The Brotherhood

Chapter IV

By X

Grinding my teeth and closing my eyes tight, I took in a breath and filled my mind with thoughts of Alexandra, yearning to forget where I was and what was happening to me. It worked for a little while anyway.

I was far away from that closet, lying contently under the thick, white blankets keeping Alex and me warm while we cuddled on the sofa as our favorite movie played on the large screen TV. The scent of her hair and the warmth of her body were so vividly clear in my mind that my heart fluttered as if she was in my embrace. I would’ve given anything for that moment again. To have her close to me would be a dream; to feel her lips on mine again would be heaven.

She turned to look at me, smiling, her loving eyes deep with affection. “Jacob!” Alex screamed my name, and I was startled out of my daydream; my eyes snapped open. It took me a moment or two to regain my senses and realize I was alone in the closet.

“What the…” I mumbled.

Where did he go, I thought?

I never heard the door open or felt him move away. Granted, my mind was elsewhere, but still, I should’ve seen or heard something. It was almost like I imagined everything, but that was not the case. That stranger, whoever it was, was in there with me. I still felt the strain on my arms from when I tried to push him. The area on my back where he pressed hard against me was sore.

He was there. It was real.

I left the closet confused with many questions I was already convincing myself I’d never know the answers to.

Who was that guy? Was he one of the Brothers? Would he rat me out and tell them what he saw if he was?

“Crap!” I slammed my open hand against my forehead. The other students walking past me thought me a bit strange. I couldn’t believe the situation I was now in. Stupid me should’ve just left the instant I saw Alexandria. Now because I was thinking with my dick instead of my head, my future with The Brotherhood seemed more like a fading dream than anything else.

I was so out of it that I didn’t even notice when Anthony and CJ walked up beside me and started talking. I have no idea how long they were there before CJ’s “Dude!” snapped me out of it. There was a look of surprise on my face as I looked at them.

“Where the hell did you guys come from?”

“What’s wrong with you, dude?” CJ looked just as surprised as I did. “We’ve been walking beside you, talking to you for the past five minutes. Where have you been?”

Shaking my head, I waved my hand dismissively. “I’m sorry, I’m kind of out of it right now.”

Placing his hand on my shoulder, Ant gave it a gentle squeeze and a little shake. “Is everything okay, Jacob?” The sincerity and concern were touching. I just met these guys, was starting to get to know them, and already I felt like I had found a bunch of my long-lost brothers. I was thankful for them.

“I…I…” I was going to tell them but stopped myself before I made a complete fool out of myself. The whole situation seemed crazy. I barely believed it happened myself, so how would they react?

“I’m fine,’ I lied. “I was wondering what else the Brothers have planned for us because I’m sure they’ve only scratched the surface.”

“Tell me about it,” Ant agreed. ‘I don’t even like to think about it. I’ll deal with whatever they throw at us when it comes. At any rate, I got to meet a few of my professors today.”

“Oh yeah,” I said, trying to get my mind off things, “and what did you think of them?”

He glanced at me for a moment and shrugged. “For the most part, they seemed cool, but this one professor, Kim something or other, is going to be a real pain in the ass. I can already tell.”

“Why?” CJ and I said in unison, laughing.

“I don’t know. She’s just one of those professors who seems like they’re going to be a major pain.”

“Whatever, dude.”

We talked all the way to the house, not that any of it is worth mentioning. Of course, we didn’t miss a chance to point out a sexy hottie that happened to walk by. Unlike CJ, Ant wasn’t much of a talker regarding the ladies. Sure, he mentioned a couple of girls he noticed, but he spoke about them with class.

Entering the house, we were quick to disrobe and hang them up. The house appeared empty until the door to our right slid open.

“Glad you ladies finally joined us,” were the first words out of Steel’s mouth. “Now get your asses in here!” He gestured to the room with his head and moved to the side to let us thru, his no-nonsense eyes on us like glue.

There was a long, square table made of black marble in the room with all the pledges on one side. It was quite a funny sight until I had to join them. I took my place next to Arsen. Our eyes met briefly in greeting before one of the brothers walked up behind us and slapped the cuffs back on.

I sighed heavily when the metal was secured around my wrist.

Like always, we stood without making a sound or moving an inch as the brothers stared us down from the other side of the reflective table; their glossy images were as intimidating as the real thing. Directly in front of the lineup was the Inner Circle with a row of Brothers standing behind them, shoulder to shoulder, wearing their TBH jackets.

“Listen up,” Eric ordered; his hand slipped thru his long brown hair mindlessly, and his eyes scanned our faces like that of a demanding father. “You all met with your advisers today, and you know what that means, right? Classes will be starting soon, so if you think things are hard now, they’re only going to get harder. Don’t think we’ll lighten up for a second because you’ll have schoolwork to worry about.” A halfhearted laugh left his lips. “Your priorities are clear, pledges. The Brotherhood before all else, but slack in your studies, and you’ll be dismissed faster than you can blink. Anything below a 3.3 GPA will be grounds for dismissal.”

Eric talked about school and THB and how they expected us to balance the two. The others also added their two cents occasionally, but it was clear Eric had the floor. To be quite honest, I zoned out for most of what he said, only catching a few phrases here and there. The enigma that was Q held me entranced. He never said or did anything; his mere presence had that kind of effect on people. You wanted to get to know him, get inside his head, and see what he’s all about. What makes him work the way he does?

I admit I had a bit of idol worship going on, even though I honestly didn’t realize it back then. Out of all the brothers in the house, Q was the one I imagined myself being like in the future. His ability to control a room without saying a single word amazed me to the point where I sometimes grinned despite myself.

A slight jab to the ribs by Arsen snapped me out of it. Seth was talking about God only knows what when I came out of my daze. All the while, I’m hoping I didn’t need to know whatever the hell he was talking about.

“Is that understood?” he inquired sternly.

“Yes, Sir!”

I was clueless.

Breaking off from the others, Q walked around the table and paced behind us; his footfalls were a gentle thud against the hardwood floor. They stopped somewhere near me, and all went still in the room. A good ten minutes later, still nothing. The room became filled with living statues.

The silence gave me a chance to think back on what happened earlier in the day, not that I wanted to mind you, but the image just reared its ugly head. I wanted to run into this guy one day and beat the living crap out of him. I was mad all over again to the point where I had to grind my teeth to keep myself calm, but then the gravity of the situation I was in finally hit me like a ton of bricks. One of these guys in this room could be the one from the closet. Maybe the guy already spilled what he saw, and all the Brothers knew what I did.

I'm screwed!

I felt so bad just then, not only for myself but for Arsen. If they knew, it meant my ass was out the door, and Arsen was out with me. I don’t think I ever hated that rule as much as I did at that moment. I couldn’t live with myself if I caused the dismissal of one of my fellow pledges.

Oh God, help me, and I swear I will never mess up like this again, was the silent prayer running through my mind.

That’s why Q stopped so close to me. That’s why they were all so quiet. They were giving the guilty party time to reflect. It was their way of saying, we’re on to you, asshole!

Just get it over with already! Fucking say you know and do your worst!

My prayers turned into screams of contempt.

“The trials will begin soon,” Q finally spoke after what seemed like forever.

My God, I was so relieved just then. I’m surprised I didn’t collapse right there.

Wait a minute. Trials?

“Allow me to answer that for you,” he said as if reading my mind, “the question you’re all asking yourselves, that is. The trials are what we use to test everything about you. I won’t get into lengthy explanations because one, it would defeat the purpose, and two, I don’t owe you any.” His voice poured out like a piano melody, wrapping around you like a song you can’t stop listening to. He knew how to take control. He knew how to command respect. “Suffice to say that every pledge in this room better be on their toes and at their best 24/7. You’ll be tested in many ways, but you’ll never know, so be on your guard. Some of the trails are painfully…” He lingered on that word for a moment, and I could almost feel everyone cringe at the thought of the torture we were going to go thru. “obvious,” he finished, and I thought, you bastard that was a good one. “While others, you’ll have no idea. Trials will be failed. That much is expected, but fail enough of these, and you will be dismissed.”

Well, how much is too much, I thought.

“That you’ll find out on your own,” he said matter-of-factly. “Of course, I’m referring to the other question I’m sure you’re all asking yourself now.”

It was Geo’s turn to pick up the microphone. Stepping forward and folding his arms over his chest, he looked down the entire line of pledges. “We expect the best because we are the best. No other fraternity in this college, state, or country comes close to The Brotherhood. If you don’t think you’ll be able to meet the challenge, then I suggest you save yourself, and more importantly, us, the trouble and leave now. We set a standard and expect you all to rise above it. Is that understood?”

“Yes, Sir!”

Placing his hand on Geo’s shoulder, Seth stepped up next to him with a smile. “Today is special, so we are suspending all other activities to prepare for tonight’s party.” I think all the pledges perked up when they heard “party” come out of his mouth. I know I did. “You see, Geo here is leaving us, transferring to another school. One of our own is leaving us, and he’ll be sorely missed, but that’s okay because we plan to give him the biggest, baddest going away party this campus has ever seen.”

The Brothers erupted into loud cheers, patting and hugging Geo like he just came home from war or something. It showed the camaraderie, the love they shared for each other.

One could easily see Geo was flattered beyond words; his face was cherry red, and he couldn’t stop laughing. After a long while, he threw up his hands and gestured for silence. It took a minute or two for the Brothers to calm down. It was an exciting moment. I wanted to jump up and join them in cheer, but I knew better than that. To do so would invite the brother’s fury, and who wanted that?

It was time for Geo to take center stage, and he did so with an unyielding smile and determination that made the brothers proud. Before he spoke his first word, he looked around at the many faces in the room, faces he learned to trust and depend on over the years. These were the faces he grew up with here at the university. TBH was more than just another fraternity for these guys; it was a family. I couldn’t begin to imagine how he felt now that he had to say goodbye to them.

It was time to get serious, so that determined smile faded, his mood more somber now. “I…I don’t even know where to begin, guys,” he finally said, his eyes taking another quick survey of the room. “I consider this house and the people in it my life. How do I find the words to say goodbye to that? To my family?” Eric’s slipped over Geo’s shoulder for moral support. I thought it was a nice gesture. “I love all you guys as if we were flesh and blood. Fuck that. We are tighter than that. I’ll miss every one of you, no doubt about it. I’m not just leaving behind my Brothers but a part of myself. It’s tough…very tough.”

He broke off for a moment to collect his thoughts. He even wiped at his eyes with the back of his hand. Shit, he had me feeling like I was about to lose a part of myself. That’s how emotional things got for everyone, even for us pledges, who barely knew the guy.

“Look, I don’t want to get all weepy, but I will say this: I will represent and show them how it’s done!”

The place went nuts!

One of the brothers, Lucas, looked in our direction, and I thought we had done something wrong. “You pledges may be new, but I think the other Brothers won’t mind if you cheer for our departing Brother.”

His permission was all we needed. We cheered and hollered like madmen. It felt like we were truly a part of something special, even though we knew we had a long way to go. For a split second, I, and I’m sure some of the others, felt like a true Brother.

The cheering continued for some time before it died down, and Q retook center stage. He didn’t have to gesture for silence. Everyone, pledges and brothers alike, knew to shut up.

“While you guys are in a cheering mood, I want everyone to welcome Geo’s Canadian counterpart, Shaun.”

The crowd parted a bit, and this guy walked up next to Q; a serious look dawned on a handsome face with a neatly trimmed goatee. His brown hair highlighted tastefully with a blond hue, fell over his gripping auburn eyes, his hands tucked away in the side pockets of his TBH lettermen. Yet another man of mystery was about to walk into our lives, or better yet, walk all over our lives, being that he’s a Brother and all. I thought it a bit strange the brothers brought in an outsider, so to speak, to take Geo’s place. Moving one of the brothers from our house into the Inner Circle seemed like the logical way to do it.

“Now, some of you may be wondering why Shaun is taking Geo’s place instead of someone from the house.”

This was just too weird for me. Q was there to explain whenever I was confused about something or a question crossed my mind.

“It’s quite simple. It’s the whole reason why Geo is leaving us. I guess you can say it’s somewhat of an exchange program. Our Canadian counterparts get one of ours, and we get one of theirs as a way of exchanging ideas and information. It’s certainly not that we don’t believe one of our own isn’t up for the job; they know this as well as I. At any rate, that’s all you need to know for now. If you guys make it to becoming a Brother, you’ll be privileged to more information.” He put his hand on Shaun’s shoulder. “Is there anything you’d like to say to the Brothers or our new pledges here?”

Shaun nodded and clasped his hands loudly. “To my fellow Brothers, I say this. I’m prepared to do everything in my power to uphold the integrity and honor of this house and those who sleep under her roof. Trying to replace Geo would be impossible, and it’s not something I’d try to do anyway. But I will say this. Some of you may not know this, but Geo and I have known each other for a very long time, so I will do my best to make him proud that I was chosen to take his spot.”

The Brothers clapped while the pledges watched on in silence.

Shaun focused his attention on us with the same conviction he held in his eyes when he spoke to the Brothers. “There is a fine line between Brother and pledge, which you must observe. I’m strict but fair, cross that line, and you’ll experience firsthand how strict I can be.”

Great, another hard ass, I thought.

His narrowed eyes fell on me instantly as if my private thoughts scrolled across my forehead for all to see. “Cross me, and I’ll have you wishing Geo was back here faster than you can blink. Believe me.”

“Well said,” Geo laughed, clapping. “Are you done, Shaun, or do you have more inspirational words for our wannabes here?”

“I’m done for now.”

“Okay,” Geo patted Shaun on the back and pulled out a notepad from his back pocket. He walked down the pledge line and handed each pair a paper. “For one of my last official acts, I’m having you pledges go out and get all the stuff for my party tonight. It’s my last day here, and I want everyone to have a good time, so you better not fuck it up. It’s quite simple. I handed you a piece of paper with a list of things to get for tonight and where to get them. Easy enough for you?”

At first, we weren’t sure if he was looking for an answer, but when his brow shot up harshly, there was no doubt.

“Yes, Sir!”

“Now go to the cafeteria, get something to eat, then come back here before you go to get the stuff. Keep to yourselves and keep contact with others to a minimum.”

They let us go on our own to the cafeteria, which was a good thing because I was starved. Though I wasn’t so sure, I liked the idea of us pledges going out to a public place without a Brother to watch us. I didn’t believe we could control ourselves long enough to follow Geo’s simple instructions. Four pledges could stay out of trouble, but fourteen?

The whole situation smelled of trouble.

We sat around a series of square tables we put together to make one long table. I was closer to the middle, with Ant and CJ sitting directly across from me. At first, we ate without so much as a peep, but we knew that wouldn’t last long.

“You guys excited about tonight?” Xavier whispered across the table as if Brothers surrounded us. His green eyes traveled up and down the table, waiting for a response from anyone willing to indulge him.

Troy took the words right out of my mouth. “Should we even be talking, guys?”

“Dude, why not?” CJ questioned, a playful smile stretching across his small face, the sparkle in his eyes just as playful. “Geo said to stay to ourselves. He didn’t say anything about not talking.”

“Oddly enough, the surfer dude has a point,” said CJ’s cuff mate Ant, laughing.

“So, are you guys excited or what?” Xavier repeated his question, clearly anxious to hear what we thought.”

“Look,” Justin began, taking a quick bite from his sandwich and then saying something incomprehensible.

That’s when my sarcastic nature chimed in. “Let’s try that one more time, this time without a mouthful of food, please.”

Rolling his eyes, Justin swallowed hard. “What I said was I don’t think we should be expecting to do much partying tonight. I see us walking around in our underwear surrounded by some pretty fly hunnies, serving the booze and cleaning up after everyone. Don’t kid yourselves. That’s what we’ll be doing, I bet.”

“You think so, huh?” Steve said.

Paul, of course, was quick to give him this look that screamed annoyance. “What did I tell you about the whole talking thing?”

“Shut the fuck up, cum wad,” Steve blasted back.

We laughed our asses off. Even though they were both my boys, seeing him stand up to Paul was nice. I think Paul came down hard on him unfairly. Steve was a cool guy. I liked him.

“Guys think about it,” Justin continued, taking another bite from his sandwich, but this time he finished chewing before speaking. “We are pledges. Why in fucks name will they let us join in on the fun when we’re still so early in the game?” He looked at each of us, hoping his words hit home. “Are the wheels turning yet?”

“Shit, I don’t care what they have me doing at the party as long as I’m there, you feel me?” Mike offered his two cents.

“I hear that!” Nick agreed; the football jock had a shit-eating grin he couldn’t hide even if he tried.

“Alright,” Justin shrugged, “Call me crazy, but I think we’re all in a for a rude awakening tonight.”

“Okay, Justrodamus, I think we get you,” I joked. “I say we just wait until tonight and see what happens before we jump to any con….”

”Well, well, well,” came a snide voice behind me. I tilted my head back to see who it was before I turned around completely. It wasn’t a Brother like I had thought but someone wearing a Zeta Chi Omega letterman. “So, this is The Brotherhood’s new pledge class, eh?” He laughed, playfully elbowing the guy next to him. “I must say I’m not all that impressed.”

Ignoring the guy, I turned around and looked at the other guys telling them to do the same. I didn’t know what the guy’s problem was, and honestly, I didn’t care. But one could easily see he was the type who just loved to start some shit.

He looked around the cafeteria for a moment. “So, where is the rest of your fearless fraternity? I’m surprised they loosen the leashes around your necks long enough to let you get this far from their sights.

“Dude, who the fuck are you?” CJ finally snapped, glaring at the guy with full-blown contempt.

“The Vice President of Zeta Chi Omega, if you really must know.”

The more he yapped, the more my wheels kept turning. I remembered reading about Zeta Chi Omega when researching the different fraternities KU had to offer. They were a decent fraternity, the second largest on campus, second only to The Brotherhood. Pledging Zeta Chi Omega was a solid possibility for me had The Brotherhood not chosen me. I’m glad they did. By the looks of it, Zeta Chi Omega held a lot of resentment towards The Brotherhood.

Think about it. No one likes to be second best to anyone, but these guys had no choice. The Brotherhood was that good. Like I said before, almost every guy goes to KU with the intention of pledging; hold off on even looking at another fraternity until The Brotherhood finishes making their selection.

“What’s your issue Mr. Vice President, dude?”

We couldn’t help but chuckle under our breath at CJ’s mocking ways.

With a shit-eating grin on his face, the VP shook his head. “The Brotherhood must be in real trouble if this is the best they have to offer…dudes.” He laughed. “The Brotherhood is a tired joke that should be put out of its misery.” He produced a card from his back pocket and threw it on the table. “If you guys ever decide to wake up and want to roll with a winning fraternity, give me a call.”

Nick had about as much as he could take from this guy. Slamming his fist against the table, he shot up from his seat, dragging Troy with him, and stood toe to toe with the VP. I was quick to grab his arm with my free hand, but when a bunch of Zeta Chi Omega guys jumped up from their seats, we did the same. “Look, I’ve had it up to here with your yammering. I don’t care who you are, but if you don’t shut the fuck up, I’m going to pound your ass into the ground.”

The VP appeared to disappear behind Nick’s massive muscular frame; I could hardly see him anymore.

“Is that a promise?” the VP sneered.

“You know, you talk a lot of trash, but I’ll bet anything that even if one Brother were here, you wouldn’t have much to say,” I spat angrily. I was pissed and ready to throw down. This asshole had balls of fucking steel, dissing the fraternity we were pledging the way he did. He was crazy if he thought we would sit around and not do anything about it.

By now, the schmuck VP and his two cronies had about ten of their brothers backing them up, but that was okay because there were fourteen of us. The only real problem I saw was how hard it would be to throw down while cuffed to someone else. It didn’t matter, though, because I’d throw down with both hands tied behind my back if need be.

“Listen here, dudes,” the VP mocked, “why don’t you pussy pledges go back to your pussy frat before we’re forced to show you what real men can do?”

Nick’s face went cherry red just before I saw his fist flying towards the VP’s face. Seemingly from nowhere, a hand snatched his fist from the air. After that, we were ready to rush them until we heard that voice.

“Problem?”

Like twenty-seven heads turned in the direction of that voice. Who was standing there with a pair of gleaming silvery orbs, staring at the lot of us with a serious look on his face? You guessed it!

Q.

None of the pledges said anything because we weren’t sure if it was allowed.

“When I ask a question, I expect an answer.”

Of course, after that comment, fourteen mouths shot off at about a hundred miles a second. Q just looked at us, his stern look never wavering even for an instant.

“Guys, guys, guys!” Arsen gestures for silence by waving his hands in the air. “We all can’t talk at once.” Arsen took the reins and was about to run with them, but Q stopped him before he could begin.

“I’m not interested in what any of you have to say.” Q waved dismissively, briefly looking over to Zeta Chi Omega’s Vice-President before continuing. “I will tell you what I saw here, though. I saw you guys ready to defend the honor and dignity of your house and Brothers. That’s the sign of a true Brother. Congratulations, gentlemen…you passed your first trial.” He turned to the VP and offered his hand. “Thank you, Scott.”

“Anytime, man,” he smiled, graciously accepting Q’s hand. Playfully slapping Nick’s shoulder, Scott offered a look that simply said ‘no hard feelings, and then walked off with all his brothers in toe.

It took a moment or two for us to figure out what was going on, but when we did, we wanted to jump and holler, but again we weren’t sure if it was allowed.

“It’s okay if you want to pat yourselves on the back. You did well today.”

It was pretty much like saying let the hollering commence. We went nuts. Nick wrapped his massive arms around me and picked me up a foot off the ground. I couldn’t stop laughing.

Some of you may be thinking this really wasn’t a big deal, and that’s fine, but unless you ever pledged a fraternity, especially that fraternity, you couldn’t possibly understand how we felt when we passed our first trial; to hear Q say we did good was the icing on the cake.

Despite our jubilant celebration, Q’s foreboding presence remained the same; not even a smile appeared on his face. “Try not to get too overconfident,” he warned ominously, “for the trials will only get more difficult from here but keep your wits about you, and you will do fine. Now, finish up here and be back at the house in twenty minutes. We have to start sitting up for Geo’s party.”

That was that. He was gone, just another figure disappearing in the mass of hungry students rushing here and there, hoping to grab a bite to eat before the lines got shut down.

Finishing up the last bits on our plates, we bullshitted for a little while before heading back. Twenty minutes later, we entered the house and were welcomed by the Inner Circle’s newest member. Shaun handed Ant, Jason, Steve, and me individual sets of car keys and the list from the pledges he decided should stay behind to get the house ready and took us to the garage. Arsen and I got the keys to a brand new pimped-out black Escalade. The monster had twenty-four-inch chrome rims, music, tint, and the whole nine.

“Try not to get too excited, Pledges,” Shaun said, his hand slipping thru his silken hair effortlessly. “The only reason we’re letting you near these cars is that you have to pick up a lot of stuff. If it weren’t for that, we’d be sending you out in unicycles.” He pointed to the floor. “In ninety minutes, I’ll be standing here expecting each of you to be already unloading the trucks. If you get here a second after that, it’s your ass. If you put so much as a scratch the size of a whisker on any of these trucks, it’s your ass. Fuck up in any way, shape, or form; it’s your ass. Got it?”

“Yes, Sir!”

“Oh yeah, I almost forgot.” He reached inside his lettermen for four credit cards and passed them out. “Charge anything that’s not on the list, and it’s your ass.”

He handed me a MasterCard, and I gave it to Arsen. I intended to drive, so I figured he could be the navigator/treasurer. Before he left, Shaun opened the doors and turned on all the lights in the garage with a remote. Man, that garage was huge and lined with rows and rows of fancy cars, bikes, and SUVs.

We got in the Escalade and took off. Now that Arsen and I were away from the Brother’s prying eyes, we got to look at the list for the first time. It was routine stuff we had to get: chips, soda, paper plates, beer, and shit like that. Arsen handed me the list while we were stopped at a red light, and he completely missed the part that said ‘tons of condoms’ towards the end of the list. It even listed a specific place we had to get them from.

We got all the stuff easily, though we got strange looks from many people when we walked into the local mini-mart. I couldn’t understand why. Maybe it was due to the robes we wore and the fact that we were still handcuffed.

Can you feel the sarcasm yet?

It didn’t even hit me that we would have trouble getting the beer since we were both under the drinking age. When I put my hand on the first case of Budweiser at Earl’s Liquor, we finally looked at each other with the same thing on our minds.

“Dude, I’m not twenty-one,” I said. A flash of CJ invaded my thoughts.

“Me either.”

“Okay, now what?”

Arsen shrugged. “I say we just start grabbing cases and hope they don’t ask for ID.”

“That’s your plan?” I was shocked he would suggest such an idiotic scheme.

“Do you have a better one?” he challenged.

“Not really, but you seriously don’t think this is going to work, do you?”

“You never know.”

“I do know. It won’t work! I’m telling you it won’t work!”

“Just give me a hand with these, Jacob.”

Under protest, I helped Arsen lug case after case to the front counter. The kid at the register had his face buried in his book, but he’d often look at us and pretend he wasn’t.

Weirdo.

And if things couldn’t get any worse, who decides to walk in while we’re stacking all these cases of beer? A Connecticut State Trooper, of course. Nice! It’s not like we wanted things to go smoothly or anything. He asked the cashier where Earl was before he noticed us. The trooper looked at us, then at all the beer, and then his eyes darted back to us again. Wouldn’t you know it? He approached us slowly, cautiously. He would’ve thought. Not me.

“We are royally fucked!” I whispered to Arsen.

He nodded. “Yeah, we are.” Arsen leaned closer to me. “Maybe he won’t notice us.”

“Good one.”

Arsen chuckled under his breath just as the trooper stopped in front of us.

“What do you boys think you’re doing?” This tower of intimidating muscle hovered over us while folding his arms over his broad chest.

“Uh…” was my intelligent reply.

Arsen’s “um” wasn’t any better.

“Look,” he said with a dismissive wave, “I don’t even want to know. And I’m not going to bother asking you for ID because you and I both know you’re not old enough to be buying this stuff. So, this is what I propose.” He pointed at the beer we stacked and got a bit smug with us. “I’m going to let you put all this back where you got it, let you walk out of here, and forget I ever saw you tonight. But if I ever catch you, morons, trying to pull this again, I will take you down to the station and book you before you know what hit you. Got it?”

“Yes,” Arsen answered for us.

“Now put all this stuff back quickly and neatly. Don’t you go messing up my brother’s store?”

Great, they’re brothers. Can anything else go wrong?

I was surprised the trooper didn’t say anything about our robes, but I shouldn’t complain.

While he watched, we carried the cases back to the shelves, but the trooper stopped us when we turned our backs to him.

“Hold on a second.” He put his hand on my shoulder to stop me and lifted the hood of my robe up. “Property of The Brotherhood,” he read quietly. “You two are pledging The Brotherhood?”

We nodded, unsure if that was a good thing or not, but when he showed us his right ring finger, I let out a sigh of relief. The ring bared The Brotherhood emblem, two eagles locking their talons together in combat.

“And this is for the party tonight?”

Again, we nodded.

“I wish you had said something sooner. I would never have stopped you.” The trooper pointed at the beer again. “You better get this stuff to the house ASAP. I know how the Brothers get when things don’t go how they want them to. Anyway, maybe I’ll see you later tonight.” He winked and headed out, leaving a message with the register kid for his brother Earl. The Trooper assured the cashier we were okay, and there was no need to card us.

“I wasn’t planning on it, Joe,” the kid uttered his first few words. “I read the back of their robes when they walked in. I’ll be seeing you later tonight.”

Leaning over to me, Arsen whispered, “What the fuck is that all about?”

I wasn’t sure what he was referring to, so I ignored him.

I tried to hand the kid the credit card, but he waved me off.

“Don’t need it,” he assured me. “We already have The Brotherhood’s account in our system. So, you are the new pledges, eh?”

“That we are,” Arsen nodded. While the guy looked away, Arsen nudged me and discreetly pointed at the kid’s right hand. The same ring was on his finger. “You’re a former Brother?” Arsen ventured carefully.

“Former? I don’t think so. When you join The Brotherhood, you join for life.”

“So, you’re a KU grad?

“Yep. I got my master’s in physics, and I’m working towards my Ph.D.”

“You have a master’s degree, and you work here?” I inquired, dumbfounded.

“No, this is not my only job.” He laughed. “I help Earl out now and again. Our families go way back.”

“Cool,” I said.

“So, how do you like pledging so far?”

“It’s cool, though we have yet to get into the heavy stuff, I bet.”

He looked at Arsen for a second before a mischievous grin appeared on his face. Taking his hat off, he scratched the back of his head, the grin never leaving his face.

“What’s the smirk for?”

Now he looked at me and laughed. “Don’t worry about it. You’ll find out soon enough, I’m sure. Anyway, I don’t want to keep you, so you better get going before the Brothers come looking for you.”

“Thanks,” we said.

It took us about fifteen minutes to properly load up all the beer in the back of the truck and get back on the road for the last item on the list.

Condoms. A shit load of condoms.

We pulled up to the store specified on the list. Right off the bat, I could tell this was a mom-and-pop store. Who do we see behind the counter when we walk in? This little old lady could’ve easily been my or Arsen’s great-grandmother. And here we are, two young bucks, about to load up her counter with boxes of condoms. Nice! And if that wasn’t bad enough, the store was filled with older people, especially women.

How embarrassing!

We went looking for the condoms without sharing a glance with anyone. When we found them, I grabbed my robe a bit to make a basket and told Arsen to “load me up.”

He grabbed as many boxes as possible and threw them at me. Oddly enough, this place had a massive selection of condoms for a mom-and-pop store. Every possible color one can think of was hanging up there. They had small, larger, extra-large, super larger; Oh My God are you crazy. No word of a lie. There was a boxed labeled “Oh My God, Are You Crazy Large.” They had flavored ones, from strawberry to chocolate. They even had glow-in-the-dark condoms. Arsen grabbed everything. He didn’t care, and neither did I. All I wanted to do was pay and get out of there.

When we got to the counter, we had enough rubber to make a Goodyear Blimp. And of course, there was a line up the ying-yang because every person there had about a billion coupons they wanted to use.

It’s like, lady, hurry up and pay for the shit. I have condoms I need to buy!

This little old lady in line looked at us, smiling. “Got enough, their sonny?” Then she winked at me and nodded as if to say, “how about you break me off a piece of that.”

Gross!

I could tell Arsen wanted to bust out laughing; the stupid smirk on his face gave it away.

We got up there, paid, and bolted faster than lightning, but not before I heard the old lady at the register say “how disgusting” to the next woman in line.

Arsen and I pretended we were about to vomit for about five minutes while driving. Arsen kept teasing me by mimicking the old lady’s “I want you look.”

“You big stud, you!” he said repeatedly.

That was the most excitement we saw for the rest of the day. The coming hours were spent getting the house ready for the party. Even though the Brothers kept an immaculate house, they made us clean it from top to bottom. It was like cleaning the air; the place was so clean. But if you ever pledged in your life, you know how that goes.

Now on to the party!

I hope I didn’t get anyone’s hopes up about this party because the fact was, the pledges never got the chance to experience one second of the party. Not one second! Can you believe that? We got all the stuff for the party. We did all the work to get the place ready for the party. We moved all the furniture and breakables down to The Pit. We scrubbed that house from top to bottom even though it was already clean. We did everything! What do we get for our trouble? We get told to go to our rooms and stay there as if we were a bunch of little kids.

I was so pissed! We all were. But that’s pledge life, I guess. It sucks major ass, but you have to start somewhere.

Does hearing the party count for anything? Because I heard the wildest, craziest party ever going on downstairs. The music was off the hook. They played Hip-Hop, some rock, pop, and a lot of reggae.

Nope, I wasn’t bitter at all!

The highlight of our night was when a few Bothers got some pledges to bring up more kegs from The Pit. God forbid they did it themselves. That’s the only time we got to see the party live.

It was wall-to-wall people. I think the whole school showed up for the party. And oh my god, the girls! There were so many hot girls in attendance. My eyes kept wandering so much that I almost tripped like ten times.

We got a lot of shit from everyone because we walked around in our underwear, but whatever.

I didn’t get to stay long. The Brothers hurried us downstairs to get the kegs, then back upstairs to set them down, and then back to our rooms. I don’t know why but something told me to look over my shoulder while I was going up the stairs. I saw some guy hovering over my girl Alex by the fireplace. She was laughing and giggling it up like she always does when she’s being flattered. I couldn’t tell if the dude was a Brother because not all of them wore their lettermen. It might have been Joe Blow from campus. I didn’t care either way. My blood boiled.

I don’t know what got into me, but I went for him. I was going to charge thru that crowd and demand to know what was going on or pound his face in with my foot. The only thing that stopped me was being cuffed to Arsen.

“What the fuck are you doing?” he yelled at me over the music and dragged me upstairs. “You better get your ass up here before you get us in trouble. I’m not getting into it with the Brothers over some girl.”

Thankfully that was enough to knock some sense into me, so I let it go and returned to my room. Of course, I went nuts when we were alone in our room, yelling and swearing like you wouldn’t believe. Luckily no one could hear me because the music was so damn loud. Poor Arsen. He spent the rest of the night trying to calm me down.

I don’t know when, but we fell asleep on the floor sometime during the night despite the wild party downstairs.

The following day, we were awakened by a soft knock on the door. Arsen and I looked at each other with sleepy eyes, knowing damn well that was not the knock of a Brother. Brothers don’t knock. They just come in.

Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Arsen asked, “Who do you think that is?”

“Sorry, I forgot my x-ray glasses at home. How should I know?”

“Are you always such a sarcastic shit?” he laughed, yawning.

“Pretty much.”

The knock came again, followed by a whisper. “Dude, are you in there?”

“CJ?” I inquired.

“Yeah, I’m opening the door.” He came in, and Ant stayed by the door to watch.

“Are you guys nuts?” I said in an equally soft voice. “What are you guys doing here? If the brothers catch you, we’re all in for it.”

“Dude, you have any idea what time it is?”

“Dude, I don’t care. Get out of our room before you get us in trouble!”

Rolling his eyes at me, he continued talking as if I hadn’t said anything. “It’s almost one in the afternoon, and the Brothers haven’t gotten us yet.”

“Probably because there’s no one here, dumbass,” Ant said from the doorway, laughing.

“What do you mean there’s no one here?” Arsen asked as he stood, then helped me up to my feet.

“The house is empty except for us pledges,” Ant responded.

“How do you know that?”

“Because we looked,” CJ offered.

“Are you fucking nuts?” I yelled, backhanding him across the arm. “What the fuck are you guys doing walking around the house?”

“Dude, chill! There’s no one here. What part of that don’t you get, dude? Come with us, and you’ll see.”

Before I could protest, CJ and Ant left, thinking we would follow. Even though we knew better, we did it anyway. Curiosity got the best of us, and we followed them down. What I saw downstairs was worse than CJ and Ant standing by my door. Almost all the pledges were wearing their robes or in the middle of putting them on.

“What the fuck are you guys doing?” I was in shock. “You know damn well you’re not supposed to be wearing anything but underwear while in the house. You fucking know that!”

“Jacob, relax!” Sam said as he closed his robe. “Look around you. There’s no one here. No one is going to know. Besides, we’re keeping a lookout, so we'll take the robes off the first sign of the Brothers and run upstairs quickly. Besides, we checked the garage, and all the cars are gone too.”

His cuff mate Kevin grabbed our robes from the wall and threw them at us. “Walking around with your ass hanging out in front of a bunch of dudes may be your thing, but for me, not so much.”

Again, the pit of my stomach was telling me this was wrong. Very, very wrong! But did I listen? Nope. I didn’t put the robe on all the way; I just let it hang on my shoulder as if that was any better. And if things couldn’t get any worse, Mike and Xavier come running around the far corner, almost slipping on some spilled beer. It was funny, but then I noticed they were uncuffed and grinning from ear to ear.

“Guys, guess what I found.” Mike sounded like a ten-year-old who had just found his older brother’s porn stash. He opened the palm of his hand to reveal the little remote that locked and unlocked our cuffs.”

“Dude!” CJ laughed, just as excited. “That’s awesome.”

“Guys, I don’t think we should….” Too late for my protest. Mike hit the button and unlocked us all. I looked at Arsen for answers to see what he thought of the situation. That fool just shrugged and took off the cuffs.

All the guys quickly took the cuffs off without second thought. They were sure they could put them back on before the Brothers caught us. I had no choice but to play along. What was I going to do? Handcuff myself? I think not. A part of me screamed for me to run up to my room, dragging Arsen if I had to, lock myself in, and put the handcuffs back on. That was my smart side talking. The stupid side appeared to have more influence because I just stayed there and watched my fellow pledges dig us a deeper grave.

“Guys…” I broke off suddenly laughing. I couldn’t help myself. “We are so fucked if we get caught.”

“For the hundredth time, dude, will you relax? We’ve been thru the house while you guys were still sleeping. There’s no one here, dude. Speaking of which, this place is fucking huge!”

“All the rooms except for that one room in the back,” Jason said. “It was the only one that was locked.”

“Yeah,” his partner Justin recalled. “But it has a simple lock. I can open it easily with,” he looked around the floor and a nearby table until he found a knife, “this.”

Did I mention how trashed the place was? There was spilled beer everywhere. Plastic cups, bottles, cans, food, paper plates, and a whole bunch of other crap covered the floor. It was hard to tell if the party caused the mess or a tornado. I thought tornado; it was that bad.

By that point, no one was going to listen, so I stopped arguing. What was the point? Justin led the way through a maze of halls until we entered this room in the back of the house. It was a pretty big room, but it was empty. No furniture, rugs, pictures, nothing. It looked like one big room someone forgot to furnish. A pair of dark oak sliding doors were in the back of the room. Just like Justin said, a simple lock was all that kept it closed.

Justin got down on one knee with the knife and worked the lock over.

I must admit I was a bit curious. That room stuck out like a sore thumb. It just seemed so out of place. And why were those the only doors locked in the whole joint? It was bizarre.

“I almost got it,” Justin said thru clenched teeth. We moved in closer. “Got it!” He laughed and slid the doors open.

We all just about died when we saw what was behind those doors. We didn’t just open a set of doors…we opened Pandora’s Box.

Oh, and how the Gods were pissed!