Savage Me

Chapter 37: Get It Together

Merry Christmas.

I stared at Scout's text. He was obviously still not talking to me. He wished me a Merry Christmas, though. It was as cold as the snow outside.

"How are you finding the Greek life, Connie?"

Drew's fiancée was doing small talk with me. She wasn't all bad. She was actually pretty cool. I just wasn't in the mood to be chatty.

"Fine."

My brother shot me a look from across the dining table, making me roll my eyes. It probably took a lot of effort for him to convince Kate to spend Christmas with us, knowing how much she was close to her own family. Right, I should play nice.

I turned to Kate, and added, "It's better than I expected."

She smiled gratefully, probably thankful that I gave her a full sentence this time. "That's great. It's too bad you didn't end up in Zeta Theta. But hey, we'll still be sisters soon," she said, glancing at Drew.

He reached out to her and kissed the back of her hand, his eyes heart-shaped as he gazed at her. Ugh, could I barf all over the dinner table?

"Tell us about that sorority you joined," my brother insisted. "We didn't get to talk much about it last Thanksgiving."

"Oh, you mean the one I 'joined' because you forced me to?"

My tone was snarkier than I intended it to be. Shit, I was really in a bad mood. My tone didn't miss Drew because his face hardened. Shit, times two.

"You really think I could've forced you to do that?" he deadpanned.

"Didn't you?"

I did not fucking want to have this conversation in front of Kate and Dad, who even though he didn't give a shit, he was still Dad. I didn't even want to look at them.

Drew, on the other hand, looked hella pissed now. "What, you think I would've stopped paying for your education just because you didn't join an organization?"

Yes, I did. But I also sort of didn't.

Ugh, fuck. My mind was all over the place.

"I'm not hungry anymore," I declared, getting to my feet and turning to Kate. She looked worried. "Thank you for dinner. It was... lovely."

"You're welcome," she said, with a little smile.

She offered to cook dinner for us tonight, which saved me from slaving away in the kitchen for the first time in fucking forever. I was grateful, even though I wasn't in the mood to show it. God, she didn't deserve my shitty attitude.

I met her eyes, looking at her apologetically. And even though she didn't say anything, she gave me a look that said she understood.

Yeah, she was cool.

I nodded to her and escaped to my bedroom.

About an hour later, someone knocked on my door. I told them to come in, and Dad came into view. I was sitting on my bed, randomly scrolling on instagram. I went back to my phone, as I waited for him to say something.

"You need to talk to your brother. He's upset."

Ah, so that was why he was in my room. His precious son was upset.

"I'll talk to him," I mumbled. Even if he didn't tell me, I was planning on doing it, anyway. Drew didn't deserve my outburst earlier.

There was silence, and I continued to scroll on my phone. I hid my surprise as Dad moved further into my room and stood right beside my bed. At this point, I had no choice but to look up at him.