Page 1 of Smoke the Enemy

Blue Rose, Alabama

Grounds of the Delta Pi Theta Fraternity Mansion

Taylor

I break through the swampy forest. There’s mud and grass between my toes, and they’ve finally become numb to the pain, which I’m grateful for as my feet hit pavement. After seeing Alex with the brothers, I want to put as much distance between me and the fraternity house as possible. Those physical defense skills that Soren taught me came in handy. They probably didn’t expect me to apply those skills against them, though. But there’s no way I was going to wait around to find out what Alex planned to do with me. He stood up to the two men whom I thought were invisible and outright told themI was his.

Soren and Steffan simply stood there. They didn’t argue. I’d just let both of them have their dicks inside of me — basically have their way with me — and they let Alex, the church choir boy, walk up to their house and have me.

I’ve finally reached a highway.My skin feels clammy as my hair sticks to my neck and the sides of my face. The air burns my lungs and throat, but I keep pushing forward. The pain is suffocating me, but I remind myself:

Alex is back.

I slept withbothbrothers only for them to discard me.

Alex ishere!

He supposedly “claimed” me and is some kind of heir or royalty of a secret society. It’s hard to imagine the preacher’s son in the same league as the Carmichael twins. Nothing makes sense. At this point I’m ready to fall down and roll off this highway into a ditch and remain there until some shred of my life makes sense.Don’t fall apart now. Do not lose it.

The sound of an engine purring and a single headlight approaches me. I want to cry for help, but fear has my throat tightening. It could be one of the guys coming after me. It could be someone worse than them. Or it could be a nice passerby. Who am I kidding? What kind of person is out in the middle of nowhere at this hour? It’s the middle of the night.

My chest and sides burn from running, my body is exhausted, and the adrenaline I felt before is waning fast, but I try to get my legs moving. My current situation is that I look more like a zombie trying to run.Maybe I should just throw myself in the ditch, pretend like a tornado is coming—but the tornado in this instance is someone out to get me—and save myself that way.

The sleek motorbike stops before me, the rider is covered from head to toe in black, and we both stare at each other—or I stare at my wide-eyed reflection.

“Get on,” a muffled voice commands.

“Remove your helmet first,” I huff out.

“We don’t have time for this.Get. On. Taylor.” A black-gloved hand comes up and touches the side of the helmet. The tinted glass of the helmet retracts back and it’s…Kali.

“What are you doing here?” I cry in relief.

“There was another murder and I got worried about you.”Another murder.The guys were with me. Hope begins to rise in me that they’re innocent, but I push it back. They’re still part of some creepy organization that’s somehow connected to my psycho ex. Also, I don’t want to think too hard about how I still slept with them when I did have doubts about their innocence in these campus killings. What in the hell has college done to me?

“What happened? Who?”

“Let’s talk about it when we get away from here.”

Something is off. My mind might be hazy, and I know I’m still processinga lot,but she still didn’t answer my question. “How did you find me?”

“You’re dating the most notorious guy on campus who lives in the most well-known frat house.” She states this as if it should be obvious to me. Maybe now isn’t the time to tell her it was plural on the ‘guys’. Then again, I’m not datingboth,am I? I need to declutter my mind and unload all of this. Too much has happened tonight, yesterday, this whole semester. Kali continues, “I had a bad feeling,” she looks me up and down, “turns out I was right. Your feet look like you’ve been dancing on shards of glass.”

“I’m glad you did. Thank you for going with your gut.” The sound of cars in the distance has me jumping on the back of her bike. “When did you get a bike?” Do I even really know Kali? Probably not. I mean, the guy I was sleeping with was a twin and I didn’t know that, why would I know my roommate? I’m obviously not a good judge of character when it comes to thinking I know everything about a person.

Instead of answering my question about her bike, she tells me, “Just hold on. We’ve got to get you out of here.”

The engine roars as the tires spin, sending rocks flying off behind us.

Kali takes me back to our house. As we climb off the bike, she asks me, “What have you gotten mixed up in? Be honest. Why were you on the highway, in the middle of the night, bare foot with nothing but the clothes on your back?”

“It’s my ex. Al–” The name gets caught in my throat. I swallow my nerves and try again. “Alex.” I force out. “He’s back and part of…” I trail off. What can I say? If I reveal more information, could I be in more danger, and worse, put Kali in danger? Then again, she is the one who told me about the Brotherhood. “He’s somehow connected to Soren and Steffan. The fraternity. I don’t know. It’s all a mess. Seeing him again freaked me out, so I ran.”

“That’s messed up, Tay.”

“I know,” I groan as I cover my face. I rub my face and then drop my hands in defeat. “Turns out the name I’ve known him as all this time isn’t his real name. He has the same last name as the guy Lois — you remember, she’s the lady I work with at the library — always went on about. Dupree. It’s weird how everyone at this university seems connected to that one fraternity.”

Kali takes me by the elbow and rushes me up the porch steps. “Shit. Okay, you have to pack a bag. You need to leave. Go home for a while. Classes are virtual and Thanksgiving break is coming up anyway so it’s the perfect time for you to get far away from this place for a while.”

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