it’d cooled off enough that it was nice outside tonight. I wasn’t looking forward to going down into the basement, where it would be hot as fuck, but at the same time, I was confident it’d be worth it.
The guy manning the door was surprised to see us but waved me and Mads through without glancing at our IDs. She stuck close to me as we went down the stairs into the basement that the Sigs typically used only for parties. Did she feel like we were descending into a pit?
The space was dark, crowded, and loud.
When we reached the bottom of the stairs, our gazes were drawn across the room. A large screen had been set up, and a slideshow with pictures from last year flashed across it.
I was in several of them, along with my brothers.
Tailgating before a home football game.
The Halloween party.
And then there was me covered in mud and grinning as I crossed the finish line at the tournament. The white ribbon was stretched across my chest the second before it broke, and Mads was just behind me, looking heartbroken at losing.
Right on fucking cue, Riley materialized from the crowd. “What’s up, man? I was starting to think you weren’t gonna come.”
He looked both relieved and thrilled we had, and he held out his hand, wanting me to grab it and pull him into a half-hug, but—
Fuck that.
Instead, I stood as a statue, ignoring the gesture.
He dropped his hand, glanced at Mads, and gave her an acknowledging nod, before squeezing out a quick smile. “Y’all should get your drinks before we start. I think I’m up second, so you won’t have to wait long.”
Truer words had never been spoken by me. “Looking forward to it.”
“Yeah. Me too.”
He didn’t need to tell us because his eyes buzzed with chaotic energy. At least he did a decent job of hiding his evil smile before disappearing into the crowd, heading toward the roped off area where the laptop running the slideshow was stationed.
Mads and I made the rounds, ignoring the way some people stared at us. We’d talked about it beforehand and decided this was the best way to handle our situation. If we didn’t make a big deal out of everyone knowing, maybe they wouldn’t either. And people needed to see us, to know we were here.
I didn’t miss the envious way some guys looked at me as I stood next to Mads. She was hot as sin, a genuine porn star, and I was very aware of how lucky I was to be with her.
We got some drinks, hooked up with Jorge, and found a spot near the back of the room to watch the show.
The first presentation was by Mike, who used his two minutes to discuss the alcohol served at parties around campus. He wore shorts and a t-shirt, and put on a tie around his bare neck for his segment, pretending to take the whole thing seriously.
He had charts and figures showing which drinks tasted the best versus which tasted the best on the return trip when you’d had too much, and I heard Mads snicker at the tiny asterisk noting all his data was made-up bullshit.
He finished it off by showing a graph proving the Sigs served the winning drinks in both categories, based on his empirical evidence. The presentation ended, and people clapped and cheered when he chugged his beer, whipped off his tie, and dropped the mic.
My heart beat faster as Riley bent and scooped it up off the floor, and I put my arm around Mads, pulling her closer. I glanced down to see the anxiety I felt mirrored on her face.
This was it. No going back now.
Riley had returned to the laptop and started his PowerPoint, and a simple title filled the frame. Great Men of Sigma Phi Alpha. It was underwhelming, especially in comparison to the one we’d just seen. Mike had put in a lot of effort into the whole performance, but it seemed like Riley was going to rely on his content to carry him through.