Pure Vengeance

Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

Noah

Joining the Delta Kappa Order was not what I thought it was going to be like. There’s no bigshot playboy trying to bully the new recruits, though they are selective of who they let in. It’s still a boys’ club, just a better boys’ club than the Alpha Omega Phi Fraternity. My father would’ve preferred I join there, but I have no sports background. I don’t play football, baseball, or basketball. I’m not a letterman.

What do I consider myself then? An artist, I suppose. A musician. A poet. Creativity is where my strength lies.

It certainly doesn’t lie with Adrian Fucktard Carter. He went to Alpha Omega Phi like a good daddy’s boy.

Ah, my stepbrother. The apple of my father’s eyes while I’m the biggest disappointment.

I have to meet with Abigail today so we can be seen together. She’s been extra clingy of late. Using me to boost her status so she can climb the social ladder in her sorority.

I really wish I was meeting with Adrian, although I loathe him. I want nothing to do with him, and yet he is like a toxin invading my mind, taking hold of every thought I possess and twisting it to be about him. He’s like a parasite that invades every inch of me.

Laundry? I picture him in my shirt and nothing else.

Painting? I picture him posing naked for me.

Playing the piano? I imagine him crooning a soft tune while I paint.

I take my things to my room, and I unpack everything, sticking up some of my artwork and pinning my class schedule to the corkboard. Wonderful Adrian will be a football star, and if that fails, he’s studying to be a lawyer. While I decided to study the arts, the bane of my father’s life.

I want to be a musician and an artist, and there’s good money to be made from it if you make the right connections. And this fraternity will offer me that. Access to the elite kind of people that would be interested in my artwork, in investing in me.

They say that who you meet in the fraternity can make or break your future, and I intend to make my future amazing so that I can move away and not deal with everyone anymore. Especially Adrian.

Especially Adrian.

God, I wish I could stop thinking about him.

There’s a knock at the door, and one of the older brothers, Richard, stands there. “Hey Noah.”

“Hey Rich,” I say. “Something wrong?”

“There’s a girl here to see you. Can I send her up?”

Abigail.

“Yeah, you can send her up,” I say, going for my wallet after he leaves. I pull out a hundred-dollar bill.

Abigail walks into my room and smiles. “Hello, lover boy.”

“Hello Abby,” I say. “Here to collect?” I hold out the money.

She takes it and tucks it into her bra. She’s wearing her cheer outfit. Cheerleaders are easy to come by, and even easier to manipulate, though Abigail seems a bit more dangerous than the others, and I regret asking her to accept money in return for pretending I’ve slept with her. She comes by a lot more regularly than the other girls, and I’m tired of it. It’s exhausting when someone is that needy.

Abigail sits on my bed and crosses her legs. “I need a date for a sorority dance. You’ll need to wear a tux.”

“Do I look like I wear a tux?” I ask her.

She snorts. “Does it look like I sleep with you?”

I purse my lips. “Fine. But I’m not dancing.”

“You will dance, and I don’t care what you do after that. But you have to dance at least three songs with me. I need to look good to the committee.”

I sigh. “Anything else?”

“Don’t forget my corsage,” she says, standing up and walking to me. “As hot as you are in band tees and ripped jeans, I’m sure you’ll be even more handsome in a tux. If you don’t show up, I’ll tell everyone about your little secret.” She looks up at me and smiles.

I glare at her and grab her by the throat. “Don’t threaten me.”

One of the frat brothers comes to the door, and she leans up and kisses me. I kiss her back because it’s what’s expected of me, but I don’t enjoy it.

Not the way I enjoyed the one with Adrian. The way his tongue rolled over mine, the way he tasted of beer. I still wonder if he kissed me back because he’d been drinking, or if it was because he had feelings for me.

He can’t have feelings for me. That would imply that Adrian Carter had any sort of feeling to begin with, and he doesn’t. He’s just my father’s little robot.

I break the kiss from Abigail, and for good measure, I kiss her nose. “Thanks for stopping by.”

“The event is Saturday. Be there at six.” She leaves.

I look at the pledge standing outside my room who follows Abigail with his eyes, then looks at me, whistling low. “Man, you scored. She’s hot.”

I smile graciously. “Thank you, though I find I’m not a one-girl kind of guy.”

“You dog.” He chuckles.

“It is what it is,” I say. “Listen, I need to get to the radio station. I’m going to be working there most weekday evenings. I’ll catch you guys later.”

“You don’t want some dinner? The guys are having a barbecue.” He gestures behind him with his thumb.

I shake my head. “No thanks, I need to get to work.” I don’t tell him that although I’m here on an art scholarship, I need the money to continue the charade that I’m sleeping with a bunch of cheerleaders. It’s expensive, and I can’t exactly explain to my father why I need the cash every week.

‘Hey Dad, I kissed my stepbrother, and now I pay girls to pretend I’ve slept with them so that no one knows your son is a homosexual .’ I can imagine my father’s wrath now, and it’s enough to get me out of the house and walking toward the campus radio station. I actually started working here part-time when I was still in high school, but now I attend the university, and I’ve been promoted to DJ.

It doesn’t take long to walk, but I have to walk past Alpha Omega Phi ’s house. I see a couple of the jocks hanging out front, but I don’t see Adrian. He prefers people call him Ace; that’s his football nickname. He will always be Adrian to me. Nothing will ever change that. I hurry along, not wanting to engage with any of them. They consider us the enemy. The opposite side. Their arch nemesis.

I don’t have time for that bullshit.

I reach the radio station and walk in, going to the window of the booth and giving Alan a thumbs-up. I wait for him to sign off before I get in and line up my opening songs. It’s simple enough, just using the station software to do it. Once the three songs Alan has lined up are done, I come onto the mic.

“Thank you, Alan. That was the Power Hour with Alan Goldberg. You’re with DJ Nova Noah now, and I’ll be taking you through the next two hours with the afternoon request special. So message in those requests on our WhatsApp line, and we’ll line up some good jams. First, here is the Traveling Wilburys with Handle with Care. ”

I press play as I queue up some ads. It’s simple enough to do, and I check the WhatsApp line as the requests pour in. I mark the ones I’m going to play and start searching for the songs.

I settle back and I imagine what song I’d play for Adrian. I think I will secretly line up Three Days Grace. I Hate Everything About You . A special just for him.