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Backing away, he winked, gave me a final pat on the shoulder and turned to Bishop.
“You know what this means,” Rector told Bishop.
Taking a step back, I watched the two young men. The lifelong comradery held by a thread. The tension was palpable.
“I wanted to hear it from you,” Bishop said. Though still clearly angry with Rector, he was able to put his anger aside and tend to what needed to be done.
“You’re in charge while I’m gone,” Rector said. His tone was that of a boss giving orders to an underling, not a friend telling a friend what to do. “You’ve been second in command long enough to know how to run the fraternity.”
“And I’ve seen how you nearly ran the fraternity into the ground,” Bishop said with more bite to every word. “I assure you, I won’t let that happen under my watch.”
Rector grimaced as he clenched his fists a few times before finally shaking out his hands and relaxing his face again. “If you want to insist on seeing things that way, it’s your prerogative, but you know that…”
“I don’t want to hear it, Rector,” Bishop said. “What’s done is done. Go. Rest. Connect with your father. Go do whatever it is that you do outside of this campus.” He glared at the man who’d long been his friend. “Maybe you can even take this time to mature a bit.”
This time it was Rector’s jaw that tensed and clenched as he looked around. “Deacon didn’t come?”
“Can you blame him?”
Rector shrugged.
“Give him time.” Bishop angrily raked his fingers through his blond hair and looked away for a moment before bringing his gaze back to Rector. He let out a heavy and tired sigh. “He’ll come around. I guess if we give this whole thing enough time, we’ll all calm down and come around.”
A black Cadillac Escalade with dark tinted windows came up to the front of the frat house.
“Looks like your ride is here,” Bishop shot out with a touch of bitterness. “Sure is nice to have a rich daddy to take care of things when you screw up, isn’t it?”
Rector grabbed the smallest of his large suitcases. “Look who’s talking. Your dad could buy this place in the blink of an eye. Hell, he could buy every single mansion here on Old Millionaire Row. So don’t talk to me about a rich father taking care of things.”
Bishop stepped aside. “Yeah, but I’ve never given my father a reason to come pull me out of the trouble I’d gotten myself into.”
As the chauffeur got out and came around the vehicle, Rector gestured to the stack of luggage still sitting on the porch. The chauffeur dutifully brought each piece of oversized luggage to the back of the vehicle and loaded them up. He then opened the door for Rector.
“Just make sure you take good care of the Saints,” Rector called out to Bishop as he prepared to get into the car. “You’re president of the Saints now. Don’t let me down.”
“I won’t,” Bishop said.
The chauffeur held the back door to the Escalade open as Rector looked up at us, reluctant to leave.
“See you guys soon,” Rector finally said.
The chauffeur closed the door and calmly walked around to the driver’s side.
Standing side by side, Bishop and I watched the chauffeur get into the driver’s seat and drive off.
“I can’t believe it,” Bishop whispered as the black vehicle disappeared around the corner.
I turned to look at him, surprised by the pain in his eyes. “I thought you were mad at him,” I said.
“I am,” he said. “But I’m still unhappy about seeing him go.” Forcing the sensitive subject away, he looked at me and smiled. “Anyway, the important thing now is that you are officially a Saint.”
“I am?”
He nodded and smiled. There was something so boyish and yet so sexy in the way he simply looked at me.
“Oh, Brian,” I whispered as I leaned in to kiss him. “Do you know how happy that makes me?”
Pulling me into a tight embrace, he kissed me, his tender lips so soft and sensual. For a long moment, I lost myself in the kiss and in the desire to have more. His mouth was hot and his hands on my skin even hotter.
