Page 21 of Heartbreak Kings
“Hey, look,” Marcus forced out after an awkward silence. “I’m sorry Jude’s being a dick. And I’m sorry things took a bad turn. How about we just eat, and you ask your questions?”
Another glance around. Blake was nodding, a warm smile on his face that didn’t touch his eyes. Daniel was frowning. Nathaniel kept staring at me with all the warmth of a corpse. I didn’t even gaze at Jude. I had already dismissed him as a bastard who hated me. “You have one chance,” I declared.
“Very well,” Blake granted. “Ask your questions.”
Jude scoffed. I ignored him as I mulled over which one to ask first.
Why are you so afraid of women being welcome here?
Why did you really invite me?
Why do the five hottest guys I’ve ever met have to be such assholes?
Does being rich just make your soul and conscience wither up and die?
“What are you planning to do about your pledges’ behavior?” I challenged. “I understand that not all of them are guilty of the harassment or attacks, but way too many are.”
“Get used to it, bitch,” Jude started, but this time, I heard a thud, and he grunted in surprise. Marcus was glaring at him. He had kicked his associate under the table, I realized.
“We are still trying to figure out the best course of action,” Nathaniel spoke up, voice glacially calm. “Though most of us wish for you to leave, having you forced out by poor behavior of our pledges will create a scandal. In addition, Mikey Carmody is unstable. Anything he might do to you will reflect poorly on us.”
I stared at Nathaniel’s masked expression and wondered if he was a sociopath. “Yeah, God forbid that your resident woman-hating member strangles me in my dorm room or knifes me to death in a hallway. It might make your precious fraternity look bad.”
My dry tone got a nervous snicker from Marcus.
Nathaniel sat back, blinking rapidly with a genuinely startled expression.
I braced myself for more bullshit from Jude, but he was silent, and when I examined him, he looked just as troubled as Blake and Daniel.
My blood was boiling. I kept the same low, intense tone. “Okay, let me put this another way. The next time anyone on this campus attacks or harasses me, I’m getting the police involved. Not campus security, the actual cops. He will go to jail, and I will press charges. What are you going to do to make sure that the asshole who gets arrested and ends up showcased on my blog isn’t one of yours?”
“That won’t be necessary,” Blake insisted. “I will allow no one from this fraternity to harass or harm you after today.”
There was genuine anger and conviction in his voice. I almost believed him. The part of me that lit up every time I looked at him was fighting with the rest of me. But I forced myself to focus and nodded. “How do you plan to do that?”
“Don’t concern yourself with details.” His iron determination sent an unexpected thrill through me. It was protectiveness.But could I trust it?
“People will say we’re in love,” I teased, quoting Hannibal Lecter.
He considered me, his expression almost as cold as Nathaniel’s.
“No, they won’t,” he answered flatly. “Like Nathaniel, I am primarily concerned with my fraternity’s reputation.”
Shock and pain went through me, startling me with its intensity. It felt like he had deliberately gotten my hopes up and then dashed them. “I was kidding,” I scoffed, clenching my fist under the table.Prick.
“You seem displeased with our priorities,” Nathaniel commented mildly.
“I don’t give a shit about your priorities if you place how you look above my personal safety. Or if your fraternity’s reputation suffers because you don’t keep woman-hating psychos like Carmody and this jackass here—” I eyed Jude “—on a short enough leash.” I braced myself to get up, though my legs felt a little numb.
“Whoa. Come on, now. There’s no need to start a war.” Marcus looked anxious—but I doubted it was for me. “Obviously, you don’t want to be harassed or harmed. Obviously, we care. We’re not monsters.”
“I don’t give a shit what happens to her,” Jude laughed then stopped short when Marcus glared at him.
Marcus continued, “Well, one of us is an asshole, but still, we’re not monsters. Blake has promised you that nothing is going to happen to you at the hands of anyone from Alpha Omega. I intend to help him keep that promise.”
“But you don’t have any answers when I ask you how,” I replied pointedly. “I think you’re blowing smoke up my ass and hoping I’m stupid enough to believe it’s a cure.” I stared between the two of them, ignoring the rest. Daniel mostly seemed all right, but the other two had been ganging up on me since I had come to the table. I’d had enough of this shit.
“Trust us,” Marcus soothed, hands spread. “Carmody and the others have been showing their ass in a big way, but that’s going to end. You may still get harassed by some others, but it won’t be because of us.”
