Page 10 of Devious Gambit

“Sordid how?” someone asked.

“Photographs of Bloodz members allegedly raping women,” he answered bluntly. All eyes turned to look at us 12 members, correction, 11 members, because Sweeney couldn’t be assed turning up. I glanced again at Cody who barely flinched when Buchanan spoke of these photographs, and scanned the other 10 Bloodz. The only one twitching was Liam Greene, but he was a chronic twitcher anyway, got crawlies under his skin or something.

“I’ve been informed that the KVPD is investigating the content in these photographs, so be aware your fathers and grandfathers may be questioned by police. Which brings me to the next issue…a recent attempted rape was reported to police, allegedly carried out by Bloodz members.”

I heard Ridge and few others groan. “Fuck, we get blamed for everything,” Josh mumbled.

“They’re giving us a bad name,” some guy called out.

“Typical jock behavior,” someone else stated.

Buchanan held his palm up to calm everyone down. “Emphasis on the word ‘alleged.’ But the police will be speaking to you guys in the back.”

“I bet a hundred bucks it was fucking Sweeney,” Ridge bit.

“Or some fuckers pretending to be the Bloodz to screw us over,” Josh added.

Buchanan explained, “We must remember that until proven otherwise, our Bloodz brothers are innocent. We all made a pledge to standby our S and C brothers through toil and slough, regardless of where this journey takes us.”

“And because our daddies will pull funding of this college if you fuck us over,” I mumbled under my breath. That was the crux of it all. It always came down to money and keeping the powerful elitist families happy.

“The Snake and Chalice Society expect the highest level of conduct from our brothers, but sometimes we can fall short during a moment of weakness. Therefore, we must support our brothers during this difficult moment in their lives rather than turn our backs on them,” Buchanan reminded us of the S&C pledge.

“Were there any witnesses?” Liam called out. “Was there anyone who actually saw Bloodz raping this chick or are they assuming it was members?”

“I’m not sure, brother,” Buchanan answered. “I guess we’ll find out while the police are investigating.”

“Typical sledging,” Liam added. “A bunch of feminist chicks get together and start cock-bashing.”

“Unfortunately, I can’t tell you much more about that case,” Buchanan stated. “But I have it on good authority that police cannot identify anyone in the historical photographs because the men are wearing face coverings. The only clue they have, which is somewhat flimsy at best, was the Bloodz hand sign was used.”

That statement created an uproar amongst the members. “So they have no fucking proof,” Ridge called out. “Case closed.”

It was clear, no one in the chamber of a hundred or so members gave a rats ass about the chick who was allegedly attacked. The reputation of the university and society trumped everything.

“Gallagher wouldn’t be dumb enough to spill to police?” Cody whispered to me, but due to his deep voice, it came out louder than he intended. I’m pretty sure the boys in front of us heard and that included Liam and Ridge. Ridge wasn’t a concern, Liam was a different story.

I shrugged. “How would I know?” I could barely get a conversation out of Rhys, let alone a finger fuck. The challenge was proving harder than I thought. Any other chick would be on bended knees, begging me to teach them about positions and thrusting techniques.

Maybe I should open up a school. Luxon’s School for Fucking. I could see it now.

It was dark and liver-splitting cold, when we finally left the chamber. Soft snow caught by the night lamps’ golden glow, floated down on University Square, reminding me of Christmas morning in the Luxon household. Christmas day always started well, and ended in arguments and slammed doors. The subject matter to stir the shit pot was me joining the family business after college, quashing my dreams into a thousand pieces. Seriously, I’d rather stick pins into my eyeballs than work there.

I threw my hood over my head to insulate from the cold and thought about snuggling up to a nice warm chick for the night. Once we got our phones back from the gatekeeper, I checked for messages to find a certain elusive virginal bookhugger had sent me a text. It seemed she hadn’t deleted my number after all.

Gallagher: Your stupid friend can’t spell!

Me: Where r u?

Me: What friend?

Gallagher: It’s your not ‘you’re!’

Me: R u drunk?

Gallagher: I wish.

Me: Can I come over?

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