He pours Red Bull into his drink as I top mine off with soda.
“How’s the money in food delivery right now?” he asks.
I do deliveries and personal shopping for extra cash. I doubt I mentioned it to him at any point. More likely, he’s heard it from Brad, just like I heard from Luke that Matteo’s a civil engineering major and does part-time gigs offeringrideshares.
“Good enough,” I reply. “Would be better if more people tipped. How about Uber?”
“UberandLyft, ’scuse you. Keeping my options open. But yeah, I keep thinking about adding deliveries to supplement the income, you know?”
“I was giving rides for a minute freshman year but learned I can’t really deal with people like that.”
He flashes that charming-ass smile. “Yeah, it takes a certain kind of person, I guess. But I enjoy the stories I get out of it.”
“One cleaning after someone packing the back of my car with vomit was the only story I needed.”
He laughs. “I hear that. Wish I could say that was the worst I experienced.”
Nice as it is chatting with Matteo, I didn’t come here to socialize. I’m here to see one person and one person only.
“Have you seen Preston around?” I ask.
Matteo’s gaze wanders. “I saw him heading upstairs with Finnegan and Spencer…like maybe five minutes ago. They’ll be around. You wanna play beer pong? I was gonna grab Brad and his buds.”
“I have to have a chat with Preston real quick. Maybe after.”
Matteo doesn’t think much of it, and he’s off with Brad and his crew. Normally, I’d find a way to spend time around them to see if I might pick up some intel, but tonight I head off, navigating through the party, on my way upstairs.
When I reach Preston’s room, I press my ear against thedoor and hear a familiar moan. It’s Preston. Sometimes on meeting nights, Preston will turn his automatic lock off for the guys, so I check it. Unlike with my roommate earlier, I’m not concerned about walking in while something’s up.
Preston’s got his pants down, and Finnegan’s up against the headboard, taking it from behind. Two of the guys are in cloaks, watching on as Preston asks, “Are you sure?”
“Yeah,” Finnegan says. “Do it. Come in me.”
When I was applying to go to St. Lawrence’s cybersecurity program, I thought about all the wild shit I’d get up to at parties at the legendary Alpha Alpha Mu, and this…was not part of that fantasy. Wish I could say this was the wildest thing I’d walked in on with these guys, but afraid not. And from what Preston’s told me, this isn’t exactly fun for them either.
“Preston,” I say from the door.
“Jesus,” he says, and then his face twists up. He offers a few sharp thrusts, drilling against Finnegan’s ass as he turns to me. “The fuck, Alexei!” he shouts, though his expression twists up some more as he continues emptying into his housemate.
“We need to chat,” I say.
“That’s fucking fine. Can you just get out for two seconds?”
By now, the two cloaked guys—Spencer and Gage—have turned to me.
I roll my eyes. “I know you don’t like me seeing your secret magic shit, but you can lock the door if you don’t want any other guys watching.”
I step out to let Preston finish, listening at the door when he says, “That should be good enough for tonight. Let’s get dressed and get downstairs before anyone comes looking.”
It’s the sort of moment when I can’t help but think,What the fuck have I gotten myself into?
Spencer and Gage head out, removing their cloaks to reveal camo outfits and bandannas that make me think eitherLost BoysorPredator. Spencer’s holding a thick leather-bound book, which he takes with him down the hall to his room. I’ve seen them plenty of times with that book, which I figure holds the secrets they’re keeping from me. The ones I’m trying to get from them.
The guys try to be polite as they pass by me, but it’s an awkward moment for all of us.
Preston finally steps out of the room, in just a pair of jeans, his expression stern. “The hell, Alexei? You know you can’t be here when we’re casting.”
“I don’t get updates on when that’s happening, and I needed to talk to you.”
