Page 17 of Mad Love

“Uh, yeah,” I replied, my gaze sliding to my roommate, who still looked terrified.

The girl in the door glanced at her and sighed heavily. “Again, Khlo? You know what Underpants says.”

Khloe cringed, visibly trembling. “Mrs. Underparsons hates that name.”

“Yeah, well, Underpants has bigger issues than her name,” the girl mumbled, running a hand through her hair. She turned back to me but waved a hand in Khloe’s direction. “This is normal for Khloe, so don’t worry about it.”

“Right,” I murmured, not sure what was going on.

“I’m Joss,” she said, stepping into the room and holding out her hand.

I moved forward and shook it slowly. “Maddie.”

“Well, Maddie,” Joss said with a bright smile that was a little feral at the edges. “Welcome to hell.”

CHAPTER 9

RYAN

I was in hell.

Exhausted, I rolled out of bed and gave up on trying to sleep. I’d barely gotten more than a couple hours a night since Maddie had gone missing, and I was going out of my fucking mind.

Scrubbing a hand over my face, I ambled to the window and stared across the Pacific Cross grounds. Light was starting to edge over the horizon, illuminating manicured lawns that glistened with droplets from the overnight sprinklers.

The frat house was situated at the top of Greek row, looming large at the top of a hill that overlooked the grounds. Alpha was a place where leaders were born and honed, trained and elevated.

Right now, I couldn’t have cared less if I tried.

As the president, I should have cared. Should’ve been bleeding and fighting to keep myself and my brothers on top. I was halfway through my junior year, which typically meant classes and parties and being the king of the campus.

Instead, I was only here because I wasn’t sure where else to go. I hadn’t been to class since Maddie had gone missing a week earlier, and I didn’t give a shit about the house or my brothers.

A loud crash in the hallway followed by a roar had me turning. But it was the familiar soft cry that had me sprinting for the door and damn near ripping it off its hinges.

Court had our fraternity brother Devon pinned against the wall as Bex hovered in an open doorway with a towel clutched around her chest.

“Fuck,” Ash muttered, stepping into the fray and yanking Court off Devon, who was turning a concerning shade of purple.

Devon collapsed against the wall and slid into a useless mess on the floor as he gaped at Court. “What the fuck?” he cried, rubbing his throat.

Court pushed against Ash, and I moved forward to help him as more brothers stumbled up the stairs and out of their rooms to see what was going on.

“Stop,” I snapped, planting a hand on Court’s chest and shoving him back a step. My gaze flicked to Bex and softened. “What happened?”

Bex trembled, her hazel eyes huge. “I was taking a shower—”

“Lock the door if you don’t want company, bitch,” Devon hissed, glaring at her.

“Motherfucker—” Court slammed against me, rocking me back on my heels as he tried to get to Devon.

Bex ducked back into the bathroom, fear in her eyes, as Linc pushed his way through the crowd to see what was going on. His gaze landed on Court, then Bex, and finally narrowed on Devon.

“Explain,” he demanded, cracking his knuckles.

Devon started to push himself up with the aid of his roommate, Brandon. “I went to take a piss and she was in there. Not my fault if the bi—”

Linc took a single menacing step forward.

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