Baumgartner Generations: Henry

Chapter Eight

“I suck.” Henry slumped on his sister’s bed, watching her gazing into her dresser mirror, twisting her long blonde hair up onto the top of her head. “I didn’t get anyone anything.”

“No one expects you to.” Janie took out the bobby pin she’d been holding between her teeth and shoved it in her hair. “You’re a poor college student.”

“Yeah, but Mom put money in my account so I could buy everyone gifts.”

Janie snorted. “Let me guess. It turned into beer money?”

“No, I loaned it to a friend,” he admitted. He hadn’t told anyone else how Dean was borrowing money, or why. He’d put it together, of course-Marcus was running the betting ring out of the frat, and Dean had a serious gambling problem. He was a bottomless pit, and the times Henry had said no, Dean had managed to make his life pretty miserable. Socially, it was easier to say yes. Of course, it was harder on the wallet.

“A girl?”

He shook his head. “My roommate, actually.”

“What for, so he could spend it on beer?”

“Not exactly.” It was a hell of a lot more than beer money, Henry thought.

“You shouldn’t loan friends money.” Janie turned from the mirror, frowning at him. “Seriously. It’s not good.”

Henry decided to change the subject. “Hey, Janie, do girls have a code?”

“A code?” She cocked her head, curious. “What do you mean?”

“You know.” He flushed. “Like guys have the ‘Bros Before Hoes’ thing.”

Janie laughed. “Well yeah. Except we aren’t so adolescent about it.”

If only Dean had respected the code in the first place, Henry thought, instead of making everything into a damned competition. “So let’s say your roommate dated a guy once…would you consider him off-limits?”

“Yeah,” Janie agreed. “Probably. I assume you’re the guy in this scenario?”

Henry nodded miserably. “Is there any way to get a girl to break the code?”

“Sort of.” Janie smiled, coming to sit on her bed next to him. “So, who’s this girl?”

“Her name’s Libby.” He wasn’t ready to give up too much more.

“And you dated her roommate?”

“Once,” he reiterated. “Just one time. Dean set me up.” In more ways than one, he thought bitterly.

“Well, if I was Libby, and I liked you enough,” Janie said, qualifying her statement. “I’d talk to my roommate and ask her if she minded. It was just one date, after all.”

Henry considered this, musing out loud, “Maybe I should talk to Elaine…”

“That’s the roommate?” Janie asked. “Was she into you?”

He remembered the way Elaine had kissed him, had snuck her hand under the water to stroke him, how she’d practically jumped at the chance to…

“You could say that.”

Janie cocked her head at him again, frowning. “But you only went on one date.”

“Yeah.”

She made a face. “She couldn’t have been that into you!”

“We got kind of drunk,” he admitted sheepishly.

“Just because you had sex with her doesn’t mean anything. Necessarily.” Janie waved the idea away. “Did you have sex with her?”

“Hang on.” Henry dug his phone out of his pocket. He knew it was Toni-his ringtone for her was Bolero. “I gotta take this.”

“Is it Libby?” Janie tried to look over his shoulder, but he got up and headed toward the door.

“Hi,” he said, flipping open his phone and ignoring his sister making faces at him as he went down the hall to his room.

“I miss you.” Her voice was thick as honey.

“I know,” he admitted, closing his door. “I miss you, too.”

Here he was asking his sister advice about Libby, but it was Toni he was talking to. What was wrong with this picture? He’d fallen head first-or maybe leapt was more accurate-into this thing with Toni and it was like a snowball going downhill, just picking up speed as it rolled along.

“You know I’m right around the block,” she reminded him.

He hadn’t forgotten. She had an apartment on campus-one he’d been invited to twice now-but the house she’d lived in with her husband was just kitty-korner from his parents’ place. If he peered out his sister’s window, he could have seen her backyard, and maybe even the “For Sale” sign posted out front, from that angle. No one lived in the house at the moment-Toni’s soon-to-be ex had taken a job somewhere on the east coast-but she had mentioned she was going to get it into “for-sale” condition over break.

“It’s weird. You’re closer now than when we’re at school,” he said.

“Do you want to come over?”

He could almost see the smile playing on her lips. “Do you really have to ask?”

“How long?”

“Give me ten minutes.”

No one asked him where he was going.

The walk around the block was short and Henry left footprints like breadcrumbs leading the way home. The snow they’d predicted was just beginning to fall, a light dusting, making the neighborhood lawns sugary in the moonlight. The flakes were big and fat, though, and he caught one on his tongue like a little kid as he took Toni’s front steps two at a time to ring her bell.

He waited, glancing around at the other houses, wondering what her neighbors would say. It was dark, though, the streetlights on. No one around. Safe enough.

“Hey sexy.” She was ready for bed, standing there barefoot, her hair falling all around her shoulders. She wore a silk robe, a red and gold oriental print. “Cold out there?”

“Uh-huh,” he agreed, stepping in and out of the way so she could close the door behind him. “Warm in here, though.”

“Warmer now,” she agreed, turning and putting her arms around his neck, pressing him against the door, her mouth seeking his. He kissed her slowly, lost in the soft exploration of her tongue, her hands already unzipping his jacket, caressing the hard planes of his belly as she pushed up his shirt.

“What, no small talk?” Henry teased, sliding his hands down to cup her ass through the silky material. “Aren’t we going to make popcorn, watch a movie, talk about politics?”

“I voted for Obama,” Toni confessed, sliding her fingers through his belt loops and pulling his pelvis in toward hers. “Do you think I need a spanking?”

“You just might.” He smirked. “You’re probably right-the last time we watched a movie, horrible things happened with butter.”

“Oh, I don’t know if it was so terrible.” Toni led him into the living room by his belt loop and Henry’s cock immediately perked up at her words. He hadn’t caught much of The Last Tango in Paris, considering where Toni’s hand had been the whole time, but he definitely knew Brando had anally raped his little affair on the apartment floor using only butter as a lubricant-and Toni thought, what? That was okay? Was she into that? Now he was curious.

“You want something to drink?” Toni offered, picking up a remote and turning on an iPod unit with it. She had a fire lit in the gas fireplace and it was quite warm. “Coke? Wine?” She lifted her own glass from the fireplace mantel. “Beer?”

“I’m underage,” he snorted. Not that it had ever stopped him before.

“Don’t remind me.” She laughed.

“Nah, I’m good,” he assured her, flopping down onto the couch. It was white, just like the carpet, and he thought it was a good thing they never had kids. Or maybe they had nice things because there were never any kids around to ruin them. It was sparsely furnished, just the couch and a table with a lamp-no television. Must not have had room for this stuff in her apartment, he thought.

“Yes, you are,” she teased. “Very good.”

She was watching him with hungry eyes. He knew that expression. Sometimes it would come over her in the middle of a tutoring session. He would catch her gaze moving down to the crotch of his jeans, that soft, dreamy look on her face. And the minute his eyes met hers, they turned greedy.

“Come here.” He patted the couch beside him and she made her way over, slow, sexy, that smile curled at the corner of her mouth. As she walked, she undid her robe, letting the silky material fall open. She was wearing a white see-through teddy underneath and panties to match. He could see her nipples and the dark triangle of her pubic hair.

“Mmmm.” Henry’s hand moved down over the crotch of his jeans, adjusting. With his other, he reached for her, catching the elastic edge of her panties. “Gimme.”

“Greedy boy.” She gently shoved his hand away, but damn, she was so hard to resist, the way her hips moved like that. “Don’t touch.”

She used the remote to turn up the iPod and then tossed it next to him on the couch. It was some blues song, nothing he recognized, but it had a steady beat that her hips seemed to sway to all on their own.

“God,” he breathed as she gyrated slowly between his thighs, lifting her long dark hair and letting it fall, dropping her robe off one shoulder, then the next. “You’re beautiful.”

She turned her back on him, letting her robe drop to her waist, then bending over as she let it slip over her ass and to the floor. Her panties were completely see-through-he could see the dark patch of her pubic hair-and wet. Already so wet. She slapped his hand away playfully again when he reached to touch her, so he decided to touch himself instead, unzipping his jeans and taking out his cock.

She gave him an appreciative look as he began to stroke it, but she clearly wasn’t done with her show. Her hands moved up her belly to cup her breasts through the see-through material. They were heavy and full without a bra, her nipples poking out nicely, and she teased them with the tips of her fingers.

The music changed, this song slower, and she held her hand out to him. He stood, shuffling forward before realizing his pants were around his knees. He went to take them off, but she sank to the floor before he got the chance, working them down, along with his boxers. He gaped as she slithered back up him like a snake, her cheek brushing against his crotch, her breasts sliding over his belly, her tongue tracing over his collarbone and finally touching his as they kissed.

“Dance with me,” she murmured, sliding her arms around his neck. Henry hadn’t danced with a girl since prom, and although he’d probably had a hard-on at the time, it certainly hadn’t been this exposed. Still, he put his hands at her waist, and discovered he didn’t have to do much anyway. Toni was doing all the dancing, writhing in his arms as they continued to kiss.

“Off,” she insisted, pushing his shirt up, and he pulled it over his head. Now he was completely naked. She had that greedy look again, her hands moving all over his skin-shoulders, arms, belly-and then reaching down to cup his balls and grab hold of his hard cock.

He moaned softly as she began to stroke it, nice and easy, in time to both the music and her hips. It was sexy as hell. When she sank slowly down onto the white carpet to take him into her mouth, there was a moment his knees wanted to buckle, but he grabbed a handful of her hair instead, biting his lip and closing his eyes against complete collapse. She wasn’t at it long, thank god, before she pulled him down to the rug, making him stretch out on his back before climbing on top of him.

His cock pointed straight up the ceiling and he had no idea what she was doing to it-although whatever it was, it felt fucking fantastic-because she had straddled his face, the see-through crotch of her panties poised directly over his mouth. He couldn’t resist, but when he went to take them off, or even pull them aside, she protested.

“Can I at least lick you through them?” he begged, his hips rocking in time with the gentle pull of her mouth.

“Okay,” she relented, her mouth full, and he pressed his tongue flat, working the crotch of her panties between her swollen lips, making the material even wetter with his saliva. She didn’t let him do that long either, though, turning around and straddling his hips this time.

“Well now you’ve got to take them off,” he teased as she ground her pelvis, his cock trapped between them. But she proved him wrong. The crotch of her panties slipped between her pussy lips and was growing ever wetter. She just positioned her swollen lips around his cock, undulating still, the sensitive head of his dick slipping again and again through that crevasse.

“Which do you like better?” she murmured. “My mouth or my pussy?”

He groaned, hands on her rolling hips. “How can I answer that?”

She reached between them to grasp his cock, leaning forward and pressing her mouth to his ear. “Have you ever been in a woman’s ass?”

“No,” he confessed, gulping. But the idea of it was blackly exciting.

“Want me to get the butter?” She chuckled as his cock jerked in her hand in response. His dick was answering for him.

“You’ve done that before?” he asked, gazing up at her.

“Yes.” She sounded excited. “It takes a lot of trust, but if you do it right-it’s incredible.”

He kept seeing it in his head, the puckered wink of her asshole when he was fucking her from behind. She’d asked him to put a finger there once, and he had, and she’d really seemed to like it.

“Come on.” She led him upstairs, which was even more sparsely furnished than the downstairs. There was just a twin mattress on the floor with a sheet and covers, unmade, and a small night table in the bedroom she obviously slept in when she was here. The room was dark, the only light from the full moon shining through the window. There were no blinds. Those were gone, too.

“I want to give this to you,” Toni whispered as they rolled together on the mattress. “I want to be your first.”

He wasn’t about to refuse her.

She opened the little night table and pulled out a bottle of KY, joking, “I think it’s been in there since my honeymoon. Bill and I never used it.”

He didn’t like thinking about her husband. He didn’t like thinking about her with anyone else but him.

In the dark, she rubbed his cock down with KY, making him slick and even harder in her hand. Then she was on her knees, her bottom in the air, her panties finally gone. His fingers probed-he couldn’t help it-dipping into the hot flesh of her cunt, her juices copious. He wanted to plunge into her right then, feel the hot hug of her pussy, but the thought of her asshole was too intriguing to pass up. And she was giving it to him willingly. As a gift. It made him feel kind of proud.

“Put your finger there,” she urged, and he did as he was told, feeling the muscles tighten involuntarily around the tip of his finger. Would it do that around his cock, too? He shivered.

“Fuck my ass with your finger.” Her words were whispered, a secret in the moonlight, and he began slowly moving in, up to his first knuckle, then his next, until his finger was all the way in. Then he began to pull it out. She moaned, rocking back, pressing it in again. She really seemed to like it.

“Now two,” she urged. “Use the KY.”

He found it on the mattress, squeezing some onto his fingers and rubbing them together. She gasped when he began to work the tips of two fingers into the tight clench of her ass. Toni took a deep breath and he felt her muscles relax, allowing his fingers to slip inside of her. His cock made an immediate association, throbbing in response.

“Yessss,” she moaned, rocking against his hand, taking his fingers all the way in, again and again. “That’s good. Oh god that’s good!”

He knelt up behind her, between her thighs, his fingers moving in deeper, at a different angle, making Toni buck. His cock, still slick with KY, was so hard he was leaking precum against her leg. He couldn’t believe how much he wanted this now.

“Now your cock,” she insisted, slowing her motions, letting him withdraw his fingers. “Put it in…easy.”

Henry felt his way in the dark, moving his cock up and down her crack, finding the familiar give of her pussy without a problem and then moving further up, over the tight skin between, until he found the pucker of her ass. He felt her brace herself, her breathing ragged, and he used his thumb to press the head of his dick slowly against her.

“Ohhhhh!” she cried out as just the tip slipped past the tight ring of muscle. “God, you’re so fucking big!”

He flushed, his cock snugged nicely into her sphincter, holding her hips to steady them both. He waited, holding his breath.

“Okay,” she urged, starting to press back against him, pushing his cock deeper. “Okay, okay, yes. Do it.”

He groaned as he shifted his hips forward, feeling her flesh give. It was the most incredible thing he’d ever felt and he had to tighten every muscle in his body not to shoot his cum right then.

“Tight, huh?” Toni laughed and it made his eyes widen when she squeezed her muscles. “It can get even tighter.”

“It’s so hot,” he murmured, running both hands over her in the dark. He could see the white globes of her ass, lit up by the moonlight like rolling hills, and he was plunging into the valley between. Except it was more like a hot, humid cave. A very, very narrow one.

“Okay.” Toni wiggled her bottom into the saddle of his hips. He was all the way in her now, had plumbed her depths completely. Toni began, and his cock slicked slowly back out of her, wet with KY, the head rubbing deliciously under that hot circle of muscle and then sliding back in. “Now you can fuck me.”

He groaned, digging his fingers into her hips, giving himself some leverage. He wasn’t going to last long. There was no way. But he was going to enjoy the hell out of it until it was over.

“Come on, Henry,” she urged, and he felt her fingers against his balls, nudging them aside so she could play with her pussy. “Fuck my ass. Give me that hard cock.”

His hips began to move on their own and Toni moved with him, her soft cries of pleasure going directly to his swollen cock. Her breath came faster, faster, her fingers rubbing, her asshole so tight she squeezed him with every pass like he was a toothpaste tube she was determined to get every last bit of stuff from.

And it was working, the muscles of her pussy beginning to contract with her orgasm.

“Fuck me hard!” she begged. “Oh I’m gonna come! I’m gonna-”

Henry shuddered as her ass contracted, too, milking his cock with every spasm. He grunted and spilled his cum into the hot clench of her asshole. Beneath him, Toni quivered, whimpering, and collapsed onto the mattress.

When Henry curled himself around her, still panting, she pulled the sheet up. They were both sweaty, their bodies slick.

“Thank you,” he whispered, kissing her temple.

She chuckled. “You’re welcome.”

He didn’t want her to misunderstand. “For that, but…for…everything.”

She reached back and stroked his cheek. “You’re welcome.”

There wasn’t anything else left to say. They slept as the snow fell outside and blanketed everything in white silence.

“I just gotta make it to this weekend’s game.” Dean kept his voice low, reaching over and taking one of Henry’s fries. “Then I can pay you back. With frickin’ interest if you want.”

“Come on, man.” Henry snatched his fries off his tray before Dean could sneak another one. “You’re into me for five hundred already. How much more do you want?”

“I just need another five to hold them off. In cash. Nothing I have is liquid. It’s all been…committed elsewhere.”

Henry sat back, chewing thoughtfully. He just didn’t have it. His parents were already angry about his disappearing savings account and they’d told him they weren’t putting any more money into it until he paid them back. He had no idea how he was going to do that-unless Dean managed to actually win big. So far, that hadn’t happened.

“I don’t have it.” Henry gulped. “I’m sorry.”

Dean closed his eyes, gritting his teeth. When he opened them, they burned into Henry’s. “It’s a sure thing. I’m telling you. I promise you will get your money back.”

“How can you be so sure?”

Dean glanced around. They were alone at the table, but there were people all around them. He dropped his voice, leaning in. “Because we’re going to lose the game.”

“We?” Henry munched another fry.

“Shh!” Dean grimaced. “Saturday’s game.”

Henry contemplated it. Dean had a football game on Saturday-U of M against EMU. Then it dawned on him.

Henry’s jaw dropped. “You’re throwing the game against Eastern?”

“Shhh!” Dean nudged him with his knee under the table.

Henry immediately dropped his voice. “How?”

“You know my study group?” Dean’s smile was small and tight, waiting for Henry to connect the dots. He’d supposedly been going to a calculus study group for a few weeks, but Henry knew it had to be a cover for something, because Dean didn’t study. He’d said it was mostly guys from the fraternity, all football players…

All football players. Henry gaped at him.

“Eastern has had only had one winning season in twenty years. They’ve gone through eight coaches.” Dean’s grin widened. “Do you know how big this payoff is going to be?”

It wasn’t impossible. Dean had a lot of influence- a lot. He could see him seducing players into jeopardizing the rest of their lives, their careers, for a big payoff.

“I just need five-hundred more,” Dean insisted. “And I can hold the bastards off until after the game.”

“And then you’re done with gambling forever, right?” Henry asked sarcastically.

Dean held up two fingers and saluted. “Scout’s honor.”

“I’m tapped out.” Henry shrugged helplessly. “I can’t borrow any more from my parents.”

“Then borrow it from your girlfriend.”

“Who?” Henry blinked at him, sure he was making a crack about Libby, who still hadn’t called him, even though he’d called her and left a message twice since they’d gotten back. So much for getting together after break.

“Professor Franklin.” Dean’s words turned Henry’s blood to ice. He doesn’t know, Henry thought, panicked. He can’t know! “I’m sure she’d be willing to help you out.”

Henry could barely speak the words. “What? I can’t do that.”

“Sure you can.” Dean leaned back in his chair, stretching, casual-seeming, but every move he made was calculated. “You know, I don’t think she’d be too happy if the university found out what she’s doing with you.”

“You mean…” Henry gulped. How? How could he know? “Tutoring me?”

“No.” Dean’s eyes flashed. “I mean fucking you.”

Henry stared. He couldn’t breathe. He didn’t know how Dean knew, but he did.

“Listen, it’s just five-hundred.” Dean’s voice turned friendly again-just a conversation between amigos. Never mind that Henry had that sick feeling in his gut like someone had just racked his nuts. “Just ask her. Okay?”

What else was he supposed to say? “I’ll see what I can do.”

“Thanks.” Dean leaned forward and clapped Henry on the shoulder. “Really, thanks.”

Henry stood, leaving the rest of his lunch. “I gotta go.”

Toni’s apartment was small, but she said she liked it better than the big empty house she’d lived in with her ex, and he believed her.

“You’ll meet your soulmate some day,” she whispered to him in the dark. The bed was full and high-and it squeaked like they were squishing a thousand mice when they fucked. It made them both laugh so hard they often had to move to the floor to finish. “I promise, you will.”

Henry knew it had been a bad idea to tell her that Dean was asking him for money for gambling debts, and that he just might know what was going on between them-but he’d had a feeling this was coming anyway. Nothing could burn this hot, this fast, and last very long. Of course, he hadn’t told her about the game. That one was like an anvil on his chest, a paralyzing weight.

“What if I don’t want it to be over?” He spoke the words, but he didn’t know if he meant them. It had been wrong from the beginning, in all the right sorts of ways, and this felt the same. Wrong and right-a horribly apt paradox.

“It’s too dangerous, for both of us.” Toni’s cheek pressed against his back and she kissed his shoulder blade. “But I’m not abandoning you. We can still work together.”

“I don’t know.” Just being in her class for the rest of the year was going to be hard enough. He couldn’t imagine being in her office four days a week and not being… with her.

“Or…” She sighed. “I can give you a whole list of names. We have great tutors in the program.”

“I wish I could.” Henry turned, pulling her into his arms. “But I couldn’t be around you so much and not want you. I couldn’t resist.”

“I know.” She tucked her dark head under his chin. “It’s probably better this way.”

“I wish it wasn’t.” His voice cracked.

“Me, too.” Her tears fell on his bare chest and they both pretended it wasn’t happening, wasn’t ending, at least for a while.

“Henry?”

“Libby?” He recognized her voice immediately. It was the call he’d been waiting for, hoping for, and now here it was, and he couldn’t believe it. “How was your break?”

“Fine.” But Libby’s voice was wrong, somehow. Something was wrong. Not that everything wasn’t already wrong in his life. Between his roommate problem and ending his affair with Toni, he’d reached the bottom of what could possibly go wrong. Or so he thought. “I really need to talk to you.”

“Sure.” He shrugged. “What’s on your mind?”

“Not on the phone.”

Had Dean called Libby and told her about Toni? Is that what put such urgency into her voice? And still, his heart was pounding at the thought of seeing her in person, no matter what the reason. He glanced at his watch. It was almost dinner time, but he didn’t have anywhere to go.

“Want to meet somewhere?”

“How about The Red Hawk?” she suggested.

“Half an hour?”

“See you there.” She hung up.

The Red Hawk was pretty quiet for a Thursday night. They sat in one of the high-backed booths, Libby eating the Thai shrimp salad, and Henry was getting messy with the Red Hawk wings, extra spicy. They made his eyes water and his nose run.

“I bet it didn’t snow down in North Carolina,” Henry said, making conversation. They’d had a foot of snow over the break, just in time for Christmas.

“Henry, I need to talk to you about Dean.”

He paused, a wing in his hands, then nodded. “Okay.” At least now he knew the topic of conversation. Maybe she knew Dean was in trouble? Had he gone to her for money, too?

Just please don’t let her know about Toni.

“But I have to tell you first why I was fired from the paper last year.”

He waited, not understanding what in the world that could have to do with Dean, or anything having to do with Henry, but he was sure Libby would connect the dots.

“I told you I did a sort of expose on fraternity hazing.”

“Right.” Henry remembered. “Forced drinking and all that.”

She went on. “Well, the university did an investigation after the article went to print. They wanted to know my sources.”

“Let me guess.” Henry licked his fingers. “You wouldn’t tell them.”

“No, I wouldn’t.” She blinked at him, indignant. “The first amendment still applies, even at a college paper. We have the same constitutional rights as professional newspapers. This isn’t high school.”

“Then why did they fire you?”

Libby fiercely poked her salad with her fork. “The Board of Regents said that if I didn’t leave the paper voluntarily, they were going to fire my advisor instead.”

“Jesus.” His jaw dropped.

She smiled sadly. “Nice, huh?”

“I’m sorry, Libby.”

“I’m over it.” She gestured his apology away, but it was clear to Henry that wasn’t really true. “Anyway…one of my sources was Dean’s brother, Chris.”

Just when he thought his jaw couldn’t drop any further. “You’re kidding me.”

“He was a senior member of the frat and he knew all the ins and outs.” She stabbed at a shrimp.

“And he talked to you willingly?” Henry was doubtful. He hadn’t met any of Dean’s family, but he couldn’t imagine them being much different from Dean. “He knew he was being interviewed?”

“He was…” Libby took a sip of her water. “I was dating him.”

Henry sat back, stunned. And all this time, Dean had never said a word. Chris had graduated last year. So he was the senior guy she’d been dating, he realized.

“But Chris wasn’t my source,” she explained. Her salad had suddenly become her focus, as if she could annihilate it with her gaze. “He’s just how I found out about the hazing.”

She took a bite of shrimp, chewing slowly. Henry had lost interest in his wings. He just stared at her.

“The rumors were running rampant at the time-stories about tying pledges’ hands behind their backs and pushing them down the stairs, or leaving them all alone in one room with a kitten-and no one could come out until the kitten was dead.”

Henry choked on his Diet Coke. “Jesus!”

“For the record, I didn’t see anything like that.” She shrugged. “But there was forced drinking. They’d duct tape them to chairs and put funnels in their mouths. One kid nearly died from alcohol poisoning.”

“You saw this for yourself?” Henry had no real love for the frat he’d pledged anymore, but it was still hard to believe they’d done stuff like that to pledges. “Or someone told you?”

“I saw it,” she insisted, glancing up as the waitress went by, picking up Henry’s empty chili bowl.

“You’re a girl,” Henry observed. “How did you get in?”

She took another bite of her salad, chewing slowly. “Because there was also a lot of sex,” she said finally. “And they hired prostitutes.”

Henry stared, then he gaped. No way. It wasn’t possible. What was she telling him?

“You were a…?”

“No!” Her eyes widened but her face had turned almost as red as her hair. “But I did sign up with the escort service they were rumored to use. And I was there on the last night of Hell Week. That’s when they ‘reward’ the pledges for making it through.”

“They were rewarded with prostitutes?” He remembered his own ‘reward’ night well enough-although he clearly hadn’t had to go through what many of the previous year’s pledges did.

“You pledged.” Libby gazed coolly at him. “Didn’t you get laid out of the deal?”

He cleared his throat. “They did something different this year. Sort of.”

“Really?” Her red eyebrows arched. “What?”

“I’d rather not say,” he mumbled, taking a drink of his soda.

“I don’t blame you.”

He decided to change the subject, although now all he could think of was that night with Val. Had Libby done something like that? “So you didn’t…did you actually participate?”

“No,” Libby denied, but her face was turning even redder. “I mean, I danced and…stuff. But I didn’t sleep with anybody.”

“Chris must have known you weren’t a prostitute.”

“Chris wasn’t there that night. I made sure of that,” she said firmly. Her gaze dropped to the table. “But he found out anyway.”

“How?”

Libby closed her eyes and then lifted her gaze to him. She almost looked like she was going to cry. “Because they videotaped all of it.”

“Oh my god,” he whispered.

“Yeah.” She blinked, glancing toward the door where a couple was coming in to eat. Henry wanted to reach out and touch her, reassure her, but he didn’t know what to say. Then she turned her attention back to him. “Henry, I like you.”

The words made his pulse race.

“And I think you like me.”

If you only knew how much, he thought. He was still at a loss for words.

“And I’m sorry I…” She studied her hands. The fork was on the table now and they were clasped in front of her. “I know you thought I was ignoring you, but you don’t understand.”

When her gaze lifted to his again, her eyes were wet. “If that tape ever got out, and you and I were dating, do you know how long it would be before you’d ever play hockey again? You could easily lose your scholarship.”

He stared into her pretty face and things fell into place. It all made sense now. He’d made up all sorts of reasons and rationalizations in his head, but it didn’t have anything to do with Elaine. Libby had been protecting him. Who has the tape? he wondered. But in his gut, he knew.

“Dean found out I was still investigating Alpha Pi Alpha and he told me he’d release it if I got involved with you,” Libby went on, her words choked.

Henry frowned. “When did he say this?”

“Not long after…” Her eyes skipped away from his. “After that night in the hot tub.”

“Unreal.”

Libby’s lower lip trembled. “He said he’d mail it to the NCAA with an anonymous note. Henry, just one whiff of a player dating an alleged prostitute would put your scholarship in jeopardy. Even if I’d been vindicated-and who knows? I signed up as an escort of my own volition, even if I was a reporter-you wouldn’t have played hockey for a long time.”

Her confession left him speechless. If his roommate had magically appeared in front of him, he would have killed him with his bare hands.

“What in the hell is wrong with him?” he croaked. “Why would he do that?”

“Your fraternity happens to have the largest betting ring on campus running through their house. That was going to be my follow-up story last year, before I got fired. Dean found out that I was still looking into it this year, even though I wasn’t on the paper anymore, and he didn’t want that to happen. He wanted something to hold over my head, so I wouldn’t tell anyone.”

“Because Dean’s gambling.” That much Henry knew. “He keeps borrowing money from me.”

Libby made a face. “How much?”

“Five hundred.” That didn’t include the five-hundred Dean wanted him to borrow from Toni-that he’d been willing to blackmail his own roommate to get his hands on.

Libby sighed. “He’s in for a lot more than that.”

“He’s sick.” Henry felt helpess. What could they do? They had to do something. And he hadn’t even told Libby about Dean’s plans to throw the game!

“You have no idea.” Libby looked down at her hands again. “Henry, Dean raped Elaine. That night in the hot tub, after I left…?” Her voice dipped low, became choked. “I never should have left…”

“Oh my god.” It took Henry a few seconds to make his frozen limbs move, but then he was over on her side of the booth, putting his arms around her. “I’m so sorry, Libby.”

“She told me last night.” Libby buried her face in Henry’s neck. “I tried to get her to report it, but she won’t.”

Henry’s jaw clenched. “I’m gonna kill him.”

“No,” she said vehemently, gripping his arm. “Don’t do it. He’s not worth it. I want you to stay away from him if you can. Ask housing if you can switch rooms. Just…don’t have anything more to do with him. That’s the best we can do.”

“But he’s going to throw the game,” Henry confessed. He’d been sitting with the knowledge, unsure what to do, who to tell, but it seemed natural to share it with her now. “This weekend against Eastern Michigan. He’s got it all set up. It’s as good as done.”

“Oh no!” Libby pulled back, staring at him, this new information making her eyes widen. “We can’t let that happen.”

Henry dug into his pocket, finding his ringing cell, and saw the number. Val. Not now. He let it go to message.

“Henry!” Libby grabbed his forearm. His phone made a sound, letting him know he had a message. “If he succeeds, it isn’t just his life he’s ruining. We’re talking about coaches and players and other people’s lives.”

“Yeah.” He was well aware of the consequences, but how could he tell someone when he didn’t have proof? And the backlash, if Dean found out he’d betrayed him…Henry didn’t want to think about it. “I know.”

His phone rang. Again. It was Val. Again. He flipped it open. “Hello?”

Val was talking so fast and so soft he could barely understand her. “Slow down,” he urged. “Say it again.”

“Your roommate is in big trouble,” Val hissed. “Marcus isn’t waiting for his money. They’re coming for him tonight.”

Henry sat up straight. “Tonight?”

Libby watched, eyes wide, as Val continued to whisper her warning.

“You need to get him out of there. Now.”

He opened his mouth to reply, but she was already whispering, “I’ve got to go.”

“Are you safe?” Henry asked.

Val hissed, “Bye,” and hung up.

Henry flipped his phone closed, telling Libby, “The bookies are sending their henchmen after Dean. Tonight.”

“Who was that?” she asked.

“Marcus’s girlfriend.”

“He’s the ringleader,” Libby exclaimed and he glanced at her. Just how much did she know? She was looking at him speculatively. “How do you know Val?”

He flushed. “It’s a long story.”

Libby let it go. “Where is Dean now?”

“Study group.” Henry snorted. “That’s what he calls it anyway. He’ll be back at our room by… seven?”

Libby’s eyes were bright with something. Fear? Excitement? “I think I have a plan.”