Page 140 of The Charlie Method

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

CHARLOTTE

Out of reach

FAITH THINKSIHAVE A BOYFRIEND. ABOYFRIEND NAMEDWILLLARSEN, who plays hockey for the Briar U men’s team and is my lab partner for Cell and Tissue Engineering.

And my best friend has every right to believe that, because for the past two weeks, I’ve spent more time at Will’s town house in Hastings than I have at the Delta Pi house.

What Faith doesn’t know is that when I’m at Will’s house, Beckett is there too. And when we’re all there, I inevitably end up naked and moaning on one of their beds while they work together to make my entire body sing.

Right now, I want nothing more than to be in that position. Lying on my back while one set of lips trails kisses along my throat and another pair travels between my legs to wrap around my clit. Today has been teetering on the edge of disaster, and my stress levels are venturing dangerously close to pressure wave territory. I barely turned in my last final paper on time. I hit a major obstacle in my capstone that had me making an emergency appointment with my lab advisor to try to troubleshoot. And now I’m stuck in an exec board meeting listening to Agatha bitch about one of our freshmen who tarnished the Delta Pi name by daring to have fun at a party.

I simply don’t have the patience for this tonight. It gets old, Agatha’s annoying habit of social policing to ensure everyone in the house adheres to the same high standards as hers.

“Agatha,” I interrupt, startling the other members of the board. I rarely make waves during these meetings. “It was just a dare. It’s not like Lucy gallivants around campus on the regular wearing a bikini. In December. Someone dared her to do it.”

“And she should have said no,” Agatha responds in a tight voice. “One Delta Pi’s bad behavior reflects badly on everyone else in the house.” She makes a disparaging sound under her breath. “This is what we get for letting in the diversity pledge. I told you she wouldn’t be a good fit.”

I stare at our sorority president, struggling to keep my anger from turning my voice into a low growl. “I’m sorry.Whatdid you just say?”

A perfectly manicured hand waves dismissively. “Oh, relax, Charlotte. I’m not referring to her ethnicity. I meant diversity of circumstances.”

As inpoor? Oh my fucking God. As if that makes it any better. Lucy is a scholarship student from a small town in Texas, which, sure, is not the most progressive town nor is it an affluent one. But she seems like a nice girl, and her older sister was a Delta Pi at the University of Austin chapter.

Agatha flicks up a thin eyebrow. “All I’m saying is, you can take the girl out of the trailer, but you can’t always take the trailer out of the girl.”

Sherise and Samantha nod in agreement.

I feel the heat rising in my cheeks, but I hold back. Barely. I’ve learned to bite my tongue in this house, but that doesn’t mean I’m not fuming inside. Instead of unleashing on her, I nod tersely and somehow get through the rest of the board meeting without spilling blood.

Once Agatha dismisses us, I grab my purse, coat, and keys and shove my way through the front door, practically running to my car. I can’t stay in this house for one more second.

My phone rings as I’m sliding into the driver’s seat. It’s Harrison, who’s back in Las Vegas now. As a freelancer, he can work from anywhere as long as he has his laptop and an internet connection, but he can’t keep paying rent on his Vegas apartment while also paying to stay in the motel on the outskirts of Hastings. He’s coming back for a visit this weekend, though, and I’ve tentatively agreed to go see him in Vegas for spring break, depending on how it’s going with my capstone.

Normally I would take his call. Tonight, I hit Ignore. I’m in a crappy mood, and I know he’ll hear it in my voice. He’ll ask what’s wrong, I’ll end up telling him I’m annoyed with Agatha, and then he’ll make a derisive comment about it, because anytime I mention my sorority, he always has something snarky-adjacent to say.

He doesn’t get it. He thinks Greek life is all a big, irrelevant performance. I don’t entirely blame him—a lot of people feel that way about sororities and frats. And maybe the Greek experience is a bit ridiculous, but that doesn’t mean I don’t care about it.

Youdon’tcare about it, my inner bitch cracks. Mom does.

Ugh. Fine. Whatever. So what if I’m here because of my mother? It makes her happy that I’m a Delta Pi. I like making her happy.

But I’m not about to tell Harrison that. It would only trigger a fresh dose of resentment in him. Whenever we talk, I do my best to steer away from the topic of my family.

And I still haven’t told my family abouthim. The burden of that secret keeps getting heavier, and I know the longer I keep it from them, the worse it will be when I finally tell them.

I’m pulling out of the parking spot when the pressure wave threatens to surface. Suddenly, the world feels like it’s closing in on me from all sides. I put the car in park and take a deep breath, visualizing my container.

Put all the stress in there, Charlotte. There you go.

But I can’t fully close the box. It keeps bursting open at the seams.

I’m too full.

Or maybe the issue is I’m not full enough.

As in I need to be filled. By Will Larsen or Beckett Dunne or both.

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