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Vaughn just grimaces. “That road leading up to campus is treacherous in the dark, you know.”
“If you say so,” Brady responds, sounding bored. His annoyed gaze encompasses all of us. “I will take the lead in handling Olivia Pratt since none of you seem to be up to the challenge. Initiation is in a few weeks. I hope no one does anything else to disappoint me between now and then.”
“We’ll be ready,” Nolan pipes up, like the sycophant that he is.
“Everybody get out,” Brady snaps, obviously annoyed. His next words stop me before I turn away. “Not you, Van Koch.”
The temperature of the room seems to drop by several degrees as everyone else quickly exits. Cole claps me on the back as he passes and Nolan just shakes his head, muttering “kiss ass” under his breath.
Vaughn hesitates at the door, but I wave him away.
Crossing his arms over his chest, Brady gives me a probing look. “I hope I didn’t make things awkward for you when I allowed Olivia to pledge. You did good last semester, but I’m sure you weren’t expecting her to waltz back in here.”
I give him a careless shrug. “Doesn’t matter to me.”
“Anything useful that you can tell me about her?”
“There really isn’t much to tell,” I hedge. “Our relationship didn’t involve a whole lot of talking.”
Brady chuckles. “I’m glad you weren’t dumb enough to catch feelings for that little slut.”
Bashing his head against the table would be a bad idea, I remind myself. “That video of her was from the night of your Initiation, wasn’t it?”
He rolls his eyes. “Even if it was, I couldn’t tell you.”
“And she got attacked in the woods at the Bacchanal a few days later, that doesn’t exactly look good.”
“All I can say is that the last time I saw Olivia Pratt walk out of Havoc House, she left satisfied. Whatever happened after that had nothing to do with us, no matter what she might claim.”
If Brady is an attempted murderer, he seems awfully cavalier about it.
“I did what I had to do last term,” I respond and I hope he can’t hear my teeth grinding together. “But I’d like to stay out of prison, if you don’t mind.”
“That’s what being Havoc is all about, living a consequence-free life. We grease the right palms and oil the right gears of society. Then we sit on top of the mountain like kings. If you mess this all up, I won’t be the one who suffers for it. You can be with us or against us, and you’ve already seen what it looks like to be against us.” He clasps me on the shoulder, his grip like a vise. “You’re with us, right?”
There is only one possible answer to that question, whether I mean or not. “I am.”
The smile on his face turns mean. “Then, let’s go get ourselves a pledge.”
Chapter Thirteen
I’m the only person left in the dorm building, which is freaky as hell.
Supposedly, there is a member of the staff who stays on during winter breaks to monitor the dormitory. But the only evidence anyone else has stepped foot in the building is the janitor’s cart that has been sitting in the hallway for the last several hours.
There is something about being alone in a building, even when we you’re allowed to be, that makes you feel illicit. My footsteps echo off the rows and rows of closed doors in the hallway, only darkness visible around their edges.
Being alone at night makes it seem like anything is possible.
It’s been hours since I left Havoc House and I’ve just been pacing around the empty building in an effort to quiet my thoughts.
I’ve been waiting for a text or contact from Drake, but my phone has been completely silent. I have no idea how the bomb I dropped in their laps went off after I left, and I’m very interested in finding out.
I hate not knowing what’s going to happen next.
My room, or Olivia’s if you want to be technical, is pretty much how I left it a few nights ago. The bed is unmade and there are dirty clothes scattered along the floor that I need to put in the hamper. I should be embarrassed of the mess, but it’s hard to feel anything right now except for the painful stutter of anticipation.
Something is about to happen and it won’t be good.
