Then There Was Maverick

Chapter 10

~ Mason ~

It had been five days since I had talked to Katie's friends at the bar. I had tried to call her numerous times, but she sent me straight to voicemail every single time. I had sent her at least a hundred texts begging her to call me back, so we could talk everything out. That's right, I – Mason Maverick – was begging a girl to return my phone calls. This was unchartered territory for me. Normally, if I couldn't get a girl to pick up the phone or text me back, I just moved on to the next one. I knew that I had always had a line of girls waiting for me if I ever needed it. However, I rarely took advantage of that opportunity.

The worst part about this whole situation was the fact that I hadn't even seen her around campus. She hadn't shown up for our American Lit class for the past two days. Whenever I saw her friends that she was normally conjoined to at the hip, she was nowhere to be seen. At first, I just thought that maybe she was avoiding me, but now my prideful worries had shifted into genuine concern for my best friend's sister. I was meant to watch over her and keep her from any life-altering danger. I had failed Tommy, and now I had failed Katie. I was fearful that she had decided that she couldn't take the judgmental eyes of the student body, especially the ruthless female population, and made a rash decision. I hoped that she hadn't thrown everything away over a dumbass rumor, but I couldn't be sure. She had never encountered anything like this before. Back home, Katie had a sparkling, spotless reputation. One that she treasured and handled in such a gentle manner.

It was no secret in our hometown that Tommy and I were the protectors of Katie and her reputation. When Katie started her last year in middle school, we made the pact that we would scare any guy within an inch of his life if he tried to have a romantic relationship with Katie. This always suited my likings very well, as I had taken a liking to my best friend's baby sister at a young age. I can still remember her curly, auburn pigtails and her adorable toothy grin that made her beautiful baby blues disappear behind her squinted eyelids. As we grew older, her beauty intensified, captivating most – if not all – of the male population in our small town, including me.

Sure, I had been extremely jealous the night I saw Katie dancing with Zach in the frat house. The way he kissed her neck made my skin crawl and my blood boil in disgust. That was supposed to be me, I was supposed to be the one caressing her ivory skin. I couldn't believe that he had blundered his chance with such a gorgeous girl. She was too good. Too good for Zach, hell, too good for me. She deserved someone who would make her happy and treat her like she was the center of their world. I knew that I was capable of doing that, but I always managed to screw good things up. Even though I would never intentionally break her heart, I was scared that I would find a way to indirectly hurt her. If that happened, I would never be able to forgive myself.

As I made my way out of the locker room after our final workout of the day, I noticed that Bruce was already gone. The linemen were usually dismissed before us, but he normally waited for me to get finished so we could walk all the way back across campus to the Beta house together. He seemed to be disappearing a lot lately. Maybe he had a group project or something that was due this week, you could never be sure when it came to him. On my way back to the house, I texted Bruce to check in on him and see if he wanted to get some food after I got out of the shower. My phone dinged right as I walked through the threshold of my room.

"Sorry, Mav. Can't tonight. Currently having dinner with someone."

"It's cool man. Don't worry about it! I'll just go get take-out."

"Alright bro." he responded distractedly, "I'll catch up with you later."

As I hung up the phone I became more and more puzzled by the situation I was in at the moment. Katie had up and disappeared and now Bruce was acting all weird and distracted – which was completely out of character for him. I had a feeling that this week was going to wreak major havoc on my mental health and my already fucked up sleep schedule, but you can't change the future once it becomes your present.

I began to take off the grimey clothes that held the residue of today's workouts, I turned the faucet in the shower all the way to its hottest setting and leaned against the bathroom vanity. I let out a sigh of exasperation and exhaustion. Coach had been on my ass at practice today about my poor attempts at passing from the pocket during today's offensive session. I don't recall a practice when I couldn't hit my receiver without any thought. Today was different though. I just couldn't seem to focus in on the tasks at hand. My mind wandered aimlessly the whole practice, which resulted in me being granted two free trips from one end-zone to the other at the expense of my own two feet.

I noticed the steam floating around me and shook the thought from my mind as I discarded the rest of my clothing and stepped into the shower. After washing away all of the bad omens from today's practice, I stood under the showerhead and allowed the scalding hot water to roll down my back.

"How could you be so stupid?" I questioned myself under my breath.

I turned the water off in a swift move of frustration and grabbed my towel from the hook outside of the shower door. After drying off, I tied the towel around my waist, grabbed my dirty practice clothes, and made my way from the bathroom back to my bedroom across the hall. I threw the clothes toward the hamper in the opposite corner of my room, caring less if they actually made it into the basket. I quickly got dressed and my car keys, making my way downstairs to take a drive.

As I stepped off of the final stair, I heard two hushed voices speaking from the kitchen.

"Bro, she must've been good though if you got with her after one dance," the voice of a pledge whose name I couldn't remember rang through my ears.

"As long as that's what everybody else thinks," Zach chimed in, "you'll have no problem getting initiated into this fraternity."

I raised my eyebrows in shock. I was pretty sure that this whole encounter was strictly against our University's Greek Life policy. No hazing was allowed on campus, period. It was a zero-tolerance policy. I glanced up to the corner of the ceiling and smiled as I saw that the security camera had just recorded their whole conversation. This was pure gold. Not only could I save Katie's reputation, but I could give Zach the payback that he truly deserved.

I slowly turned to quietly make my way back out of the front door. When I made it outside, I chuckled to myself and shook my head. This was all too easy, but it was just the beginning of the pain I was going to bring to Zach Wesley.