CHAPTER NINE
BLAKE
I pride myself on being a pretty good judge of character, but with Tia I simply don’t know anymore. Maybe she’s a sucker for assholes. Yeah, like every other girl I know. Not that you haven’t used it to your advantage.
But girls know what they’re getting when they hook up with me. They’re not looking for a five-course dinner or a diamond ring. They want to be part of the legend, to be fucked like an animal, by a king. For what? It all seems so stupid now.
It’s been a long time since I was this angry, not since Ethan showed me the Carver Fuckbook he’d created. Those Polaroids were meant to be private, mementos, but he stole them, scanned them and put them out there for the world to see. What could I do in the end but go along with it? Things between us have never been the same since.
I slam the door shut on my way into the apartment, but it’s still not enough to drown out the telltale sounds of sexual congress coming from Billy’s room. His door is open, a girl flat on her back with her ankles behind her head and Billy pounding into her. I kind of have to squint to work out what’s going on. She looks like a human fucking pretzel.
Billy sees me and waves, a big, goofy grin on his face. Yep, you are definitely adopted.
I shake my head and close his door, not even Metallica’s Black album on full blast is enough to drown them out.
Half an hour later Billy blows into my room freshly showered, a towel around his waist. “Did you see that?”
“Seeing you naked is always the quickest way to ruin a night.”
He sits on my bed, the towel rising a little too high for my liking. “These gymnastics chicks, bro… insane. You should have seen what she did with her—”
I turn back to the computer screen, to World of Warcraft. It’s not the same without Tia sitting next to me. “I don’t want to hear it.”
Billy stands to lean against the desk. He smells like cologne on top of soap on top of cologne. “We should be celebrating. The drought is over. I’m scoring and you’re acting like someone died.”
“Someone might die yet.” I think of Ethan, picture him above her, inside her. Fuck. How could she be so fucking stupid, after what he did to her at that party? I mean, really? My fingers tighten.
“It’s Tia, isn’t it?”
I keep quiet.
Billy shakes his head. “You’ve got to stay out of it, dude. I know you’ve got the hots for her. I see that eye of yours twitching whenever she comes into the room.”
I slash a character on screen with my battle axe. Feels good. “My eye does not twitch.”
He nods. “Uh-huh. When you’re really into something, when you’re kind of nervous and weird, it twitches, like this.” His impression looks more like a pirate being electrocuted.
I push him off the desk. “How about a little peace, huh?”
“Piece of ass? Because gym girl’s got a girlfriend who’d love a bit of Goliath action.”
I keep slashing on screen. “Not interested.”
He starts to walk away. “Suit yourself, man, but seriously, forget Tia. There’s only one place that road heads.”
I can’t resist. “And where’s that?”
He stops in the doorway. “Disaster, bro. Fucking disaster.”
*
I play until my wrists ache and my eyes are blurry, but I can’t seem to shake the thought of her, of what she’d be doing right now with him.
Forget her, like Billy said.
I switch off the monitor and climb into bed, consider jerking off for the first time in forever but can’t even summon the energy to even do that.
It’s two in the morning when my phone starts to buzz on the pillow beside me.
I roll over and claw for it in the dark. What. The. Fuck?
I don’t even bother to check the caller. I swipe and answer. “This better be good.”
“I need your help.” It’s Tia.
I sit bolt upright, suddenly wide awake. “What is it? What’s he done? I’ll fucking—”
She doesn’t sound distraught. “I’m fine.”
“What happened? Did he—”
“Can you come to Ethan’s room?”
“At the dorms?”
“Yes.”
“Right now?”
“Right now.”
The last thing I want to do is deal with him tonight. “Why?”
“I can’t explain. Can you help or not?”
Damsel in distress—of fucking course I’m going to say yes. “Fine. I’ll be there as soon as I can.” Her next words take me a little by surprise.
“Bring rope.”
*
It’s so cold out I’m sure my balls have drawn up into my abdomen somewhere. Everyone’s asleep given training starts up again tomorrow morning. It’s deathly quiet in the dorms. I knock on Ethan’s door as softly as I can.
Tia answers it almost immediately still dressed in the same clothes she left The Trophy Room in.
Thank god for that.
I look past her but can’t see anyone else, only the cluster-fuck of clothes and crap Ethan calls a room. “Where’s Ethan?”
“The bathroom. Come on.”
Admittedly, I’m a little worried where she’s going with this.
I look into the bathroom and find Ethan completely naked slumped against the wall next to the sink. I turn to Tia. “What the fuck is going on? Is he…?”
“Dead?” she laughs. “No, that might be taking it a little too far.”
“Take what a little too far?”
“Revenge,” she smiles.
Ethan gives a little wheeze. So she’s telling the truth. “I’m lost.”
Tia closes the bathroom door. “You know my friend Lacey?”
“The gymnastics chick? Yeah.”
“Before I came here to Carver we got talking a little. I met her online, wanted to have at least one friend here before I arrived.”
I lean against the wall scratching my head. “I still don’t see what this has to do with Ethan?”
“Ethan really screwed her over. Lacey, that is.”
“Ethan screws everyone over.”
There’s a whimper from behind the door. “I know, but what he did to her is truly despicable. It was consensual, yes, but putting her on that website, calling her the worst lay he’d ever had? He ruined her life. Now I’m going to ruin his.”
Wow. This is a side to Tia I wasn’t expecting at all. It’s fucking bad-ass. “I’ve put girls on that website too, you know. You going to knock me out as well? How did you knock him out?”
She ignores my question. “At least you give them all five out of five, but yes, I should be kicking your immature ass too, but I can’t move him by myself, can I?”
“Move him?”
“To the quadrangle. We’re going to put him on display, him and that peanut he calls a cock.” The way she says ‘cock’ is fucking beautiful.
I open the door. Guy’s out cold. His dick is so shriveled up you can barely see it. “Again, how did you knock him out?”
The smile that comes to her face is pure evil. I fucking love it.
“Follow me,” she says.
She takes my hand and leads me to a set of drawers near his bed, pulling out the bottom one. Below it is a fucking chemist’s worth of pills, drugs, powders.
“Jesus,” I stammer.
“Lacey told me all about it. The idiot was stupid enough to show her, asked her if she needed anything to help her relax.”
Tia reaches in and selects a bag. “Roofies. Pretty funny, huh?”
I don’t know if ‘funny’ is the right word, not that I haven’t long suspected Ethan was drugging girls, himself, dealing to every kid within ten miles. His parents might be loaded, but I know for a fact they only provide him a small allowance. Of course he was going to take advantage.
A thought comes. Call it in. Get the fucker kicked out once and for all. It’s a good idea, but public humiliation is even better.
Tia drops the bag back in and puts the drawer into place. “Wasn’t hard to spike his drink.”
I really can’t believe the deception at play here. I’ve had Tia all wrong. “This is some dangerous, Mission Impossible shit. What if he tried something on you again?”
“I can handle myself,” and the look in her eyes tells me she sure as fuck can.
“You actively lead him on, all for this?” I don’t know whether I should feel relived or terrified.
She nods. “Girls have to protect their own. Lacey wasn’t going to do anything. She doesn’t have the balls.”
I laugh. “And you do?”
She reaches down to the crotch of her jeans and pulls. “You better believe it.”
I push open the bathroom door again. It’s such a pathetically sad sight. I mean, it’s cold, but it’s not that cold. “You’re a hell of a friend, you know that?”
She pushes me in. “Just grab his arms.”
I salute. “Yes, sir.”
*
I can’t say I’m used to lugging naked men around campus. I know what they say about dead weight, but this is ridiculous. It’s like hauling an elephant around in the middle of the night.
I’m holding him under his arms, Tia with his legs like a wheelbarrow, his dick flopping back and forth like a melancholy window wiper. I’m looking around, wondering when someone is going to spot us. This is out there, even for me.
I breathe out, a veil of white following. “This is insane.”
Tia jerks her head towards the quadrangle. “We’re almost there.”
“You’re fucking crazy, Tia Reed.”
She smiles. “Takes crazy to know crazy, right?”
A bronze statue of the college’s founder, Dr. Xavier Hutchins, stands proudly in the center of the quadrangle. The poor guy’s doomed to X-Man jokes for all eternity. In a couple of hours this place will be swarming with students.
Tia drops Ethan’s legs. There’s nothing gentle about it. I lower him down and drop the bag. “He’ll get frostbite out here.”
Tia busies herself spreading out the rope. She’s a pro at this. I almost tell her she can tie me up whenever she likes before sense kicks in. Can you even see what she’s doing here?
She tests the slack in the rope. “The sun will be up at five. That’s an hour away. He’ll survive. Besides, if his cock does drop off it will be a service to women worldwide. Help me stand him up.”
I reach under his arms draw him into a standing position against the bottom of the statue while Tia runs the rope around his torso and thighs. All the while I can feel his junk pressing into my leg. I’ve had wild nights, sure, but this takes the cake.
He murmurs something, a jumble of words. I’m so spooked I almost leap out of my skin.
Tia slaps him in the face. “There, there, princess. You’ll have all the attention you need soon enough.”
Tia’s working the rope like a fucking Boy Scout, tying it off and standing back to admire her handiwork.
I have to give it to her. This is some A-grade pranking. “Where’d you learn to tie knots? The Corps?”
There’s almost a classical beauty at the way the imposing figure of Dr. Xavier looms over the bound body of Ethan below, his cock hanging limply to one side and looking even smaller out in the open.
Tia takes out a lipstick and moves towards him. She writes something on his chest. When she stands back I see it reads ‘World’s Worst Lay’ in bright red.
“Classy.”
She takes out her phone, the flash going off as she takes a picture. “There you go, Lacey. Happy birthday.”
I’m still looking around waiting for security to show. “What now?”
She takes my hand. It’s warm, deliciously, press-it-between-my-legs warm. “Now we get the hell out of here.”
We both spring through campus to the apartment, running, laughing, pushing each other. I feel like I’m a kid again, not a single worry in the world.
Tia’s striding ahead of me across the running track. She turns, stops and I collide into her, her two hands pressed flat against my chest.
I look down into her eyes made metallic under the moonlight, a world of possibility swimming inside them.
Her hands remain glued to my chest. I’d be quite content if they never moved.
Gently, I run my own hands up her side as our breath continues to mingle cloudy and hot between us. I lean in, lips parted.
Do it.
Do it.
Do it.
A moment before our lips meet she pushes me away, starting to run off again. I don’t know where she’s getting this limitless energy.
“Come on,” she says, jogging backwards. “I thought you were an athlete.”
“And if I catch you?”
She winks. “You won’t.”