His Revenge by Charlene Raquel

Chapter Ten

 

 

Drew and Dean knocked on Dina’s door and a cute, petite young woman with long straight black hair opened it up without even looking to see who was there. “Oh my goodness. You’re Drew.” She covered her mouth with her hands.

Drew was used to the ladies knowing who he was from his status on the soccer field, but this girl was not acting like a groupie. “Dina, right?”

She nodded and burst into tears.

Dean sighed. “That’s a first. You don’t usually make them cry, dude.”

Drew ignored Dean. “Are you okay?”

Dina nodded again. “I’m so sorry about Landon. I miss him so much.”

“How did you know who I was?”

Dina moved to the side. “Please come in.” She led them over to a worn denim couch and flopped down on its lumpy cushions. “Landon used to talk about you all the time. He had so many photos of you playing soccer and would follow all of your games. He had all your stats memorized.”

“He did?”

“He was really proud of you.”

Drew was suddenly choked up. He missed his little brother terribly and felt incredibly guilty for not being there for him when he obviously needed it. “I was proud of him too.”

“What do you want to know?” Dina played with the edge of her T-shirt.

Dean jumped in with the questioning to give Drew a chance to pull himself together. “Was he acting differently before he died?”

Dina considered that for a moment. “I didn’t notice it at first. When we met, he was quiet and contemplative. He didn’t like attention and was happy to stay in the background.”

Drew swallowed the lump in his throat. “When did that change?”

“About halfway through the first semester is when I really noticed the difference. He had told me he was going to pledge for a fraternity, but he never said which one. He was going out more and hanging with a few of the older students. He started cancelling on me for small things. Studying, getting coffee. Yoga class.”

“My brother took yoga?”

Dina smiled. “He hated it at the beginning, but he ended up liking it. We did yoga a couple of times a week.”

Dean studied her. There was more to their friendship than Landon’s roommate stated. “Were you his girlfriend?”

Dina stared at her lap. “Yes, but he told me we had to keep it a secret.”

Dean shared a look with Drew. “Why? Why would Landon want to keep your relationship a secret? Was he dating someone else? Were you?”

“No!” Dina sunk back into the corner of the couch. “It was nothing like that. At first it was fine. We were dating and not hiding anything and then he told me that it wasn’t safe for us to be seen together.”

Drew debating on how much to tell her. “Did he ever mention the Scorpio Society?”

Dina’s face paled. “How do you know about them?”

Drew didn’t like her fear, but he needed to find out what she knew. “What do you know?

Dina shook her head. “I can’t. I can’t talk about it.”

Dean moved to sit on the coffee table in front of Dina. “We’re not going to tell anyone we spoke to you. I promise. You’re safe with us.”

Drew pulled his wallet from his back pocket and flipped it open, slipping a photo from inside. “This is the last photo I have of my brother. I’m never going to have another one. I’m never going to have the opportunity to see him graduate from college, get married, have kids. Get old. I want to find the assholes who killed him, but I would never put his girl in danger. I don’t know you, but I have a feeling you meant the world to my little brother. Please help me avenge him.”

“The Society started to pursue Landon within a month of him coming to Stonewall. It started off simple and easy. A party here, a dinner there. Meeting with the president of the university. Getting preferential treatment. Faculty and staff knowing his name. Landon went from a quiet, humble guy to a confident man. Some of it was probably growing up, but there was more to it. I just didn’t know what it was at the time.” Dina cleared her throat. “I’m grabbing a water bottle. Do you want one?”

Drew shook his head. “No, thanks. I’m good.”

Dean hopped up. “I’ll get it for you.”

Dina nodded. “Thanks. One night we were walking across campus and a few upperclassmen stopped us to say hello. They were outwardly civil, but it was obvious that they didn’t approve of me. They kept looking at me with contempt. It made Landon agitated and when I asked about them, he shut down and refused to talk about them. The next night, he canceled our date. He said he had too much studying to do. The night after that, he told me he wasn’t feeling well.”

Dean handed her the water bottle. “I’m sorry if this is painful for you.”

Dina took her time twisting off the cap and taking a long swallow of the cold liquid. “I went to his apartment and his roommate told me that he hadn’t seen Landon come out of his room in two days. I knew something was wrong, but I had no idea what it was. I should have handled things differently.”

“If you had, you could have been killed too.” Drew didn’t want to scare her, but he couldn’t stand her thinking what everyone else thought. His brother didn’t kill himself. There was no way.

Dina looked up at him. “You think he was killed, too?”

“Too?” Dean raised a brow.

Dina nodded sadly. “Landon would never have killed himself, and he didn’t do drugs or drink too much. He always told everyone that he didn’t drink because of appearances, but in truth, it made him sick. Even one drink would give him massive migraines, so he would pretend to socially drink.”

Drew swiped his hands down his face. How had he not known that about his little brother? There was so much about him that he wished he had discovered before he died. “Did anyone else know about his allergy to alcohol?”

“No. He didn’t want anyone to know.” Dina spun the water bottle between her hands. “I waited for his roommate to leave, and I let myself into Landon’s apartment. I needed to see if he was there and make him talk to me. If he didn’t want to see me anymore, he needed to say it to my face.”

Dean gave her a sad smile. “That must have been really hard.”

Dina shook her head. “No. That was nothing compared to seeing him. He was a mess. Hadn’t showered in days. His hair was all over the place, wrinkled clothes, and vacant eyes. He barely acknowledged I was there.” She took another drink from the bottle. “I sat next to him on the bed and took his face in my hands. I made him look at me. He snapped out of it after a few seconds. He jumped up and yelled at me that I couldn’t be there. It wasn’t safe. They didn’t want him dating me. I didn’t come from the right family.”

She stopped talking and Dean glanced at Drew with concern. Dina was getting herself worked up. He took her hand. “Do you want to take a break?”

“No. I need to get this out. I haven’t told anyone about this.” Dina studied her plastic bottle. “My parents are not poor. They are actually well off, but they don’t believe in the whole social scene or caring about peer pressure. They raised my sister and me to do what’s right, not what people expect or want you to do. The Scorpio Society frowns about that kind of thing. It’s their way or no way. They told him he was not to date me anymore. He was part of the Society and they didn’t approve.”

Drew started to feel sick. “They told him he couldn’t date you?”

“Not only that, but that if he didn’t follow along, they would take care of the situation.”

“Whoa. They threatened you?” Dean was getting pissed. This society needed to be taken down.

“They didn’t come right out and say it, but they made it known that people that go against them were no longer threats. I told Landon that I didn’t care what jerks threatened. What could they really do, throw him out? Landon told me that no one leaves the Society, once you’re in, you’re in for life.” She burst into tears.

Drew leaned closer and rubbed her back awkwardly. He didn’t know her, but this was his brother’s girl, so he needed to try to comfort her. “I know it’s not okay right now, but it will be. And you now have a couple of guys at your back.”

“It’s my fault. It’s my fault he’s dead. I convinced him that we needed to stay together. That they wouldn’t really do anything. That I loved him too much to let him walk away. I also told him he needed a shower. Desperately.”

Dean chuckled. “I’m sure he loved hearing that.”

Drew stood and began to pace the room. “What happened next?”

“He dragged his butt into the shower, and when he came out, he had a plan. We were going to keep our relationship hidden until he could figure out a way to get us out of the mess. He was going to play along until he gathered enough info to use against them.”

“Did he share what info his was gathering?” Drew stopped in front of the coffee table.

Dina rubbed her arms. “He didn’t want me involved. He said it was too dangerous. I didn’t believe him until he let it slip that a couple of students had been killed with ties to the Scorpio Society. He told me he had what he needed for us to be free a few days before he died. He was hopeful for the first time in a really long time. Landon was going to confront someone the night he died. They said he was intoxicated and fell. I wondered if he fell by accident. I never wanted to believe that he was actually pushed, and I knew I could never tell anyone. He made me promise that if anything ever happened to him, I wouldn’t do anything.”

Drew rubbed the back of his neck. “Did he leave anything here?”

Dina shook her head. “Just a few clothes. I already checked them all. He would stay here since it’s a one-bedroom apartment and I don’t have a roommate. Before the whole society mess, we had been talking about him moving into my place.” She started to cry again. “That’s all I know. I don’t want to talk anymore.”

Drew sat on the coffee table next to Dean. “Give me your phone number and I’ll text you mine and Dean’s. If you ever need anything, please reach out.”

Dean waited until they were back on the sidewalk to start a conversation with his best friend. “How ya doing, buddy?”

Drew glanced over at his friend. “Nothin’ I didn’t already know, but hearing it from his girl cut deep. We need to take these fuckers out.”

Dean was silent for several minutes. “Wonder if it’s the whole society, or just some of them that are fucked up.”

“Don’t know, but I’m going to find out.”