The Pledge (36 page)

“We won! We won!” Doug jumped up and down while I struggled to get him to release me. “Keep doing that, Denton. You’re rubbing me in all the right ways.”

“Pickles!” Julie yelled as she ran up behind us. “You’re disqualified, moron. She had to run on her own. She couldn’t be carried.” Julie was red-faced and pissed. Doug had probably cost our match-up the Greek Week trophy. That meant I had done all of this…for nothing. I stared at the ground, not sure if I should laugh, cry, or scream.

“Fuck. I need a brewski.” Pickles roughly set me down and cut our bindings. I rubbed my raw wrist, glaring at him and trying to decide what I wanted to shout at him first.

“Sorry, Denton. Hope I didn’t hurt you, but I had fun with you today. Just like old times.” Before I even realized what was happening, Pickles grabbed my shoulders and placed a wet, sweaty, beer and peach-flavored kiss on my lips.

Oh, hell no
. I shoved him off and then wiped my mouth with the back of my hand, which caused him to laugh. I turned away, dragging large mouthfuls of clean Pickles-free air into my lungs.

His laughter turned into a grunt of pain, and I spun around, everything around me moving in slow motion. Someone dressed in a bright yellow campus security jacket shoved him down, wrenching his arms behind his back. From the terrified look on Doug’s face as it was pressed into the muddy ground, it wasn’t one of his friends fooling around. I tore my gaze away from Pickles just as the guy on his back looked up at me.

Nope. Not a friend at all. The guy with his knee in Pickles’ back was one hell of a furious boyfriend.

Alec.

Chapter Twenty-Six

ALEC

I pulled Pickles’ arm back a little higher, pleased when it caused him to bark out in discomfort. “Don’t ever touch her again.” The words were almost a growl as I pushed them through my clenched teeth. My body vibrated with rage, and I wanted nothing more than to introduce my fist to his face. This prick needed to learn a lesson.

I leaned forward, and my knee dug further into his back. He grunted and satisfaction curled through my limbs, urging me to make him hurt so he’d never forget.

“Alec! No! Don’t do this.” Taren grabbed at my arm, but I shrugged her off.

She should have stopped this from the start. She knew how I felt about him, and she’d made a promise. I was almost as angry with her as I was with him. My hands were shaking with the need to break something.

“You will never touch my girl again. Do you understand me, asshole?” I wanted to rip him to shreds.

Doug turned his head as his face contorted into a sneer. “I’m only giving her what you can’t.”

I pulled his arm up higher, and he squirmed against the pain. “I asked if you understood.” I could barely control the words as they came out of me in a snarl.

His face turned red, but he didn’t answer.

“So help me God, if you ever touch her again…I. Will. End. You.” My voice shook as I said each word. Then, I pushed off his back and stood up. He rolled over, glaring up at me as he lay sprawled on his back, rubbing his wrist.

I lifted my eyes to find that we were surrounded by people who gave us wary looks. I scanned the crowd, ready for his Delta Epsilon brothers to pounce on me, but they didn’t. Pickles pushed up from the ground, and when he got to his feet, he narrowed his eyes at me.

I took a step forward, towering over him. “Walk away now while you still can.”

He leaned in and spoke low so only I could hear him. “Next time we meet, you won’t have the safety of that security jacket to hide behind.” His lip curled in disgust, and he turned to walk away, pushing through the circle of people around us. I watched his retreat until he disappeared into the crowd. A long moment passed before I noticed that Taren was talking to me.

“Alec?” Her voice was panicked, her eyes wide with worry.

She reached for me, and I looked down to see that her hand was on my arm. The same hand that had just been tied to her ex. I pulled away enough that she flinched from my rejection.

“I’m sorry about that...” Her words were full of regret, and she glanced over her shoulder toward the race course. “We had to be partners.”

“Right. Had to be.” I scowled at her and crossed my arms. “You had no choice in the matter.” I shook my head. “That fucking asshole cheated on you, and yet here you are, partying with him like you’re best friends. You let him touch you. You broke your promise to me.” The words tasted dirty as I said them, and I both loved and hated the look of hurt that flashed across her face.

“That’s not fair, Alec.” Her voice cracked, and she pursed her lips to keep from crying. “You knew I was here for the Greek Week games. I explained this to you last night. You knew what I’d be doing.” She reached out to touch me and I uncrossed my arms, so that her hand fell away from me.

“I didn’t know you’d be doing your ex.” I glared down at her and my arms tensed at my sides like I was ready to go into battle. I blamed Pickles, but Taren had let it happen. I wanted my words to slice deep, to punish her. “You failed to mention that you’d be tying yourself to your ex so he could treat you like you were his fucking whore.” That last word ripped out of my throat, taking a piece of my heart with it.

“Excuse me?” Her voice rose in indignation and she stepped back. She put her hands on her hips and her eyes blazed with fury. Her regret and remorse evaporated before my eyes, leaving nothing but disgust.

“Did you like it when he kissed you and grabbed your ass, Taren?” I ground my teeth together, remembering what Caz had said last year. That I wasn’t her type. That she belonged to the guys on Frat Row. “Do you like being treated like you’re just another one of his hookups that he can yank around and grope at will?”

Taren’s lips pressed together and she took a deep breath. “Stop it. Don’t say anything you can’t take back, Alec.” The anger in her eyes flared. “This wasn’t about me and you. I did that race for my friends. If I had refused to participate, we would have forfeited and lost.”

I threw my hands up in the air. “It’s nice to know a race is more important than your promise to me.” I wasn’t buying her bullshit, and she knew it.

“You’re making a much bigger deal out of this than it really is. It was just for fun. It didn’t mean anything. I needed a partner. He picked me and I got stuck with him.”

A harsh laugh escaped me. “Right.” I huffed and looked around before I fixed my eyes on her. I leaned in and unleashed the bitterness that was clawing at me. “Wasn’t that the same excuse you used for dating him?” I wanted her to feel the betrayal I felt when I saw Pickles with his hands and mouth all over her.

Taren’s expression was a mixture of heartache and outrage. She pressed her mouth into a tight line, and I looked away. I couldn’t stand the sight of her lips. Lips I’d kissed earlier in the day. Lips which had just been on the receiving end of a kiss from Pickles.

“I thought we were all in,” she whispered as she choked back a sob. “Don’t you trust me?”

“Trust? Really?” My words were sharp and clipped. “How can I trust you when you keep making bad decisions involving that asshole?” I refused to look at her, to give her the power to make me feel guilty. She was wrong here. She was the one who totally fucked up and now she was turning it on me, trying to make me feel guilty. Yeah, not happening.

“You did not just go there. You want to talk about trust? I trust you when you put your face in your partner’s hoo-ha during routines. On a daily basis, might I add.” She pushed against my chest and I still wouldn’t look at her. I couldn’t, I was too pissed.

“You tell me it’s just for fun, and that you’re only partners.” Her voice shook, and she took a deep breath. “Well, this was for fun. We were only partners. Trust is a two way street.” The strength in her words caused me to look at her. “I trust you—now you need to trust me.”

I crossed my arms and shook my head. “There’s a difference. Pickles wants in your pants.” I leaned close so our faces were only inches apart. “You promised you’d stay away from him, and instead, you’re leading him on.” I needed her to feel the same misery I felt.

Taren stepped back like I’d physically slapped her. “Leading him on? Is that what you really think?” She was breathing hard, and her eyes watered. “I know you’re upset. I am too, but Pickles is my past. You’re my now. You know that.”

I looked away.

She turned my face toward her. “Look at me. You know that right?”

I didn’t have an answer for her. All I knew was that my girlfriend had let her ex manhandle her in front of hundreds of people. When she had to make a choice, it hadn’t been me.

Julie came up behind Taren and threw her hands into the air. “I can’t believe that idiot totally fucked up the end of that race.” She stomped her foot and made a noise in the back of her throat, balling her fists at her sides. “Now we have to win the talent show to even have a chance at getting the trophy.” Julie looped her arm through Taren’s. “C’mon, T. Let’s go get something to drink.”

“Alec?” Taren resisted Julie as she locked eyes with me. She looked drained. “Please.”

At the sound of Taren’s plea, Julie looked between us. “What’s wrong? Did I interrupt something?”

“I’ll talk to you later, Taren.” My eyes flicked over to Julie. “When we don’t have an audience. I need to get back to work.”

Taren reached out to grab my arm as I was turning away. “Alec, please. I don’t want to leave things like this.”

I shrugged her off and stepped back. “I gotta go, Taren, and so do you.” We both needed some space to cool off.

She grabbed my jacket, refusing to let me walk away. “We’re going to be okay, right?” Her eyes searched my face for the unspoken answers I couldn’t give her. “I’ll see you later tonight?”

I gave her a terse nod. I was on empty and that’s all I had left to give.

She leaned in as if she were going to kiss me, but I tilted my head away. “I’m working, Taren.” Her mouth opened, and she sucked in a quick breath. My rejection seemed to crush something inside her, and yet I still couldn’t bring myself to tell her everything was okay. “Do us both a favor. Stay away from Pickles.”

Julie rolled her eyes. “Calm down, cowboy. Your girl is safe with me.” She gave another tug on Taren’s arm. Taren resisted for a moment. Her eyes pleaded with me to say something. Tell her everything was okay. Forgive her.

I took a step back, and she finally allowed Julie to pull her away in the opposite direction. I kept waiting for her to stop and come back, to choose me over her Greek life. If I was her “now,” she needed to fucking prove it this time.

She disappeared into the crowd, and my chest ached.

Trust was such a fragile thing, easily bent and broken, impossible to put back the same way it had been. I’d done it again. I’d gone all in. I gambled my heart this time. As I took in the scene around me, a world so different from my own, I was beginning to think that more than my trust would end up broken.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

TAREN

We won Greek Week.

My sisters and the brothers of Delta Epsilon screamed and jumped around, hugging each other in celebration. I stood off to the side, watching them. A bittersweet sadness came over me. These things used to matter to me, too—the games, the parties, the traditions—they used to be important to me. I sighed and held my Solo cup to my chest. Falling in love with Alec had changed me. I had just been too afraid to admit it.

Today was a cluster fuck. I didn’t want to upset Julie or Kate or Jen. I was afraid to rock the boat.

I had become the opposite of unique.

I had lost who I was. I lost my focus…my center. My need to feel like I belonged had consumed me and I continued to make horrible choices. From dating Pickles, to getting stupid-drunk, to agreeing to partner with someone who had been cruel to me and rude to my boyfriend…what price was I willing to pay to fit in? Was I willing to sacrifice my own happiness or that of the man I loved?

No more. Time to fight those fears.

“You okay, T?” I turned around at the sound of Julie’s voice. She stood next to me with her arms crossed over her chest and a frown on her face. We were on the edge of the chaos, watching our friends celebrate the big win.

I shook my head. “Not really, but I will be. I need to talk to you.” I motioned to the front steps of the Delta Epsilon house, and we both sat down.

I rubbed my clammy hands on my jeans. I didn’t want to hurt Julie, but I had to be honest with her and myself. “I love being your sister.” I looked over at her and smiled, all our memories playing before me. I blew out a deep breath. This was much harder than I had thought. “I can’t keep participating in these fraternity parties anymore.” I blurted out the words.

“What? Why?” Julie sputtered.

“Partying with random guys who are looking for a hook up isn’t right for me anymore. Before I met Alec it was one thing, but I can’t keep doing that.”

“You’re not leaving Tri-Gam are you?” Julie’s chin wobbled, and tears filled her eyes. Her reaction was so unexpected that my eyes watered. Julie loved me in her own way. I just never thought she’d be so sad if I left.

“Of course not! I love all my sisters so much, especially you and Alexis. You both helped me find myself. I’m confident and strong because I always knew I had friends like you behind me.” The tears slid over my cheeks, matching the ones on Julie’s face.