“Oh, come off it, Bouchard,” River says. “We all knowsomeonehijacked the speakers to spill Tate’s secret. What about the rest of us? I didn’t even know we were being recorded.” His eyes bore into mine. “Wonder whose little secret gets broadcast next.”
“It won’t be yours,” I snap. “You don’t have to worry about that.”
I’m confident about that. Whatever Pandora does, she wouldn’t humiliate River in that way. She cares about him too much.
“Don’t I, though?” he asks.
Ezio claps his hands. “Oh, are we talking about this now? I thought we were going to keep pretending your girlfriend didn’t steal one of the most valuable assets the frat has.”
“She’s not—” I start.
“The frat shouldn’t have had that shit to begin with,” River says. “Why the fuck do you have recordings of pledge week?”
“Because it means nobody can spill any secrets without their own getting exposed,” Ezio answers. “If the security had been better… or maybe, if Blaze had actually informed anyone that the drives weremissing…”
“I thought Zayden had taken them!” I shout back. “He fucked off to nowhere right after the fire. He’s the one with keys; he knew where the drives were. Nobody else made sense.”
My heart is pounding ridiculously fast in my chest.
I can’t let Ezio know that I knew.
I can’t let him turn his sights on Pandora.
I definitely can’t let him inform my father that Ifailed.
River shakes his head. “This is all bullshit,” he mutters.
“I agree,” Ezio says. “But I thought Blaze was the only one bullshitting me.” He turns his gaze to River. “You’re hiding something too. What do you know about Pandora Pavone?”
River’s expression is blank. “That she’s a whore,” he says, shrugging. “She’ll sleep with anyone with a cock.”
That she burned down the frat house, that she tried to cut me open.
I reach up to my chest, the sensation of her knife against my bare skin still fresh.
“Pandora isn’t a problem,” I snap. “She’s one fucking woman. Let’s focus on the fundraisers and getting our own shit sorted. And we still don’t know for sure she’s the one who went after Tate.”
Neither River nor Ezio look impressed by that statement.
“Fine. I’ll deal with her, okay?” I growl. “I’ll get the drives back. It’s not like they’ve got anything important on them.”
“Nothing important?” River repeats. “You’re kidding, right?”
“Fine, she has the hazing videos, and some financial crap.” I run my hand through my hair. “But there’s nothing she can use.”
Ezio laughs and glances at River. “He’s not very convincing, is he?”
“Don’t bring me into this,” River snaps at him. “I’m not your friend, Ezio. We aren’tpals. Let Blaze deal with it.”
“I think we’ve established by now that Blaze isn’t particularly good at dealing with it,” Ezio answers.
My vision goes hazy. I get up and grab Ezio’s collar from across the table.
“Shut the fuck up, Ezio,” I hiss. “You don’t know anything about me, about what’s going on here. You show up out of the blue and act like you know everything?—”
“Blaze,” River warns, and he slides his chair back so he can get up.
Before I can snarl a response at him, I hear the front door open and close. No footsteps come our way, though; it has to be Asch, but it’s clear that he’s still avoiding me.
