Mercy (Somerset University #3) - Ruby Vincent Page 0,39
She reached around me for the garlic sauce. “I wondered when you were going to ask me about that.”
“I didn’t really know what to ask. Maverick explained and I still don’t get it. A couple of guys playing poker. Sure. Partying in the basement with your friends, girlfriends, and boyfriends. I understand that too. But the questions? Betting it all? Maverick losing over a hundred grand because tribalism benefits society? What’s the point of all of that?”
“Honestly, I don’t know who started the club or why. It was here long before any of us came to Somerset.”
“The club?”
“They don’t have a name. Or at least, I haven’t heard the guys use it. All I know is they’ve been around since 2005.”
A memory flitted out and floated to the surface. “2005? That’s the same year the president of Nu Alpha Theta started the initiation.”
Coincidence? I think not.
She shrugged. “Maybe. Zeta Rho and Nu Alpha are about pushing us to our limits. The club is about having no limits. They can get pretty intense, but they’re harmless. In the end, it’s just friends having fun, and everyone likes Maverick.” She gave me a wry smile. “There isn’t some grand conspiracy behind asking him to join. He isn’t going to be taken.”
Teagan laughed at her joke. I didn’t.
“You can’t say who started it, but there’s a strong possibility—bordering on certainty—that it was a Sally or Sam. Aiden, Sawyer, and the rest of them are Sams. So yeah, I’d assume something is up when they suddenly ask a non-Sam to join.”
“It’s not in the rules that a non-Sally or Sam can’t join. You know that.”
I blinked. “I know that? Why would I know that?”
She expelled an impatient breath. “It was in the book. Didn’t you read it?”
“The book?”
“Yes,” she said slowly. “The book you got when you became president. It talked about the club and its rules. That’s what Aiden said was in his book anyway.”
“Teagan, I never got any book. I got an email forward from Jade explaining my duties, but no book.”
“Really? But you were supposed to get it from—” Wincing, she stopped. “Oh. I’m sorry. Of course, you didn’t get it. I’m such an idiot.”
“Why?”
“Because you were supposed to get it from your predecessor... and she died.”
Leighton.
“On top of that, Reagan left,” she continued. “Without them here there was no one to pass it on to you.”
What Leighton said to me all those months ago in her bedroom came roaring back.
“I won’t talk to you or anyone. How I get my information is a presidential secret. If you want to know, you’ll have to take over Zeta Rho Sigma.”
“They pass it down from president to president,” I whispered.
“Yep. You should ask Aiden to let you see his book. He didn’t give us all the details, but he explained we’re just continuing what others started.”
“Messing around in a basement and discussing human nature is what they started?”
She smiled. “They do more than that.”
“Care to elaborate?”
“Care to join us and find out for yourself?”
I stepped back, studying her. “I do,” I said after a moment. “I’m more than willing to find out for myself, but I still want to know why you were too. Maverick says a lot of money is thrown around down there. Rich boys and their games don’t hold back, but I would’ve thought you, Sawyer, and Aiden had more to lose.”
“We do,” she admitted. “Isn’t that what makes it more fun? The only things worth having in life are the things you’re afraid to lose. Family. Friends. Careers. Love. Sawyer was looking at a life mapped out for him by his father. He’s only at Somerset because his dad pays his tuition, and he made it clear he was supporting one path and one path only. His.
“Sawyer didn’t have choices until he joined the club. The night they initiated him, he earned ten grand. He wins some and he loses some,” she continued, “but right now we’re sitting on enough to have a future.” Teagan stilled, hands frozen in the dough. “I watched my mom slowly lose a battle against her own body. Everything she worked for her whole life gone, and she couldn’t lift a finger to stop it. After going through something like that, you realize what’s truly important. And a little risk is worth going after it.” She dropped her gaze. “You probably don’t get that—”
“No.” I squeezed her hand. “I understand risking everything for your future. I’ve put everything—even my life—on the line so that