Caught! Pt. 12

Social Media

When Jon walked into the fraternity, one of the brothers waved him over. "You've got to see this," he said, grinning. The cell phone screen displayed a video that showed Andrew Lodge strike Jon, and everything that happened next.

Lodge returned from the hospital with big bandages over his broken nose. He had two temporary plastic teeth that weren't the right size or color. Someone managed to sneak a photo and post it to social media. Both the photo and video were copied and forwarded all over campus, and by the end of the day most of the students saw both. The photo came with an interesting caption: Courtesy of The Dentist of Delta Delta Delta. From then on, Jon's nickname was The Dentist.

There were plenty of fraternity brothers who thought Lodge was a rich, entitled snob - which was absolutely true - but there were others who thought Jon had violated some unwritten rules. Lodge came from a rich, powerful family; that was why he consistently got away with bad behavior that got ordinary guys in trouble. A bully like Lodge didn't have friends; instead, he had toadies. They gathered in Lodge's room and agreed that they needed to put Jon in his place.

Jon was a smart guy who realized that Lodge and his entourage were surely plotting against him. They didn't know Jon was wealthier than all of them combined. Before leaving home, Jon's father gave him some good advice: Don't let others know he had money. "Money attracts the wrong kind of people," his father said, advising him to avoid displays of wealth.

Jon arrived on campus with the kind of possessions you'd expect of a guy from the middle class. He had a nice car, but it wasn't new or fancy; it certainly wasn't the kind of chick magnet driven by Lodge the other rich guys. He had a nice laptop, cellphone, and wardrobe, but nothing extravagant. He'd removed a lot of content from his social media so it didn't show photographs of vacations to exotic places. It had worked; no one suspected Jon was the son of one of the richest men in North America.

Jon had to watch his back. But he also wanted to do everything he could to let Lodge know he wasn't intimidated. He found himself looking at the wolf's head mounted on the wall, and it gave him an idea. That day he went to the art supply section of the campus bookstore, where he bought some sandpaper and epoxy. That night, while everyone was asleep, Jon used the sandpaper to clean every speck of blood from the teeth he'd knocked loose. He mixed up a small batch of epoxy and sneaked downstairs. There, he glued the teeth to the front of the wolf's snarling fangs.

It looked very, very weird - as though this wild animal had somehow grown two human teeth. The epoxy cured by the next morning, but no one noticed Willie the Wolf's strange new smile. The day came and went, and Jon was a bit disappointed. The whole point of Jon's little art project was to humiliate Lodge in a new way.

But the day was nice otherwise. Leah asked him to come for a visit, which they both knew meant she wanted to have sex. And that's just what Jon gave her. Once again, Leah made a lot of noise in bed, and Jon felt a bit conspicuous as he walked out of the sorority.

The next morning, one of the fraternity brothers finally spotted Jon's dental work on the wolf. Jon had tucked the upper part of both teeth beneath the wolf's upper lip, making it seem like they belonged there. The frat brother pointed the teeth out to other guys immediately, and everybody knew it had to be the work of The Dentist of Delta Delta Delta. Photos were on the web within minutes.

Lodge was one of the last of the brothers to see Jon's work. He tried to pry the teeth loose, but they were glued so securely Lodge couldn't remove them without destroying the trophy. He was outraged, gathering his toadies together to make plans to show that little peasant the consequences of challenging an aristocrat.

"Nice dental work on the wolf, Major," several brothers said.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Jon replied, an answer that invariably triggered boisterous laughter. They hate Lodge, Jon thought. How has he gotten away with so much crap for such a long time? Because Jon's family was so rich, and Jon was the kind of guy who always followed the rules, he hadn't yet learned that most rules don't apply to rich and powerful people. But Lodge knew. He'd been breaking rules for his entire life, and his parents had ensured that he never suffered consequences.

The photo and video of Lodge made quite an impact on the sisters at Sigma Phi. By now most of them had heard about the way Jon rescued their sister Leah from the clutches of a predator. They knew he'd fought with Lodge. They'd heard about Noelle. But it was an abstraction - something they knew but didn't understand.

Seeing the extensive damage done to Lodge's face clarified the issue for everyone. Damn. That little freshman upstart had big, heavy balls. The video made a particularly powerful impact on Margeaux Laurent. She'd been there when Jon returned the drunken Leah to the safety of the sorority. He was funny. He was handsome. And that video showed that he had big, heavy balls. She watched it over and over. It made her heart go pitter pat.

It turned out that Margeaux had been searching for a guy with balls. She hadn't been laid since arriving on campus the previous fall. It wasn't because she wasn't trying. She'd had dates with a handful of young men who seemed to have potential. But she soon realized that they were all boys dressed in men's clothing. Jon was the real deal. He possessed an actual backbone. As Margeaux admired the photo of Jon's amateur dentistry, she decided that she would do whatever it took to get his attention. Margeaux was one of the most beautiful coeds on campus, and she felt confident that Jon would be her boyfriend soon.

But then she discovered it wasn't possible. Margeaux was walking down the hall to her room. The door to one room was open, and several sisters were inside, giggling. Margeaux walked to the doorway and realized what was happening. Leah's room was next door, and it was especially easy to hear the loud moans and groans of lovemaking through the thin walls.

"What's going on?" Margeaux asked.

"Can't you tell? Leah's got a boyfriend. From the sounds of it, he's a keeper," one girl said.

Indeed. Leah's sexy sounds made it obvious that whoever was in there with her knew what he was doing. Margeaux felt it was wrong to eavesdrop on a sorority sister like this, but she couldn't pull herself away.

"Who's her boyfriend?" she asked.

"Jon Major. Who else?" a girl replied.

Of course. The damsel in distress. The knight in shining armor. It made perfect sense that Leah and Jon would become a couple. It also made perfect sense that Jon was the kind of lover who could pleasure a woman well enough to inspire the sounds that came through the wall. Amateur dentistry was not his only talent.

"Leah sounds like she's having a fit," one sister said.

"Yeah. And a tight one, too," another said.

The girls giggled. "What is Jon doing to Leah?" one sister asked.

I wish he was doing it to me, Margeaux thought. She felt jealousy. Envy. Margeaux had no reason to dislike Leah; she was actually happy for her. But she felt disappointed that the man she wanted for herself was taken.

It was hard to know specifically what was happening in the room next door, but then Leah called out in a way that could only mean she was having an orgasm. A big one. In the silence that followed, one of the sisters said it was time to go. "No, the show is just starting," said the girl who lived in that room. "Give Jon a few minutes. There will be a sequel, and it will be better than the first time," she said.

Some of the girls opted to stay to hear what would happen next, but Margeaux went back to her room. She felt lonelier than at any time since starting college. When she got back to her room she closed the door behind her and stripped out of her clothing. Margeaux got her vibrator and climbed into bed. Hello again, lover, she thought. Let's have some me time.

She imagined it was her in that room instead of Leah. She imagined Jon was doing to Margeaux whatever it was that he did so skillfully to Leah. It was a fantasy that she wished could be real, but Margeaux would never try to steal another girl's boyfriend. She couldn't help but wish something would happen that would cause the couple to split up, but she knew that was petty. Leah was lucky. Good for her. If Margeaux couldn't have Jon, it was fine that he was with the girl he'd saved from an experienced predator.

Margeaux came quickly and put the vibrator away. She got out her cellphone and took another look at the video showing Jon knocking out Lodge's teeth. He needs more than a good beating, Margeaux thought. Somebody needs to figure out a way to knock him off his pedestal.

That's what she was thinking as she began falling asleep. But then she had a thought so shocking it jolted her wide awake. She knew what to do. Jon had knocked Lodge down. She would make sure he never got back up.

XXXXXXXXXXX

The brothers of Delta could talk about nothing but Jon, The Dentist. Who was that guy? What was his deal? What kind of freshman knocks the teeth out of the mouth of his fraternity president, then uses them to improve on the work of the taxidermist who produced Willie the Wolf trophy on the fraternity wall? Once, when Jon found himself walking past Lodge, he faked a sudden move that caused Lodge to jump away. Lodge wanted to punch Jon again, but he didn't dare give Jon an excuse for removing a few more teeth. Lodge told one of his toadies that he was thinking about filing a police complaint against Jon.

"Are you out of your mind?" the toady asked. "There was a room full of witnesses who saw what happened. There was a video. Think about it. Jon walked in the door, and you threatened to kick his ass. Then, you punched him.

"All he did was defend himself. If you complain to the police, you're the one who'll get charged with assault. I don't think that will help you when you are applying to law schools. You're lucky nobody called the police when it happened. If that had happened, you'd have a lot more to worry about than a broken nose and a dentist bill."

What happened next was something the brothers came to call The Big Ka-Boom.

As Jon's fraternity brothers looked for clues to explain his behavior, one of them noticed something interesting about his social media. Jon had eliminated all the blatant evidence of his family's wealth, but he hadn't thought to conceal the fact that one of his online friends was his father. Clicking on that link revealed that William Major was CEO and majority owner of some corporation with the boring-sounding name Major Fasteners, Inc. But a few more clicks revealed that the corporation was a global giant, and that Jon's father ranked 27th on the Bloomberg list of the world's wealthiest individuals.

Ka Boom.

It took about a nanosecond for the news to reach Lodge, and not much longer for most of the other students. Instantly, Lodge was terrified. He'd gotten away with so much because he knew ordinary rules of behavior did not apply to rich and powerful people. But he also knew that in a conflict between two rich people, the richer one always won. Jon's father was orders of magnitude richer and more powerful than Lodge's dad. Lodge had already discovered that Jon could beat him in a fair fight. It was infinitely more horrifying that Jon would win any unfair contest, too.

Lodge's toadies immediately informed him that they would do nothing against Jon. "You're on your own with this guy," one said. Lodge spent much of the next few days hiding in his room. It took a while for him to gather his wits, but he ultimately decided that he wasn't in any actual danger as long as he avoided all conflict with Jon. He would do something he'd never done - back down. He didn't like it, but Lodge saw that the alternative was beyond horrible. He wouldn't even do anything about those damn teeth Jon glued in the middle of the wolf trophy's snarl.

On that Friday the fraternity sponsored another one of its periodic parties. Jon planned to attend just so he could keep a close watch on Lodge, making sure he didn't get a chance to prey on any more drunk freshmen coeds. Jon wasn't pleased that the whole campus was gossiping about his family's wealth. Everybody was staring at him when they thought he wasn't looking. They were asking themselves why Jon drove such an ordinary car, when he could afford the hottest supercars on the planet. They wondered why he wore such ordinary clothes.

It was obvious to some students. "He's trying to impersonate a normal dude," one of the frat brothers said. "He wants everybody to treat him like a normal dude. There's no way that's going to happen now. Ah, the best laid plans of mice and men and multibillionaires often go awry."

Friday morning Jon got a call from Margeaux. "Could you come over here, please?" she asked. "I need a favor." Jon wondered if the favor had anything to do with money. One of the reasons he'd hoped his wealth would go unnoticed was that he didn't want to get an unending series of requests for money. It's starting already, he thought to himself as he walked toward Sigma Phi.

He could not have been more wrong. Margeaux asked him to close the door behind him. "Jon, I need you to stay away from your frat party Friday night. We're making some plans, and it will ruin them if you don't stay away."

That made no sense. "If I'm not there, that asshole Lodge will feel like it will be open season on drunk coeds. Nobody else will stop him. I have to be there."

"No Jon, you do not. You are being very gallant, and I think it's adorable, but you absolutely, positively must stay away. You can come over here and hide. You can visit with Leah. But you can't be in that room," Margeaux said.

"Are we getting to the part where you explain what's going on here?" Jon asked.

So she explained. Jon listened. He asked a few questions. She answered. When it was over Jon looked at Margeaux and realized she wasn't anything like he'd expected. Margeaux's ambition was to be a model - a supermodel, actually - and she looked exactly how you'd expect. Perfect hair, makeup, wardrobe. Perfect body. The face of a goddess. It was surprising to learn she had the mind of a rocket scientist.

"That sounds like something out of a James Bond movie," he said.

"I was going for more of a Wonder Woman vibe," she said.

It sounded like something that would actually work. Margeaux had recruited half the members of the sorority to help with her little scheme, and Jon didn't see any reason to think they wouldn't succeed.

Margeaux was an extraordinarily beautiful woman. Members of Jon's frat had the unfortunate habit of referring to her as "the hottest piece of ass on campus." Being close to her for this long made Jon powerfully aware of how attractive she was. After a long moment, Jon said "You are more than just a pretty face."

It wasn't what Margeaux expected him to say. "Thank you, Jon. So are you."

Jon laughed. "Nobody's ever called me a pretty face."

"I know," Margeaux said. "They call you the Dentist of Delta Delta Delta. Now, THAT sounds like something out of a James Bond movie."

They both laughed. This is a very impressive young woman, Jon thought. I wish he didn't have a girlfriend, Margeaux thought. "One thing about action movies," Jon said. "They always involve danger. You could get hurt. You are taking a big risk, going into Lodge's room alone."

"I'll have a dozen of my sorority sisters nearby. If anything happens, I'll scream my head off, and they'll bust down that door."

"That must be the part of the movie with amazon warriors," Jon said.

Margeaux laughed. "Besides, I'll be carrying this," she said, holding up a tiny canister of tear gas. "Say hello to my little friend." She stuffed the tear gas into her bra. "He'll never be far from my heart."

Jon shook his head and smiled at Margeaux. "It seems you can take care of yourself. OK, I'll stay away Friday. My threatening presence will not be a factor when you go to Lodge and make him an offer he can't refuse." This final movie reference got them both laughing like old buddies sharing jokes. Jon felt ashamed of himself for thinking Margeaux wanted money from him.

"I'd like to be your friend," Jon said.

Margeaux was flattered. And, again, jealous of Leah. "I'd like that, too," she said.

Jon held out his hand, and Margeaux shook it.

All that remained was for the party to begin Friday.

XXXXXXXXXX

One by one, members of Sigma Rho sorority arrived at the Delta house. The parties usually attracted a lot more men than women, so this was a nice development. It was especially nice because these particular coeds were part of a clique known as The Fashionistas. They were particularly interested in hair, makeup, designer clothing, shoes, shoes, shoes, handbags, and shoes. Margeaux Laurent was the leader of the clique. Margeaux's ambition was to be a professional model, and she often looked as if she'd just stepped out of the pages of a fashion magazine.

More than a dozen of the Fashionistas were at the party, chatting up the boys and doing their best to look bored. Then Margeaux arrived. It appeared that she'd been drinking before getting to the party. Her eyes were droopy, her speech was a bit slurred, and she smelled like she'd just toured a distillery.

One of the Fashionistas gave Margeaux a glass that looked like it contained some kind of cocktail, but it contained no alcohol. She took big gulps as she wandered around the room in a seemingly random pattern that somehow ended with her standing next to Andrew Lodge. Lodge thought she looked absolutely luscious and agreeably drunk. He looked around the room and saw that Jon wasn't there. Good. There was no one to prevent him from luring Margeaux to his room.

"You aren't drinking beer?" Lodge asked, pointing to her drink.

"If God had wanted me to drink beer, She would not have invented vodka," Margeaux said, giggling.

This is almost too easy, Lodge thought. "If you'd like a refill, we've got some vodka in the kitchen," he said.

"Well . . . actually . . . I was wondering if anybody here has anything stronger," Margeaux said in a conspiratorial whisper.

Oh my. "Do you happen to like cocaine?" Lodge said.

"Coke is my favorite," Margeaux said.

"You are in luck," Lodge said. "A fresh shipment arrived this morning."

"Oh, goody!" she said, doing her best to giggle like a bimbo.

"Would you care to step into my office?" Lodge asked.

"Lead the way," Margeaux said, taking his arm as if she needed to steady herself. In reality, she hadn't had a drop to drink. She'd gargled with vodka and applied it like perfume to make it seem she was hammered. Despite appearances, she was completely sober.

Lodge led her to his room and locked the door. Margeaux saw that it had a simple deadbolt that could be unlocked with a twist. She plopped down clumsily in a chair that just happened to give her a good view of every corner of the room. Margeaux scanned the area, trying to make it appear that she was too drunk to sit still. She watched carefully as Lodge removed an ornate wooden box from a high shelf. The box was right next to a nice bust of Buddha. Lodge picked up the bust and did something to it. That was odd. Lodge was not the kind of person who would be interested in a religion as peaceful and contemplative as Buddhism. There was something suspicious about that bust.

"Here we go," Lodge said, opening the box. Margeaux focused her attention on the contents. It was full of all kinds of drugs. There was a bag of about a dozen pills that appeared to be mollies. Lodge had a bag of weed, which was not a big deal because it was legal. But there was a huge bag of cocaine. There was so much that some people might suspect Lodge was a dealer. Margeaux figured he was just a pig with too much money. He bought coke in bulk to ensure that he never ran out.