Page 124 of Cruel Legacy

“You’ll train me like you train professionals? None of those basic bitch moves you have me doing in class? You’ll let me punch and take a punch, and let me fight professionals in my weight class?”

“No.”

“Then, no deal. Now if you’ll excuse me, there’s a bitch that needs slapping, and I need to call Syl to see if I can get a second fight this week.” I just make it past him when he yanks my collar, pulling me back.

“Fine. I’ll set you up for a fight, but only when I determine you’re ready. But that means I don’t want to see any more bruises on your body unless I’m the one who put them there.”

I hold out my hand, waiting for him to take it to seal our deal. “Then I agree that as long as you hold up your end of this deal, I won’t engage in any physical altercations of the fighting variety unless I’m being forced to defend myself.”

He presses his palm against mine and tugs me forward until I’m pressed against his chest, his thumb grazing against the back of my hand, igniting sparks along my skin.

His warm breath fans across my ear. “Good, girl.”

* * *

I settle into my chair for another family dinner. This is like the fifth one I’ve been to. They haven’t been all that bad. The conversation is still awkward if we talk about anything other than school and whatever thing Aunt Moira is working on at her marketing firm. She’s actually pretty good with social media layouts, and I’ve given her a few ideas for where she can go to get some cool landscape scenes.

We’re falling into a comfortable sort of existence, so when they ask about school I tell them about my attempt at joining a sorority, but leave out the fight, the pledge initiations, and the fact that psycho barbie destroyed my shit.

“Zeta Nu?” Moira chuckles, but it’s a strained sound. Like she can’t imagine it. Neither can I, yet for five hellish weeks I was a fuckingpledge,sporting a glitter pink pledge pin.

“I know. I’m just as surprised as you are, but LJ wanted to pledge, so I did it to support her.”

“How does Layla-Jean feel since you dropped out? She’s not worried that the sorority will put a wedge between the two of you?”

“LJ resigned from pledge season, too. We both realized the Nus weren’t a good fit for us.”

Scott gives a little shake of his head. “You know your aunt was a Zeta Nu, right?”

“Uh.” I look over at Moira. “No, I had no idea. Her face isn’t on any of the walls.”

“She was. Your aunt and I are extremely private people, so you wouldn’t find her picture in any of the common areas, but she’s in her pledge photo over in Founder’s Hall. If we had known you were pledging, we could have attended some of the family events with you.”

I chew and swallow the broccoli spear in my mouth before replying. “I’m actually glad you didn’t know. The introductory parties and family days were a drag. Just a bunch of people standing around acting stiff and boring and the pledges were on the serving committees. No offense, but being your servant for the day sounds about as appealing as a root canal.”

“Serving? That’s not what the pledges are supposed to be doing. When I was a Zeta Nu, family day was a chance for the alumni members to come and impose some wisdom over lunch and participate in a few games. It was a bonding experience.”

“Then maybe Ishouldhave said something, because the people in charge now had us running around with trays in our hands and bowing and scraping every time an alumni squealed, Nu Nu Nu. The realest thing I heard was only the strong survive pledge season.” I aim my fork at them. “My quitting isn’t a sign of weakness, it was an act of mercy. Towards them. I was never gonna turn into the cheerful drone they wanted.”

“How were your scores?”

I shrug, digging into my lobster tail. “Top five.” When I look up to grab the butter sauce, Moira has a big ass smile on her face. “What?”

“Top five, that’s an amazing rank. I was top five as well.”

Scott arches a brow. “Your aunt is being modest. She was the number one pledge, her year.”

I nod. I can see it. She’s sweet and sophisticated. “Must’ve been easy when all you had to do was know how to pick the right color concealer. I kept losing points because of that.”

She squints and throws a roll at me. The action catching us both off guard. But she presses on, her cheeks stained pink. “Hush, I’m sure the physical aspect of pledge season is the same. I remember the crap we had to endure.”

“Ri-ight.”

“I’ll show you some pictures sometime. I’ve got them in the room in the back. Oh, that reminds me. The insurance adjuster called. He’s finished going through the storage unit, and will be sending a delivery of stuff here in a few days. I figured it would be easier to have it here than to ship it to the dorm.”

“Thanks, yeah. That’s fine.”

“Great, you just come home and go through it whenever you want.”

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