Chapter 15

FIFTEEN

Ihadn't thought it was possible for Briar to get any paler, but that was before I saw all traces of color drain from his cheeks. It happened fast, between heartbeats. He looked as though he was about to pass out then and there.

"Sorry, but there's nobody called Brian here," Knox said. "Are you sure this is the right place?"

"Yeah," the man said. "I'm looking for Brian. Brian Pendelton."

"We've got a Briar Pendelton?" Knox said. "Is that who you mean?"

The man let out a harrumph. "I guess."

"Let me see if he's here," Knox said.

Goddamn Virginia boys and their goddamn manners. Why couldn't Knox be a douche and shut the door?

"Fuck," Briar said. He gazed at me with wild eyes. "It's my fucking dad. I can't—I need to?—"

"Brian?" the guy yelled, his voice getting louder. "You in here?"

"Sir!" Knox said. "You can't just come in here!"

Too fucking late, apparently.

Briar was frozen on the spot, and my first instinct was to shove him into Trey's office and lock the door behind us, but before I got the chance, a tall, heavyset blond man came striding around the corner.

He stopped when he saw us. "Brian?"

"Dad," Briar rasped, dropping my hand. "What are you doing here?"

He was a big guy, the sort who could fill up a room. Just tall and broad and loud. The sort of guy who made you think of lumberjacks and linebackers. Big and loud wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but the way Briar shrank back made me think there was more to the story.

Which was Briar in a nutshell, right?

"Ricky had a game in Hopewell," Mr. Pendelton said. "So your mom and I caught up with Darryl. He said you were at Lassiter now. In this fraternity." He gazed around the hall as though he was seeing the place for the first time—the high ceilings, the polished floors, the old oil paintings and photographs on the walls—and then his gaze fell on Briar again, and he narrowed his eyes. "Your face is a mess, and what the hell are you wearing? You can't see your mom looking like that."

"Mom's here?" Briar asked, his voice small.

Mr. Pendelton seemed to notice me and Trey and Scout at the same time. "She's out in the car."

Knox stood behind Mr. Pendelton, shuffling his feet like he wasn't sure what to do. He wasn't the only one.

"Brian—"

"I go by Briar." Briar lifted his chin.

Mr. Pendelton rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Go wash your face and put on something decent and come outside and speak to your mother. She's been worried sick about you."

"You said..." Briar seemed to shrink into himself. "You both said you never wanted to see me again."

There was a low growling sound from somewhere close by me, and for a second, I wondered if Squirrel had joined the party. Then I realized it was from Scout.

"Well not looking like that!" Mr Pendleton said with a snort. "Jesus Christ, Brian, just?—"

"He said he goes by Briar now." I stepped in front of him protectively.

"Listen," Mr. Pendelton said. "I don't know who the hell any of you are, but this is between me and my son, and it is none of your business." He glared at Briar. "I told you, go and clean yourself up, and then come outside and talk to your mother. We'd best not be waiting for long."

And he strode toward the front door. I heard it slam shut behind him.

"The fuck was that?" Knox asked, his eyes as big as an owl's. "I didn't mean to let him in, y'all."

Briar drew a tremulous breath. "That's my family. It's, um... I'd better go talk to my mom."

"Hold on," Trey said. "Do you want to?"

"What?" Briar blinked at him.

"Do you want to?" Trey asked. "Because they can't make you."

"And it sounds a hell of a lot like they kicked you out," Scout said. "It's the whole look you have going on, right? You're too fabulous for them?"

A shaky laugh escaped Briar. "It's a lot of stuff, but that's a part of it, I guess."

"So, they've turned up uninvited after they threw you out, and now they expect you to play nice? As the poet once said, ‘Fuck that noise,'" Scout said.

"What poet ever said that?" Knox asked.

Scout shrugged. "Shakespeare, probably. Or he would have if he'd thought of it. Anyway, my point stands."

"Okay," Trey said. "Let's settle down. Briar, what do you want to happen here? Because we've got your back, but you have to tell us what you need."

Briar grabbed my hand again. "I want to tell them to go away, but I don't know if I can."

I ran a thumb over the back of his knuckles. "I can," I said. "And Trey and Scout and Archer and Knox can."

"So can campus security," Trey said, "if it comes to that."

"Okay," Briar said, but he didn't sound sure. "I can probably do it, if—if you guys are with me."

Trey raised his eyebrows. "You're our brother, Briar. Of course we're with you."

"Okay," Briar said and squared his shoulders. "Okay, let's do this."

So,since Marty said I was going to be the next John Grisham on account of that one screenwriting course I took, let me set the scene.

Fraternity Row. Exterior. Evening. It was less high noon in a dusty Western town, and more chilly dusk in a teen slasher flick. The streetlights had just come on up and down the street, and they made the red leaves of the maples glow. Out on the sidewalk, a couple of girls from Zeta Tau were walking by, stopping just past a plain white sedan to wave at Marty, who was on the other side of the street currently tangled in Squirrel's lead. There was a woman in the white sedan, or at least there was the vague shape of one. I couldn't see her through the tinted windows, but the height of her hairstyle was a pretty clear indicator.

Mr. Pendelton paced back and forth on the porch. Probably stopping to stare pointedly at his watch as he waited for Briar to come outside.

Close up on the front door as it opened and then cut to the expression of surprise on Mr. Pendelton's face when it wasn't just Briar standing there. It was Briar and me and Trey and Scout and Knox and James Two and Archer. I think Sawyer and Connor might have been there too but as unscripted extras. It was hard to tell exactly who was there from the front of the pack.

Mr. Pendelton's gaze snapped back to Briar, and he looked him up and down and huffed out, "I thought I told you to change?"

Briar's throat bobbed as he swallowed. "That's what you've been telling me my whole life."

Mr. Pendelton shook his head. "Then why are you still wearing that? Why the hell can't you just listen?"

"Why can't you?" Briar shot back.

Mr. Pendelton's mouth thinned into an unhappy line. He glanced over at the sedan. "Just talk to your mother, would you? She's been worried."

"See, I don't think she has," Briar said, his voice shaking, "because when you threw me out, I kept the same phone number, just in case. She didn't call or text once. Neither did you."

"Jesus," Scout murmured.

My heart twisted in my chest, and I wondered how old Briar had been when he was cut loose.

Mr. Pendelton ran a meaty palm through his straw-colored locks and made a frustrated noise. He paced back and forth, looking between his watch and the sedan and Briar. "You make it sound worse than it was, like we made you leave. All we did was set some rules, and I don't think it's unreasonable for a man to want his son to use his goddamn name and dress like a boy! It was for your own good!"

Briar let out a bitter laugh. "Right. You just didn't want me to embarrass you in front of your friends."

"We never forced you to go," his father said, folding his arms over his chest.

"No?" Briar's voice cracked. "You just made it impossible to stay. So I chose not to live somewhere where I couldn't be myself."

"Be yourself? What the hell does that mean?"

The car horn sounded.

Mr. Pendelton's head snapped around to the car and the woman inside. He lifted his hands in an exasperated "what do you expect me to do?" gesture before turning back to Briar, his hands on his hips in a classic disappointed dad pose. "Just stop, okay? You've caused enough trouble. Your mother's about ready to give you a piece of her mind for worrying her, disappearing like you did. How do you think we felt, having to explain to folks that you just up and went?" He gestured at the car. "Go on, go talk to your mother."

Briar's fingers flexed against my palm, and his grip tightened. I squeezed his hand back. Briar's voice was quiet when he said, "No. I think you should go."

"We came to see you, and now you won't give us the time of day?" his father said, disbelieving. "We raised you better than that! Now you get your ass over to that car, and?—"

It was Scout who cut in, giving Mr. Pendelton a dead-eyed stare. "Briar's asked you to leave. And now I'm telling you the same thing. And don't come back."

Mr. Pendelton gave an unhappy snort. "I don't know who you think you are, but I'm entitled to see my kid, you hear?"

"Just—Dad, just go, please?" Briar whispered, a note of desperation in his voice.

I kept hoping for Briar to snap and snarl at his dad like the prickly little asshole I knew he was, the guy I'd fallen for, but he didn't.

Instead Briar bit his bottom lip and gazed down at the porch timbers, wrapping an arm around himself. He fidgeted restlessly with the lace inset of his sleeve.

His father zeroed in on the movement, and something about it must have made him reach his breaking point. He stepped closer, his bulk suddenly a lot more menacing than before, and one hand flew out. He grabbed the front of Briar's sweater, yanking on it. "Just look at yourself!"

Briar let out a choked-off gasp as he stumbled forward a pace.

"Why can't you just… be normal?" his father snapped.

Briar flinched like he'd been slapped, and the rest of us froze in shock.

Which was when Charlie came racing up the porch steps out of nowhere, let out a loud yell, and launched himself at Mr. Pendelton in a flurry of limbs.

Mr. Pendelton grunted and staggered when Charlie slammed into him, letting go of Briar as he did so. Charlie flailed about, a mass of arms and legs and hot pink fabric, and did his best to dislodge Mr. Pendelton from the porch. He didn't get far—Charlie had the body mass of a stick insect—but it was impressive watching him try all the same, and it sure as hell got the rest of us moving.

I steered Briar out of reach of his father and pulled him close. He clung to me, staring up at me with wide, shocked eyes. I could feel his limbs trembling, and his heart thundered in his chest where he was pressed against my side. I ran a soothing hand down his back even though my own adrenaline was amped up to around a million.

We watched on as Trey stepped forward and put a hand on Charlie's shoulder. Charlie jerked at the touch before he saw who it was. He spun to face Trey, panting, his face as red as his hair.

"He doesn't get to touch Briar," he said fiercely, like he thought Trey was gonna argue or something.

"No," Trey said, his voice like flint. "He doesn't."

Mr. Pendelton was breathing hard, and his cheeks were an unhealthy, blotched red. The ugly part of me hoped he had a heart attack and dropped dead right here and now.

Trey folded his arms and stared Mr. Pendelton down. "You need to leave now. Briar's made it clear he doesn't want to see you."

"You can't make me?—"

"Or," Trey said, cutting him off, "I could call campus security. Take your pick."

The car horn blared again, twice in quick succession, and a woman's voice floated through the air. "Leave it be, Luke! We have to go get Ricky!"

Something weird happened to Briar's dad then. He straightened up, still breathing heavily, and he smiled. "Best quarterback his team's seen in twenty years," he said, and his chest puffed out like a rooster's. "That's a boy who knows how to make his daddy proud." His gaze fell on Briar, who burrowed closer into my side, and he added, "Unlike some."

Which, it turned out, was my breaking point.

As the poet said, "Fuck that noise."

"Hey," I said loudly.

Mr. Pendelton shifted his stare from Briar to me.

"Why don't you fuck off back to whatever hick town you're from and take your shitty attitudes with you?" I said. "Briar's fucking amazing, and if you can't see it, you don't deserve him as a son."

I hated confrontations, and my heart was pounding like it was going to beat right out of my chest, but I held his gaze.

Mr. Pendelton looked from me to Briar and back at me again, and I jutted my chin out in a silent challenge. My parents hadn't brought me up to brawl on the porch steps, but I was willing to make an exception if it came down to it.

Mr. Pendelton gave a disgusted huff and sagged like all the air had been let out of him. He'd obviously figured out he wasn't winning this. He pointed at Briar, his hand shaking. "Don't think you can come crawling back when it suits you, you hear? We leave today, we're done with you."

Briar caught my gaze, and I could tell that this was the moment where he'd either hunch in on himself more and do as he was told, or he'd fight back.

I held my breath waiting to see which it was.

Briar stepped away from my side, squaring his shoulders. The earlier desperation in his eyes had been replaced with a familiar mutinous glint that meant Briar was about to call someone on their bullshit. He reached out and swatted his father's extended finger aside. "You were done with me a long time ago. And now I'm done with you. So why don't you fuck off, Dad."

And then he flipped his father the bird and turned and walked into the house, hips swaying, and slammed the door.

Therewas my prickly little asshole, and I'd never been happier to see him.

In the end, there was no big dramatic showdown. Mr. Pendelton headed for his car, appearing more exasperated than defeated. Scout hauled Charlie inside, and the rest of us stood there and watched as Briar's parents drove off.

Whole thing had taken only a couple of minutes. The Zeta Tau girls hadn't even made it inside their place, and over on the other side of the road, Marty was still tangled in Squirrel's lead.

"Go find him," Trey said and clapped me on the shoulder as we went back inside.

"About the meeting?—"

Trey raised his eyebrows and said, voice slow like he thought I was stupid, "Go find him, Casey. Everything else can wait."

And that right there was why Trey Montgomery was our chapter president.

I found Briar upstairs in his bedroom with Charlie and Scout. Well, Charlie was in the bedroom with him. Scout was lingering by the door. He wouldn't have looked anxious to many other people. He looked like a guy who could smell something bad and was trying to figure out where it was coming from. But that was mostly just his face.

"Hey," I said, and Scout moved aside to let me through.

Archer was right behind me.

Briar was sitting on his bed, feet on the floor, and his face in his hands. Charlie was seated beside him, rubbing his back worriedly. He looked relieved when Archer and I turned up, as though he thought we might actually know what we were doing.

I wished.

"Hey," Charlie said and then got up and retreated to his own bed so I could take his place beside Briar.

Archer sat down on the other side of Briar.

"You okay?" I asked Briar. Stupid question. "You were totally badass out there, by the way."

His breathing hitched, and I started to rub his back the same as Charlie had. He didn't answer. He didn't glance up. I wondered if maybe he was crying and didn't want us to see. Which was on brand for Briar, honestly. His body was as tense as a bowstring, but as I ran a palm down his spine, I thought I felt him unclench the tiniest bit. I took it as encouragement. I could do this. I bumped his shoulder gently with mine. "What do you need, Briar?"

He let out a shuddering sigh. "I… I'm not sure. I just wasn't prepared to see them, you know?"

"Yeah," I said, "like running into your ex after a bad breakup."

Briar nodded, and the tension in his body eased some, so maybe just being here was enough.

"Do you want us to leave you alone?" Charlie asked, his brow furrowed. "Or is there someone we can call?"

Briar lifted his head from his hands. "I texted Alan. He's on his way."

I stiffened.

What the hell?

Who the fuck was Alan again? Oh, that's right. He was the mysterious guy I'd decided wasn't Briar's secret boyfriend, hookup, or sugar daddy. Right about the same time I'd decided to trust Briar. Of course, I'd decided that before today, when the extent of Briar's lies had become known. And it wasn't as though I was going to walk back on anything I'd said to Briar in this room before his parents turned up or anything, just...

Just who the fuck was Alan?

The only way I was going to find out was to ask, wasn't it?

Except was this really the time? Like, maybe it would clear the air, or maybe it would be the straw that broke the camel's back when it came to Briar. Like, this whole Alan thing was either a huge deal or it was absolutely nothing, but the only way I'd know was by asking. Which I couldn't do in case it was a huge deal because then I'd be the asshole who threw that out there when Briar was already in the middle of a crisis. What kind of boyfriend would that make me?

"Hey, Briar. I realize you just cut your horrible parents off, and you're also on thin ice with the fraternity for all the lies you've been telling, but my fragile ego needs to know. Are you seeing someone else?"

My sister Jamie once told me that relationships were complicated. Frankly, I'd thought she was exaggerating, but that was before I met Briar. Everything about Briar was complicated.

So was Alan. Fucking Alan, trapped in his box like Schrodinger's cat, either a sugar daddy or not or both or neither. Point was, the whole box was a radioactive shitshow, and no good could come of it.

Well, maybe that wasn't the point.

I really wasn't sure about that whole concept, honestly.

I rubbed Briar's back quietly, and he leaned against me a little more with each passing minute. The room got darker as the dusk shifted slowly into evening, but nobody moved to turn on the light. It was like we were all waiting for Briar to be the one to break the spell of the silence that had fallen over us.

I watched the minutes tick over on the little digital alarm clock on Charlie's bedside cabinet.

I could hear voices downstairs. A distant door slamming. A song playing from someone's speakers from the other side of the house. A car with a whining transmission driving down Fraternity Row. And then the sound of footsteps in the corridor and the creak of the old floorboards.

I drew a breath. "Briar?—"

I was interrupted by Trey tapping on the doorframe. "Hey, Briar. Alan's here. If you want, I can bring him up?"

Briar looked around the cramped room and gave Trey a watery smile. "Um, can I use the executive lounge? It's kind of crowded in here."

Trey nodded, and Briar bumped his shoulder against mine before rubbing at his eyes with the heels of his hands and taking a deep, shaky breath. He stood and slipped out of the room, and the door to the bathroom down the hall click closed a moment later.

Charlie, Archer, and Scout left as well, leaving me sitting on the bed and Trey leaning on the doorframe with his arms folded, watching me with raised eyebrows. "You okay, bro?"

"Who's Alan?" I blurted out.

Trey's brow furrowed. "You don't know?"

I rolled my eyes. "Obviously not, or I wouldn't be asking."

Trey stared at me for a minute and then said, "You really don't know. And you're worried Briar's cheating, aren't you?"

"No!" I snapped.

Trey shot me an unimpressed look.

"Maybe," I amended. "I mean, I don't want to think there's something going on, but…" I shrugged as if to say who knows?

Trey came over and sat his ass next to me on the bed and sighed. "Alan's his father, Casey."

Insert record scratch noises.

"His… but we met his father." What Trey said made no sense. "He's that asshole who was just here."

"Yeah. It's complicated," Trey said. "We met his stepfather. Alan's his biological dad. His wife works with my dad, and she asked him if he thought Alpha Tau would be a good fit for Briar and could I put a word in for him."

"You heard about what happened at Harvey, didn't you?" I felt an unhappy tightness in my chest. "With the makeup and stuff?"

Trey nodded.

"You didn't say anything."

"It wasn't my place." Trey cleared his throat. "Listen, to be clear, I haven't talked to Briar about any of this. So what he's told you, you've earned, you get me?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"I think it's all pretty new," Trey said. "All this family stuff. So don't be weird if he hasn't mentioned it, is what I'm saying."

"You giving me relationship advice now?"

"Only because that's another thing that's all new," Trey said. "Right?"

He didn't mean with a guy. He meant a relationship that mattered. Not like my others hadn't. I mean, I'd liked those girls, and I'd never cheated or hopefully been too much of a dick. But Briar? Briar mattered on a whole different level. What I was feeling for him was a hell of a lot bigger than anything I'd ever felt for anyone before. And that was fucking terrifying, honestly.

"Right," I said, my voice wavering on the word. I drew a breath and rediscovered my smile. "I guess since you've managed to make it work with Scout, you know a thing or two about dating secretive, prickly assholes."

Trey didn't smile, but he was probably laughing on the inside. "Come on downstairs, Casey."

I stood up. "Sure thing, prez."

And I dodged past him out the door before he could retaliate.