The Revenge Pact (Kings of Football #1) - Ilsa Madden-Mills Page 0,56
and Carl adores you. Go.”
“On it.” I flip around and head past the bar, just as Parker, one of the pledges, meets me at the corner. “Hey, Ana.”
“Hey, Lila or Marilyn will take your order. I don’t have your table—”
“No, um…” He sighs. “Geeze. Uh, how do I say this? Um, Donovan wants his pin back.” He grimaces. “That’s all I came to say. Had to, you know. They make us do shit, I mean, I love the frat, and you’re like the sweetest person ever, so yeah, I didn’t want to come up here and say that. I’m sorry.”
My voice is incredulous. “He sent you?”
He nods and winces.
“What a fucking coward,” I mutter vehemently.
Parker’s eyes flare. “Right, right. I delivered the message. Just don’t hurt the messenger.” He looks down at his shoes. “He said you can drop it off in an envelope in the Kappa mailbox. As soon as possible,” he whispers.
Hurt crawls up my throat.
“How convenient—for him. Tell him he’ll have to pry it out of my cold, dead hands when I’m eighty.” A fake, wry smile flashes. “Kidding. I burned the pin along with the books and shirts he left at my place. It melted in the flames. It was so pretty. Okay, kidding again, chill. You look pale. I’ll take care of it, Parker. Bye.”
He shuffles away.
Lila has heard and follows me as I head to Carl’s table. He’s a regular, our unofficial bar mascot.
Her voice is low. “Ana, you can’t keep ignoring that he’s ruined your rep, he’s here flaunting that girl, and now he’s sending a poor pledge to do his dirty work. What are you going to do about it? You haven’t called him, texted him, or said anything. You’re just taking it. Make some drama, girl.”
I ignore her and stop at Carl’s table. He’s in his late sixties with frizzy gray hair and a paunch. He’s an outsider, like me. If June is the grandma I never had, Carl’s my grandfather.
A bubble of laughter comes out of me. “I’m losing it,” I muse to myself as I set his food down.
“No, darling. We’re all a little wacko.” He squints up at me. “You don’t look right. Tell ol’ Crazy Carl what’s happening.”
Lila plops down in the booth seat across from him and steals a fry off his plate. “Frat boy broke her heart.”
Carl’s eyes swivel to me as he takes a sip from his beer mug. He’s only had the one, but if he overdrinks, I’ll drive him home and he’ll catch a ride back the next day to get his truck.
“Donovan?” he asks.
“He’s here—with another girl,” Lila says, twisting her lips. “He dumped her at the toga party! And he did it in front of everyone!” She proceeds to lay out exactly what happened on Friday.
“Let me at him,” he mutters when she’s done, making as if he’s going to stand, but I ease him back down with a hand on his shoulder.
“He’s forty years younger than you, and fighting doesn’t solve problems.”
He scoffs. “The aliens would disagree. I’ve met them, you know. They haven’t annihilated us because we don’t have the resources they need.”
“Did they put probes inside you, like in the movies? Did they, um, penetrate your parts?” Lila asks in a serious voice.
He chokes. “No.”
“Good,” she says. “I’ve wondered, you know, even thought of writing some intergalactic porn. I have a strange mind.” She taps the side of her head.
Carl loves talking about aliens; it makes him happy. I don’t know if it’s true. Don’t care. He just is who he is.
He swallows down a bite of his burger. “It’s funny…they really are like you see on TV. Green. Giant head. Big eyeballs. Tiny mouth. The leader wore a silver cape like he was a male model, swishing around like a supervillain. My theory? The government has one of them in Area 51 out west. I keep waiting for Zen—that’s the leader’s name—to come back.”
“Let’s circle back to the real villain tonight,” Lila mutters as she watches the Kappa table. “Donovan.”
Carl gives me a rueful glance. “I’d give Donovan a piece of my mind, but my right hook ain’t what it used to be, darling. Got a pacemaker. Gotta protect it.”
I pat his shoulder. “You’re fine. I’m fine. Eat up.” I slap Lila’s hand when she goes in for another fry.
She rolls her eyes and leans forward. “Carl, you’ve been witness to their relationship for a year. You’ve seen him in here with her. He was never