Page 1

Chapter 1

Pledge Week

"Man, you sure this isn't a cult?" Logan asked, eyeing the senior who'd offered to give him a tour of the fraternity house.

"Oh, this?" Ashton laughed with a flash of those toothpaste commercial-perfect teeth of his. "Just a Mu Tau Rho tradition. Normally, this is our chapter room where we hold meetings. It'll look like a parade exploded here in about a month, when we start on the Homecoming float. Then it's ground central for Folly practice and stuff after that," Ashton explained. He gestured toward a doorway through which lay a room with chipped linoleum flooring and a lot of wood paneling; the cheap kind that'd probably still been here back when Logan's dad was a member.

And about twenty guys stripped down to only their boxers, standing in four neat rows, all staring grimly ahead.

"But as you can see, right now it's doubling as a pledge holding area," Ashton continued on as smoothly as he'd done for the rest of the tour of his fraternity. As if stumbling upon rooms of half-naked men was a common occurrence in the house.

Who knows? Maybe it is

They looked like a parade of scarecrows; each holding out a pair of bright green buckets to either side, all filled to the brim with what appeared to be —

"What's with the rubber duckies?" Logan asked, curious.

One of the guys in the front row cursed, a rain of the plastic yellow toys spilling to the floor as his arms fell.

"Oh, bad luck!" laughed a man sitting in a lounge chair at the back of the room with a textbook propped up on his knee. "Thirteen laps around the house and try again — go!'

The pledge who'd dropped the ducks slumped, before taking off for a door on the opposite wall, braced open with a broom. He sprinted through it into a parking lot beyond, disappearing around the corner, out of sight.

Ashton shrugged, unfazed by the incident. "Not sure, honestly. The ducks have been part of the tradition for longer than I've been here," he answered. "Not one you'll have to do, of course, being a legacy and all."

Logan glanced back over the assembled pledges, something twinging in his memory about the scene.

"Wally's a legacy," he said.

"Who?"

"Wally Mercer." Logan nodded to a tall, skinny guy at the end. The thick glasses were gone, and he'd changed his hair. Gotten a piercing in his lip and at least one ear as well, given what Logan could see from this angle. But Logan would recognize that profile anywhere, even if it'd usually been hidden behind a cardboard folder covered in wizards and elves and stuff. "Our dads were in the same pledge class together. That makes Wally a legacy, too, right?"

"Oh. You mean Oz?" Ashton smirked. "Yeah, but he's…"

He trailed off, his hand making a swoopy little circular gesture, as though he were looking for the right words.

"…a bit of a geek?" Logan offered, already nodding.

In high school, Wally and some other guys were always clustered around the back table in the cafeteria playing games or something. He had a vague impression of them talking a mile a minute about shows Logan hadn't bothered getting into, even if, between football, wrestling, track, and parties, his schedule had never seemed to allow the time.

"Sure, that too." Ashton's smirk grew. "Let's just say, he's not the most… traditional member of the house."

"Neither am I," Logan pointed out as Ashton snorted, leading them on to the next stop of the tour. "You sure you still want me to pledge, given my schedule with the football team?"

"For you?" Ashton waved a dismissive hand. "Don't worry about it. We'll give you a pass for each cheerleader you invite to our parties."

Logan glanced over at him, shrugging. "I'll ask, but I can't promise anything, man. Got the numbers of a few of them at a meet and greet the athletics department threw last week, but trying to make time with one's been a whole other story. Those chicks have practice schedules even more intense than mine."

"Don't worry about it too much. I'm just joking anyway," Ashton said, flashing a grin. Though from the way his eyes kept cutting over to Logan, it was clear he wouldn't complain a bit if the entire cheer squad showed up at the frat's next function. "But seriously, the Alumni are very excited to have you join our fraternity. They said we can lighten the pledge schedule in your case, make allowances for games and practice and stuff."

"I'm not looking for special treatment," Logan protested. "I appreciate the house being flexible so I can focus on the team, but my dad always talks about his time here; the friends and memories he made, the traditions. I want to be a part of that."

"Oh, you'll get the full MTR experience. Don't worry," Ashton assured him, leading Logan back towards… the kitchen? Damn, this old house was a fucking maze . "Rear stairs are that way. Bedrooms and showers are on the next two floors up. We aren't technically supposed to have guests anywhere but the common areas here downstairs, but if you see someone trying to sneak his girlfriend up… No, you didn't. Am I right?"

He threw Logan a smirk at that, holding out a fist Logan didn't hesitate to bump, chuckling.

"Now, it's tradition that Freshies and Sophomores live in the house, and then any remaining rooms are assigned based on how many other brothers apply." Ashton clapped a friendly hand to Logan's shoulder, guiding him around the corner. "We'll understand if you need a pass because of your team responsibilities, but living in the house for at least a couple of terms really makes a difference in your experience here."

"I'll see what I can do." Logan shrugged. "Be way easier this year than next, when I come off the bench as a full player."

"Sure, sure," Ashton said, nodding. "Just let us know as soon as you're able. We're thinking that since you already know Oz, maybe we'd pair you up as roommates. He's… different, but he's quiet. Don't think he'd bother you much. We'd put you on the third floor, near the back. There's a second set of stairs there, away from the noise and commotion of the front. Might help keep things as low-key as possible, going to practices and games and such. Plus, this summer they fixed up the bathroom and showers at the front, so you'd pretty much have the smaller one all to yourself."

"Sounds good," Logan said, nodding. "What'd Wally say about it?"

"Oh, he'll do anything we tell him," Ashton replied, chuckling. "That's what being a pledge is about."

"Except in my case," Logan frowned. "Doesn't seem fair; him being a legacy, same as me."

"Yeah, but is he really the same as you, though?" Ashton asked.

His tone was odd in a way Logan couldn't place, his smile twisted into more of a smirk.

As if he knows a secret and thinks I do, too. But Wally's total crap at keeping secrets. Ashton couldn't have met Wally more than a week ago, right? So what's he know that I don't?

Unsettled, Logan shrugged instead of answering, suddenly unsure exactly what question Ashton was asking.

"Hey, so — why d'ya keep calling him Wally?" Ashton asked. "I thought his name was Oz."

"Maybe?" Logan blinked. "I think his name's Oswald or something, but he's been Wally since at least the eighth grade. Especially…uh — "

He cut himself off, flushing as he remembered he probably shouldn't tell that tale to someone he was trying to impress. But Ashton was watching him expectantly now, and to wave it off — That would be weird, right? Logan thought fast. If he told the whole story, Ashton here might decide Logan wasn't fraternity brother material after all, and…

"There was a game we— I mean, some of the guys at school played. Someone — " I, Logan carefully didn't say, " — would call out 'Wet Wally!' and the first to soak him with a drink or something, um… they won. Uh — or so I heard. Teachers put a stop to it pretty quickly, but the name stuck, I guess," Logan finished lamely.

And if he left out the two-week suspension he'd gotten for being the one to start that game, well…

Nobody here had to know, right?

Unless —

Unless Wally tells them , a little voice whispered.

Shit.

Ashton was looking at him funny, and Logan cleared his throat.

"So, uh, what's the rest of the year look like?" he asked, trying to change the subject. "I'm assuming it's not all just pledge stuff."

"Nothing that'll be a problem for you, I'm sure," Ashton said, as the door to the outside swung open and a few brothers came in carrying boxes and suitcases. They flashed Ashton and Logan a trio of nods and smiles without breaking their conversation, heading up the wide staircase that dominated the foyer with all the cheerful haste of someone moving in.

"The usual," Ashton continued, nodding to the newcomers. "Our monthly themed parties, obviously. We also pair up with the sororities for the Homecoming float and Spring Folly. Some campus-wide social events the Panhellenic Council makes us do, plus a few charity projects. Oh, and the annual Mu Tau Rho Cattle Call, of course."

"Cattle Call?" Logan asked, watching as more guys came in behind the first, arms equally filled with luggage and boxes.

Ashton grinned. "Yeah, we're famous for our big bachelor auction. Mu Tau Rho is also known as Minotaur House — those bull-headed things from Greek myth? Mu, moo, cattle — get it? Our Bull Riding party in November is huge. The sorority girls come in these sexy little cowgirl outfits. You'll love it. All the houses on campus do an annual fundraiser for each of our charities, but the Cattle Call holds the record for raising the most each year. A lot of the parents come, most of the alumni from the area, some of the sororities, even a few politicians and rich folk… Each of them looking for a chance to bid on a date with a handsome young stud."

"Oh," Logan muttered. "So it's not — It's just a date, right? Like, dinner or something? Nothing…more?"

Ashton grinned. "I'm not sure if you're asking for a yes or no."

"I'm not…" Logan started, and then flushed, trailing off. "Never mind."

"You don't have to worry about any of that," Ashton assured him. "It's all in good fun. It helps bring in a lot of money for the children's hospital so they can get the sick kids wheelchairs or whatever. Besides, we've got a few rules to keep things from getting too…intense. The biggest one is that you can call off the date at any time if the bidder steps out of line."

"Sounds alright then," Logan agreed. "Just so long as I don't end up stuck going with some perv who'll try and stick their hands in my pants the whole evening."

"It's all cleared with the Alumni board first. Usually dinner at a restaurant, though Nate's fiancée had him go work at the soup kitchen with her for a day. Alumni ate that one up," Ashton explained. "No hanky panky, but what you choose to do after your date officially ends is your business. A lot of the guys get their girlfriends to bid on them, but you'll probably —"

He cut off, noticing a few more figures coming up the walk to the front door. But instead of a bunch of college guys in sweat-soaked shirts moving in, these men — and two women — were a range of ages; dressed in crisp red-and-black uniforms, and all of them carrying a towering stack of the telltale flat boxes instantly recognizable as —

"Pizza?" Ashton muttered, stepping forward and motioning to one of them. "Who the hell ordered that much?"

The guy in front shrugged. "Dunno, the receipt said '528 Athens Drive, charge to: Seymour Knutz-with-a-Z' on delivery." He frowned down at the label, then squinted up at the brass letters on the door. "That's here, right?"

But by the way Ashton cursed, Logan was going to bet no.

"It's gotta be Sigma Kappa Zeta getting us back for hotdogging the window wipers on their cars last week," Ashton answered, before turning again to Logan. "I need to take care of this. Just — Have a look around. Maybe talk to some of the guys, okay? I'll find you when I'm done."