Page 42 of Mad As Hell

I turned to glare at Ash. My best friend was like a damn ninja the way he could sneak up on anyone.

He gave me a benign smile. “I’m shocked.”

I flipped him off with a sigh as my phone started ringing again. Tension knotted the muscles around my neck as I let out an aggravated sigh. “I don’t get it. I thought Maddie would’ve been happy that I set shit straight.”

“I think we’ve all learned by now that Maddie isn’t just another fangirl who’s going to drop her panties because you smile at her, dipshit,” he told me.

Irritation spiked in my blood. “Don’t fucking talk about my girl’s panties. Ever. Best friend or not, I’ll knock you out.”

Ash’s brows lifted in amusement. “I’d like to see you try.” But he didn’t say anything else about Madison. “Anyway, I came out here because we’ve got shit to handle.”

“I know.” I scrubbed a hand over my face. “My dad’s blowing up my phone.”

“That,” Ash agreed, “and the frat is losing their minds. You’d think this was their first scandal.”

I scowled at him, not for the first time annoyed at my brothers. This frat was a fucking joke, and I’d only pledged because I was a legacy and it was expected. It was easier than fighting Dad.

Okay, and it had also given me an inside position to make a lot of moves that benefitted me and my friends.

“I’m so sick of holding their hands through shit,” I muttered, falling into step with Ash to head toward the house. Blowing off English for a day wouldn’t tank my GPA, and Mrs. Reedsy was obsessed with the team. All I had to do was smile, and she’d give me whatever grade I wanted.

It was actually a little pathetic how easily the teachers and staff around here could be bought or cajoled into doing whatever we wanted. And it wasn’t just me and my friends; it was the majority of the student body. Because our bank accounts had a few—okay, a lot—of extra zeroes, they let us get away with murder.

Case in point? Linc and Ash had literally dragged Dean’s ass across campus and into the dining hall without being stopped or questioned.

The staff were here for their paycheck and a show, not necessarily in that order.

It was why no one had intervened when Brylee pulled that shit on Maddie earlier.

That reminded me…

“Where are we with the cuntasaurus?” I snarled, looking at Ash.

His lips twitched into a smirk. “Going a little slower than I would like, but I think we’ll pull it off without much of an issue.”

“Good. She’s paying for what she did to Maddie.”

“And what about you?” Ash inquired quietly.

I jerked to a stop, staring at him because I wasn’t sure I’d heard him right.

“Fuck did you say?” I demanded.

He met my gaze levelly. “What are you doing to pay for what you did to her? Because people might argue that you fucked her over more than anyone else, bro.”

I spread my arms wide. “I’m making shit right. Dean is going away—”

“A plan we already had,” he cut me off with a sharp shake of his head. “Dean was never riding off into the sunset. We just bumped up the timeline. But that shit was in motion before Maddie ever came here.”

My jaw clenched, and I wanted to throttle my best friend. I hated that he was even asking me this shit, but he was the only one who would. Even Court and Linc would back me without question. They’d done that the night of the engagement party by turning their backs on Maddie and Bex.

Ash questioned things. He was inquisitive and like a fucking pit bull until he learned the truth. He challenged me to look at the world through the same lens, and I had tried.

Until Maddie.

I exhaled a hard breath, my hands on my hips. “I don’t know. I don’t know how to fix this. I thought turning Dean in would be a start, but—”

“—but she isn’t rolling over that easy?” Ash grinned. “I knew I liked that girl.”

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