Ready or Not?

CARTER

I tilted the beer bottle to my mouth and took a long swig of the amber liquid, ignoring the way female eyes from across the room, followed my every movement.

I was in my Sophomore year at Elmwood University which was turning out to be completely different from my freshman year.

I wasn’t the least bit interested in these girls this year. They only saw what was on the surface. Carter DeVisser- only living child of Billionaire Connor DeVisser and his wife Marie, former Victoria Secret Angel. Everyone knew me as the star footballer and even though I was completely unapproachable, most girls took that as a challenge. But one glare from me, had them all running in the other direction. It didn’t stop them from looking though, which irritated the hell out of me when I was trying to blend in, like I was doing now.

It wasn’t that I didn’t love women or like looking at them. I did. Just not the vapid types that constantly came knocking on our dorm or showing up after matches hoping to get lucky. I’m sure my bank account was a big motivator for them as well.

This party at the Mu Omega Psi Sorority house was turning out to be a waste of my time. I’d shown up with some of the other guys from the football team as my cover. But I wasn’t here to have a good time. Or listen to my team mate, Tyler, drone on and on about the girls on his hook up list for the year.

I was here to find my sister’s killer.

Caroline DeVisser had been two years older than me and died last year when she was attacked on campus on her way back from cheer leading practice. An autopsy confirmed that she was sexually assaulted and then died by asphyxiation. They never caught her killer. In fact, the University had no leads on who it could possibly be as there were no cameras in the area she was found or any evidence left at the scene of the crime.

Guilt had swamped me because Caro had left me a message asking me to meet her for dinner that night. But I had been in my freshman year, busy with my new friends and never responded to her message or her calls, thinking I’d call her back when I had the time. But I never did and the next day, her body was found by students in the early morning on their way to the gym.

Just like last year, there were rumours about girls being attacked around campus. Yet no one could seem to identify who it was even though security was beefed up.

That was when I decided to take matters into my own hands. Not that anyone would know it.

No one questioned me if I was somewhere I wasn’t supposed to be. There weren’t any consequences for someone with my last name. That made me untouchable. It was going to be my super power.

I finished my beer and was about to call it a night when I spotted a guy popping a pill from his pocket and dropping it into a red plastic cup before handing it to a girl at his back who was engrossed in a conversation with her friend and had no idea what she’d just been handed.

She didn’t hesitate but downed most her drink in one go. A few minutes later, when she started walking, stumbling, two of the guys put her arm over a shoulder and helped her out the door.

“I’m gonna call it a night, boys.” I set the empty bottle on the table in front of us to join the pile and swiped a hand through my hair. I straightened to my full six foot three height before following the guys out dodging the outstretched arms that tried to hug me or pull me in for conversation. Instead I shook my head and walked purposefully out the door.

It was much quieter outside. Cooler too. I couldn’t help taking a deep breath and let the adrenaline pump through my veins. I had to admit that there was something about the chase. About taking these guys down, that was an aphrodisiac to me.

Tonight I was dressed in black jeans and tee shirt and a black hoodie was thrown over it that covered the easily identifiable tattoos trailing up my forearm and wrapped around my biceps. The black clothing made it easier to blend into the shadows.

I hung back a bit so the guys I was following wouldn’t spot me, and when they turned down the street and into a dark area, I knew what their intention was.

I pulled the ghost face mask from my back pocket slipping it on and tugging up my hoodie and followed them.