Page 101 of Pure Vengeance

“I’m not hiding anything,” I say, looking at her. “What I’ve been hiding is out in the open now.”

“Would you be willing to say this in a livestream?” she asks, flipping her phone around.

“Yes,” I answer hesitantly.

My stepfather would kill Noah, but he won’t kill me. I’m the golden boy. I see that now. The sports star. The stud. I’m everything he wanted ina son. Noah isn’t what he wanted.

It’s dawned on me what a disappointment Noah is to his father. Honestly, he’s a hardass, and if he finds out Noah is gay, there will be an absolute war. Noah would be completely cast out. I don’t believe that will happen with me. I’m too well liked, too good at football, great at my classes. I’m the golden boy, even if I’m gay.

She starts what must be a live feed. “This is Maria Agriette at theAlpha Omega PhiFraternity with this exclusive update on the Noah Bennett story. We are here with Adrian Carter, Noah’s stepbrother, who has something to say to everyone.” She presses something on her screen and then says, “Adrian, tell the viewers what you’ve just told me.”

“It wasn’t Noah blackmailing those girls. It was me,” I say looking at the camera. “He wasn’t paying them off, I was. I just used Noah’s name, used him as a scapegoat. This is all my fault.”

She presses something on her screen. “You heard it first from Campus News.” She presses another button and smiles at me. “Thanks Adrian, you’ve made my day.”

“At least I’ve made someone happy today,” I mutter.

I turn and go back into the house. All my frat brothers are gathered in the living room. Declan steps out and gives me a disdainful look. “Being the star quarterback doesn’t give you the right to be a shitty person,” he says. “We can’t be associated with you. You’ve dragged our fraternity through the mud enough. Pack your shit and get out.”

I look at Kyle. “Kyle... you can’t honestly be on board with this.” I look at my other ‘brothers’ and say, ’You’re my friends. You’re my brothers.”

“You are not anAlpha Omega Phibrother anymore,” Declan says. “Get your shit and get out. I’m not asking again.”

I go upstairs and grab my bags, packing them slowly. No one comes to check on me, no one comes to offer an apology. They’ve all just turned on me. This is what Noah was afraid of.

Fine, I don’t fucking need them anyway.

I finish packing and head downstairs. I’ll crash in Noah’s room until I figure out where I can stay. He owes me that at least.

I look around one last time, but no one looks at me, everyone just talks quietly. I leave and slam the door behind me. Good riddance to that shit. I won’t lie, it hurts, it stings like hell to think that the people who were supposed to have my back are in fact little flakes. I don’t know what the reception is going to be like at Noah’s house, but hopefully they’ll be kind enough to let me sleep there a couple of days.

I walk down the road, and I’m almost at his house when a young girl comes up to me. “Mr. Carter?”

I nod. “Yes, that’s me.”

She hands me an envelope. “The dean wants to see you in his office in half an hour.”

“Okay...” I watch her stride off, and I hurry to Noah’s house. I knock on the door, and Richard opens it.

“You really are something. What do you think you’re doing here?”

“I need a place to crash for a few days. My bro... the Alphas kicked me out because...”

“I understand why they did it. They don’t want to be associated with someone who blackmails girls for sex, and to be honest, neither do we, but you’re Noah’s brother, and he’s ours. So you can crash in his room, but only for a few days.”

“Thank you.”

He reaches for one of my bags and helps me take them inside and upstairs. We put them down in Noah’s room, but he’s nowhere to be found. I look at Richard. “I need to go see the dean.”

“Good luck,” he says. “He’s pissed as hell.”

I nod and hurry out. I race to the quad and through the administration building before I reach the dean’s office and slow down. I walk in and look at his secretary. “The dean asked to see me.”

“You must be Mr. Carter,” she says. “You can go through. He’s waiting for you.”

I look at the nameplate on the door: Dean Theodore Rochester.

I know that family, they’re really rich and really popular. Their son went to the same high school as me. I wouldn’t be surprised if he came to school here. I knock.

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