Total pages in book: 131
Estimated words: 145402 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 727(@200wpm)___ 582(@250wpm)___ 485(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145402 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 727(@200wpm)___ 582(@250wpm)___ 485(@300wpm)
"Don't look surprised," Aaron said. "It wasn't the drugs that made him crazy."
"Hello, Andrew," Renee said.
Andrew said nothing but slid an impassive look her way. A pleased smile curved Renee's lips and she gave a slight nod, acknowledging and accepting whatever she saw in Andrew's heavy stare. That two-second exchange was the entirety of their reunion; Andrew turned his attention back to Neil as soon as Renee had looked her fill.
Abby walked in a moment later and hesitated with her purse half-slung over her shoulder. She looked from the Dan's obvious anger to Matt's tight expression and bloody nose. It didn't take long for her to put the pieces together, and she turned a guarded look on Andrew.
"Andrew," she said. "Welcome back. It hasn't been the same without you." Andrew gazed at her in silence. Abby waited, then figured out she wasn't going to get a response. She glanced awkwardly around at the rest of the gathered Foxes. "The food should be ready by the time I get there. I'll be right back, okay? Try to behave while I'm gone."
"Thanks," Dan said.
Abby flicked one last look at Andrew and left. The door had barely banged closed behind her before Wymack strode in. Neil wondered if he'd been smoking or just wasting time, letting his team acclimate to Andrew's abrupt reentry and Neil's injuries the same way he'd abandoned them to Allison's grief in September. Wymack quirked a brow at Matt, then looked to Neil and Andrew.
"Didn't we have a talk about not killing your teammates?" Wymack asked. Andrew feigned not to hear, so Wymack looked around. It took him a split-second glance to realize they were down a Fox. "Allison was just here. Where did she go?"
"She went to see the championship banners," Neil said.
"She'll come back when she's done crying," Nicky added.
"She's not crying," Neil said.
Nicky grinned. "Five bucks says she is."
It was a crass attempt to lighten the mood. Neil should have brushed it off. Maybe a month ago he would have. He knew his teammates were obsessive gamblers; they would bet on everything from final scores to Andrew and Renee's nonexistent relationship to who'd take the first swing in an argument. Putting money on someone's psychological trauma wasn't new or unexpected, but Neil wasn't in the mood to put up with it today. His meeting with Abby had rubbed his nerves raw and he was barely holding it together for his team. The acrid scent of cigarettes that clung to Andrew's coat was the final straw.
Neil kept the edge out of his voice, but barely. "Don't you dare bet on someone's grief."
"Oh, hey, hey." Nicky put his hands up in self-defense. "No harm intended, right? No offense. I was trying to lighten the mood."
"Lighten your chair and go check on her," Wymack said. "We've got a lot to go over today and I can't start until she's back. She'll be angrier at us if we start without her than she will be if you interrupt her. And yes, I mean you, Hemmick. I don't want Neil moving more than he has to."
"I can walk," Neil said.
"Proud of you," Wymack said. "Didn't ask."
Nicky hoisted himself out of his chair and left.
Andrew dug a fingernail into the hollow of Neil's throat until he had Neil's undivided attention. "Sit down and be still."
Neil batted Andrew's hand away and turned back to the couch. Andrew claimed the middle cushion, so Neil eased into the open spot at his side. His body regretted interfering with that fight, but Matt gave a slight nod in thanks when Neil caught his eye across the room. Neil looked to Andrew, trying to gauge his mood, and followed his hooded stare down. Andrew had brought a small knife out and was turning it over and over between his fingers. It wasn't one of the ones he kept in his arm bands, but Neil wasn't surprised he didn't recognize it. He almost never saw the same knife twice.
"It is not that fascinating," Andrew said.
"No," Neil agreed.
He didn't know how to explain the complicated emotions a sharp blade stirred up. His father was called the Butcher for a reason. His favorite weapon was a cleaver sharp and hefty enough to take limbs off in a single hack. Before the cleaver Nathan Wesninski used an axe. He still kept that axe around for when he really wanted someone to suffer. The blade was dull enough now it required a bit of extra weight and effort to cut through bone. Neil only saw him use it once, the day he met Riko and Kevin at Evermore Stadium.
"It's just..." Neil grasped for words, too-aware that the conversation across the room had quieted down a little. The upperclassmen were trying to listen in without being obvious. Neil settled for the vaguest explanation he could and hoped his teammates would mistake the pronoun for Riko. "I've never understood why he likes knives."
Such simple words should not have gotten the reaction they did. Andrew went still and looked up, but he didn't look at Neil. He looked at Renee, so Neil did, too. She'd stopped mid-sentence to stare at Neil, but the Renee studying him wasn't the Foxes' redeemed optimist. Her sweet smile was gone and the too-blank look on her face reminded Neil of Andrew. Neil instinctively tensed for flight-or-fight. Before his body figured out what to do Renee shifted her inscrutable gaze to Andrew.
They stared each other down, soundless and still, oblivious to the bewildered looks their teammates sent between them. Andrew didn't say anything, but Renee lifted her chin. Andrew hummed in response and put the knife away.
"He will lose his taste when he has one in his gut," he said.
Neil looked at Renee again in time to see Other-Renee disappear. A calm mask melted away the death on her face and Renee picked up right where she'd left off. She didn't acknowledge what had just happened or the obvious questions on Dan's face but gently bullied her friends into rejoining the conversation.