9. Levi

9

LEVI

A s I watch Lyric from across the quad, the things that stand out most are the dark circles under her eyes and the way her shoulders slump as she drags her feet.

She's been off ever since the night of the frat party when all three of us had her. I can't shake the uneasy feeling that something's going on with her.

She rushed off so fast, without another word and she's been refusing to talk about what made her leave, even when Archer pushes more chores and tasks on her in retaliation for her silence.

I meet up with Archer and Zane by the statue in the center of campus. The smells of freshly cut grass and blooming flowers fill the air, but they do little to lift the tension. Archer's got his trademark smirk on his face, but there's an undercurrent of concern in his gaze. Zane leans against the pedestal, arms crossed, watching Lyric like a hawk.

"She's different," I say, breaking the silence. "Ever since that night."

Archer raises an eyebrow. "You're just noticing? She's been dragging herself around like a zombie."

Zane nods, his eyes narrowing. "Yeah, she's quieter. Doesn't even snap back at us like she used to."

"She's done everything we ask," I remind them. "All of it. Coffee runs, cleaning duty and even coming to our rooms every day after class as she was told. But it's like she's withdrawing more and more."

Archer runs a hand through his blond hair, the sunlight catching the highlights. "She's more tired," he muses. "Worn out."

Zane's jaw tightens and he clenches his fists. "Maybe it's getting to her. Maybe we've finally broken her."

I shake my head, the unease gnawing at me. "No, it's something else. Something we're missing."

The murmur of students passing by and the distant hum of campus life fade into the background as Archer sighs. "We'll figure it out. Keep an eye on her."

"What if we follow her around?" Zane suggests, fiddling with the pendant on his necklace. "Maybe she's got a secret boyfriend, or she's selling on the side."

"Whatever it is, we need to find out," Archer agrees. He sighs again. "I gotta get to class. Levi, you tail her, okay?"

Scuffing my toe against the ground, I let out a ragged sigh. "I guess. I've got other shit to do, but I'll stay on Lyric babysitting duty for a bit."

Archer claps a hand on my shoulder. "You're a good bro," he says. Zane gives me a fist bump and the two of them take off together since they both having classes in the same building.

My gaze flits back to Lyric, who is practically falling asleep upright as she leans against the side of the Comm building. My lip curls, bitterness flooding me. She deserves everything we can throw at her. I have no sympathy.

I lost everything when she ratted us out. Everything. She has no idea the depths of what I went through that day. Zane and Archer might have lost a lot, but I lost everything that mattered.

Pulling a carton out of my back pocket, I light up a cigarette and take a puff, watching Lyric out of the corner of my eye. She's swaying on her feet as she checks her phone for the third time in fifteen minutes.

Who is she waiting for, I wonder? Is she meeting up with someone? Anger boils up inside. She might be our biggest enemy right now, but she belongs to us .

I trail Lyric, keeping a safe distance. She moves like a ghost, slipping through the crowds with her head down, barely acknowledging anyone. When someone bumps into her, she half-heartedly makes to apologize but they brush her off.

We worked hard to ruin her reputation and it seems to be sticking since no one seems to give a shit about her. I watch as she heads to the library, steps slow and deliberate. The campus buzzes with activity, with students laughing, chatting and going about their day. But Lyric seems detached, lost in her own world.

Inside the library, the cool air smells faintly of old books and polished wood, I watch as Lyric navigates her way through to the study section at the back, pulling out a stack of books and her laptop.

But instead of diving into work, she just sits there, staring blankly at the screen.

Minutes pass. I grab a book off a nearby shelf and pretend to read, all the while keeping an eye on her. She rubs her temples, her fingers trembling slightly. She's hiding something, no doubt about it.

She opens her laptop and types something quickly. I can't see the screen, but her shoulders are tense and she bites her lower lip, pausing again. After a few minutes, her phone goes off, so she shuts the laptop with a frustrated sigh.

Shoving everything back into her bag, she hitches it over her shoulder, taking off again. I pretend to be busy browsing the shelves as she passes by, though she doesn't even seem to notice me. Once she's far enough away, I push the book I'm holding back on the shelf and take off after her, hoping this time, she leads me to the source of her secretive behavior.

I continue to follow Lyric through campus, my curiosity and frustration growing with every step I take. She seems to walk with more purpose now, heading toward the eastern side of campus.

Confusion deepens as I watch her approach an annex building—the campus daycare. Does she have a job here that she hasn't told us about?

I hang back, blending into the shadows. Lyric pushes open the door to the daycare and disappears inside. I lean against a nearby tree, my eyes fixed on the entrance, waiting.

Minutes tick by and I start to wonder if she's meeting someone here. As I'm about to move closer, the door swings open and Lyric steps out. My breath catches in my throat. She's holding a baby in her arms.

The little boy, no more than a year old, clings to her, his tiny hands gripping her shirt. She cradles him with a tenderness that takes me by surprise. Her face softens, a faint smile touching her lips as she murmurs something to the baby.

I can't tear my eyes away from the scene. This is the last thing I expected. Lyric, the girl we've been tormenting, the girl we thought we knew inside out, has a baby. Questions whirl through my mind. Is she babysitting? Is the baby hers? The latter possibility hits me like a punch to the gut.

Lyric glances around, her eyes darting through the crowd. I step back, hiding behind the tree, my heart pounding. She doesn't spot me, her attention quickly returning to the child. She adjusts the diaper bag on her shoulder and starts walking away, heading toward the opposite side of campus, where the family housing is located.

I follow at a distance, my mind racing. This changes everything. The exhaustion, the distant look in her eyes, the way she's been dragging herself around campus—it all makes sense now. She's not only running around for us. She's raising a child.

As she disappears into the family dorm building, I make a quick decision. I need to tell Archer and Zane about this. They need to know and then we need to figure out what the hell we're going to do about it.

Shaking my head, I jog back to the frat house and disappear up into my bedroom, my mind racing as I try to come to terms with what I saw. Was Lyric pregnant when she turned us in? Is it ours?

The possibility that it might be ours seems impossible. The kid can't be more than a year old, max, so she'd have gotten pregnant after we left.

My heart clenches in my chest, fury, frustration and despair mixing in equal parts to create a caustic reaction. I feel like I'm going to explode, the anger boiling right under the surface.

As soon as my brothers return, I pull them into my room and fill them in on the details of what I had witnessed, hands shaking as I recount the way the child clung to her.

"It's hers," I say, my tone flat. "I know it is. She lied to us, again ."

"Fucking bitch," Archer snarls. "Let me guess, she couldn't bear to deal with the bullshit she pulled on us so she found comfort in the arms of some fucker the second we left."

"If she even waited that long," Zane says, chocolate eyes darkening. "Maybe she was seeing him behind our back. Dammit. I can't believe her. Here I was, feeling sorry for running her ragged, but she's been nothing but a lying, cheating, two-timing whore, just like we suspected."

I sink onto the bed, head in my hands. "If she's lied about the kid, who knows what else she might have lied about?" I point out. "We can't trust her. Not for a second."

"If she wants to be a slut too bad, let's let her," Archer mutters.

"Yeah, everyone should know that she's a disloyal skank," Zane agrees. "And we should treat her exactly how she deserves."

Zane bites his lip. "That's not a bad idea. For now, no one say anything to her about this. We keep pretending we don't know. All we need to do is to make sure that she knows that we know what she's really like."

Archer rubs his chin. "I have an idea," he says, lips curling up into a smirk. "A way to put her in her place and make sure the whole world knows exactly who she is."