Ah, fuck. We were doing truth talk, huh? Okay.
I nodded to myself, stepping forward. “Fine, yes, your sister told me that she was supposed to invite me to this party, but she wasn’t going to. She was honest about that—right before she left.” I pretended to check my invisible watch, tapping my wrist instead. “And right about now, she should already be in New York.”
He straightened from the bar. His face instantly dropped to an impassive mask. “Bullshit.”
“I see the word is a family favorite.”
“My sister wouldn’t go to New York.”
“She did, and she went with your mother.”
A savage curse slipped from him.
“And I can see that she told the truth about that. Your mother’s not a big fan of yours?”
“She’s inconsequential.” Anger was glaring back at me. His eyes were almost sparkling from the emotion. “What did you say to my sister? She never would’ve left otherwise.”
“Nope.” I clipped my head from side to side. “Not going there. You can’t put that blame on me. I liked your sister, even after she’d told me she was your sister. She went on her own free will. Apparently, when she saw what you did to Logan, that was the last straw for her. You know, because she actually liked us and liked Logan, too.”
His head lowered. He kept his eyes pinned on me. “I don’t believe you.”
“I don’t need you to. It’s the truth. She’s gone, Sebastian.”
“Then, why are you here?”
I countered with, “Why did you invite me? I didn’t see any of your fraternity buds out there.”
He smirked. “Because this has nothing to do with the fraternity. I used my fraternity to go against you guys. This party?” He indicated the door behind me. “All of that is completely separate from the fraternity—or the lack of a fraternity, thanks to your boyfriend. As for why you were invited?” He grunted, lifting a careless shoulder. “You heard my grandfather. I was given orders to invite you. Though I’m shocked as hell you came. I hoped you wouldn’t, and all my problems would have been solved.” He relaxed back against the bar and picked up his drink.
The small satisfaction that I had been feeling went away. “You mean, you didn’t think I would come?”
“I mean,” he gave me a chilling smile, “I was banking on the fact that you wouldn’t, but here you are. And whatever you have planned, it won’t work. What am I going to do with you now?”
It clicked with me. Whatever his grandfather wanted, Sebastian had his own agenda.
I said, “You’re not going to do what Gerald wanted, are you?”
He shook his head, finishing his drink. “Nope. How did you say that? ‘Not going there. You can’t put that blame on me.’” He laughed shortly to himself. “Yes, my grandfather will be upset, but there isn’t a thing they can do about it. For one, they never reach out to do their own bidding. It’s the grandchildren who reach out. The elders, and even my father—those guys all think it’s beneath them. You see, it’s during college. That’s when the bonding happens. That’s when people are supposed to become friends, do stupid shit together, and all for the main purpose of fucking up. You,” he fixed me with another glare, “are supposed to be brought into the fold, and we are supposed to become the best of buds. Well, Summer was supposed to be the best of buds with you.”
“What are you talking about? I thought you were the one who got Summer to befriend me?”
“I was, and here’s where everything goes sideways. Summer doesn’t even fully know what’s going on. She knows a little bit. She knows that your father is close to our family. She knows about your grandfather, but she doesn’t know everything. She was supposed to be initiated with you. And everything was supposed to be all happy, happy, joy, joy for the next four years until both of you learned the real truth.” He gestured around the room. “Look at this place. Look at the walls.”
Mason showed the photographs of Sebastian talking with his dad, his grandfather, and other men outside of a large house. “The private investigator found this.”
Logan shot forward from the couch, grabbing the photograph. “What the fuck? Is that a basketball player?”
“Dude.” Nate leaned over to see.
Logan shouldered him back. “Space. I’ve got broken bones here.”
Nate scowled at him.
Logan rolled his eyes and handed the photo over. “It pains me to know that one of my basketball faves is a slimeball like Park Sebastian. Seriously,” he patted where his heart was, “it hurts me right here. He took away my healthy bones. He took away my, probably, deluded thought that I could take five fraternity assholes at once and walk away still swinging. And,” he shot a finger in the air, “if my ego hasn’t been wounded enough, I’m in pain from knowing that I will not be able to go to that house to see all those celebrities. Can you imagine? I could get everything autographed, sell it online, and use that money to buy a shit machine. I’m talking a literal shit machine—where it goes and then flings that shit at the target. That’d be my revenge against Sebastian. Mount that crap on his front lawn and put, like, circling tigers around it, so no one could remove it. Best plan ever.” He pretended his hands exploded like a bomb and fell back slowly against the couch cushion.
“Really?” Mason lifted an eyebrow. “That’s your plan for revenge?”