Page 226 of Burn Bright
“You’re not my brothers.” That’s when the door blows open, and four indomitable forces storm the basement. “They are.”
Mutterings ofholy shithit my ears. The Kappas go still. It’s rare we’re all this accessible all together without a legion of security around us.
My mistake.
My fucking mistake.
I was supposed to be in and out. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Now they’re in this mess with me, and I can’t even regret it when I want them to help Audrey.
Charlie and Beckett are bullets toward her.
I move out of the way, standing behind her head. She peers up at me, blinking too slowly. Her breathing is still bizarre to me. She’s not roofied?
“What happened?” Beckett asks her and me.
“Surprise?” Audrey says weakly.
“She hurt her ankle,” I explain.
Charlie sweeps her with one long glance. “She’s on something.”
It’s a shotgun blast to the chest.I glare at Leif. “Did you give her something for the pain?”
Leif is taking several,severalsteps back from Eliot who looks like he’s going to decapitate him.
“Speak!” Eliot shouts, pointing a baseball bat at the Kappa president. Yeah, he has a bat. I’m sure Beckett keeps one in his car, considering he’s been mugged before.
“It was just Tylenol?” Audrey says like she’s now unsure if they deceived her.
Leif’s face is splotchy red. He whirls around to the Kappa brothers. Last thing he wants is an OD in his basement. “Who gave her the pain meds?”
Prescott comes forward. “It was, uh, out of a baggie.”
“Oh this is going to be fun,” Charlie says dryly.
“Ben,” Audrey whines. “Am I going to pass out…I don’t feel right…my toes are tingling. I’m dizzy. The room is spinning…it’s spinning.”
“You’re okay.” I crouch down to be level with her head on the armrest. “You’d be totally out of it if it were that bad.” Right? I look to Beckett who looks to Charlie.
Tom is pacing like he has to piss. “Charlie, they’re filming,” he whispers to him.
Charlie peers backward at the Kappa brothers. “You record anything,and we’ll use it to get your frat banned for life. I know it must be an impossible task for all of you, but try not to befuckingmorons before you decide to put this Cobalt Show and Tell on YouTube.”
“Put your phones away!” Leif yells at all the Kappas. “Javi, you too! Jesus Christ.”
Eliot slaps a cellphone out of someone’s hand. They shrivel back.
“Can I have the baggie?” Beckett asks Prescott, gesturing him over with two fingers.
“Am I going to die?” Audrey asks us dramatically. “Please let me only die from embarrassment. Please.Please….please. Charlie, tell me…tell me this is just the death of my common sense.”
“That died years ago.”
“It was…resurrected.” Her breath sounds are weak.
Charlie’s gaze darkens on her. I can’t tell what he’s thinking, but I know his lack of biting response isn’t good.
Beckett gets handed a baggie filled with too many different pills. “Which one?” he asks Prescott.
