by Fox, Cathryn
“Hazing isn’t legal.”
“Which is why it’s Kingston’s best kept secret.”
My heart begins to pick up speed again, and I just sit, waiting for him to explain. He finally breaks the quiet and explains, “We see who can sleep with the most virgins. It’s a stupid contest.”
“A stupid contest? You think?” Rage wells up inside me, and my insides shake, until I feel ill. “Do you play?” I tug my legs to my chest and wrap my arms around them.
“Don’t be afraid of me, Ella.” He reaches for me and I put my hands up, palms out to stop him. Hurt moves into his eyes as he looks down, picks at some imaginary piece of lint on the bedding. “I’d never hurt you. You have to believe that.”
My mind goes back to the night of the party. Did Landon know it was me, know I was a virgin? I can only assume Jonny told Cameron. Had Landon overheard? Heck, was that the reason he brought it up in front of Cameron, to let him know he already bagged me? Won the contest?
Don’t think about how tender he was, Ella. You were nothing to him.
I swallow the bile punching into my throat. “Did you play the game, Landon?” For a brief second he hesitates, and that tells me all I need to know.
His head slowly lifts, and when his eyes meet mine, my heart jumps into my throat. “Yes, no. I did. I mean I…”
I push the blankets off me. “I should go.”
16
Landon
“Ella, wait, please. Let me explain.” She blinks at me, and I stare at her. How the hell can I explain this without sounding like an asshole? “I never participated. I didn’t want to participate. I have sisters, for fuck’s sake. If any of them were treated that way, I’d fucking kill whoever hurt them.
“What happened with Rebecca?” she asks.
I rub my face. “She was a nice girl, from the Midwest. Really innocent and sweet.” She nods, and I continue with, “Cameron went after her, and he was charming her, and I didn’t like it. I didn’t like him. He was always bragging about how many virgins he bagged—his words, not mine—and Rebecca was really sweet.”
“You two got close.”
“Yeah, and it might have started out wrong, but I wouldn’t have slept with her to win some stupid bet. I really liked her.”
“This totally pissed Cameron off.”
I nod. “Yeah, I thought we were past it, but then…you.”
“Me.” She shakes her head. “I’m guessing he knew I was a virgin, and we’ve been hanging around a lot.” She blinks up at me, and I wait for her to mention the night we were together. She opens her mouth, but before she can get anything out, someone pounds on the front door. Her entire body goes stiff, and I put my hand on her arm.
“That’s probably Peyton.”
“Right.” She relaxes, her shoulders slumping.
I stand. “Are you okay alone for a second?”
She nods, and pulls the blankets up to her chin, and every protective instinct inside me goes on high alert. “Yeah, and Landon, thanks. I’m glad you never played the game.”
I swallow, hard. “I’m sorry this happened to you, Ella. He’s going to pay for this.”
She shakes her head. “I don’t want that. I graduate in April and this will all be behind us. I don’t want this to affect your future, Landon. It’s not worth it.”
My heart beats against my ribs. “You’re worth it, Ella.”
The knock comes again, harder this time, and I reluctantly leave Ella to let Peyton in.
“What’s going on?” she asks as soon as she sees my face.
“She’s okay. She’s upstairs. Go on up. I’m going to get her some water.”
Peyton nods and dashes up the stairs as I go to the kitchen. Just then Brady comes in through the back door. I turn to him, rub my hand over my face. “Hey bro…whoa, what the fuck is going on?”
“Ella, she’s upstairs. Cameron…” I let my words fall off as I grab a glass and fill it with water.
“What the fuck did he do?” Brady asks. He drops down into the chair, and I quickly tell him what happened.
“That fucker is dead,” he growls, and I snort, loving that he sees things the same way I do.
“Ella doesn’t want me to do anything. She’s worried I’ll fuck up my career.”
His dark eyes narrow, his mouth tight, anger emanating off him. “Yeah, well, she never said anything about me not doing anything.” He jumps from the chair and cracks his knuckles.
“Brady, this is my fight.”
“Yeah, well we’re brothers, so that makes it my fight, too.”
“I plan to have words with him,” I say.
“I will too, with my fists.”
I shake my head, knowing there is no stopping Brady when he sets his mind to something. “Let me get Ella home. I want to check her place to make sure he’s long gone.”
“I’ll come with you.”
I glance up when I hear footsteps on the stairs. I head to the hall, and find Ella and Peyton walking to the front door. “Have a drink.” I hand her the glass.
“Thanks.” She takes it from me and has a big swallow.
“Brady and I are going to walk you both home. I want to make sure the place is safe.”
“That’s okay, we can get home ourselves.”
“I know.” I grab a jacket from the closet and drape it over her shoulders to keep her warm, and Peyton gives me a small smile and we all head outside. The girls walk ahead of us as Brady and I keep watch from behind. Once we reach her place, I go in first, and when I find her camera on the floor busted, I pick it up and examine it.
I pick up the can of soda and sniff it. Ella comes in behind me, as Peyton and Brady talk quietly in the hall. “Hey,” I query softly. “Are you okay to stay here, or do you want to stay at my place tonight? Both of you, of course.”
“I’m okay. I really don’t think he’s going to try anything again.”
“You cracked him with this?” I ask, holding out her broken camera. She nods, and I smile. “Tough farm girl.”
“He’s probably got a good concussion.”
I shake my hands out, and then fist them. “That’s not all he’s going to have.”
“Landon, please. Don’t do anything to get yourself in trouble.” I’m about to tell her not to worry, when she asks, “Wait, what is going on with Ivy?”
“She’s okay. She didn’t end up going to the clinic. She started to feel better. It’s probably the flu.”
“Okay, good.”
I stand there for a moment, and glance around, my gut clenching as I envision what happened here, the fear Ella must have felt. I take a deep breath and try to control my rage. It’s not what Ella needs from me right now and I want to make sure I direct all of my rage at the right person.
I move my arm, and my knuckles brush hers. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I am.” She nods emphatically, but she’s not okay. Nothing that happened here tonight was okay. I understand her reluctance to go to the police. Back in high school, a girl was assaulted, and she became the one who was shunned, and tossed to the curb by society. Life is not fucking fair. “Thanks for being here, Landon.”
Guilt sits heavy on my shoulders weighing me down. That’s just it, I wasn’t there for her and I was responsible for all this. “He’s going to pay, Ella.” She opens her mouth, and I hold my hands up to stop her. “I won’t get into trouble, but he needs to learn a lesson. This is my fault and I need to make it right.”
“Landon, please…This isn’t your fault.” Her throat makes a sound as she swallows. “Don’t tell anyone about this. It’s…embarrassing.”
The worry and sadness in her eyes rips through me, filleting my insides, and I take a step to close the distance. I pull her into my embrace, circling my arms around her small body, holding her close. As I offer all the comfort I can, I say, “You have nothing to be embarrassed about, and you have my word. I told Brady but he won’t say anything, and I won’t tell anyone else.”
&nbs
p; “Not even to Ivy?” she asks.
“Not even to Ivy. I promise.”
“She said Cameron was okay.”
“No one knew he would do this, Ella.”
“You did, though. You warned me.” She frowns. “I never knew I was such a bad judge of character.”
My heart seizes, because if it was her in my bed, and I jumped straight into fucking her sister, in my defense I thought it was still Ella, she could very well be talking about me too. I want to ask her, get it all out into the open, but I’m not sure now is the time or place. Instead I just hold her to me, throwing up a silent prayer of thanks that she was able to fight Cameron off.
I kiss the top of her head and just hold her for another minute. Peyton peeks her head in. “Everything okay?” she asks.
I put my hands on Ella’s shoulders and back up an inch. My gaze moves over her face, but she just stares at my chest, wide-eyed, like she’s reliving every minute of what happened in here, just an hour ago. “You have my number. Call me if you need anything, okay?”
She glances at the movie case, and her voice is low when she says, “He said he wanted to watch a movie.” She looks at Peyton and blinks rapidly.
“What?” Peyton asks, her brow furrowed, worry dancing in her eyes as she comes closer.
“Did you tell him I liked old movies?”
Peyton shakes her head. “No, I didn’t.”
A garbled sound catches in her throat. “He let me believe you did.” How the hell did he find out I liked old movies? The only people who know are Landon, Peyton and Ivy. “He had this all planned, and I fell for it.”
“None of this is your fault, Ella,” Peyton says. “None of it.”
Ella nods, looking unconvinced, and puts a hand over her mouth as she yawns. “Come on, let’s get you to bed,” Peyton says.
Not wanting to leave her, but knowing she needs sleep, I step away, and a few minutes later, Brady and I are prowling the streets looking for Cameron.
We hit up the pub and ask around, but he’s nowhere to be found. The chicken shit is probably hiding out, knowing we were going to come looking for him tonight. We search the streets, all his haunts, and when we come up empty, Brady turns to me.
“We’ll find him tomorrow. Hell, maybe he’s already in the hospital. I saw the camera.”
“Thank god it was there, and she’s a quick thinker.” My chest constricts. “I can’t even think about the alternative.” My phone pings, and panic rips through me. I tug it from my pocket, and see that it’s Ivy. I frown, as I read the message.
“Everything okay?” Brady asks, his steps slowing when he sees that I’ve stopped.
“Yeah, it’s Ivy.” I start walking again and go quiet as a group of girls pass us.
“Hey Brady. Hey Landon.” They all smile flirtatiously, but I have too much on my mind to flirt back. Even if I didn’t, I still don’t want to flirt. I think those days are behind me now. Brady gives them a smile and my mind races as he says something to make them giggle. They pass by and we start walking again, the cool night air doing little to tamp down the rage simmering inside of me. “Ivy’s not been feeling well again. She wants me to come over.”
I stare straight ahead, but can feel Brady’s eyes on me. “Are you going?”
We take the corner, headed toward home. “I should go check on her, I guess.”
“What are you going to do, bro?”
“About?”
“Come on, you know what I’m talking about.”
I nod. “She asked me to go home with her for Thanksgiving.”
He gives a low slow whistle. “That’s a big step.”
“Yeah…”
“What do you want?”
“I want what I can’t have,” I mumble as another message comes in from Ivy, asking me to bring her some ginger ale. “I think I should go to the farm. You know, to make sure Ella is okay.”
“Yeah, I get it.” He nods and I’m not sure how he can, when I have no clue what I’m doing. All I know is Ella might need me, and I want to be there for her, and I slept with her sister, and have to figure out what the hell is going on between the three of us.
“I better go. Thanks for your help tonight.”
He pats me on the back. “Anytime, bro.”
I head to the grocery store, pick up the soda and make my way to the sorority house. One of the girls lets me in and points me to Ivy’s room. Inside, I find her on her bed, typing away on her laptop.
“How are you feeling?” I ask.
“Much better.” Her gaze moves over my face. “I missed you.”
“Been busy.”
She cocks her head. “Are you okay?”
I hand her the soda and she puts it on her nightstand. “Yeah, just a lot on my mind.” I’m not about to tell her what happened. They might be sisters, twins at that, but I gave Ella my word.
She pats the bed, a wicked grin spreading across her face. “Why don’t you come over here, and let me help you forget about life for a while.”
17
Ella
I linger at the trunk of Brady’s car as Ivy introduces Landon to mom and dad. When I found out Landon’s best friend wasn’t going back to Texas to be with his family for Thanksgiving, I asked him to come along too. It’s a big farmhouse with lots of rooms and at least he’ll be a nice distraction for me, someone I can talk to while Ivy and Landon are off doing their thing. He’s nice too. I sat in the front with him during the drive and got to know him a little bit.
“Thanks for driving us,” I say as he grabs my bag from the trunk, and hands it to me. I scoop up my camera. It’s a replica of the one I smashed over Cameron’s head. I just found it on my bed one day. Landon insists he didn’t replace the broken one, but I know better.
“I’d have piggybacked you all the way here,” he jokes with a grin. “I mean, a home cooked turkey dinner. Yeah, I’d have carried you barefoot over glass to get a meal like that.”
I laugh at him, and let my gaze roam over his handsome face, which has brand new scrapes under his eyes. Unlike Landon’s scars, his will heal and disappear, and while I want to ask what happened, I think it’s better if I don’t know. After the incident with Cameron, Cameron went missing for a few days, and rumor is that he had a run-in with Brady. Not that Landon needs anyone to fight his battles, and really, it wasn’t even Landon’s battle in the first place. I’m just glad the whole thing died down, and Cameron has been avoiding me ever since.
Brady grabs the rest of the bags, and slams the trunk. He glances at me as I give a great big sigh. “Everything okay?” he asks as Ivy glitters and glistens and flutters around Landon, letting Mom and Dad know that he’s going to be a superstar. Is that why she’s digging her nails in? He’s a sure thing, and will give her the lifestyle she wants. Brady here is going to be a star too. I’m sure of it, and with his handsome, chiseled face, and being a quarterback, Brady will get more endorsement deals, and might make more money that Landon in the long run.
I pull up a smile from deep within me and flash it his way. “Perfect.”
He shakes his head. “Are you going to say hello to your folks or just hang back here and worship my trunk?”
“I’m just giving Ivy a chance to introduce Landon. I don’t want to interfere.”
“Maybe you should,” he laughs, with a casual roll of his shoulder.
I lean against the back bumper. “What do you mean?”
“Wait, do they think…” he waves his hand back and forth between the two of us, and I just shake my head.
“Don’t worry. I told them you were a friend.”
“I wasn’t worried, Ella.” His perfect teeth flash in a smile. “Any guy would be lucky to be with you.”
I take in his face, and there is nothing there to suggest he’s lying. “Well, that is very nice of you to say, but no one expects me to come home with a guy, anyway.”
He nods like he understands and I’m glad I don’t have to explain that I’m the geek who gets overl
ooked for her sparkling sister. “You want to mess with everyone?” he asks a gleam in his eyes.
I angle my head, and shade the sun from my eyes. “What are you getting at?”
“We could pretend we’re a couple. Just to shake things up.” I’m about to ask why he’d want to shake things up when under his breath he mumbles, “And light a goddamn fire under Landon’s ass.”
“A fire? What are you talking about?”
“Nothing…just you’re sort of stuck with me, as those two figure their shit out.” He scowls, all dramatic like, as he nods toward Ivy and Landon. “So let’s have some fun with it and put on a show.”
“I invited you,” I tell him. “I don’t feel stuck with you.” I grin at him. “Maybe you should be in drama with Ivy.” I stand, and hike my bag over my shoulder. He takes it from me and puts it over his shoulder, much the same way Landon always does. “I’m not much of an actress, and I like being behind the camera.”
“Come on, it will be fun to mess with everyone.” He throws his arm around my shoulder.
“I don’t think—”
His smile falls, his voice very serious. “Trust me on this, Ella.”
I relax as he tugs me to him. He’s Landon’s best friend, a nice guy, and I’m completely comfortable with him, although I have no idea why he wants to pretend we’re anything other than friends. “Okay, but why?” I ask, not understanding, even though I do trust him. As we walk to where the others are standing, Brady’s arm around my shoulder, my gaze lifts to meet Landon’s, but he’s not looking at me. No, he’s shooting daggers at his best friend. What the hell?
“Mom, Dad, this is Brady. Brady, meet my parents, David and Corinne.”
“So nice to meet you.” Brady gives them a big smile. “Thanks so much for having me. I can’t remember the last time I had a real Thanksgiving dinner.”
Mom tucks a strand of blond hair behind her ear, and I know she’ll take the guys in and treat them like the sons she’s never had. Something tells me Brady needs that. “I’m glad you’re here.” She claps her hands. “I have enough food to feed a football team.”