Page 23 of Heartbreak Kings
“Well, that was an unmitigated disaster,”Nathaniel sighed, sipping his tea as we sat on the couch. “Apparently Blake and Marcus both underestimated her powers of observation.”
I nodded, my coffee going cold in my hand as the sound of the door slamming echoed in my head. That whole conversation with Sabine, I had wanted to stand up and scream at the others for being assholes for most of the meal. I hadn’t enjoyed toying with Sabine’s emotions, but I was forced into a bad-cop role to help give Blake and Marcus a chance to play the white knights.
Jude, Blake, and Marcus were still at the table, arguing over who was to blame for the fucking debacle. They didn’t seem to understand that we were all to blame. All five of us.And I hated it.
I had wanted to run after Sabine and ask her forgiveness. Offer her an escort home. Anything to soften the blow of her sniffing out our game. A game I had never wanted to be a part of. I didn’t much care if she now had damning evidence against us. We deserved it. And it was time for us to man up and make sure she never had reason to use it.
“None of this would have happened if you hadn’t overdone your acting so badly!” Blake shouted at Jude.
Jude slammed his bottle of beer down on the table, sending flecks of foam spurting up from its neck. “I’m a fucking football player, not an actor, you dick. Do you think I was having fun times parroting the worst shit I’ve heard from my guys? I wasn’t.”
Blake calmed down slightly. “Yes, well, I didn’t feel great about threatening to send you to your room like a child either, but you were really laying it on thick. I started wondering whether you were acting at all.”
Jude stared at him. “Yeah, I laid it on thick. Because you told me to. Just saying that shit out loud made me realize how fucked up it all is. I’m never letting you put me in a position like that again, bro. You want to con her into your bed, you’re going to do it without my help from now on.”
“Or mine,” Nathaniel spoke up. I nodded grimly. I was still too pissed off to speak to Blake.
“I’m not okay with what happened either,” Marcus declared in his best lawyer-voice, hands up placatingly. “It’s clear that we need an alternate plan, because I can’t do that to her again.”
“You mean pump and dump her?” Jude tilted his head slightly. “Because, honestly? Same.”
Blake’s face darkened, but he remained noticeably silent for several seconds. Then he took a deep breath and spoke in a low, intense voice. “The idea was to encourage her into leaving, using interpersonal means that would not gain us a complaint to the administration. If we don’t handle it through a broken heart, how do we get her to leave?”
“Maybe we don’t,” Marcus responded, and I regarded him, a touch of my anger draining away. “There are alternatives. You just haven’t been open to them.”
More of the red left Blake’s face. “I’m sorry? What is your suggestion, then? Make her fall in love and then persuade her to leave, perhaps with a hefty financial gift so she can pay her way elsewhere?”
“Maybe,” Marcus replied, sounding a little defensive. “Or maybe we should think more long term. I mean, shit, you’re halfway in love with her already.”
Blake’s eyes widened. “I am not…”
“Horseshit,” Nathaniel rebuked, startling all of us into silence for a moment.
Blake lowered his head slightly, conceding as much as he was going to. “I admit, she’s very special. And there’s definitely an attraction there. But our task is to make her leave the campus. We can’t just ignore that.”
“Okay,” Marcus sighed. “Show of hands. How many of us give a shit whether there are a few women on campus?”
Not a single hand went up.
“How many of us wish that our pledges would grow up, shut up, and take their grievances to Admin and the donors instead of expecting us to harass her into leaving?”
It took several seconds, but in the end, five hands were in the air.
“How many of us want to sort out some way of either letting her stay or getting her a full ride somewhere else, as long as it doesn’t disrupt things on campus?” Marcus asked.
“It’s Carmody and those like him who are disrupting things on campus,” Nathaniel muttered. “And I’m uncertain that accommodating irrational demands born of bigotry is the way to lead the fraternity. We’re dancing to Carmody’s tune, whether we want to admit to it.”
Blake scowled even deeper, but his eyes were thoughtful. “You have a point. And I don’t like that idea much at all. But we still must get this situation under control.”
“Well, what’s your definition of ‘under control’?” Marcus asked, folding his arms.
“Get the damn pledges to settle down. Get Carmody under control. And as for Sabine…” Blake hesitated. I could see the wheels turning in his head. “I want her in hand. I want to make sure she isn’t motivated to make negative reports on us. And I…” He trailed off, deep in thought for a few moments. “It bothered me watching her leave on bad terms.”
“Yeah, me too,” Jude muttered into the mouth of his beer. He took a pull and swallowed. “What do we do about it?”
“All right, so we know we don’t want to drive her out or do anything else that will hurt her.” Marcus peered around. Each of us nodded. “But we don’t want to look like we’re backing down against the administration either.”
“No,” Blake agreed. “But legal and administrative battles are separate from the whole Sabine issue.”
