Adversaries by T.L. Hodel

While Ava leaned over the table and easily clacked two balls in the pockets, I wonder how the hell I’m supposed to hit anything anywhere with this thin ass stick?

Why was I even playing this game? Oh right, because Ava showed up at the place I was being held captive like she was here for a friggin playdate. I was really trying hard to remember why I loved her.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you,” Ava lined up her next shot, “there’s a rumor going around campus that you’re pregnant.”

“What?!”

I wasn’t the only one shocked. Chase choked and spat out his beer. Spraying it all over the floor, I just helped Jaz clean. Well, clean may have been a strong word. I assisted by pointing out spots she missed.

She was not very appreciative of my assistance, told me to do it myself if I thought I could do a better job. I knew I could do a better job, but she wasn’t going to get any better if I did her work for her.

“P-pregnant?” Chase’s wide eyes met mine, and I was tempted to slap some sense into him.

“Oh, calm down, Romeo. I have to earn your dick remember.” I rolled my eyes. Pfft, earn. “So unless you have super pussy seeking sperm, I think we’re safe.”

Not to mention I was on birth control, which I stayed on top of, got my shot right before I came to school—not taking any chances in that department.

Relief visibly washed over him as he settled back in his chair.

Moron.

I swear guys lost their mind at the mention of the word baby, except for Parker. He was happy when he found out he knocked up Lana.

Considering she was only seventeen, I highly doubted she felt the same way. They were making it work, though. Weston and Winslow were kind of cute, and Ava loved those babies.

All she ever wanted was to be a mother, and Ryker took that away from her because she decided to stand up for me.

So yeah, Ava may be a little unhinged and murderous at times, but I’d never abandon her. She gave up the one thing she wanted most for me, and I’d give up my life for her.

Speaking of babies…

I turned my attention back to Ava. “Why are people saying I’m pregnant?”

“I don’t know. A few people asked where you were, so I told them you were dealing with ‘personal issues.’”

My face dropped as her fingers hooked doing quotes in the air. “Did you do the air quotes when you said personal issues?”

“Well, yeah.”

I let out a sigh and dropped my face in my palm. She’s your best friend, you can’t kill her.

I could beat her with this stupid thin stick, though.

“The whole campus has been weird lately.”

She bent over. and I couldn’t help but notice Tanner in a chair behind her. His elbows were on his knees, chin in his hand, and a lovestruck look on his face as he watched my friend. That poor, dumb, fool.

It was just him, Ava, Chase, and I in here. That big guy left with Claire and the other one, Snape, or Snarl or whatever, threw a bag of Oreos at Ava and left. A bag she refused to share, by the way.

Maybe it had something to do with the blood on her shirt. I didn’t ask. Blood on Ava wasn’t new. I did make her change. Seemed like the thing to do since I had a bag of her clothes with me. Still pissed at her for that.

“Cammie said someone tried to grab her. Some other girl claimed guys on bikes threatened her, and Bailey is convinced she’s being followed. Said something about a hill moving or shifting,” Ava waved her hand dismissively. “I don’t know. I think she got a bad batch of acid or something.”

“Is that so?” I swear to God, if Chase and his cronies were threatening my girls. . .

“Crazy, right? I told campus security that we didn’t know anyone with bikes.”

My face dropped again. Seriously?

“Um, Ava, these guys have bikes.”

“Really?” She stood up and looked at Tanner and Chase with big sparkling eyes. “Like those tandem bikes, cause those things are really cool?”

“No.” Only Ava would think when someone said they were threatened by a couple of guys on bikes that they were on tandem bikes. “Motorbikes. Like Harleys and stuff.”

“Oh,” she frowned and waved her hand. “I don’t think she was talking about those. Now tandem bikes, those things are memorable.”

Wednesday was hazing. Apparently, Friday was tandem bikes.

Tanner tipped his head to get a better view of her ass, I was assuming, and muttered, “I’m definitely going to get one of those.”

“Really?” Ava lit right up. “Will you let me ride it?”

“I’ll let you ride anything you want to.”

“Okay, it’s a date then,” she sang happily and then focused on her next shot.

Tanner straightened up and looked around with wide-shocked eyes before getting out of his chair.

“Where are you going?” Chase quietly growled as Tanner walked past him.

“To get a motherfucking tandem bike.”

Chase rolled his eyes up at him, giving Tanner a look I didn’t like. “A couple of guys on bikes? Don’t you think we have bigger things to worry about?”

Tanner threw his head back and groaned, “Fine.”

I narrowed my gaze on Chase’s knuckles, tightening around the bottle in his hand. I know Ava was dismissing all the girls’ claims, but Chase seemed pretty upset for it to be just a bunch of rumors.

So, I sauntered to him, reached over his shoulder to grab my glass of water, and whispered, “Stay away from my sorority.”

Nobody fucked with my girls.

“It’s not me,” he hissed through clenched teeth.

I was briefly distracted by his phone vibrating on the table. I knew the name displayed, Riley, but it was the twenty-three missed calls that made me lift a brow. Why would Chase be ignoring Riley?

I thought they were super tight. Even more suspicious was the way he scooped his phone off the table when he saw me looking at it.

Whatever, if he wanted to ignore Riley, that was his choice. I’d ignore her too. Besides, that wasn’t the issue here.

“I swear to God if one of those girls gets hurt because you decided to interject yourself in my life…”

“I got it, Princess.”

“Do you?” I challenged with a cocked hip.

His hard glare met mine before he snatched his beer off the table and stormed away.

Tanner tipped his chin at Chase as if asking what’s up with him. I shrugged and returned to Ava. Not my problem if he didn’t like what I had to say.

We finished our game which Ava won, and then sat down for a little girl talk, or what I thought would be girl talk. Instead, I ended up listening to Ava go on and on about the various places one could ride a tandem bike.

When she got an idea in her head, it was next to impossible to get it out. A half-hour later and she had a whole European trip planned. Riding past Buckingham Palace on a bike built for two was not my idea of fun. I’d never been happier to get someone a drink than I was when Ava frowned at her empty glass.

Perfect excuse, I thought and scooped up the cup to go in the back and get her more wine. Why a bunch of bikers had wine, I didn’t know. Didn’t really care. Though I did have to say, this place wasn’t as bad as I thought it was.

It was kind of like a bar. There was a backroom fully stocked with alcohol and snacks and a kitchen, which Claire seemed to be in charge of. I might even be starting to kind tolerate the place. Except for the shag carpet, of course.

My ears perked up when I walked in the back and heard a quiet voice.

“It’s the only way.”

Chase?

I snuck over to the shelf and peeked around the corner. Chase was pacing in the back by a couple of kegs. There was a look on his face I hadn’t see before.

His brows were knit together as if he was arguing with someone, but his eyes had this fierce glint in them, almost like determination.

“Of course I can.”

I half expected to hear someone answer him, and when I didn’t, I lifted up on my tiptoes to see if he was wearing a Bluetooth or something. That was when I realized there was no one there. Chase was talking to himself.

“No,” he barked out. “Stop it, Sam. He’s always been my responsibility.”

My hand flew to my mouth, muffling my gasp as my heart fell in the pit of my stomach. He wasn’t talking to himself. It was worse. He was talking to her.

I wanted to cry for him. Run up there and wrap my arms around him and say everything would be okay, but I couldn’t promise that. As long as he held onto a memory, he’d never be okay.

“Chase,” I whispered and stepped out from behind the shelf.

His back instantly stiffened.

“Are you alright?”

He was so not alright.

He spun around and forced a smile on his face. “I’m fine.”

I knew something about forced smiles. We couldn’t appear to be the perfect family without looking happy.

“Are you sure, because…”

He stepped up and pressed his fingers to my lips.

“Shh, it’s okay. I know what I have to do.”

Why did that sound ominous? “Do you?”

There was that smile again.

“You go have fun with your friend.” Chase cupped my face and leaned in to kiss my forehead. “Everything’s going to be alright.”

When someone says everything will be alright, it wouldn’t. Just like I’m fine meant anything but. I didn’t get a chance to say anything, though, because Chase walked out of the room before I could.

A sinking feeling grew in my gut as I watched him leave, and I briefly wondered if I should go after him, but Tanner strolled into the room, giving me another option. I mean, he knew Chase better, right?

“Does Chase often talk to himself?”

Tanner braced his elbow on one of the boxes and cocked his head at me. “What do you mean?”

“Well, I came in here, and he was saying it’s the only way and talking about responsibility…”

Tanner made the distance between us before I could blink and was tightly gripping my shoulders.

“This is important, Princess,” the look on Tanner’s face was officially freaking me the fuck out. “What exactly did Chase say?”

“He said it was the only way. That it was his responsibility,” I explained. “Then he told me he knew what he had to do.”

Tanner spun around, kicked a box, and yelled, “Fuck.”

“What’s going on?” I demanded.

“You remember when I talked about people spiraling.”

I nodded. “Yeah.

“Chase just hit bottom,” Tanner said and ran out the door.