On Solid Ground: Sequel to in Too Deep (26 page)

“We gonna kill him?”

“Yeah, can you bring a big carpet we can roll him in? No, we aren’t going to kill him. Hey, where are you?”

“Café Best.”

“I’ll be right there.” I hung up and jogged the rest of the way to the Café. Maverick was sitting in the window alone, shoving a huge panini in his face.

“Jgu wannnnnshum?” He pointed his sandwich toward me as he swallowed. I shook my head and leaned in close to fill him in on my plan.

“I didn’t mean do you want some of
me
. Back up, man. Give a guy some space.”

“God, Mav. Are you ever serious?”

He shoved the last of his sandwich in his mouth, licked his fingers, and a shit-eating grin spread across his face.

“So, here’s the deal.” I spoke quietly but tried not to lean into his personal space so I could hold his attention for more than thirty-seven seconds. “There is a DVD at Sigma Chi of Gracie and Noah having sex. I need to find it, and get it out of that house, but I don’t want her to know. Gracie didn’t give him consent to record her. She had no idea.”

The vein in Maverick’s forehead started to pulse. That’s exactly the reaction I hoped for; I needed him to be pissed.

“Remember that girl I danced with at
Mitchell’s
that night; the hot blonde? She’s a little sister there and she just invited me, but I need a wingman.”

“Oh, I’m fucking in. I’d be happy to take that asshole down for the last time. We could blow this whole thing wide open and get them shut down.”

“That hadn’t even crossed my mind. I just wanted to be able to give Gracie the peace of mind that no one else would be jacking off to a video of her.”

“That makes me sick. God, who could do something like that to any girl? Especially Gracie. I’d like to take a video of me beating the shit out of him then blast it across the web. Now, that’d be some good entertainment.”

“Mav, I don’t need for this to make the eleven o’clock news. I just want that video destroyed.”

“You really love her, man.”

“Love her so much it hurts.”

“I’m all in.”

I knew I could count on Mav, but I still didn’t have any idea where to look for the DVD or how I would get to the other parts of the house to search. I had time to hash that out, though. Well, I had ten days.

Dammit.

Thirty-three

Gracie

“Can you repeat that whole story again?” Becki was leaning across her lunch tray and all but drooling after I told her about my Wednesday night practice with Calon.

“Becki! Pay attention. That was not for your enjoyment. I am so stressed about how something that is helping me can be so hard on Jake. And it hurts my feelings a little when it seems like he doesn’t trust me with Calon.”

“Come on, Gracie, Jake knows you better than that. Do you really think he’s afraid you’ll have sex with Calon? Oh, God, Gracie, if you do, can you please record it so I can see him in action? I could die happy. That guy oozes sex. I would love to—”

“Becki! Focus!”

“Sorry. Okay, listen, Jake’s been so patient with you and helping you heal. I suggest you being that patient and helping him through something that he’s struggling with.”

What she said made a lot of sense. I just needed to keep reassuring Jake that nothing was going to happen between Calon and me.

“You’re right, Becki.”

“Now, while you’re practicing your patience, could you please be patient with me and help me relive that ‘
strum these chords like we’re one person
’ part again?”

Becki was sexually insatiable. I was sure she could put the sex Calon oozed to good use. He really was incredibly sexy, but I got the feeling not many people knew the shit he carried around. When we talked in the park that day, I sensed there was something painful from his past that he couldn’t shake.

“So, he’s got to be a good kisser, right? Tell me he knows what to do with his tongue.”

“Good grief, Becki. Do you have your vibrator in your purse? It’s dangerous to walk around with that much pent up sexual tension.”

“Help a girl out, Gracie. Just tell me.”

She wasn’t going to let it go. I knew I had to give her details I wouldn’t normally share. “Yes, Becki. He’s an incredibly good kisser. Soft lips and very good with his tongue. Holds your head in his hands to guide you. Everything about him is intense. If I wasn’t mistaken, the night we kissed, he was a little more than turned on, if you know what I mean.”

“I’m sure she can figure it out.” I jumped at the deep voice that wasn’t Becki’s. Jake stood next to our table. Becki must have been so into my description she hadn’t see him walk up behind me.

“Jake, I—”

Becki put her hands on mine in the middle of the table. “Jake, sit down.”

Jake scooted in next to me. I looked over at him and his eyes were sad. Calon and everything related to him had uncovered a side of Jake I’d never seen. On one hand, it was good to see that Jake had issues he needed to work on, so I wasn’t the only one with junk to iron out, but at the same time, I was getting pretty comfortable with Jake being perfect. He was perfect in the way he’d handled everything last semester.

“So, what’s your problem, Jake?” Becki was curt and to the point.

“What the fuck do you think my problem is? Walking up and hearing Gracie describing what it’s like to have a rock star’s tongue down her throat and a hard-on in his pocket shouldn’t piss me off?” I laid my hand on his thigh, but he didn’t move.

“For your information, Jake. She didn’t offer that info. I was begging her to give me gory details.
I
want to get in Calon’s pants, not Gracie. This girl is wrapped so tightly around the mere thought of you, it’s disgusting. I swear she could orgasm just thinking about you naked.”

“She’s right. Wanna see?” I squeezed my eyes, pretending to think really hard.

We all cracked up. Becki and I together had ways to help Jake relax. There were more than a couple times when we’d thought one of Jake and Sam’s parties were getting busted and Jake was losing his mind with worry. Becki and I could play off one another, and we would have him in hysterics in no time. And the cops had never showed any of those times.

I turned to Jake and took his hands in mine. “Jake, there is no one on this planet I want to be with more than you. There is no guy who could take my heart away from you. No hot rock star could make me sacrifice what you and I have built. You’re stuck with me, Jake. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Oh, so he’s hot?” Jake was between joking and annoyed at that comment.

“Jake whatever-the-fuck-your-middle-name-is Rockwell! Gracie just professed her undying love and fidelity to you, but the girl isn’t fucking dead! Have you looked at Calon Ridge? Ever? I think he could
turn
straight men gay; that’s how hot he is.”

“You’re always horny, Becki.
You
should go for Calon.”

“Oh, trust me, I am. I so am.”

“Jake,” I turned his face to mine. “You’re right. Calon and I share an artistic connection that you and I don’t. But what you and I
do
share, Calon can’t touch. I love you, not rock star boy.”

“You two are making me sick. Can we please get out of here before you start melting the light fixtures with your gushing? Yuck!”

“Jake, what are you doing here, anyway?” It dawned on me that Jake had come to the dining hall to find us.

“Can’t I come visit my two favorite girls without a reason?” We left our mess on the table and headed out. He linked arms with both of us and we walked toward town.

I saw three familiar faces and recognizable cocky strides coming our way long before they saw me—three Sigma Chi’s. I tried to push Jake and Becki off the path and into the grass so we could avoid them, but that plan failed miserably.

“Gracie Jordan! Knock it off! I just bought these shoes and you almost made me step in a puddle.” Becki’s loud voice and perfect pronunciation of each syllable of my name announced my arrival. They all looked me up and down and smirked. I knew Becki and Jake had no clue who they were. I, on the other hand, had had to physically fight off Travis, Jeremy, and Falco simultaneously when they’d made lewd and inappropriate advances toward me at a Sig Chi function last year. I was so scared, and Noah just watched and howled with laughter. He had to give me something to calm my nerves so I could sleep that night.

As they passed us, I kept my eyes lowered so as to not provoke anything. I thought I’d succeeded until Falco purposely spoke loud enough for us to hear.

“Wow, Gracie...can we get a video of you and your new friends?”

Jake stopped dead in his tracks. I tried to pull him along. I didn’t want a scene. I just wanted to get far away from them as quickly as possible. My hands lost their grip on his arm, and I stumbled backwards.

“Are you serious? Are you three dickheads serious?
Stop
walking!”

I couldn’t let him start something with three guys at once. “Jake, it’s okay. Let’s just go. Please.” I grabbed his arm with both hands and pulled harder. I was shocked they actually stopped to entertain Jake, even though it was probably just to get off on their stupid fraternity brother power trip. Either way, stopping wasn’t a good thing.

“Gracie, are you kidding me? This is not okay. This is never okay. No one treats you like this. Ever. Especially not these shitheads.”

“Whoa, man. You don’t want to start something here, do you? Because it’s three on one, you realize that.” Travis was always ready for a fight. He was a fireplug, and the circumference of his biceps was close to that of my thighs.

“Well, there’s three of us, too, fucktard!” Becki chimed in, obviously on an adrenaline high.

“Becki, shut up! You’re only going to make this worse.” I grabbed her by the hand, and we both stood behind Jake, whose fists were clenched at his sides.

Jeremy elbowed Falco who chuckled at Becki and gave her the once over.

“I’ll walk away when you apologize to Gracie.” Jake took my hand, and I kept half my body behind him in an attempt to keep my distance.

“Apologize for what? What did
we
do?” Travis was the leader of the pack, and he was the one I worried about most.

“Noah didn’t have Gracie’s permission to take that video. You know, the one you were referring to in your smartass comment? Apologize.”

All three brothers had an odd moment of shock that hung on their faces for a couple seconds, but they went overboard trying to cover it up. “Hey, sorry man, we were just messin’ around. Sorry, Gracie.” Travis spoke then Falco and Jeremy echoed his two-word apology.

“If any of you assholes so much as come near her on campus, I’ll kill you with my bare hands. Got it?”

Jeremy was nodding before Jake even finished the question.

“Yeah, man. No trouble. We don’t want any trouble. Sorry again, Gracie.” Falco was the biggest of all bullshitters. Something was up; they never turned down an altercation that easily.

“Thank you.” Jake grabbed my hand, and we turned to leave. I looked back over my shoulder and Becki was still standing there like a bodyguard. Her shoulders were squared off and her hands were on her hips. The guys were clueless to her physical warning. They walked the other way, deep in conversation. Her body language seemed to change just before she turned and jogged toward us.

“Guys! They’re shitting bricks, worried you’ll press charges for the video, because Gracie didn’t know Noah was recording her.”

Well, if I wasn’t sold on finding that DVD before, I was now. There was no way I would let Noah continue to hurt her through his Neanderthal shitheads prowling around campus looking for trouble.

“Girls, I gotta run. I just remembered something I have to do.” It was such a lame excuse, but I needed to make a plan. I knew they’d be able to find something to do together and they’d never miss me.

Thirty-four

Jake

Well, that little run-in added to the complexity of my plan. Now, I had to show up at Sigma Chi with Chelsea and hope Travis, Jeremy, and Falco weren’t working the door or standing guard where I needed to search. Maverick and I really needed to map it out so we didn’t waste any time once we were inside. I tried to play it down in my own mind, hoping it really wouldn’t be that big of a deal, but it started to look like it would have to be a well-choreographed plan.

I opened my laptop on the kitchen table and searched “UTK Sigma Chi floor plan.” I felt a little like the guys from
Oceans 11,
planning out their next heist.

A couple floor plans came up. The dates on the blueprints were different which led me to believe the house had been completely remodeled within the last ten years. I searched each room, squinting to see the blurred print.

Kitchen, women’s bathroom, pool room, foyer, basement, ritual room... I looked at that label for a little while. Ritual room? I wondered what the hell kind of hazing rituals they performed in that room. I never really understood the nature of fraternity hazing. I had no inherent need to allow people to humiliate and violate me so they were convinced of how much I wanted to be their friend. No. Sam and Maverick are the closest thing I had to brothers, and neither one of them needed me to prove to them I was worthy. It just came naturally. I felt blessed to not have to go through what the pledges of a fraternity did, and it made me wonder what was missing in their lives that they needed acceptance so badly.

My phone chimed with a text.

Gracie: Hey

Me: Hey beautiful.

Gracie:
:)
Whatcha doin?

Me: Looking something up online.

Gracie: Want some company?

Me: Thought you were headed out with Becki.

Gracie: She’s sick and I’m bored.

Me: Door’s open.

Gracie: See you in 5

Me: Bring popcorn

Gracie:
:)

I shut down my laptop so Gracie wouldn’t see anything. It was so difficult to plan something this big behind her back. I felt guilty. Our relationship was as strong as it was because we never had secrets. I had a tough time when I’d found out about her and Calon’s past. I had a feeling my secret was close to the same thing. This was big. It was something I shouldn’t keep from her. But there was no way she would entertain the idea of me going in and getting that video. So, I just needed to do it then let her know she was no longer part of the entertainment section of the Sigma Chi library.