Page 5 of River of Deceit

The woman tries to sit upright, but she's still too weak, too uncoordinated to even get herself up. "I'm… um… I'm Carly. Where's… I thought…"

She's seriously out of it, and my blood is absolutely boiling.

"Look, just let her sleep it off," Blaze says from behind me. I imagine he must think he sounds soothing or encouraging, but he mostly sounds condescending. "She had too much to drink, and someone helped her lie down."

"You can't be serious," I hiss.

"Do you think we should call someone for her?" Asch asks. He sounds less certain, more concerned. At least it's not condescending. "Hey, Carly, do you have someone who can take you home?"

Carly's eyes water. "I was… I was with… Did he…?" she looks at me, then down at herself, finally seeming to realize that she's mostly naked and lets out a sob.

I quickly grab a blanket off the floor to pull around her shoulders. "Hey Carly, I'll take care of you," I promise. "You stay right here while I find your shirt and shoes. I'm not leaving the room, okay?"

Carly doesn't nod, but she clutches the blanket tighter around herself as best she can.

"I guess those roofies weren't a joke," I spit at the two guys as I turn around to start looking for Carly's clothing.

Asch at least has the sense to look concerned. "I've never… I didn't think any of the guys would. None of usneedto. There're always plenty of willing women?—"

"That's not the flex you think it is," I retort.

"I'll take her home," Asch offers. "You can come with us, make sure she gets there safely and all."

"Let Pandora handle it," Blaze says with a sigh. "Let's go back to the party, Asch."

Wow.

Just wow. I'd known the charming, suave face had been a lie, but I didn't expect the facade to fallthisfast. Aroofied womanin his frat house and all he wants is to go back to partying like absolutely nothing happened. He needs an immediate case of fatal testicular torsion.

"If I check the other rooms, will the women be conscious?" I snap. "I guess what they say about Kappa Beta Omega Bullshit is true."

"Kappa Alpha Omega Sigma," Blaze corrects immediately, as ifthat’sthe most pressing issue. He picks something off the floor and throws it at me.

I catch it, ready to throw it back at him, when I realize that it's a women's sweater. I hand the sweater to Carly and get in front of her so that the guys can't see her put it on. It reaches halfway down her highs. I wrap the blanket around her a few times like a makeshift skirt, then tie it as securely as I can.

"What are you doing with Carly?" Asch asks. "I can help, too."

I flip him off and turn back to Carly. "Where do you live, Carly? Are you in a dorm?"

Carly nods slowly. "Yeah, I… I moved in today." It takes her another few seconds to tell me the dorm, and luckily, it's the same building I'm in.

"You'll want to get her into the shower when she gets back," Blaze says as I help Carly into her shoes.

Anger rushes through me again, and I stand and turn to face Blaze. "You mean, so all the evidence gets washed away? That's what you frat guys do, right? Help cover up crimes?"

A part of me realizes how hypocritical this is. I know what my family is, what they’ve done.

But Carly reminds me of Rachel.

Maybe Rachel was passed out in some loser's bed with nobody willing to help her before she ended up in the trash.

Maybe Rachel was carved up and packed into trash bags in this very building.

I'm hyper-aware of my lucky charm in my pocket.

"You Beta Omega Losers think your brotherhood protects you? Well, screw you," I declare. "If I find out about any other woman getting mistreated here, I'm going to pay it back tenfold."

Even knowing exactly where I am, and exactly why I'm here, I'd somehow forgotten who I was talking to.