Page 87 of The Frathole

“Too late.”

“You seem even more anxious than usual,” I tell Jaxon. “Someone not been laid for a while?”

Jaxon chuckles uncomfortably. “I’ve had a lot to do at work and school. And this one keeps me up all night.” He indicates Keeg.

“Oh, really?” I ask.

I never would have imagined the two of them fucking around, but if Mart and I are, I guess you can never tell…

Keegan quickly says, “Playing video games.”

“Oh…” I’m kind of disappointed. Would have been cool as fuck if we had all been hooking up all night, but if all they’re doing is playing video games, sucks for them.

“You’re one to talk,” Ty says, which catches my attention.

Why would he say that? Does he know something about Marty and me? Did I say something obvious? Am I the bastard who accidentally outed Mart because of my idiot mouth?

“Yeah, telling Jaxon he needs to get laid,” Ty explains. “When was the last timeyougot laid?”

Last night, thank you very much.Of course, I can’t tell him that without him being suspicious about who it was with, but I’m relieved he’s not onto me and Mart.

“I’m just giving you a hard time, man,” Ty says, patting my arm. “We all know what’s going on.”

A rush of panic rises up my spine. “You do?”

“You’ve got to be kidding,” Keegan says. “You think you could keep this from your best friends?”

Sweat beads across my forehead.

It’s not that I think my friends would give two shits about what we’ve been doing, but no one should know what’s up unless Marty wants them to.

“Listen, you guys, you need to keep this—”

“Relax,” Jaxon chimes in. “We’re not gonna run around telling everyone you’re crushing on some girl you’ve been sneaking around with.”

Girl? I’m so stunned, it takes me a few seconds to get anything other than that word out of my head.

“You think your best friend isn’t gonna recognize that you’re catchingfeels?” Ty asks.

“I’m not catching feels,” I spit out, earning glares from my whole crew. Suddenly, I realize what’s up. “You all talking about me behind my back?”

“Only stating the obvious,” Ty says. “You’re terrible at keeping a secret. And you can’t wipe that big-ass smile off your face every time I see you, the way you usually look after someone’s given youthe best night of your life.”

I’ve been grinning more—Marty seems to have that effect on me—to the point that some days I’ll even notice my cheeks starting to hurt, especially if he got me laughing a lot that morning.

Marty McGovern making me grin and laugh… Who would’ve guessed?

“Also, when you survived probation and didn’t collect from us,” Keegan points out.

I only brought it up once I succeeded in passing the probationary period without incident. I deserved to rub it in, but I wasn’t gonna take their money, especially when it feels like I got a lot more out of the deal than some cash.

“Hey, I was doing you a favor,” I tell Keeg. “Didn’t you tell me you were trying to save money while we’re at Alpha Theta Mu?”

“Does that sound anything like the Ryan we know?” Keeg asks Ty.

“Hey!”

“It’s not just that,” Keegan goes on. “We never see you flirting with anyone at parties or formals anymore.”