Adversaries by T.L. Hodel

Chase said my presence was requested, and I expected to be taken back to the dungeon, which I wouldn’t have minded. It had a better decorator than Chase’s crappy apartment.

That’s not where he took me. Nor did he answer my questions about why he left me alone in said crappy apartment all night and all day. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. Disappearing after they got what they wanted was just something men did.

When he waved me into the bar/lounge type room, my brow rose. The girls from my sorority were huddled in the corner whispering. I spun around with my hand on my hip. If Chase thought I was going to let him hurt them in any way, he had another thing coming.

“Why are they here?”

He nodded at Ava, “Ask your friend.”

I curled my lip at him as he strutted past to join Tanner and the big guy at a nearby table. Tanner winked at me, and I flipped him off, which only caused a big smile to spread across his face. I turned my attention to Ava, ready to ask her what the hell was going on, but she beat me to it.

“Okay, girls,” she snapped her hands at my sorority sister, “let’s do this.”

Was this some kind of rescue plan? Ava must be in her right mind because this was kind of genius. I’d never seen men this quiet, and there were a lot of men packed in this room.

I didn’t know Chase had this many guys in his club. Every possible seat was occupied, leaving some to stand in the back. It was eerie, actually, standing up by the bar with a bunch of big burly men staring at us.

Hmm, maybe this wasn’t a very good rescue plan after all? Hard to slip out unseen when everyone was watching us.

“Ava,” I paused when I noticed the girls lining up in front of the bar. This was either the worst rescue plan ever or… “What’s going on?”

“It’s Wednesday.” She scoffed while giving me a ‘duh’ glance.

“Okay?” Why was Wednesday a big deal? Did Mr. Chang have a deal on spring rolls or something? Even I had to admit they were really good spring rolls, better than any of the food I’d gotten here.

Ava let out an exaggerated sigh. “Hazing night?”

My face dropped. Hazing night? Seriously. I was being held captive in this craphole, which my friend obviously knew about, and she was worried about hazing?

“Ava,” grabbing her shoulders, I turned her to face me, “you remember the other night when that asshole threw me over his shoulder?”

“Yeah. That’s the same night I took Bill’s gear. That guy does not know how to play cards, by the way. I only had a pair…”

Well, that explained the helmet and shoulder pads.

“Hey,” I gave her a little shake, “I need you to pay attention.”

Ava straightened up and nodded. “Got it.”

“That night when I was taken, that was a kidnapping,” I explained, not that anyone in their right mind wouldn’t already know that.

“Okay.”

“I need you to call someone, like your brother.” Preston could get me out of here.

“You want me to call Parker?” Her nose scrunched up. “I mean, I could, but he’s got the babies, who are so cute by the way. Did I tell you? I found the cutest little jacket for Weston…”

This wasn’t getting me anywhere.

I snapped my fingers in front of her face. “You need to get me out of here.”

“Oh.” Her eyes widened with realization.

That’s right.

“Yeah,” Ava shook her head, “I can’t do that.”

What?!

I threw my hands up. “Why not?”

“You remember when we helped Logan with his date?”

I rolled my eyes. How could I forget? We didn’t just help Logan arrange things–for a guy with an insane amount of charm, he was completely obtuse when it came to the female species– that was also the night Ava tricked me into a date with Chase. At least I had mace then.

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Well, Logan is an idiot, but you’re more stubborn,” she declared and walked away.

What?

This better not be some fucked Ava logic thing. It wasn’t cute this time.

“We’re waiting,” she sang back at me.

“You can’t be serious?” The look on her face told me she was dead serious.

I’m not sure what was worse, the fact that not one of the other girls said a thing or the men impatiently staring at me? Like I was holding up some grand production. In their case, it was more likely a game of beer pong or go fish.

Who above the age of ten played that game, unless they were a parent, of course? Not my parents, that’s what nannies were for.

“Get the fuck up there!” someone yelled.

My eyes narrowed on Tanner. Pretty sure it was him, and based on his smug grin when Ava thanked whoever did it, I’d say I was right. Congratulations, Asshole, you just made it to the top of my shit list.

Letting out a defeated breath, I sauntered up next to my Mayberry roommate, who still had her hair in pigtails. What the hell else was I going to do? Run? I could pull those pink scrunchies out of her head.

Did the girl not have any fashion sense? Get rid of the jeans and put a dress on for once. A cute little skirt would be better than what she was wearing.

Long sleeves in Miami, who did that?

“Are you okay?” Bailey whispered over at me.

“Do I look okay?” I shifted my unimpressed gaze her way. “I’m wearing a Hello Kitty T-shirt, for Christ’s sake.”

Chase brought me some clothes, all of which I’m sure were from some backwoods thrift store. They were better than the tiny clothes Ava packed me, though.

“I think it’s cute.”

I sighed and rolled my eyes. Of course, she did.

I was so ready for this day to be over with. Who knew? Maybe Ava would come to her senses and decide to help me after all.

It became evident that wasn’t going to happen when she instructed all of us to strip down to our underwear, so she could circle our imperfections with a magic marker. Not a problem for me–I didn’t have any imperfections–the other girls, however…

I was about to argue until I saw Chase grinding his teeth. He was not happy, and since I was down for anything that made him unhappy, I stripped my clothes off.

The underwear I was donning wasn’t anything close to what I would’ve picked. Bows on panties? What was I twelve? That didn’t mean I wouldn’t rock that shit.

I locked glares with Chase, peeled off my shirt, and pushed the jeans over my hips. His nostrils flared as most of the other girls followed suit, and the men in the room came to life—whistling and hooting and hollering.

Mayberry and one other girl were the only ones that didn’t join in with the rest of us. They stood there red-faced and clutching onto their shirts. To be fair, I was pretty sure Bailey was a virgin.

She wouldn’t even change in front of me. I wasn’t sure about the other one, whose name was Lane, I think. She was pretty quiet, I’d only seen her a couple of times around the house.

“Come on, girls,” Ava’s gaze shifted from one to the other, “I want those clothes off, or else.” She pulled the Pi Kappa paddle out of her purse and smacked it on her open palm.

“Fuck yeah,” someone in the crowd growled.

I rolled my eyes. Neanderthals.

Bailey still hesitated, but the other girl lifted her shirt over her head.

“What the fuck?!”

Everyone turned to stare at a guy that just walked in. My eyes narrowed, pretty sure he was the someone that flipped me off the other day.

Whoever he was, he was pissed as hell. His light eyes burned so intently with rage, I could feel the heat.

His arm raised, pointing firmly at the girl who’d just taken her shirt off. “Put your fucking clothes back on, Lane!”

“Cole?” Her eyes widened in horror as she quickly snatched her shirt up and held the cloth against her chest. “W-what are you doing here?”

“What am I doing here? What the fuck are you doing here?”

“Well… Ava… I mean…” she stammered while glancing around the room. Probably for help. I could step in, but why? This was entertaining. “My sorority…”

“Fuck your sorority!” Cole barked out, “If your ass isn’t outside in two minutes, I swear to fucking God…”

That was all Lane needed to hear. She jumped out of line and scurried down the stairs faster than crowds on Black Friday, which was saying a lot. Those sale shoppers were crazy.

“Hey!” Ava called out, taking a few steps closer to the angry man.

This might be an interesting night after all. Like most of the others here, Cole was a big guy, but he’d never met my friend.

“Don’t,” Cole growled at Ava.

Oh, someone was protective.

“What are you,” Ava popped out a hip, “her brother?”

“No, my best friend is,” he spun around and stormed out the door. “Stay the fuck away from Lane.”

I was defiantly getting to know that girl now. She might just become my new best friend since mine clearly didn’t have my best interests in mind.

“Make the blonde one take off her bra!”

I assumed the prick that yelled was talking about me. Besides Ava, I was the only blonde up here. Cammie was kind of blonde but more red than blonde. Strawberry. I cocked my hip and glared out at the crowd, prepared to say something. Chase beat me to it.

He shot out of his chair, slammed his hands down on the table, and snarled, “Who the fuck said that?”

The entire room got quiet. Even I didn’t know what to say. Men looked at me all the time, and no one had ever gotten mad about it.

“I said, who the fuck said that?”

In the middle of the room, a few men backed away from another, who I assumed to be the culprit, based on the way his eyes widened when Chase stormed over.

“I’m scared,” Bailey clutched onto my arm. “We shouldn’t be here.”

“Ugh, calm down.” I absently waved my hand at her. “We’re fine.”

At least I thought we were. Chase looked like he was going to kill that guy. Murder wasn’t something any of these girls would be able to handle seeing. Luckily that big guy and Tanner stepped in.

Each one grabbed an arm and slammed him back against the wall. And even then, they had a hard time holding him at bay.

“Let me go,” Chase growled.

“Sorry, brother,” the big one growled back. “Can’t do it.”

It was kind of hot watching Chase’s muscles bulge as he fought the other men.

The man Chase was glaring at stood up. “What’s the big deal?”

“Get the fuck out,” Tanner twisted his head and looked over his shoulder at the other man, “before I shoot you.”

I was with that guy. So he said some typical guy crap. What was the big deal? Though he didn’t seem very impressed about it, he did leave, grumbling under his breath the whole time.

Chase was only let go when he was out of sight. He ripped his arms out of the other men’s grip and rolled his neck. Good, maybe now we could get this shit over with.

Apparently, that was not what he had planned.

Chase snapped his eyes my way as he marched across the room and grabbed my elbow. “Come on.”

“Brute,” I smacked his arm and fought back against his pull. “Let me go.”

“Don’t fuck with me, Princess.”

Don’t fuck with him?

“You brought me down here for hazing,” I shot Ava a scowl, who was sitting back and watching with a smile, “so hazing is what I’m going to do. Now, if you don’t mind…”

The next second I found myself staring at the floor as Chase tossed me over his shoulder.

“Fuck hazing.”

He carried me up the stairs and dropped me on the desk in his apartment. A lamp crashed on the floor as my back landed on the hard wooden surface.

“Oh my God,” I snarled at the pain radiating up my tailbone.

His hand shot when I tried to get up and wrapped around my neck.

“Shut the fuck up! Just keep your mouth fucking shut for once.” I felt fire lick across my skin as his rage-filled glare rolled down my body. “Prancing around in a room full of men in this shit.”

His grumble was so quiet, I wasn’t entirely sure if he even knew he was talking. Either way, I’d had about enough of this shit. There was absolutely nothing for him to be angry about. These clothes were the ones he brought me.

“What the hell is wrong with you? Are you jealous or something?”

“Yes.”

I stopped. What? I’d seen guys get jealous. Logan was king in that department. He’d go off if someone just looked at his girl, but I’d always chalked it up to his instability.

Normal guys didn’t act that way. Sure they might be envious that someone got to fuck someone else. They get all feral and possessive. At least they never had over me. My eyes narrowed in suspicion as I searched the deep lines of Chase’s scowl.

“Why?”

“What the fuck do you mean why?”

I don’t know what his game was, but I wasn’t going to fall for it. So I decided to call him on it.

“Why are you jealous?”

The scowl on his face twisted into a look of confusion. This time it was his gaze that searched mine. I lay there, watching his mouth open with silent words only to close again. When he finally did speak, it wasn’t anything close to what I expected.

“Who hurt you?”