We'll Never Tell

Chapter One I saw Evelyn coming from a mile away. It was the scowl on her pretty face that caught my attention. She was known in our sorority house for her unpleasant demeanor, which had only gotten worse since her boyfriend up and dumped her at the beginning of the year, but even at a party like this, Evelyn let loose like the rest of us. So the fact that she was headed straight for me, looking as though someone had spit in her shot of tequila, had me alarmed. She held my gaze as she cut through the crowd of partygoers at the Zeta Omega Beta fraternity party and, curious, I started toward her. "Hey, Evelyn," I said loudly enough that she'd hear me over the pounding bass of the hip-hop that blared on the stereo. I was pretty sure I hadn't done anything to piss her off. We weren't close enough friends for that. "Great party, huh?" "Come with me." "Excu" She took me firmly by the arm and led me back in the direction from where she'd come. "What is it?" I asked. "Did I do something?" She didn't speak until she'd dragged me about fifty feet, to the entrance of the kitchen. "There." She pointed into the room. "Shandra. All. Over. Your. Man." My eyes searched frantically through the throng of guys and girls milling about. And then I got the shock of my life. There was Shandra James, dressed in a slinky, barely-there red dress. She had a hand on Henry's chest in an intimate gesture, and her smiling face was upturned to his. "Thought I'd let you know," Evelyn said. "I'd have a little chat with her if I were you. Before she steals your man like she did mine." "Uh-huh," I mumbled, feeling sick as Evelyn walked away. I didn't have the heart to tell her that I'd already had a talk with Shandra about my fiance just a couple of weeks before. About two weeks before that, it became obvious to me that Shandra was attracted to my man. The way she'd look at him when he walked into a room. How she'd try to get close to him at a party. Head down to the field to see him after a football game. And I'd already heard the rumors about her last year when she was a freshmanhow she went after guys for sport. The way she did with Evelyn's boyfriend. This year she was pledging my sororityAlpha Sigma Pi, Incorporated. I wasn't thrilled about it, but it was to be expected since she was a legacy. Her mother and aunts held high positions on the sorority's national board. Shandra had to know that Henry was my man, and for the most part I ignored her lustful looks at him, but when I found her down on the football field after a game, trying to get up close and personal with him, I knew I had to talk to her. I kept the talk upbeat rather than accusatory, even though I knew what she was up to. I impressed upon her that Henry was my longtime love and current fiance, and how much he meant to me. Shandra said she understood, and as far as I knew, she had heeded my warning. Until tonight, apparently. I was too far away to hear what they were saying, but even a deaf person could figure it out. Shandra was no doubt telling Henry how hot she thought he was, how much she wanted him. [read more]