Page 1 of Provocation (Den of Deception #3)

I t’s day one. My palms are sweating and I’m nauseous. I’m nervous but I’d never admit it and no one would know it by my appearance. My posture is straight, but nonchalant. Anyone who looks at me gets a belligerent stare back that usually makes them look away first.

I glance around at the other members of the frat I’m pledging. The Kappa Iota Pi brothers. The richest kids at Richmond U.

‘What’s your name, pledge?’

‘Blake,’ I reply, looking this older guy in the face.

He’s a senior, four years older than me and he looks like he could break me in two.

Asshole probably has a personal trainer at his family’s ritzy mansion.

But if he starts any shit with me, I’ll be coming out the winner.

I haven’t lost a fight since I was twelve, and I’m sure as hell not gonna start now.

I wonder if this guy is gonna ask me any questions.

He’s been grilling the others pretty hard in the line, but as he stares me down, his lip quirks a little and he moves on.

I notice he does the same thing to the guy next to me with the blond hair and a third dude further down with dark hair and clothes that look expensive.

I clock him watching me and I do the same. Yep. Rich kid.

The guy next to me isn’t one of them though. I can tell a mile off. Like me, he has an edginess to him, a ‘don’t fuck with me’ vibe. I glance at his name tag that’s about my eye level since he’s so damned tall.

Mav.

‘Where you from?’ I ask him.

‘Richmond. Like you,’ he murmurs, not looking at me.

I snort. Guess he can tell who’s poor and who’s not too.

‘What’s your major?’

‘Physics or chem. Not sure yet. You?’

He finally glances down at me. ‘Chem.’

I nod, sort of glad I might have made a buddy already who’s going to be in my classes, and in my frat.

‘We want into KIP then we need to make sure we stand out from these other assholes,’ I murmur.

The upperclassmen leave us with some orders about making sure we’re always contactable and how the next six weeks are gonna be the worst of our lives. I’m not stupid enough to roll my eyes then and there, but I doubt any of these soft assholes would know a bad day if it kicked them in the ’nads.

Mav turns to me, his eyes flicking down to my name tag just as the third, dark haired guy saunters over to us.

Shade.

We appraise each other silently for a few seconds and I realize that this kid might be rich, but he’s got something the other pledges don’t. Somehow, he doesn’t look so young as these other guys.

‘Major?’ I ask, tipping my chin up a little.

‘Probably Chemistry,’ he answers.

‘Us, too,’ Mav says.

Shade glances around. ‘Work together?’ he asks, echoing my thoughts.

But I snort. ‘Why us?’

He chuckles. ‘Not all of the KIP members are rich kids. It looks like they are, but at least a third are from blue-collar families. Do you know why that is?’

‘Because Kip values diversity?’ Mav says, repeating what the seniors have told us with a hint of irony.

Shade chuckles. ‘Good one.’

‘KIP values wealth, but also the ability to make and keep it,’ I say. ‘They like members with smarts and grit.’

Shade nods. ‘You both have that. So do I. We work together to get through hazing. We eliminate the competition if necessary. We do what it takes to get in. Deal?

I nod and so does Mav.

‘Deal.’