Page 22 of The Frathole

“Not to give toyou. Fifty.”

“Seventy-five. Come on. I’m an amazing friend. You should believe in me enough to put in a hundred.”

Keegan’s expression twists up. “But if I’m putting in an easy hundred, doesn’t that mean I believe you won’t be able to do it?”

“Nah, because you didn’t volunteer it right away, so I know you think I can do it,” I tease. “You’re a good bud. Now give me your damn money. You think we can get Jaxon and Dax into this? I mean, Dax had five hundred for that bachelor auction last semester. I could walk away with a pretty penny.”

Ty laughs. “We’re not letting you rob Sigma Alpha. And you know a bet is definitely against the rules, so why don’t you just settle for trusting your good friends with this?”

“I hate when you make a good point.”

Funny to think I’ve been walking on eggshells, feeling so on edge the past three and a half weeks, and now I feel lighter. And I know it has nothing to do with the bet, but because Ty and Keegan were clearly scheming to find a way to keep me good through this probation, and it’s not something I’ll take for granted. I also have no intention of letting my bros down.

“So is it a bet?” Keeg asks.

“At a hundred each?” I confirm.

Keeg rolls his eyes. “Fine. A hundred it is.”

“Damn right it’s a bet.”

We shake on it, and Ty says, “I’m glad you’re in. Because I want to still be hanging with my buddy.”

“We can’t lose one of our own,” Keegan adds. “Just let some of the other guys get into trouble for a minute.”

I know I’ve been an asshole to Marty recently, but he’s about to see a totally different side of Ryan Lorde. He won’t even knowwho the fucking hell his roommate is.

“I’m gonna be so good, he won’t be able to stand it,” I mutter, glaring at Marty like he’s my archnemesis right before he gets hit in the face with the ball.

8

Marty

Ithoroughly enjoyedthe break, spending the time in my old room at my parents’, not having to deal with that frathole being right on top of me. And despite being disappointed with Aiden going to Tybee Island, I still got to spend a couple of days with him when he got back.

Now everything’s back to normal.

Only not.

The past few days, Ryan hasn’t been as bad…really, since we played pickleball with the crew. Not that he’s been great, but feels like he’s been laying off, not trying to make a production of annoying the crap out of me. I want to believe he’s finally taking the consequences of his actions seriously, but I’m worried it’s something else. That he’s trying to get me to let my guard down before he surprises me with something that’ll really throw me.

Any minute now, I’m sure the floor will fall right out from under me.

Sunday night, I go out with the guys to the new rock-climbing wall at the rec center. We climb for a bit before grabbing smoothies. Ash and Colin went to a queer nudist camp in South Georgia for the break, and right after, Ash went to some nerd conference, so we’re only now catching up with him about the topic Lance and I are most interested in, for all the obvious reasons.

“I still can’t get over your being totally fine having your junkout,” I say.

Ash shrugs, and Lance pulls a face.

“We’ve walked in on him having sex with his boyfriend,” Lance says. “How would that be the weirdest thing he’s done?”

“It’s different when it’s just wagging around like that. You’re not doing anything with it at a nudist camp.”

“Uh…yeah, sure, definitely not having sex the entire time,” Ash says, glancing around overdramatically.

I can’t disguise my envy. “Oh, shut up. You were not having sex that entire time. Were you?” I notice how high my voice gets on the question.

Ash bursts into a laugh. “Of course not.”