Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 87395 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 437(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87395 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 437(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
Neil crossed the room to meet him. Neil had been the shortest player on the Millport Dingo line, but he had a good five inches on Aaron. The all-black ensemble Aaron wore did nothing to make him look any taller, and Neil wondered how he could stand wearing long sleeves in May. Neil felt hot just looking at him.
"Neil," Aaron said in lieu of hello, and he pointed. "Baggage claim."
"Just this." Neil tapped the strap of the duffel bag hanging off his shoulder. The bag was small enough to be a carry-on and large enough to carry everything Neil owned.
Aaron accepted that without comment and started away. Neil followed him through sliding glass doors into a muggy summer afternoon. A small crowd was waiting at the crosswalk for the light, but Aaron pushed right through them into the street. Brakes screeched as a taxi slammed to a stop inches from Aaron's pint-sized body. Aaron didn't seem to notice, more interested in getting a cigarette lit and between his lips. He paid even less attention to the rude words the driver yelled at him. Neil made an apologetic gesture at the cabbie and jogged to catch up.
A sleek black car was parked six rows back in the short-term parking garage. Neil didn't know much about cars in general, but he knew expensive when he saw it. He thought for a moment there must be a smaller car out of sight behind it, but Aaron unlocked it with a button on his key chain.
"Bag in the trunk," he said, opening the driver's door and sitting sideways in the seat to smoke.
Neil obediently put his duffel in the back before climbing in the passenger seat. Aaron didn't go anywhere until his cigarette was half-gone. He flicked the butt onto the concrete at his feet and tugged the door closed. A twist of the key in the ignition got the engine humming, and Aaron glanced at Neil again. The ghost of a smile tugged at one corner of his mouth, but it was a decidedly unfriendly expression.
"Neil Josten," he said again, as if testing the way it sounded. "Here for the summer, hm?"
"Yes."
Aaron cranked the air conditioner up as high as it could go and put the car in reverse. "That makes five of us, but word is you're going to stay with Coach."
Coach Wymack warned Neil the cousins Andrew, Aaron, and Nicholas would be in town, but it still didn't add up. Neil knew who that fifth person had to be. He didn't want to believe it even as he knew he should have expected it. Kevin had been glued to Andrew's side since his transfer. Still, Neil had to be sure.
"Kevin stays on campus?" he asked.
"Where the court is, Kevin is. He can't exist without it," Aaron said derisively.
"I didn't think it was the court Kevin was staying for," Neil said.
Aaron didn't answer. It was a short drive to the parking lot exit and Aaron had cash ready for the lady at the booth. As soon as the bar lifted to let them out, he stepped down on the gas. A horn sounded at them in warning as they cut right into traffic and Neil discreetly tightened his buckle. Aaron either didn't notice or didn't care. When they were on the road, he flicked Neil a sideways look.
"I hear you didn't hit it off with Kevin last month."
"No one warned me he was going to be there," Neil answered, watching the scenery rush by outside the window. "Maybe you'll forgive me for not reacting well."
"Maybe I won't. I don't believe in forgiveness, and it wasn't me you offended. That's the second time a recruit has told him to fuck off. If it was possible to dent that arrogance of his, his pride would have shreds through it. Instead he's losing faith in the intelligence of high school athletes."
"I'm sure Andrew had his reasons for refusing, same as me."
"You said you weren't good enough, but here you are anyway. You think a summer of practices will make that much a difference?"
"No," Neil said. "It was just too hard to say no."
"Coach always knows what to say, hm? It makes it harder on the rest of us, though. Not even Millport should have taken a chance on you."
Neil shrugged. "Millport's too small to care about experience. I had nothing to lose by trying out and they had nothing to gain by refusing me. It was a matter of being in the right place at the right time, I guess."
"Do you believe in fate?"
Neil heard the faint scorn in the other man's voice. "No. Do you?"
"Luck, then," Aaron said, ignoring that return question.
"Only the bad sort."
"We're flattered by your high opinion of us, of course."
Aaron pulled at the wheel, sliding the car from one lane to the other without bothering to check the traffic around him. Horns blared behind them. Neil watched in the rearview mirror as cars swerved to avoid hitting them.
"It's too nice of a car to wreck," he said pointedly.
"Don't be so afraid to die," Aaron said as the car kept gliding across the four-lane road to an exit ramp. "If you are, you have no place on our court."
"We're talking about a sport, not a death match."
"Same difference," Aaron said. "You're playing for a Class I team with Kevin on your line. People are always willing to bleed for him. You've seen the news, I assume."
"I've seen it," Neil said.
Aaron flicked his fingers as if that proved his point. Neil would be hard-pressed to say he was wrong, so he let it slide.
Kevin Day and his adoptive brother Riko Moriyama were hailed as the sons of Exy. Kevin's mother Kayleigh Day and Riko's uncle Tetsuji Moriyama created the sport roughly thirty years ago while Kayleigh was studying abroad in Fukui, Japan. What started as an experiment spread from their campus to local street teams, then across the ocean to the rest of the world. Kayleigh brought it home with her to Ireland after completing her degree and the United States picked it up soon after.