Greek Life Middleman

The roommate rolled his eyes and started for his room, pointing to his camping gear in the corner. "Take the 'nocs out of my travel pack if you want and scout out the area. I'm going back to CoD." Roger went back into his room and Bran lifted Toby off his chest and held him in the air above his face.

"How the fuck do I get you home?"

Toby barked and wagged his tail obliviously.

- Pi Gamma Epsilon Fraternity House -

Bran thought long and hard about what he was about to do. He didn't know what was going to happen to Toby if he left him with these guys. Sure, there were a lot of good guys in the fraternity, but there were a lot more that he thought were cunts and had told them several times what he thought about them.

Still, this was a better bet that keeping the dog at his own house and having the police show up to get stolen property and arrest him. He'd tried to return the dog, but after taking Roger's binoculars and parking across the street from the entrance of the cul-de-sac to see if anyone was outside, he'd found five sisters waiting in the front yard. They looked like they were out for blood.

So, in lieu of dumping Toby in the street and hoping he didn't get plastered across the street by someone's tires, he was here at the Pi Gamma Epsilon chapter house to find a better way to get him back where he belonged.

Against his better judgment, Bran rang the doorbell and waited to be let in.

The door swung open to reveal his brother, Daniel, standing in front of him with a dumbfounded look on his face.

"No tapes?" he asked, ignoring the fact that Bran could even be here at all except to bring back the fraternity's dirty laundry.

"No," Bran grunted, still waiting to be let in. "You threw me to the lions, you stupid asshole."

"Fucking weak, Bran. I thought you'd pull through for us on this one." He finally stepped out of the way and let Bran in, closing the door behind him. Bran walked through the foyer and found the living room filled with fraternity brothers. All eyes turned to him as Daniel came through with him.

"The fuck is that?" one of the brothers asked.

"Not the tapes we asked for," Daniel snorted derisively, going into the kitchen.

A collective groan in disappointment resounded through the room as a dozen fraternity brothers blamed him for not coming through on a task he'd been unprepared to complete in the first place.

"Fuck every one of you. You sandbagged me like I was a fucking middleschooler," Bran retorted. Toby barked in agreement with his sentiment and one of the brothers furrowed his brow at the little terrier.

"Is that the sorority dog?" He stood up and walked over to Bran to examine Toby. "Holy shit, it is! Fuck the tapes, we struck gold!"

Suddenly, the room came to life with a roar in approval and Bran was turned into a hero in less than thirty seconds. Vodka came out and Bran was given a few celebratory shots, holding Toby all the while and not handing him over to any of the brothers for fear of his safety.

An hour later, Bran was sitting on the couch with half the active fraternity brothers in the house, crowded into the living room like football players in a locker room. President Glen Carpenter shook Bran's hand and lauded him as a hero before going back to talking about whatever feud there was between Pi Gamma Epsilon and Theta Kappa Kappa.

"As long as we have their dog, they can't touch us. And it goes without saying that this year, they'll have to forfeit the ninety-seventh annual war games and hand over the Caldwell Crown." With that, a roar so loud arose that Bran lowered his head to avoid it and Toby tucked his tail between his legs in fright.

Apparently, whatever the crown was, it was fought over in an annual competition between the fraternity and the sorority, and had been going on for about a hundred years. Bran didn't really care. He just wanted to get Toby home and make sure the cops didn't come to his house with a warrant.

"So can I just leave him here with you guys then? Because I don't want the cops coming to my house thinking I stole him. It was an accident, and I'm not going back up there to get fucked over again like I did the first time." Bran watched Glen smirk.

"Sure. Just toss him in the laundry room and we'll take care of him."

"What? No," Bran said. "I've seen your laundry room. Fuck that noise."

Glen raised his eyebrows in confusion. "Then where do you want us to put him? Up in the attic? Our backyard isn't fenced in."

"If you're not gonna take care of him, I'm not gonna hand him over."

"What makes you think you can just walk out of here with that dog?" Daniel asked, as if Bran was about to get the shit kicked out of him if he tried to leave with Toby in hand.

Bran stood up and pulled out his phone. "If you stop me, Danny, I'll call the cops and tell them you did it. We're both Fletchers. The sisters couldn't tell the difference between me and

you."

"It'd be just like you to fuck me over, Bran," Daniel snapped as the younger brother left with Toby.

"Whatever."

- Theta Kappa Kappa Sorority House -

Karen felt a little pang of regret hit her in the center of her chest as Tara came downstairs in Daisy Dukes and a top that exposed all of her toned, tanned midriff. It wasn't hard to see her as the country bombshell that she really was; down past the overalls she usually wore around campus.

She was a simple girl, not dumb, just kind of airheaded. And damn was she hot. Karen ushered the non-officers out of the living room and off the porch so she and the other higher-ups in the sorority could speak with Tara alone before she left for what equated to Hell.

Helen fixed Tara's lipstick and stood back so the other five girls in the room could survey the blonde and give their approval. Tara flushed bright red at their scrutiny, but it was short-lived as they each gave her encouragement and hugged her, wishing her good luck.

"Are you sure you're okay with this?" Karen asked one last time.

Tara nodded and set her eyes with a determined look. "I gotta do it, for y'all. For Toby."

"If anything happens over there that you're not comfortable with. Or, God forbid, someone try to rape you, call the police. Forget about us, you hide in a bathroom or something and call the police."

"Hey," Tara said in her own defense. "Y'all don't know where I grew up. I ain't no delicate flower like y'all think I am. I can give a good smack when I need to." She held a fist up and grabbed her bicep to show them all she was strong enough to take care of herself.

It gave Karen a little bit of relief to see Tara ready to do the unthinkable. They all wished her well and sent Tara off to her car without much ceremony and with a lot of hope for the best. With any luck, she'd come back with Toby and have the whole thing over and done with tonight. Karen shivered at the thought of having Tara stay overnight at that place.

- Bran's House -

Bran looked at his phone to check who he'd gotten a text message from and was actually surprised to see it was his brother. He unlocked his phone and read "thanks bro!" on the screen. Confused, he asked what it was about and Daniel just told him to come over to the fraternity house.

Bran was at a loss, but decided it couldn't hurt to go. He left Toby with Roger, locked up, and drove over the fraternity house. There, he found all the brothers he had been with earlier that day celebrating and congratulating Daniel for something.

Daniel stood up as soon as he saw Bran and threw his arms around him, lifting his younger brother off the ground.

"Dude, you fucking rock! Holy shit!"

"What?" was all Bran could muster for his brother. This was exactly the opposite how things had gone just eight hours earlier. What the fuck had happened in eight hours that would turn Daniel from the biggest cunt Bran knew into the jolliest man alive? Fuck, the last time they'd actually hugged was when their uncle had died before Christmas three years ago. This was just bizarre.

"Bran, dude, holy shit. You will not believe what just happened. Oh my god!" Daniel was ecstatic. He bear hugged Bran again and threw his fists up in the air.

"What happened, Daniel?" Bran bit the bait.

"You will not believe it. Okay, so you know how you've got the dog Theta Kappa Kappa wants back?"

"Yeah?" the younger brother replied warily.

"Well, this girl came over earlier, and she wanted to talk with Fletcher alone. Holy shit this girl was hot. Like, Kate Upton hot. She had fuckin' legs longer than dad's Jag. So, she wanted to talk to Fletcher alone, and seeing as I'm the only Fletcher here, we go out back and she says she's here to negotiate..." He held up finger quotes for the word negotiate. "...for the dog's return. So we went upstairs and negotiated for like an hour. And you know what? I popped her fuckin' cherry! She's like the hottest girl I've ever seen and I'm the first guy to fuck her! And it's all thanks to you little bro!"

Daniel gave Bran a congratulatory slap on the shoulder and grinned from ear to ear.

"You..." Bran was at a loss for words. "But I have Toby. What the fuck did you tell her?"

"Well, she thought I had the dog. So after we were done - this is the best part - after we get done, she asked for it back and I told her I didn't have any clue where it was. Bran, she thought I was you! I fucked the shit out of the hottest girl at the University and we get to keep the dog!"

"Daniel, that's not cool," Bran said, unimpressed by his brother's antics.

Daniel ignored it like it was nothing and then lit up again. "Oh, dude, I almost forgot the best part! After I broke the bad news to her about their dog, she started crying. And I was like, aw fuck, now there's this crying babe in my room, this is gonna fucking go on forever. So, I got all her clothes and threw 'em right out the fucking window and was like, hey bitch, gtfo. And she just fuckin' ran out in her underwear! It was fucking hilarious!"

It took Daniel a minute to stop laughing, as well as most of the fraternity around him. Apparently, being a lying dick was celebrated here. Daniel continued. "Whew! It's been like the best fucking night of my life, bro. And it's all thanks to you!"

He raised his hand for a brotherly high-five.

Bran blinked one to assess the situation and a moment of clarity overcame him. Bran rammed his foot between Daniel's legs and watched his brother drop to his knees like an empty sack. Half the fraternity leapt to his defense, but Bran grabbed his older brother by the collar and glared across the room.

"BADGE, motherfuckers! You want me to call my dad or my uncle Jerry and tell him that his fraternity turned to shit two generations after he left? Step right the fuck off; this is a family matter." That was enough to get over thirty grown men to back down without one word in protest. For all their faults, at least they respected matters that were meant to be private and left things to the respective parties to be hashed out by themselves.

Bran hauled Daniel out the front door and threw him onto the lawn. Daniel got to his feet and slugged Bran across the face. Bran punched him in the jaw and Daniel staggered to the ground, still trying to recover from the cheap kick in the crotch from just before. Bran kicked Daniel in the ribs and finally let him have it.

"What the actual fuck is wrong with you, Danny?! What the...Jesus Christ! You're a fucking asshole! What the fuck did you do to that girl?! What would mom and dad say if they knew what you did?! You don't shame women for their bodies! What the fuck would Uncle Jerry say?!"

"Uncle Jerry-"

Bran cut off whatever Daniel was going to say. "He'd tell you that you're a fucking scumbag! What you did to her was fucking disgusting and you should be ashamed of yourself! You should be a-fucking-shamed!" He kicked Daniel in the stomach and knelt down while his brother was coughing on the ground.

"And you're gonna make it right with her, whether you like it or not." He worked Daniel's wallet out of his back pocket and took his debit card out.

He left the house without explaining anything to any of the brothers or making sure that Daniel was alright. As much as he loved his brother, he had acted like the lowest life form on the planet tonight and Bran was going to make things as right as they could be, even if Daniel didn't see "right" the same way the rest of the world did.

He drove to the bank and made five two-hundred dollar withdrawals from Daniel's bank account. Given that mom and dad supplied both of them with most of their income, so it was fine if Daniel took a thousand dollar hit. It wasn't like he was in dire need of money, nor would he be without this cash.

Bran went home and got Toby after counting out one thousand dollars in twenties. Roger stopped him on his way out.

"Hey man, what's with all the cash? Did you sell Toby back to the sorority?"

Bran shook his head. "I'm fixing Daniel's stupid shit again."

"Oh, well good luck with it. See you later." Bran liked that about Roger; he didn't ask questions when he knew it was better not to pry.

It didn't take long for Bran to drive to the Theta Kappa Kappa house and park down the street from it. He counted out a thousand dollars for the third time, mostly out of amazement that he could just get a thousand dollars, three months' rent, in seconds. He looked at Toby and decided that it was best to go put things as close to back in order as they could get.

He knew it was a bad idea to go alone. He knew it was going to end up being more trouble than it was worth. He knew that it was going to be a long, long night in this house. But he had to do something about his brother. Daniel couldn't get away with this. He'd used women before, but never like this. This was just horrific.

He scooped Toby up with one arm and stuffed the thick wad of cash into his pocket. Locking his car behind him, he walked up to the front door of the sorority house with two girls already blocking any attempt at escape at the porch.

"No turning back now," he muttered. He rang the doorbell and four girls answered it. As soon as they saw Toby in his arm, they caused as much commotion as Bran's arrival this morning had caused.

Bran set Toby down on the ground and the terrier disappeared into the house with his tail wagging and barking excitedly. Bran quickly found himself ushered into the house and subsequently, in a repeat of this morning, tied up again. Except this time, his hands were bound behind his back very carefully and meticulously.

He didn't fight it. He had to make sure that the girl got her money and understood that consequences had been faced. He stayed quiet while the girls reveled in the return of their little friend and he reveled in their affections. His owner, a girl named Ellen, cried when she had him back in her arms and glared daggers at Bran as she kissed and doted on Toby for all she was worth.

"Where is the girl that had sex with my brother," Bran finally asked when things calmed down a little. At that, things got very tense and most of the girls fell silent. A brunette with glasses stepped forward and leaned down to level her face to Bran's where he sat on the couch.

"What's it to you, Fletcher?"

"My name's Bran," he said back. "I've got..." He tried to reach into his pocket, but with his hands tied at such a weird angle behind him, he couldn't get anywhere near it. "Fuck, reach into my pocket and you'll see."

Bran straightened his legs out and turned a little to make it easier for the girl to stick her hand into his pocket. She managed to get a sizeable portion of the money out in one go, but didn't look pleased by what she saw. In fact, she threw the money in his face and took off her glasses as her whole face and even her ears turned scarlet in anger.

"She's not a fucking whore! Are you fucking kidding me you stupid prick?!" she yelled in his face.

Bran ground his teeth together and shook his head. "That's not what I was trying to say. I'm trying to make amends for my brother being a fucking scumbag. I've got nothing else to give her. Just...let me talk to her. Please?"

"Helen, get the rest of the money out of his pocket." She then addressed Bran. "She'll come down if she wants to."

"If she doesn't, can you please give all this to her? Seriously. I don't care if she doesn't know who it's from. Just let her know Daniel got what he fucking deserved for what he did to her." Bran watched the brunette disappear up the stairs and repeated straightening his legs out and turning to allow Helen access to his pocket. She looked surprised that there was still money coming out every time she pushed her fingers into it.

"God, how much is in here?"

"It's a thousand dollars. I counted it three times," Bran answered without skipping a beat.

Helen stopped. "A thousand dollars?"

"Daniel probably ruined a semester of her life here. She deserves her tuition paid for from his pocket." Bran could feel the shame on his face as he turned his head away from the eyes on him from every angle.

Helen counted out a thousand dollars by the time the brunette and a gorgeous blonde with red, teary eyes came downstairs. Bran could see why Daniel did what he did. Hell, had he not been here to make amends as best he could, Bran would have tried to catch her himself.

"Lucky for you, she wanted to hear what you have to say." The brunette stepped aside and Bran stood up to face the sobbing blonde.

"I'm Tara," she said with an extended hand, sniffling.

"I, uh..." Bran turned and stuck his elbow out to her as far as he could in lieu of a handshake, as both his hands were tied behind his back. "I'm Bran. The guy you saw tonight is my brother, Daniel. I'm here to tell you that what he did was absolutely unacceptable and...uh, I damn near beat him half to death because of it."

"You-"

"Look, Tara, I know I can't make things right for what Daniel did to you. And I don't mean for you to take this the wrong way. By no means do I think you're a whore or a hooker or anything like that. But, um, sorry didn't seem like enough, so I brought a thousand dollars to give you to, uh, try and...fuck. I don't have anything else to give you besides money for tuition or something. I really don't want you to think this is belittling you. I know what he did. I can't say sorry enough to help you out, so I thought I could, like, pay some of your tuition out of his pocket...and apologize, and...fuck, I'm so sorry if this makes things worse. I didn't think this through. I..."

Tara put her arms around his shoulders and buried her face in his chest. She started to cry in earnest and all Bran could do was wait for her to cry it out and soak his shirt with tears. His side hurt from the scratches he'd received that morning, but he bit the bullet and waited it out.

It wasn't too long before Tara was back to just sobbing and able to thank him for coming to do what he could. Helen gave her the thousand dollars and she went back upstairs quietly.

After that, things settled down quite a bit and most of the sisters left to go back home for the night. It was almost one in the morning by now. After the situation wound down for the most part, the sisters treated Bran with a little more sincerity, making idle conversation with him for a while before they were shooed either home or back to their rooms for the night. Karen, the sorority president, was the last person to see him before all the lights downstairs were turned off.

"Thank you for what you did for Tara," she said in a way that made Bran think she was sorry for tying him up.

Bran shrugged. "I was raised by good people. And speaking of doing things, can I go home now?"