Still Jaded (16 page)

I shrugged. "Well, cleaning will be a lot more fun now, if any gets done."

"Relax." Corrigan laughed and grabbed my shoulder. He started to massage it and remarked, "Holy hell, you're tight, Sheldon. Maybe you should rest."

Everyone kept telling me that. It was starting to piss me off. I removed his hand. "I'll rest if I want to."

Corrigan still chuckled but contented himself with his drink. He watched me over the brim of his cup. "What are you thinking about me and Bryce? Or about me, you and Bryce? Or about...the same stuff? You really want a knock-down-drag-out fight? It might get brutal, Sheldon."

"I can handle brutal. If it's honest, that's all I care about." I couldn't handle the lies and the shady games that went on under the surface.

Corrigan shrugged and glanced over his shoulder. "The groups are going to finish cleaning. It looks like an all-nighter for us, but that's okay. I'm going to run to the liquor store later, so I'm not promising how much will stay clean by tomorrow. Grace just told me that you might leave. Are you headed out?"

She did, huh? "I don't know. I haven't decided yet."

"Well, I don't think you, me, and Bryce are going to have our thing tonight. There's still too much to do and he's got practice tomorrow. Should we reschedule for tomorrow night?"

I examined him but couldn't tell if he was serious. "Are you free tomorrow night?"

"There's always homework." He winked at me.

I shook my head and laughed.
Holy hellness, my head hurts. Maybe I should head to the hotel.
I sighed, resolved to my fate. "I think I'm going to head out. Can you let Bryce know that I left?"

Corrigan's smile disappeared. "Sure."

"He won't hit you."

"He better not try."

I started to leave but turned back. "I asked Grace if she saw anything at the party, but she said no. Can you press her? Complain about me or something. I don't care what you do, but see if she tells you."

"You're sure she saw something?"

"Yeah. I'm sure. She doesn't trust me anymore."

Corrigan's eyes went flat. "I'll figure it out. Go rest."

As I walked back through my home, I caught sight of Bryce in the far corner of my living room. He held a bag as Raz filled it. They were laughing and talking together. In that moment, I saw a carefree look in his eyes. It was genuine, and that took my breath away. It was in the way he stood, how his shoulders seemed lighter. I stopped and watched him. It felt good to see that, to see that Bryce could still be like that. It gave me hope, but I averted my eyes after a moment and brushed away a tear. Something told me it'd be a long time before I saw that side of him with me. It felt like a storm was coming our way, and we'd be lucky to get through it.

When I walked outside to my car, I stopped inside the garage door. Leah leaned against my car with hands stuffed in her tight jeans. She gave me a tense smile and brushed some hair out of her face. "I can't go in there because it's enemy territory."

I propped myself beside her. "I'm sorry." And I really was. I should've paid more attention to how much of a bitch Cadence was.

She shrugged. "It's fine."

It wasn't. I'd done this to her. Because of the rival sorority inside, she'd been exiled from this event, from the fraternity and friends that were hers inside. No matter what I thought, those guys were her friends and I'd been involved with putting them with the house that would separate Leah from her friends.

I turned to her. "I'll fix it. I promise."

Leah assessed me for a moment and then shrugged again. I saw acceptance in her shoulders, and I didn't like it. "It's fine. It is what it is."

"You told me those girls were bad news. You told me Cadence was bad news. I didn't listen because I didn't care. I care now." They took one friend from me. They weren't going to take my other two. "If they're doing what I think they're doing, I will take them down. Trust me."

Leah laughed and I heard a bitter note in her voice. She shook her head and let loose her hair. "Do you know who you're dealing with? Cadence is one of the most deceptive, conniving, manipulative bitches that I've ever met, and I'm not new to this block. My brother was an Alpha Mu five years ago. I've been coming around since he was a pledge. I've seen girls come and go. Some were awful, but Cadence takes the crown. I'll tell you to stay away, but that's all I'm willing to do. I don't want to tangle with her. I don't even want to see what she's fully capable of."

I smiled, half-heartedly. "I've met worse."

She watched me closely. "What are you going to do that others haven't?"

"You're forgetting something. I don't have much to lose. Cadence can't take what she wants from me, and contrary to social manners, I have no problem making enemies. I rather enjoy it."

She grinned. "I do believe that."

"What are you doing here, anyway? This is kind of morbid, don't you think?" I gestured to the house. "You can't go in where you want, watching from the outside."

Leah looked over my shoulders. "What do you do when you're losing your friends? I didn't feel up to a carton of ice cream."

She stared at my house with a mix of emotions, and I realized that I'd misjudged her. I didn't misjudge many, but Leah wasn't who I originally thought. She really considered these guys her friends.

"What do you do? You fight back," I murmured. It's what I'd do. It's what I planned to do.

Leah looked away. "I don't know. Things could get worse."

"What's worse than being alone?"

She smirked. "What if you like being alone?"

"You don't, though," I shot back. I was beginning to figure out what made her tick. "Stop hiding from this. It's your fight. Own it."

"And it's not yours?" She peered at me with a tear in her eye.

"It's mine too, but I need to heal for a little bit. And then I'm coming back. Hard. This isn't my first time around."

Leah shook her head. "How do you do it? You sound so sure? Like you know exactly what you're doing, what needs to be done? It's not that simple or easy."

I considered everything I'd been through. Marcus. Losing Bryce. Losing Corrigan. Getting them both back again and now losing them once more. Losing my family. Losing two girlfriends that I'd hoped would stick it through… I sighed. "If someone's coming at me, trying to destroy what I have, then I know exactly what to do. I understand what they're trying to do. Now, crazy people, I have no idea what makes them tick. I don't even know what makes me tick most of the time, but someone threatening my family—that's a cakewalk for me."

Leah murmured, "Then consider me down for whatever you have planned. I want in."

I smiled. I was starting to like this girl.

I said that I'd head to the hotel, but I went to their sorority house instead. I'd gotten an invite to one of their earlier parties, and the address wasn't hard to find. It was the only four-story house on the block with a pink sign that read Zeta Gamma Phi in front of it.

It was risky. I knew that, but I remembered that Corrigan mentioned how his none of the guys in his fraternity liked to carry their keys, so they left a pledge behind. They wouldn't have to lock the doors.

I hoped the girls were as lazy.

I parked around the corner and went to the back door. I held my breath, tried the knob, and found I was in luck. Apparently the Zetas did have the same theory as Corrigan's house. The
only problem was that I didn't know how many pledges were at home. And I didn't know where they were.

The back door opened to the kitchen, which was huge and shiny. The floor looked like it had been waxed recently, and I felt like I was walking on water. I heard sounds from a television and headed down a back hallway. Slowly, I crept past the room where the noise came from and found a stairway.

Rather than open every closed door, I only wanted to find Cadence's room. Since she was the head bitch, I assumed she'd have the biggest room. Something told me it'd be at the top. When I got as high as I could in the house, I started to poke my head around. The first three rooms weren't hers. Then I opened a door and found another set of stairs. I fought the urge to roll my eyes.
Of course
they'd have a secret stairway.

The house was a freaking maze.

As I went up, I was in luck again. I'd found her room. It spanned the entire fourth floor. It looked like a small apartment with a kitchenette in one corner and couches set up in the middle. The living area was immaculate. She hadn't even left a magazine out. Next, I looked around her bed and dresser. Other than a pledge pin with my name on it, nothing stuck out as weird or obsessive. So far, the room wasn't matching my mental image of Cadence. The room seemed normal. There were no signs of the psycho that was hidden deep in her soul. Then I opened her closet and my eyes got wide.

Pictures. Pictures. Pictures.

There seemed to be a thousand photographs taped to the walls of her closet. Even if I tried, I didn't think I could know enough people to get that many photos. I looked closer and saw that each one was of Cadence with another person. Some were celebrities, some looked like politicians. One caught my interest and I grabbed it. Bryce smiled back at me. He was in his soccer uniform from Spain with his arm around her. She was beaming. Bryce looked like he'd just played a game. His hair and uniform were both soaked in sweat.

When the hell had this been taken?

Then I spied another picture. It was of Denton and he had his arm around Cadence like in Bryce's photograph, except he wore a black tuxedo and they looked like they were toasting to something with their drinks.

I grabbed both photos and then finished my search of her room. I didn't really know what I was looking for, but I figured I'd know it when I saw it. And I knew I'd found it when I moved a pillow and discovered Cadence's diary. It didn't look like much, just a small brown leather journal. I put it in my back pocket and turned to leave.

As I went downstairs, I peeked where the television was on and saw two pledges sprawled on the couches. One was snoring and the other had her head nestled underneath the cushions. I turned to go, but a picture on the wall stopped me. It was a house photo of all the sisters. Dated for the previous year, I skimmed over the names and recognized a few from my classes. One name I saw that I didn't expect was Dorothy Rossi. I matched the name to the face and gasped when I saw it was the waitress from Sparky's.

The one who loathed all things Greek.

She had the same red braids but was dressed in the same red dress as the other sisters. She looked happy, glowing even.

I didn't even want to guess what changed her.

Abruptly, the television shut off, and I left before I was caught. I didn't dare look inside the room again to see if the pledges had woken up or not. I didn't care. I needed to get the hell out of there. When I got outside, I cut across the backyard and through the gate.

I hurried to my car and then drove towards the hotel.

After I got to my room, I poured myself a drink and studied my two stolen mementos. Bryce and Denton. Why both of them? Did Cadence know them personally? Was she a groupie and nabbed their autograph with the picture? She had pictures of other celebrities on that wall. Why in her closet? Why not out in the open? As I thought about it, I realized that all of the pictures on display around her room were of her friends and family, which was normal, but why hide the photographs of the celebrities?

I had a feeling that I wasn't going to be able to intimidate Cadence into submission. She was cunning, and she had friends, lots of friends. I needed to get at her some other way. When I finished my drink, I fixed another and wondered where to go from here. Did I have a next move? I saw my phone on the counter and cursed. I knew what I needed to do but hesitated.

The phone trembled in my hand as I scrolled through my contacts. I held my breath until I heard Denton answer. "Sheldon?"

"I didn't know if this number still worked." I wasn't as relieved as I sounded. Denton had answers that I needed, but he'd bring his own trouble.

He laughed, "Well, it works. This is the only number Mena remembers so I kept it for her. Everyone else has my other numbers."

"I have a favor to ask." Politeness aside, I needed answers.

Denton chuckled. "Same old Sheldon. What can I do for you?" His voice seemed to sneak over the line and unravel something in me. I could almost feel his caress.

I paused for a second and told myself that I had no other choice. "Can you come here? I have a question to ask you."

"Sure. Where are you?"

"Wilshire Hotel. Room 617."

"Give me an hour. I'm at my house."

"That's fine. I'm not going anywhere." After I ended the call, I stayed on the bed for a minute. The instant I invited him to my room, I regretted it. The problem was that I needed to see him in person to ask about Cadence. I needed to see his face.

Rather than make another drink, I grabbed the bottle and settled back. An hour later, with the bottle half gone, I was on the patio when I heard a knock at the door. I had showered and tried my best to rewrap my dressings, but I hoped I didn't look as hideous as I must have in the hospital. For some reason I cared.