63 - The chapter in which Jack discovers

Rose

A few minutes later, we were inside the game room, properly dressed, still wrapped in our blankets as Addison told them about other editions of our marathon tiebreaker.

" Is it always like this? " Cam asked.

" When it's hot, instead of taking off their clothes, they put them on " my mother explained " Usually Jackson wins, today Rose got lucky.”

" Of course he won, it was a grown man competing against a ten year old girl, what did you expect? " I complained.

Christian knelt down in front of me, handing me a cardboard cup with hot tea.

" Shut up and drink it" he murmured.

" You're so delicate, you know that? " I sneered as he draped the blanket over my shoulder, making sure I was warm enough.

" Only the best for you," he winked at me.

" Asshole," I muttered.

" you little freak," he returned with a smile.

Liam was sprawled on the couch, drinking what looked like his twentieth bottle of beer.

" Rose, I would offer to warm you up in a way you would never forget if your parents weren't here," he quipped.

" Addison, please," my father ordered.

Without saying a word my mother slapped the boy on the head, and he grimaced, running his hand over the affected spot.

" Respect your sister," she murmured.

I noticed Christian's crossed look at the boy, who didn't seem to approve of the proposal. But before he could answer, Liam's cell phone started ringing.

" Wow, long time no see " he smiled openly before answering the call with a smile on his face " Nina, you have no idea how good it is to hear your voice!”

I frowned as his smile was replaced by confusion as the person on the other end spoke in an altered tone.

" Thompson? How am I supposed to know where that jerk is? Why are you calling me to find out about another guy? " he returned in irritation.

Great, just when he finally seems to get over Skyller tonight, someone comes along to remind him. Everyone shut up, paying attention to the boy's conversation.

" If you want to know so badly, ask his roommate, I don't know anything about this subject," he muttered before turning to Christian. “Davis, do you know where your jerk roommate is?”

" He and Sky went to Audrey's party.”

" At the sorority next door to yours. Now can you explain to me what he did to you to make you so angry? " Liam rolled his eyes.

Once again we watched the expression on his face change from irritation to surprise, making everyone anxious to know what was going on.

" He got who pregnant? " the boy blinked dazedly, causing Christian and I to exchange a surprised look, "Wait, he's with Sky, what are you going there to do? Nina?”

Liam ended the call, looking perplexed for a few seconds without saying a word, until Alex broke the silence.

" So, are you going to tell us who got pregnant in this story?”

" Thompson, Sky's boyfriend. He got Charlotte pregnant.”

" That girl you..." Theo gave him a meaningful look.

" What are you talking about? Did he get any of the girls you were with pregnant before you started dating Sky? " I frowned.

I watched Christian close his eyes, taking a deep breath, as if he remembered something.

" Not before. They were already together," Christian stood up.

" How did you know? Did he tell you? " I jumped up. If he's known for longer than that and didn't tell Skyller.

"No, but Charlotte is the girl I took to that party where you got drunk and Chris had to hit that idiot with a stool to get him off of you," Liam growled, making my eyes widen.

" Liam! " I raised my voice, but it was impossible to go back in time.

My father gave me a serious look, and I couldn't hold my gaze in front of him. A feeling of shame came over me; he, of all people, was the one I least wanted to find out about the story. Mainly because he had always advised me about drinking and I felt as if I had let him down at that moment.

" He didn't come back to his room that night, I thought he had just passed out drunk at the party, but it seems that's not what happened " Christian alternated his gaze between my father and me, trying to shift the focus, seeming to understand what was going on with me " You said she was going to the party?”

" Yes.”

" The party of the girl who hates Skyler and is surely just waiting for an opportunity to humiliate her? " Theo stood up, looking in his pocket for his car key.

But before we could make any plans, my mother set in motion.

" Peterson, Van Derr Waal and the new girl, you are with me and Alex in the car. Rose, give Brigitte's key to your father, you and Davis go with him," she instructed.

" I guess someone will have to stay and clean up," Cam pointed to the mess in the game room.

" I'll stay, you guys take care of it," Alex warned.

For a second I thought about protesting, after all, I knew exactly why she had left Christian and me alone with my father. But we didn't have time. The best thing was to stop putting off the inevitable and get it over with.

Everyone acted quickly, I got dressed to go out and the adrenaline for everything that was happening wiped out any remnants of cold that still existed in my body. And when we least expected it, the three of us were inside Brigitte on our way to the fraternity.

Sitting in the front seat I watched my father driving, and I couldn't remember ever seeing him so serious.

" The sorority isn't far away, I can show you the way," I commented.

" I'm following your mother, surely they're teaching her the way," he cut me off sharply.

I bowed my head, feeling my eyes water. I could take him yelling at me, arguing, even making jokes and annoying me, but I couldn't handle the feeling of having let him down.

Christian was sitting on the bench right behind my father, and I could feel his gaze locked on me, causing me to turn my face to the window.

" What have they done to you? " my father asked after a few seconds of silence.

" Nothing, Liam expressed himself badly, he's drunk," I tried to smooth things over.

" If it had been nothing, Davis wouldn't have had to get anyone off of you! What happened? " her voice came out in an icy tone, causing those tears to come back to my eyes.

" The guy kissed her and tried to get her out of the party, but we saw it before," Christian answered for me, "something could have happened, but it didn't.”

" How drunk was she? " my father began to deal directly with Christian, ignoring my presence.

" Drunk enough to accept Liam's invitation to have sex without realizing it," Christian answered bluntly, "Of course he didn't mean it, but we kept an eye on her after that.”

I didn't dare raise my eyes, and I glanced at my father, who tightened his grip on the steering wheel before abruptly shifting gears, accelerating the car further.

" Did he know she was drunk? Was she responding, or…”

" Harry had invited her to a game of beer pong. She lost a little control and this guy tried to bet... she…”

" Chris, stop " I asked, but he ignored me.

" We had gone separately, when we realized what was happening, we pulled her away from him. But he started chasing her around the party, he even tried to use force to get her away " Christian didn't bother with my request, causing the first tears to fall on my hands.

Why can't you just let it go? It had happened weeks ago, I didn't even care about it anymore.

" Rose, look at me," my father ordered.

" I'm sorry, Dad. I know you've always…”

" Quiet," he interrupted me, causing more tears to stream down my face, "Rose, it wasn't your fault, do you understand?”

" What? " I stammered.

" It wasn't your fault. The only person I blame is this guy. And I want a name," he warned.

That statement made my eyes widen. What does he want a name for? This matter was already settled, why turn something like this upside down?

" Dad, really, you don't have to," I pleaded as soon as we turned the corner of the fraternity house.

Before Christian could say anything, I shot him an irritated look. I hated him at that moment more than any other time. Why couldn't he just leave the matter buried like before?

My father stopped the car just behind my mother's car a few meters away from the fraternity house, from where a lively music was coming.

" Of course it do! I may have failed as a father in not letting my ten year old daughter win a damn game, and taunted her until she hit me with a beer bottle," he turned to me, holding my hand, "but if some jerk thinks he can lay a finger on my girl....”

" He knows he can't. Christian knocked him out for it, Liam got him kicked out of the fraternity he had just been accepted into, and Theo... well, he got us out of there fast enough so that the cops wouldn't catch us," I returned. “I had enough supporters, and two of them turned out to be your children, so we can say that the family was well represented. You don't have to risk getting in trouble with the police for something like this.”

My father turned back, looking at Christian for confirmation.

" Did you knock him out?”

" I didn't stay to find out, but until I left he hadn't gotten up off the ground," he confirmed, to my relief.

Everyone had already gotten out of my mother's car and was waiting for us to go to the entrance of the party. That was when my father decided that he was satisfied with the outcome of the story, opened the door, and left. I waited for Christian to get out, walking beside him.

" You shouldn't have told," I muttered, letting my father go ahead of me.

" I know it's a sore spot for you and I hate that it happened, but he deserved to know," Christian shrugged.

" Thanks for not telling him everything," I returned after a few seconds.

" Come on, Sky needs support now," he winked at me, making me hurry my steps to catch up with everyone.