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)
The four CAUTION signs set up in the lobby were overkill, but Neil still skidded a little on the wet floor. He caught the wall for balance and waved his wallet over the sensor near the elevator. His student ID was strong enough to trigger the lock through the leather. When the buttons lit up Neil pressed the Up arrow and got on the first car that arrived. There was standing water on the elevator floor, so he held tight to the rail until he reached the third floor. The carpeted hallway was stained from wet footprints. Neil added to the mess as he slogged for his room.
Dry clothes did nothing to make him feel warmer, so Neil sprawled on the couch with a blanket. He didn't remember falling asleep, but the sound of the door jarred him awake. Matt looked half a foot shorter than usual with his hair plastered to his skull. Despite his wretched state, he was grinning on his way in. He motioned at Neil to get his attention but didn't speak until the door was closed behind him.
"Just passed Allison," Matt said.
"Soaked?" Neil guessed.
"Understatement of the year," Matt said. "I think her umbrella broke. She's a hot mess. Told her I was going to take a picture of her for the yearbook and she threatened to cut my balls off with her fingernails. Five bucks says Dan'll have to push her out the door when it's time to leave again."
"She knows we need her."
"That mean you're in?"
"I don't bet," Neil said.
"Still? On anything?" Matt crossed the room to drop his bag by his desk. "We've got, what, sixteen ongoing bets now, and you don't want in on any of them? Well, fourteen that you're qualified to bet on. Some of the pots are getting pretty big and you're probably in the best position to win on a couple of them."
"Why fourteen?" Neil asked. "What happened to the other two?"
"Can't bet on yourself," Matt said. "That's cheating."
Neil tilted his head back to look at Matt. "I didn't know you were betting on me."
"We bet on everyone at one point in time," Matt said. "Did you know most of the team bet against me and Dan? They didn't think I'd have the courage to ask her and they knew she'd never give me a chance. She was kind of a man-hater when I met her. I want to blame it on her time at the strip club but I think it's mostly due to the guys Coach gave her to work with her freshman year. Even Allison told me not to try."
"You tried anyway," Neil said.
"For a year," Matt said. "Made Renee a small fortune when Dan finally gave in. She's the only one who bet on us. She's always the most willing to bet on lost causes."
Andrew had called Neil a lost cause last year, one hand over Neil's mouth to keep him from arguing. Looking back on it now, with all the missing pieces of that argument in place, Neil knew it wasn't really him Andrew was trying to shut up. Neil found the self-censure fascinating in retrospect. Renee would have told Andrew before then that she'd confessed Andrew's sexuality to Neil, and Andrew hadn't hedged his way around the truth when Neil asked for it this last Friday. What did Andrew think he was going to say last November?
It didn't matter; it shouldn't matter. Andrew didn't want anything to come of his attraction, and anyway, Neil wasn't allowed to let people that close. It was how he was raised. It was how he survived. He was lucky to be so detached now that the end was right around the corner. He'd broken every other rule his mother left him with. The least he could do was uphold one.
"That's why you bet on Andrew and Renee," Neil said, because he couldn't, wouldn't, think about this.
"Well, yeah," Matt said. "For a while there Renee was the only one outside of his little group Andrew would talk to. Renee said they had a lot in common and it was nothing serious, but then he let her drive his car. That's a GS, Neil. You don't loan that out to just anyone."
Neil waved a hand over his head to show the significance passing him by. "I don't speak cars."
"I'm saying after he finished tricking it out, it cost almost six figures," Matt said.
Neil bolted upright and twisted around to stare at Matt. "Cost what?"
He knew Andrew blew most of Tilda's life insurance on it; Nicky once joked that Andrew picked whichever one would eat the inheritance up fastest. Neil hadn't asked how much money they made off her death but he'd known just by looking at the car it'd been a colossal waste of resources. Having a ballpark figure made Neil feel ill. His key ring suddenly weighed a ton and it was all he could do to not pull it out of his pocket.
"It's almost as expensive as Allison's Porsche," Matt said, "and he let Renee drive it just two months after meeting her. Do you blame me for putting money on them? Man, I was so sure that'd pan out."
The past tense was enough to distract Neil. "You changed your mind?"
"Sort of," Matt said. "But rules are rules. Once money's in the pot, you can't change which side you're betting on. You can bet against it in other pots, though, so I might make some of my money back. But hell, it's already after twelve. We gotta get moving. You want anything for the plane, I suggest you grab it now."
He was gone before Neil could ask what changed Matt's mind about Renee's chances. Neil let it go and grabbed his stack of notes on UT's line-up. Matt's grin was knowing, borderline pitying, when they met up to leave and he saw what Neil was holding. Neil pretended not to see and locked the suite door behind them. The girls waited for Matt to catch up with them, but Neil continued a few steps past them to Andrew's group.