I’m In Love With My Brother’s Best Friend?! – Episode 04
Brent stood beside Maddy while his attention remained fixed on Kaitlyn. She looked lighter without him, a truth that injured his pride more than any insult could have. Every admiring glance she received felt like theft. When someone mentioned Cole Hart again, Brent’s jealousy settled into a cold and ugly purpose.
For years he had pretended patience whenever Kaitlyn said she was not ready for sex. He had treated that patience like an investment and her virginity like a promised return. Now he convinced himself that Cole was about to claim what belonged to him. The belief required him to ignore the simplest truth: Kaitlyn had never owed either man her body.
He drew Lydia and Nat aside and murmured his plan over the music. The women exchanged a glance before agreeing, motivated by loyalty to Maddy and the pleasure of humiliating an outsider. One of them concealed something in her hand while the other chose a brightly colored cup from the drinks table. Brent watched with a satisfied smile.
Kaitlyn remained unaware as the two women approached. Lydia introduced herself with easy warmth and presented Nat as her closest friend. Their friendliness soothed the loneliness of arriving on campus without knowing anyone. After the cruelty of the morning, Kaitlyn wanted to believe college could still offer her a fresh beginning.
Nat placed a drink in her hand and proposed a toast to new friends. Kaitlyn hesitated, remembering she had never been comfortable at crowded parties, but refusing felt needlessly suspicious. She lifted the cup with theirs. The sweet punch hid any unfamiliar taste.
A moment later, someone bumped Kaitlyn’s arm in the crush of bodies. The apology came quickly, accompanied by laughter and an apparently concerned touch. Kaitlyn never saw the practiced movement over her cup or the look exchanged with Brent. She simply wiped a splash from her wrist and assured everyone that accidents happened.
Lydia encouraged her to finish the drink while students chanted around them. Kaitlyn took several swallows, eager not to appear timid on her first night. The room’s energy briefly carried her along. She danced, laughed, and imagined she might someday remember the evening without thinking of Brent at all.
Brent observed from a distance as the plan took effect. His gaze never left her glass. Maddy asked what he was doing, but he told her not to worry and kept watching. Whatever affection he had once claimed to feel had curdled into a desire for control.
Within minutes, heat crept beneath Kaitlyn’s skin. The music seemed to recede and surge unpredictably, as if the room were breathing around her. She blinked at the lights, but their colors smeared across her vision. She had consumed too little alcohol to feel so disoriented.
“Are you okay?” Lydia asked, performing concern with convincing precision. Kaitlyn pressed a hand to her temple and said she felt dizzy. Nat suggested it was merely the excitement of the party. Neither offered to take her somewhere safe or call for help.
Across campus, Cole sat at the kitchen table with an open textbook. He had reread the same paragraph until the words lost meaning. Every attempt to concentrate ended with the image of Kaitlyn in her green dress, challenging him to admit why he wanted her covered.
He told himself his unease came from responsibility. She was an inexperienced freshman at a party full of strangers, and Ryan would expect him to watch out for her. That explanation might have worked if worry were the only thing he felt. It did not account for the jealousy that tightened his chest whenever he imagined another man approaching her.
Cole’s phone vibrated against the table. A classmate at the party had sent a short, urgent message: Kaitlyn looked wrong, and someone might have tampered with her drink. The meaning struck with such force that Cole was on his feet before he reached the final word. His chair crashed backward onto the floor.
He called Kaitlyn, but the phone rang unanswered. A second attempt went straight to voicemail beneath the pounding in his ears. Cole grabbed his keys and ran, abandoning his books and the careful boundaries he had tried to build. Nothing mattered except reaching her before whoever had drugged her could act.
Back at the party, Kaitlyn gripped the wall for support. Sweat gathered along her hairline although cool air blew through an open window. She asked Lydia for water, struggling to shape the words. Lydia pointed vaguely toward the hallway and told her the bathroom was the second door on the left.
Kaitlyn thanked her and began moving through the crowd alone. Each step demanded concentration. Faces blurred, laughter warped, and the floor seemed to shift beneath her shoes. She sensed that something was terribly wrong, but her thoughts slipped apart before she could decide whom to trust.
Brent detached himself from the drinks table. Maddy caught his arm and demanded an explanation, but he pulled free. His eyes followed Kaitlyn into the hallway with a focus that made even Maddy uneasy. Then he went after her.
Cole drove across campus with both hands clenched around the wheel. Guilt attacked him with every red light. He should have accompanied her, should have ignored the danger of his feelings, should never have let a petty argument send her into an unfamiliar party alone.
Kaitlyn reached the bathroom and locked herself inside. She splashed cold water over her face, but the reflection in the mirror remained pale and unfocused. Somewhere beyond the door, footsteps entered the hallway. She tried to steady her breathing, unaware that the man approaching was the last person she wanted to see.
Cole accelerated toward the fraternity house while Brent stopped outside the bathroom. One man was racing to protect Kaitlyn; the other believed the drug in her body had already made her defenseless. Between them stood a locked door, a crowded party, and only minutes before the danger became irreversible.