2. Zane

2

ZANE

A s I stroll through the paths of Sterling Heights University, my head held high, a confident grin playing on my lips and I feel on top of the world. The sun bathes the well-manicured lawns and stately buildings in a warm, golden glow and the air buzzes with the frenetic energy of students rushing to classes, chatting in groups and lounging on the sun-drenched lawn.

As I make my way down the main path, I'm greeted by nods, waves, and enthusiastic hellos from all sides.

"Hey, Zane!" a group of girls calls out, their eyes wide with admiration.

"Great game last night, man!" another student shouts, giving me a thumbs-up.

I acknowledge each greeting with a nod or a friendly wave, my chest swelling with pride. Being a member of Alpha Lambda has its perks and moments like these are a constant reminder of how far my brothers and I have come. The sting of our past is now a distant memory, overshadowed by our current status as the lords of Sterling Heights.

My thoughts drift back to high school, to that fateful night during the welcome-back pep rally. The fire, the chaos, the blame that unjustly fell on Archer, Levi, and me. It was the lowest point in our lives, ripped from everything we knew and sent to military school, our reputations tarnished. And Lyric… Her betrayal still stings.

But those dark days are behind us now. We clawed our way back, proving our worth through sheer determination and resilience. Alpha Lambda became our sanctuary, a brotherhood that not only accepted us but celebrated us. Archer, Levi, and I rebuilt our lives, transforming from disgraced outcasts to revered leaders on campus.

My phone buzzes in my pocket, pulling me from my reverie. I glance at the screen and see it's a text from Archer.

Meeting at the house in 10. Got some new pledges to evaluate.

I smirk and slip the phone back into my pocket. Life is good. We're on top again and nothing can bring us down. As I approach the grand, ivy-covered fa?ade of the Alpha Lambda house, I can't help but feel a surge of satisfaction. Nothing can break my spirit right now.

That's until I'm frozen in my tracks by the sight of the last person I ever thought I'd see again.

A blur of motion catches my eyes and I blink, the sight of a head of curly hair and rounded cheeks taking me back two years into the past. I rub my eyes, uncertain whether what I'm seeing is true, but as the blur pauses for a moment, stopping in front of a vending machine, I'm able to get a better look.

The person is still too far away to tell, but my heart says that it can't be anyone else but her. Lyric is here, at Sterling Heights.

Refusing to let the memories of the past stain my present, I head to my first class of the day and ignore what I saw, putting her out of my mind. It might not even be her. Maybe my mind was playing tricks on me.

Still, just thinking about her again, instantly sends me into a realm of distraction. My heart clenches in my chest and bitterness wells inside me, stinging from the inside out like a thorn in my heart. We trusted her. She was everything to us.

I'm so distracted that I fail to notice when the professor calls my name for roll until the person next to me taps me on the shoulder.

"Uh, present," I say, cringing internally. Shoving Lyric to the back of my mind, I focus on the professor as he goes over the syllabus for the semester.

By the time I'm done, I've nearly forgotten what I saw earlier, but it comes rushing back when I see someone with curly hair pass by me on the way out the door to the classroom.

Frustration fills me again and I decide I need to tell Archer and Levi about it. Alpha Lambda is humming with activity as I enter, a group of guys playing beer pong in the lounge while the sound system pumps music through the speakers.

Archer and Levi are hanging out in Archer's bedroom when I jog up the stairs, Archer playing Assassin's Creed while Levi watches and thumbs through a paperback.

"How was class?" Levi asks, glancing up.

"I think I saw Lyric," I blurt out. Levi sets his book to the side and Archer pauses his game, swiveling in his chair to face me.

"You have to be shitting me," Archer growls. "Here? At Sterling Heights?"

"That's not possible," Levi says, shaking his head. "She doesn't have the money to come here."

"I'm telling you, I saw her," I insist, running a hand through my wavy hair. "You guys weren't there. It looked exactly like her."

"She'd better not be here," Levi mutters.

Archer narrows his eyebrows. "How dare she show up in our lives like nothing happened? We gave her everything and she betrayed us."

"I agree with Archer," Levi says, ever the voice of reason. "She might have the grades, but she would never be able to afford a prestigious school like this. It's probably not her."

"Yeah," I sigh, sinking onto the bed next to Levi. "Maybe I just need to take a shower, get my mind off things."

"Even if she is here, which I doubt, she's not worth our time," Archer declares. "She's persona non grata to us."

I stand up again, feeling the bitter ache lessen inside me. If she's here, all we have to do is ignore her. She'll get the hint and leave us alone. I head to my room to take a shower, eager to be rid of all thoughts of Lyric Shaw and what she did to us.

But I can't help the creeping thoughts that crop up as I step under the steamy spray. Everything was going so well, up until it all went wrong. Before we lost everything—before I lost everything.

Despite not being biologically related, Archer, Levi and I are brothers in all the ways that count, especially after the Hudson's took me and Levi in. We met Lyric in middle school, the four of us becoming a tight-knit quad.

The three of us all developed feelings for Lyric as we entered high school, but there was a silent agreement that none of us were allowed to pursue her, not wanting to break up our group.

That was until Lyric came and confessed her feelings for all three of us in return the summer before our senior year. After a little negotiating, we realized we could share Lyric and none of us felt any kind of jealousy at the thought. We were all overjoyed.

A little later that summer, after a sun-drenched day at the beach, Lyric confessed that she wanted to give her virginity to all three of us at the same time.

It was so magical. We laid a blanket out on the beach and under the stars, we explored her body as she explored ours. I find my hand drifting to my cock as I picture the way she opened up for us, giving herself over wholly.

The memory of her rounded, curvy body fills my mind, and I fist myself, stroking over my length. Her blue-green eyes stared back at me that night, full of trust and adoration. I felt privileged in a way I'd never felt before.

She allowed me to enter her first that night. Slipping into her tight entrance, inch by agonizingly slow inch, was worth it in the end because when I bottomed out, I felt as if my soul were knitting itself to hers, connecting us inextricably.

My hand moves faster over myself now, speeding up as I recall the way she squeezed around me so tightly, almost a death grip.

"Fuck," I whisper to myself, twisting my hand around the shaft and rubbing up and down as I remember how our mouths fused and we kissed with desperation, tongues twirling together inside her mouth as our bodies rocked into each other. The heat of her skin seemed seared into mine as my fingers dug into her hips

I brace myself against the wall of the shower, images twisting in my mind as I remember how she wrapped her legs around me to pull me closer to her. Levi and Archer touched and stroked over her body as the two of us came together over and over that night.

The moon shone down on Lyric's olive skin, making her glow like an ethereal goddess. My hand moves faster and I feel myself getting closer to the edge as the memory of her climax surfaces, burning itself into my brain once more.

She cried out as Levi's fingers found her clit, rubbing it in circles as I snapped my hips into hers, warmth flooding around my cock.

As I recall the way I pushed deeper into her, my release hits at the same time and I paint the wall of the shower with my release. My breathing is ragged as my heart starts slowing, the realization of what I'd just done hitting me all at once.

Shit. I swore I wouldn't think about her a second more, and yet here I am, jerking off to the thought of her.

The memory of her, who she was back then, it's in the past. I won't let her have any more space in my thoughts. Not if it's the last thing I do.

After we gave her everything and she threw it back in our faces, I was done. I'm never going to think about her ever again.

I towel off and head out to go to the gym to clear my head with a workout. Just as I'm about to enter the building, though, my eyes are drawn to a figure passing on my left.

I do a double-take as I realize that this time, it's unmistakably her. Lyric Shaw is at Sterling Heights. Fuck.