“The DIK house? How the hell did she end up there?”
“I have no idea, honestly, but she was here, sick and passed out. I went on her phone and found you. Do y’all live together?”
“Yes … oh my God, I can’t even believe this. She was with us at Brass Monkey for a social with Pike. She said she was going out for a smoke, and next thing I know, we’re ready to go and she’s nowhere to be found.”
“Well, she seems to be okay. She’s just had way too much to drink. Can I call a cab for her? I’ll ride with her to make sure she gets there safely.”
“Yes! That would be amazing. Thank you. We’re at the Theta Nu house.”
“Okay, you there now?”
“Yeah. We have been since she disappeared.”
“Alright, no problem. We’ll be there soon.”
“Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it.” I hang up the phone and toss it into her purse.
“Trevor?” Brady pleads, and Trevor takes a step toward me as I stand from the bed.
“Can we talk outside?” he mutters, motioning his head toward the door.
I shake my head. “Sorry, man. I gotta get her home. Her friends have been worried about her for hours.” I sneer at Brady before grabbing her purse, and then I lean over her, tapping her cheek lightly to wake her.
“April, can you hear me?”
Her eyelids flutter, mouth agape.
“April, open your eyes, hun. Don’t you wanna sleep in your own bed?”
Her eyelids flutter again, opening to slits. She groans and then nods. “Yeah,” she grunts.
“Okay, then stand up for me.” I grab her arms, the purse annoyingly tumbling along with me, and I pull her to her feet.
“Trevor?” Brady says again, his voice whiny, pathetic.
April’s eyes start to close again, and I give her a good shake. “April, we need to walk outside, okay hun?”
Her eyes open and she looks over at me slowly, a hiccup escaping her mouth. “I’m so tired,” she mumbles as Carter pushes his way through the other brothers and comes into the room. He grabs one of her arms and throws it over his shoulder.
“Come on, April. One foot in front of the other,” he says, nodding toward me.
I nod back as I look toward the door. “Make a hole,” I bark as the gawking brothers remain motionless in front of the doorway. They quickly scatter like rodents.
“Seriously, Trevor, this is bullshit,” Brady says from behind us as we help her through the door.
“We’ll deal with it tomorrow,” Trevor responds.
We don’t stay long enough to hear any more of Brady’s bullshit. Walking her down the hall, ignoring all the open doors and curious eyes, we lead her out the front door. We steady her onto the couch on the porch, and then I retrieve my phone from my pocket to call a cab.
As we wait for it to arrive, Trevor comes outside, thankfully without the presence of Brady. He has a look of exasperation on his face.
“Trevor, honestly, I don’t wanna hear it,” I say, putting a hand up and shaking my head.
“Alright. I get it. But what about Monday? Can we get together and talk about this?”
“What’s there really to talk about?”
“Can you just come by before study session? Just like a half hour early.”
“Not if Brady’s gonna be there.”
Trevor hesitates before he agrees. “Okay, that’s fine. Do we have a deal?”
He puts out his hand as the cab pulls into the parking lot.
I shake his hand quickly. “Deal.”
As Carter and I help April to her feet, Trevor says, “We’re not the bad guys here, Bishop.”
I shake my head, a smirk spreading across my face as we lead her to the cab. “I don’t even know what the fuck that means,” I respond without turning back.
After helping her into the back seat, Carter asks, “You want me to come with you?”
“No worries. It’s just right up the street. I’m just gonna take the cab home after. I’ve had enough bullshit for tonight.”
“Okay, man. Have a good night.” He slaps hands with me, and as I turn and get in the cab next to her, he adds, “Sorry I doubted you earlier, bro.”
Settling in the seat, I shake my head, my hand on the door handle. “Don’t worry about it. I get where you were comin’ from. You just gotta think about other people too. Talk to you tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow,” he responds, and I close the door behind him.
“A quarter of a mile ride?” the cabbie asks as he backs out onto the road and then pulls away. He lets out a scoff.
“Better than carryin’ her, my friend.”
He nods.
A half a minute later, we’re on sorority row and the cabbie pulls up in front of the Theta Nu house, where a few girls stand out front with concerned looks on their faces.
“Oh my God, April. You gave us such a scare,” one of the girls says, approaching my opening cab door.
“Wait for me here, please,” I say to the cabbie, tossing him a twenty.
“I presume you’re Bestie?” I ask as I get out and the girl helps me guide April out of the cab safely.
“Yeah. Jennifer. Thanks so much for bringing her home,” she responds as two other girls approach us.
Their presence brings April out of her stupor a little more, and she smiles. “Sistersss,” she says, her head wobbling as one of them trades spots with me. The other one switches with Jennifer, and they help April toward the door as Jennifer makes her way toward me.
“Really, thank you for calling me and bringing her over. Where did you find her?” she asks.
“There’s a party at the DIK house tonight. She was there. Passed out.”
“Passed out?”
“Yeah.”
She quirks an eyebrow, her hands on her hips, and asks, “Why do I get the feeling there’s more to the story?”
I chuckle nervously. “Probably because I’m a terrible liar.”
“So …”
“So I first noticed her at the party with one of the brothers. She didn’t look so good. I hadn’t ever seen her around the house, so I didn’t think she was with that guy or anything. And then, well, he ended up takin’ her to his room.”
“Did he fuck her?” she asks, a hand meeting her mouth, a look of horror crossing her face.
“No, no … I didn’t let anything happen. But you guys need to be more careful with the drinkin’. Some of these guys will take advantage of that shit.”
“Honestly, she wasn’t really that drunk at the party tonight. And I don’t know why the hell she would’ve went to the DIK house in the first place. We don’t ever hang with you guys because of that shit.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, the DIK basement is considered the Roofie Room around the Theta Nu house.”
My stomach sinks.
Who am I acquainting myself with?
“Well, fuck, I didn’t know that. Maybe check her phone. See if she’s been talkin’ to some guy in DIK. Maybe he invited her to the party.”
“Do you know the guy she was with?”
I hesitate, caught between doing the right thing and being a rat. “Barely. I’m new here.”
“You’re in DIK, though?”
“Pledgin’, yeah.”
She frowns. “How old are you?”
I laugh. “Old enough.”
“What’s his name?” she asks.
I hesitate before responding, “Brady,” sure of the fact that it will come back to bite me in the end but knowing that this girl deserves the truth about her friend.
I STAYED AWAY FROM THE DIK house the rest of the weekend. I’ve been contemplating dropping out of pledging, but then I think about my pledge brothers, both Mac and Carter, telling me how much they relied on me through the process. If I did quit, I’d feel like I was giving up. Not giving up on the fraternity—because fuck them if they think I’ll look past some goddamn sexual assault bullshit—but giving up on my guys. It may n
ot matter anyway. As I park the Jeep along frat row, I’m just a few minutes from my meeting with the DIK officers. They may not want me to stay. And if that’s the case, well then they can just swallow my load.
I don’t play that game.
Trotting down the steps and into the basement, I chuckle at the sight of them—Zane, Sarge, Tim, and Damian—seated around a long table, Trevor at the head. He motions to the empty seat across the table from him.
“Thanks for coming, Bishop. Have a seat,” he says with regretful eyes.
I chuckle again, shaking my head at the nonsense. “I feel like I’m walkin’ into a fuckin’ tribal council or somethin’,” I joke, pulling the chair out and taking a seat. “Was all this really necessary?”
“Unfortunately, yes. A complaint has been filed against you, and we must formally look into every legitimate complaint,” Trevor responds.
I grin. “Oh okay, so I’m good to go then, right? I mean, you said ‘legitimate complaint.’”
“Bishop, you tried to beat down an officer’s door. You forced your way into his room, unwelcomed,” Trevor says.
“Not to mention all the Theta Nu girls coming by, giving us shit. They might file a complaint against us, you know. You’re gonna ruin our rep running your mouth like that,” Damian says with a snarl.
“Am I in the goddamn Twilight Zone right now?” I shout, scanning the faces around the table, stopping on Sarge. “Sarge, c’mon, man. You know I’m in the right here.”
He nods. “One-hundred percent. These assholes know how I feel. Still had to be here,” Sarge grumbles, crossing his arms and shooting Trevor a look of disgust.
My eyes trail back to Trevor. “Is this how you’re choosin’ to run your fraternity? Protectin’ pieces of shit like Brady, who take advantage of drunk young girls?”
“Hey! That’s my boy you’re talking about,” Damian barks, jabbing his pointer finger at me.
“Yeah, and your fuckin’ boy is a creep.” I scoff loudly. “Y’all must have me sadly mistaken. If you thought you were gonna get me here and somehow convince me I was wrong, or get me to apologize to that little shitstick, you’re wastin’ your breath. If this is an organization that promotes the sexual assault of women, I don’t think I wanna be a part of it anyhow.”
“Please, there’s no need to speak like that. We are not that kind of organization. Not one bit,” Trevor says.
“Oh yeah? Well, while you all are worried about me ruinin’ your reputation with the sorority girls by tellin’ ’em about Ted Bundy up there, you should probably also know that Theta Nu calls this basement the Roofie Room. Hence why your buddy Brady hasn’t been able to organize a social with ’em.”
Zane and Tim look toward Trevor and then back at me. “That was from a long time ago,” Trevor says.
“Obviously not as long ago as you think,” I respond, shrugging. I lean back in the chair and cross my arms. “So, what’s it gonna be, gentlemen? You know where I stand. It’s right in the same spot I was standin’ in before I walked through that basement door. Why waste time here? Y’all do what you gotta do.”
Trevor clears his throat, looking toward Damian when he says, “After looking at the circumstances and speaking with my VP, we’ve decided to take a vote amongst the officers, excluding Brady, over whether or not you remain in the pledging process. We just think it’s important to get a consensus here, since so many are upset within the fraternity. Damian will give you a call tonight after our meeting to let you know what was decided. If you remain with us, going forward, we ask that you try and stay away from Brady and his room.”
In my head, I’m standing, flipping every motherfucker off in here but Sarge, and walking the fuck out. But I think to my guys and the bond I’ve formed with them over the past few weeks.
“If Brady keeps his nose clean, I couldn’t give two fucks what he does. But I will never look past sexual assault. And Trevor”—I lean in for emphasis—“havin’ sex with an unconscious woman, or even attemptin’ to, is sexual assault. Don’t get your definition twisted to protect your boy. It ain’t one that can be manipulated at will.”
Damian shoots daggers at me with his eyes as I stand from the chair. I look them all over, slowly, contempt in my features. Eventually, I land on Zane and I keep my eyes on him until he looks at me.
“How long did you serve in the Air Force, Zane?”
He looks startled and confused. “Uh, um, four years.”
“And you went to basic training, right?”
He frowns, looking across the table at Damian and then back at me. He lets out a nervous chuckle. “Um, yeah. You kind of have to.”
“That’s what I figured. But I’m confused. See, I don’t know how Air Force basic training works. But in Army basic, one of the first things we learn is the Army Core Values. Loyalty, Duty, Selfless Service, Personal Courage, Honor, Respect, and Integrity. Integrity. To do what’s right, legally and morally. To adhere to moral principles. Whether others are watchin’ or they ain’t.” I lean both hands on the table, looking Zane dead in the eye. He breaks eye contact. “Integrity, Zane. Had you joined the Army, you would’ve learned about that.”
With that, I turn on my heel and make my way toward the basement steps with a deafening silence left in my wake.
Just about the time I reach the apartment, my phone chimes with a text from Sarge.
You’re still in. Not sure if that’s good news or bad news for you haha.
After parking, I text back, The jury’s still out on that one lol. So, you gonna be a bro and tell me who voted what? before making my way inside the building.
Heading into the apartment, my phone goes off again.
Haha Fucker. I knew that was coming. You can’t say shit, roger? I’ll fucking blow your Jeep up. I have the capabilities, you know? hahaha. Yays were me (obviously), Tim, and Zane. The nays were Trevor and Damian.
I’m shocked to read Zane’s name as one of the yays. Plopping down on my bed and turning the TV on, I sit back and text, Wow, Zane is a shocker. I figured after my little rant, he would’ve been happy to see me go.
Sarge texts, I think you shook some sense into him. Damian should be calling soon, by the way. Head’s up, they want you to come back for study session.
I laugh, shaking my head, as I type, Yeah, that’s one phone call I’m not gonna take. Would you look at that? It’s naptime. Thanks for the info, bro. Talk soon. I’m getting them ZZZZZZZZZs.
CARLEIGH EYES ME CURIOUSLY OVER the frames of her glasses. I know she’s not trying to be sexy, but she is. As she leans back in her chair, a sigh escapes her pursed lips.
“So, you won’t talk about any of the fraternity stuff?” she finally asks, and I shake my head.
“I can’t. I’m not allowed to. It’s part of the code.” A smirk crosses my face, my tone facetious.
“Do you hear yourself?”
“Are you bein’ judgmental, Doc?” My smirk persists.
“I told you to call me Carleigh, or, preferably, Dr. Jacobs.”
“Are you bein’ judgmental, Carleigh?” I repeat.
“Well, do you? Because here’s what I’m hearing. You’re a twenty-five-year-old Army vet who served your country honorably. You started college, then joined a fraternity, you’re drinking multiple nights a week, and now you’re fighting. To me, it’s clear the fraternity has played a part in this transgression, and you’re sitting there telling me you can’t talk about it. That’s a problem for me.”
I breathe out a sigh of resignation. “I can’t talk about the pledgin’ process and what it entails. As for the partyin’, yeah, you bet your ass it’s led me to more social drinkin’. But it’s either drink out there with friends, or drink alone at a bar by myself or in my room.”
“I thought you said you were only a social drinker during our last visit?” She quirks an eyebrow.
I let out a nervous chuckle. “That may have been a slight exaggeration. But I don’t drink alone now.”
I smile, and she jus
t laughs, shaking her head. “And how many times a week are you drinking with the fraternity again? You probably don’t have any time to drink alone.”
An abrupt laugh escapes my lips. “What can I say? I hate bein’ by myself.”
“Why do you hate being alone so much?”
“A number of reasons …” I let my words linger in the air, each reason passing through my thoughts.
“And they are?” She lifts her pen to take notes, and it irks me as it always does. Yeah, I know she needs to keep record of what we discuss, but I hate knowing that there will be evidence of my thoughts out there for anyone to read. And that’s just how the VA operates.
“I have tinnitus.”
“Okay.”
“So I constantly hear ringin’. Both ears, but it’s worse in my right.”
“And this is from the explosion?”
I nod. “That one, and all the ones before it. The firefights too. I’m really lucky to even have any hearin’ at all. But the tinnitus is no joke either. It started after my first firefight. Got worse with each deployment, but it became unbearable after the RPG. It took me months to tune it out.”
“But it’s still there?”
“Oh yeah. In silence, especially. It’s why I always have a TV or music goin’.”
“Or people around you, talking.”
“Exactly. And when I’m alone with my thoughts, especially when I’m sober, it’s like, this invisible prison. It’s suffocating.”
“What kinds of thoughts?”
“Who I was in the Army and who I am now … my childhood … the battles I’ve fought, the friends I’ve made … and all that I lost since the explosion. A future that seemed much brighter than it does now.”
“Are you ever suicidal?”
I shake my head firmly. “No, not at all. I’ve never been. Yeah, sometimes shit sucks, but I ain’t ever been the type to think about suicide. Flood the emotions with liquor, maybe a little marijuana here and there … yeah, I’m guilty of that. But I could never contemplate ending it all. Can’t even fathom it.”
“What about your childhood? Does that intrude on your thoughts often?”
I nod, my focus shifting to the sterile walls. “Yeah, it does.”
Bishop (A Frat Chronicles Novel) Page 25