Chapter 38

Lexi
Every player was given two tickets to each USC baseball game. Not surprisingly, if family or friends didn’t take them, the tickets were given out to ‘jock bunnies.’ Tonight, the Alpha Mus were packing the section behind the home team’s dugout.

Lexi volunteered to lead the way and ended up farthest from the aisle, sitting next to Cassidy. Lexi knew that David had been with Pam—they had a son, after all—and was sure he’d been with Tracy. But Cassidy confused her. She didn’t act like all the other girls who fawned over him. She also had some mystical power over David that made it so he couldn’t seem to refuse her. Lexi had yet to figure what it was.

Lexi reflected back on what had transpired earlier that evening. That was the first time she’d been included in the group of David’s closest confidants. To think, just over a year ago, David had thought she was the quintessential ‘mean girl.’ It had taken Lexi a lot of work to change his perception of her. To accomplish that, she’d had to make actual changes.

After what had happened with Christian and Alex, she had resolved to become a better person. What better role model for that could there be than David? Watching how he interacted with people, even when he thought others weren’t looking, had convinced her that David really was what he appeared to be—a great guy.

Observing him tonight with his inner circle, Lexi had been taken aback by how open everyone was. There was no doubt that David had needed a good kick in the status quo, and his uncle had given him that in spades. Lexi had waited for David to blow up when his uncle had pointed out how wrong hiding himself had been. She knew why he had done it and how much thought he’d put into it. David hadn’t just made a knee-jerk decision, and she had agreed with the why.

Looking back, Lexi was surprised that he’d fooled everyone for as long as he did. It just showed what a great actor he was. But to be told that he had to grow up and face who he was seemed harsh.

Her prior role model had been her father. Her dad had worked his way up to the point where he was now one of the most powerful men in Hollywood. She knew he would never have reacted as David had. If one of her father’s underlings had been that blunt, they would be looking for work by the end of the day. David hadn’t reacted that way at all. On the contrary, he had absorbed the body blow and given serious thought to what his uncle had actually said instead of losing his cool.

Lexi had seen from Tracy and Pam’s faces that they’d expected him to erupt, as had Lexi. Tracy had even jumped to his defense. Lexi wasn’t sure why he hadn’t defended himself as well, but somehow, she knew he had taken the right approach. With the clarity of hindsight, she had come to understand that if you created an environment where people were comfortable enough to tell you hard truths, you could achieve a better outcome. Lexi suspected that most of her father’s underlings had learned to say only what he wanted to hear.

For such an approach to work, it was crucial to know that the person delivering the honest news really did have your back. You had to absolutely know that their only goal was to help.

She had heard David talk about circles of trust in passing before. Now she wanted to learn more about them. Lexi decided she would call David’s uncle to see if he would help her understand how they worked. Her most important takeaway from the evening’s discussion was that you shouldn’t treat everyone the same. She hadn’t consciously thought about it in those terms, but it made sense.

What Lexi wanted after that meeting was to figure out how she could help David achieve his goals of becoming the starting quarterback at USC and getting his football scholarship.

Lexi was brought out of her thoughts when Cassidy leaned around her so she could talk to the Alpha Mu sitting next to Lexi.

“Hey, Milena. What exactly happened last night?”

“After you left, David wanted to get in some batting practice; he let me come watch. We were interrupted when Crystal called. She said that her boyfriend was getting into a fight with the Deltas. If it had been any other house, I would have ignored her,” Milena shared.

“What’s wrong with the Deltas?” Lexi asked.

“It’s been taken over by the rugby team. They like to fight and have a bad reputation. Crystal has put the word out that they’re to be blackballed by all the sororities,” Milena explained.

“Did you see what happened?” Cassidy asked.

“No. David made me stay in the car. The Deltas were fighting with everyone, so I focused on getting our girls out of harm’s way.”

One of the other Alpha Mus chimed in.

“They were serving vodka shots after they ran out of tequila. My ex told me that whenever he drank vodka, he either got arrested or got into a fight. It looked like that was true last night. I heard the police had to come break up the party.”

“What happened to David?” Cassidy asked.

One of the other Alpha Mus leaned forward so she could talk.

“I heard that David jumped into the middle of it and saved Matt by taking on three guys who had ganged up on Matt. The problem was that when they got back to the car, the guy he saved made Crystal leave David behind.

“Crystal said she was amazed when he took down two of the biggest Deltas and then handled Silas Kemp, who’s the meanest one of the bunch, to save her boyfriend. I heard that David broke Silas’s nose. He’s put the word out that he’ll be looking David up, but Crystal said she doubted David has anything to worry about after watching his kung-fu-like moves.”

“What’s this guy look like?” Cassidy asked.

“I have a picture from when we went to their house for a party,” Milena said as she pulled out her phone and flipped through her pics. When she found it, she enlarged the picture and handed it to Cassidy. “He’s the one on the right.”

“Is it okay if I send this to my phone?” Cassidy asked.

“Sure. Why do you want it?” Milena asked.

“I plan to have a talk with him,” Cassidy said seriously. “Does he live in the house?”

“Yeah. Second floor, last door on the right,” the girl who leaned in shared.

“You slut! We were told not to go upstairs with them,” Milena scolded.

“It wasn’t like that. I cut my hand on a piece of glass, and he gave me a Band-Aid.”

“Yeah, right,” the other one chimed in.

Another Alpha Mu, who was sitting behind them eavesdropping, tapped Lexi on the shoulder.

“I’ve been trying to get David to pick me after a game. Is he worth the effort?”

Lexi blushed.

“You would think he was big all over,” Cassidy shared as she held up her hand and wiggled her pinky.