Her Striker by Charlene Raquel

Chapter Seventeen

 

 

Gwen sighed and turned to lean against the railing. “There was a private party up here that was all hush-hush and a list of Who’s Who on campus. Everyone had wanted an invite, and some people were trying to do anything they could to get one.”

“Did you go?”

She laughed. “Me? No way. I am not anyone on campus, and I like it that way. I only knew about the party because I know one of the girls who was working it. No one knew exactly who was throwing the event, but the rowing team seemed to be in the center of things. Somehow, they had gotten permission for the party to stay later than the bar is usually open.”

“How did they manage that?” Once again Drew was finding way more questions than answers.

“I have no idea, but there are rumors that certain people don’t have to play by the rules.”

“The Scorpio Society.” He reached out and pulled her close to him. He needed the contact with her.

“I don’t know anything about them. There are a few whispers about an elite group of students and faculty who run everything. I could probably guess a few names, but no one ever really knows.”

“I bet I could guess a few of them too.”

Gwen tipped her head back to look at him. “We haven’t spoken about the card you got.”

“I know, but not here.” He kissed her temple to soften his words.

She nodded. Gwen was worried about him. She knew he wanted to find out what happened to his brother, and he would do anything to make that happen, even join a creepy and possibly deadly secret society. “My friend, Erin, told me that Landon had seemed distracted all night, and she thought he had been sipping at the same drink the entire time. Erin had been shocked when the report came back that he was intoxicated.”

“How did he fall? No one talks about it at all. I’ve asked around, and the only thing I’ve been told is that it was an accident while he was impaired. How did it happen when it was in the middle of a party?”

“Erin told me that someone had knocked into another server who had a huge tray of glasses and they all smashed onto the floor, spreading glass all over. Everyone had been focused on the mishap and missed your brother’s fall.”

Drew frowned. “That sounds way too convenient.”

“I hadn’t thought about it before, but you’re right. It seems odd.”

Drew ran his hand through his hair. “It’s not odd. Someone set it all up. Someone killed my brother!”

Gwen winced. “Shhh. You said that so loud.”

“Damn. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell. I wasn’t yelling at you.”

Gwen hugged Drew. “I know. I wish there was something I could do.”

Drew held her tightly. “Will you help me investigate?”

Gwen pulled back. “Absolutely.”

“There you two are.” Sam raised her eyebrows at Gwen.

Sam and Dean were standing in front of them, grinning.

“I would love to hang out here some more, but we have classes tomorrow.” Sam shrugged one shoulder. “I was an idiot and took a 9AM class.”

Gwen laughed. “At least it wasn’t another 8AM one. Those are the worst, and they are always taught by hard-ass professors.”

Drew downed the rest of his whiskey. “Let’s get out of here. I’m sure I have some sort of classes tomorrow.”

Gwen crinkled her forehead. “You don’t know if you have to go to class?”

“I have no idea what courses I have. Dean changed my whole schedule.”

Dean shrugged. “I may have rearranged some classes for more ideal subjects, times, and professors.”

Sam laughed. “Wish you could have done that for me!”

Dean grinned widely. “I did. 9AM is way too early. Your new class is at 11AM.”

Sam’s mouth dropped. “That class was full.”

“I moved someone out of it. Scheduling changes happen all the time. I heard the guy was a little asshole, so he deserved it.”

Gwen shook her head. “Did you change my schedule?” She was going to have to go down to the bursar’s office in the morning to pay for her classes. She was sure her father had already withdrawn his money from her fake scholarship.

Dean’s expression softened. “Nope. Yours is exactly like you had it. I didn’t touch your classes.”

Sam eyed him. “What did you do then?”

“Nothing much. Come on, let’s go.”

 

~*~*~

 

Drew shifted his backpack onto his shoulder and strolled into the Liberal Arts building with Dean. The 10AM History class was on the third floor, so they had to jog up the steps to make it on time.

Dean had insisted they stop at the coffee house for the largest cup possible. He had gotten two of them because he had been up half the night, talking to Sam on the phone.

“Why did I sign us up for a class this early?” Dean’s sunglasses were still on even though they were inside.

“I don’t know why you picked this class at all. We didn’t have to take history. It could have been any elective.” Drew wondered what Dean was up to. His friend always had reasons behind his actions.

They entered the classroom from the back and selected seats in the last row at a skinny table with two chairs. That was their typical location and an easy spot to watch everything going on in front of them and to be able to zone out if the subject was boring.

Drew slumped down in his seat after pulling out his iPad and history book. He took notes on the iPad with an app that kept him organized. He may not like sitting in boring classes, but he took his education seriously. He was almost finished with his degree in electrical and mechanical engineering.

“Good morning class, and welcome to Western Civ. I’m Jeffrey Del Rossi. You can call me Mr. D. The class syllabus and all of the assignments are online in our class section.”

Drew whipped his head to the side and faced Dean. “What the fuck is your brother doing teaching our class?”

Dean smirked over his coffee. “He wanted to help us out.”

Jeff folded his arms across his muscular chest, stretching his blazer tightly. “Is there a problem in the back of the room?”

Dean raised his eyebrow in challenge.

Drew growled. “No sir.”

“We don’t want to have any disruptions, gentlemen.”

Drew tuned out Dean’s brother as he continued with his history lesson. He couldn’t wait until class was over so he could clobber both Dean and his brother. Drew always liked Jeff, although he didn’t get to see him too often. Dean’s brother was in the army, and even though he had never admitted it, Drew knew he was in some sort of elite Special Forces group. He had gotten hurt on one of his last assignments and was still recovering. Drew could see Jeff still had a slight limp.

As soon as the other students started to file out of the room, Drew made his way to the front. He waited until everyone was out of the room before he turned his glare at his friend’s brother.

“Cool it, hot head. I’m not here to babysit. You two are too old for that shit. I’m here unofficially to investigate the alarming number of accidental student deaths in or around campus within the last three years.” Jeff plopped down in the chair behind the professor’s desk and leaned back. His knee was hurting from standing for so long.

Drew pulled at the back of his hair. “What does unofficially mean and how did this get on your radar?” He glared at Dean.

Dean shoved Drew. “He’s here just in case we get into trouble. Listen, man. Murder is serious business. I know you. You’ll go after this relentlessly, and if it’s mixed up in a powerful secret society, we will need help.”

“Little bro is right. Dean mentioned that Landon had died accidentally and that you wanted to find out what really happened. One of my buddies had already been looking into the statistical impossibility of that many students having fatal accidents on or around a college campus. My boss told me to come check it out while I was on medical leave. I was happy to do something productive. They won’t clear me for active duty for a while.”

Drew leaned back on the table in the front row, crossing his ankles. “Who else is looking into this?”

Jeff shook his head. “You know I can’t tell you that.”

“Fine, but I’m not stopping my investigation.”

“I didn’t ask you to, and I won’t unless it starts to get too dangerous.” Jeff threaded his fingers together behind his head. “Stay away from the Scorpio Society. We’ve been hearing some jacked-up shit about the things that go on in the group.”

“Like what?” Drew needed to know. “What if they are the ones responsible for Landon’s death?”

Dean frowned at his brother. “What have you heard? I haven’t been able to find out much.”

Jeff glared at them. “Just promise me neither one of you will do anything stupid.”

Drew smirked. “We can handle ourselves. Are you going to share what you find out?” Drew studied Jeff. “You’re not, are you?”

“I’ll share what I can.”

Dean clasped Drew’s shoulder. “We have to get to our next class. See ya later, assface.”

Jeff picked up the white board eraser and pinged Dean in the head. “That’s Professor, you little shit.”

“Why’d you do that?” Dean rubbed the spot on his head and glared at Drew, who was laughing.

“See you boys on Monday!”

 

~*~*~

 

“May I help you?”

Gwen walked up to the counter at the Bursar’s Office. “Hi. I was wondering if I could get my bill for classes and possibly set up a payment plan.”

“Sure. I can help you. What is your name and student ID number?”

Gwen rattled off the information and the woman at the counter typed it into the computer system and frowned at the screen. “This account has been paid in full. You don’t need a payment plan.”

Gwen shifted nervously. “Was that from the scholarship I had before?”

The woman shook her head. “No. I see that it had been deleted from your record a couple of days ago, and this year’s balance was posted to your account yesterday. You’re all set. Would you like me to print you out a copy for your records?”

Gwen’s eyes were huge. How was that even possible? “Yes, please. That would be great.”

The woman handed her a printout. “Here you are.”

“Thanks,” Gwen mumbled as she walked away. She stared at the zero balance for this semester and a credit for the next one.

She walked back toward the Psychology building in a daze. She stopped abruptly when Dean’s words from the night before flitted through her head. He had to have somehow done this. She was going to find out how.