Page 43 of Sour Lollipops and Sweet Nightmares (The Society #1)

Issac

G eorgia’s little friend was becoming a pain in my ass. First, she got in Ravi’s face when he went to Craven House. Then she got Georgia out of the library, and finally, she interrupted us this morning. She was not going to interfere a fourth time.

“Rachel McMann,” Ravi said, like I should know the name. “She was Kate’s roommate.”

“Who the fuck is Kate?”

He stared at me.

I stared back at him.

“Wow.” Ravi blew out a breath. “You really don’t give a fuck, do you?”

“Depends on the subject.”

Did I give a fuck about some random chick Ravi knew? No. Georgia kneeing me in the balls, however… Know what hurts worse than getting kneed in the nuts?

Getting kneed in the nuts when your dick was hard. Georgia was definitely going to pay for that tonight. My balls still hurt. My dick had been aching for days now, so there was nothing new there.

“Kate was the girl who was supposed to be my bride before we ruined her,” Ravi explained.

Oh, okay. I remembered her now. “She was fun.”

Her friend, however… Wait… that was why Rachel looked so familiar. Huh. Some girls weren’t memorable. Bet Slater remembered her, though. She was all over him last year—poor guy. I had a few stage five clingers myself.

That shit wasn’t easy to shake off. I understood now why Ravi suggested we talk to his brother. If I were capable of feeling guilt, I might feel bad for what I was about to ask him to do.

“You’re a horrible brother,” I said to Ravi while pulling open the door and walking in.

Similar to most other universities, the athletic department at Renfrew was bigger than any other department. Sports—while nowhere near as important as science or other academics—always brought in money and sponsors.

The more trophies the school had, the more money they received. And Renfrew had a lot of trophies. We currently hold four state championships and three national titles. One of which Slater helped the football team achieve last year.

Some parents got pissed off when extra funds went into a team instead of a new lab, but that decision was nothing more than smart business.

Winning teams brought in fans. Fans who wanted to support their team and school.

I got it. That didn’t mean I didn’t get agitated every time I walked into the football team’s locker room.

Looking around, I grumbled at Ravi, “Can you believe this shit?”

This place was better equipped than top-tier gyms. State-of-the-art exercise equipment, a hot tub, a massage area, and a players’ only lounge with gaming consoles, a massive, big screen TV, and a snack bar.

Ravi shrugged. “I’ve seen better.”

“Where?” I’d like to see this mythical gym.

“My grandpa owned the Dallas Cowboys.”

Right. I forgot about that. Ravi’s family had nothing to do with that team now.

When his grandpa died, his dad sold it. The General didn’t have time for sports, but he had no problem insisting that his sons sign up for them.

It took Ravi two days to get kicked off the Junior Varsity football team.

I still had no idea what he did, but whatever it was, it was bad enough to get him permanently banned from the sport.

“Check it out,” Ravi slapped my chest and pointed off to the right. “They upgraded the hot tub.”

Of course they did. “Our school funding at work.”

Don’t get me wrong, Renfrew didn’t take anything away from other departments. Geology, Georgia’s major, for example, had labs, samples, and equipment that rivaled Harvard. But the school treated the football team like royalty. If a player failed a test, the coach arranged a better grade.

It was disgusting, especially when it came to players like Slater. He didn’t even like the game. In fact, he fucking hated it. Yet, he was one of the best linebackers I’d ever seen. Slater was the best linebacker most had seen.

“Hey, Ravi.” One of the players nodded in our direction, then sneered at me. “Issac.”

“Fuck off.” I dismissed him and looked over to the massage tables where Slater sprawled out, groaning as some chick worked on his calves.

“Look at that son of a bitch.” Ravi waved his hand at his brother. “Yesterday he complained for two goddamn hours about practice, and now he’s lying there like the queen of fucking Sheba.”

Slater might not be a fan of the game, but he sure liked the benefits.

“You’re just jealous,” I snorted.

“Um, yeah. Aren’t you?”

“Not really.” If I wanted a massage, I’d get one.

The fact that Slater didn’t have to worry about grades might have made me a little jealous.

Not that I had to try hard to stay at the top of my class, but Slater didn’t have to try at all.

If he failed, the coach would fix it, or his dad would.

The General was all about sports. Mine was all about grades.

Anything less than an A was unacceptable.

“Need I remind you, that could’ve been you.” Unlike Slater, Ravi actually liked playing football.

“Yeah, but then my old man would be proud of me, and I can’t have that.”

“So, you torture your brother?” The Pierce twins had this fucked-up good son/bad son game going with their dad.

“Nah,” Ravi smirked. “That’s just a bonus.”

“I say again, you are a horrible brother.”

Ravi arched a brow my way. “And what happened to your brother?”

That was different. It was a trial. And… “My brother was a pussy.”

“Yeah, he kinda was,” he agreed. “Are you sure he was your brother? He once cried for two hours because I broke his toy car. You would’ve made me eat it.”

“I don’t know.” I hadn’t really thought about it before, but it would make sense.

My brother didn’t have an enhancement. Every child fathered by a society member had one—even the girls, of which there was only one, who disappeared shortly after she was born. I wouldn’t be surprised if The Society had her killed. They couldn’t have a woman with any power walking around.

“Come on.” I waved at Ravi to follow and walked over to Slater.

The woman massaging him didn’t say anything when we walked up. She just looked up at us while kneading Slater’s calves. Slater, on the other hand, wasn’t quiet, nor was he happy to see us.

“Ugh,” he grumbled through the hole his face was in. “You have the worst timing, Ravi.”

“How did you know it was me?” He asked.

“No one else would wear those God-awful shoes.”

I had to agree with his brother on that one. Ravi had a collection of shoes, none of which I liked. Especially the red sneakers he had on now.

Ravi looked down at his feet. “What’s wrong with my shoes?”

“So much that I don’t know where to start.”

“Issac likes my shoes.”

I shot Ravi a sneer. “No, I don’t.”

“Issac is here?”

Guess he couldn’t see my feet.

I arched a brow down at Slater. “Enjoying yourself?”

“I was.” He huffed out a sigh. “What do you want, Issac?”

“We need to talk.” That was my cue for him to send the masseuse away, but the bastard didn’t even lift his head to look up at me.

He stayed exactly how he was and muttered, “About?” as if my presence was an annoyance.

This mother…

“Oh, not much.” I growled down at him. “I thought you might like to know that you’re next. But if I’m interrupting you.”

That made him lift his head. “Next for what?”

“What the fuck do you think?” We weren’t taking turns in the playground.

His stare narrowed. “You’re lying.”

Oh, but I wasn’t. That was nothing more than wishful thinking, and Slater knew that. I didn’t lie. But I did hold onto information that might be useful. Like the file I found on my father’s desk with Slater’s name and the picture of a girl.

“Sorry, Slater,” I tsked. “But you caught the bouquet.”

That caught his attention. “What do you know?”

“Everything.”

I knew her name, who Slater’s second was, the small town in Ireland where she was currently living, and when she would be here.

“Bullshit,” Slater shook his head. “That shit is kept under lock and key.”

“Yeah. By my dad.”

He looked over at his brother. “Did you know about this?”

Ravi held up his hands, palms out. “I had no idea.”

That was true. I didn’t tell Ravi shit. Why would I? What advantage would that give me?

Slater waved the masseuse away and sat up. “I don’t suppose you would just give me the information?”

“Pfft, no.” Did he think I was stupid?

“Fine,” he sighed. “Give me ten minutes. I’ll meet you outside.”

“Don’t make me wait, Slater,” I said and turned to leave.

Ravi fell in step behind me and didn’t say a word until we were out of the locker room.

“What the fuck, Issac?”

Leaning against the wall, I crossed my arms. “What?”

“What the fuck do you mean what? How long have you known about this?”

“Three days.” I said while glancing down at my watch.

Slater had better not take too long. The scent in this place was wearing on my patience. It was a mixture of chlorine, sweat, and old sterilizing chemicals.

“Three days?”

That’s what I said.

“I can’t believe you didn’t say anything.” Ravi shook his head and leaned back against the wall on the other side of the door. “If I was Slater, I’d be pissed.”

Oh, Slater was plenty pissed. He was just good at putting up a front.

But I saw the anger tightening in his jaw.

Slater was the kind of guy who was quiet until he wasn’t.

That was when he got dangerous. Losing control could mean punching in someone’s skull.

Unfortunately for Slater, he had his father’s temper.

None of the Zen, yoga bullshit worked. There was only one thing that calmed Slater down. Victory. Whether it was football or breaking in some chick, Slater played to win. I didn’t really like the guy, but I respected that part of him.

“Are you sure about what you saw?”

I was insulted by that question. Ravi knew me better than that. “Would I have said anything if I wasn’t?”

“Alright.” He nodded. “We’ll just have to take care of her like we did Kathy.”

Poor naive Ravi.

“You assume I’ll hand over the info.”

His eyes rolled up to mine. “Why wouldn’t you?”

That was a question I would answer with one of my own. “Why didn’t you tell me about Georgia?”