Wynter and I share a look.
“You thinking what I’m thinking?” I ask softly.
“That the football player somehow got on the Veronians’ bad side? Yup. People have a habit of doing that…”
Shay grimaces. “I hate that you’re getting in deep with those fuckers. They sound like monsters. Covering up crimes, helping rapists evade justice, encouraging violence, destroying innocent people’s lives?—”
“It’s a who’s who of Cuntsville,” I agree, but I kick him under the table. “It’s not like our fathers are innocent, Shay."
He grits his teeth. “This is different.”
“Is it though?” I lift a knowing brow. “These assholes are bad news, but let’s not be na?ve here. Wynter and I fully concur that they need a woman’s touch.”
Shay snorts. “Only you would think you could turn a purely patriarchal society into a matriarchal one.”
“It takes one smart woman to blow those fuckers’ house of cards down. In this case, there are two. They underestimated us. They won’t do it again.”
Wynter holds out her fist for me to bump.
That done, a thought occurs to me. “Who did you have to beat up?”
Her lips part. “Excuse me?”
“As part of your initiation.” When confusion greets me, I curse, “Son of a bitch.”
“More like the daughter of one,” she jokes. “Victoria? What’s wrong?”
“Before I received my invitation, I had to have someone beaten up. Only once I’d provided them with proof did I get a day and a time.”
“Is it because you’re not a Pi?” Shay inquires, a thoughtful crease to his brow.
“Could be.”
“There’s definitely a link between Pi Epsilon Beta, Rho Beta Epsilon, and the Veronians,” Wynter acknowledges. “Something else we have to figure out.”
I let my hands fly up in exasperation. “Like we didn’t have enough to do.”
“100%. Our next move?”
“No move. We have to wait for the third rite. Go through with it and just get inducted. Remember, this is a marathon, not a sprint. In the meantime, we collect info.”
“You mean blackmail material.”
I smile at Shay. “See? You do have a criminal’s mindset.”
He groans but before he can reply, someone squalls, “Holy fuck, it’s true!”The diner falls silent as everyone turns to the doorway where Derek Dyers stands. “Addison, I thought you were joking about them being an item. Bradley, man, are you desperate or something?”
“God, that guy is such an asshole,” Wynter hisses. “I can’t believe she’s with him too. What the hell is she thinking?”
A look over my shoulder finds that Addison Fitzpatrick, the Pi Epsilon Beta president, is latched onto Dyers’s arm.
Well, I say “on,” but it looks like he stapled her there.
“Is it just me, or does she seem scared?” Shay mutters, hackles rising.
“Sit down, Robin Hood. Let this play out. You can wade in if the argument turns nasty.”
“She can handle herself,” Wynter confirms.
