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)
Andrew was sitting on the back end of the roof this time. The handle of vodka at his knee looked empty from here, but Neil saw sunlight flash off a little bit of liquid as he headed for Andrew. Neil quieted the instinctive thump of his heart as he got so close to the edge and helped himself to a spot just out of Andrew's reach. He looked out at the ruins of the parking lot. There were still a dozen cars left, but a crew was already scrubbing the asphalt clean. The police were gone, leaving one of campus security's teams behind to supervise, and the press had vanished.
Andrew flicked his pack of cigarettes at Neil. "Give me one good reason to not push you off the side."
Neil shook a stick out and lit it. "I'd drag you with me. It's a long way down."
"I hate you," Andrew said, but it was hard to believe him when he sounded so bored by the concept. Andrew took a swig from the bottle and swiped his mouth clean with a thumb. The look he slanted Neil was both unimpressed and unconcerned. "Ninety percent of the time the very sight of you makes me want to commit murder. I think about carving the skin from your body and hanging it out as a warning to every other fool who thinks he can stand in my way."
"What about the other ten?" Neil asked.
Andrew ignored that. "I warned you not to put a leash on me."
"I didn't," Neil said. "You put that leash on yourself when you told me to stay no matter what. Don't be mad at me just because I was smart enough to pick up the other end of it."
"If you pull it again I will kill you."
"Maybe when the year is up, you will," Neil said. "Right now there's not a lot you can do about it, so don't waste our time threatening me."
"I don't think it was the money," Andrew said, and elaborated at Neil's questioning look: "Why they chased you so long. I imagine at some point they realized it was far more important to hurt you than to recoup anything they'd lost."
"So you say, but you still won't hit me."
Andrew stubbed his cigarette out between them. "The time is fast approaching."
Neil studied his face, looking for a hint of the earlier fathomless anger and finding nothing. Despite Andrew's unfriendly words, his expression and tone were calm. He said these things like they meant nothing to him. Neil didn't know if it was a mask or the truth. Was Andrew hiding that rage from Neil or from himself? Maybe the monster was buried where neither of them could find it until Neil crossed another unforgivable line.
"Good," Neil said at length. Tugging a sleeping dragon's tail sounded like a good way to die a painful death, but Neil would be dead before Andrew's protection wore off. "I want to see you lose control."
Andrew went still with his hand halfway to the vodka. "Last year you wanted to live. Now you seem hell-bent on getting killed. If I felt like playing another round with you right now, I would ask why you've had a change of heart. As it stands, I've had enough of your stupidity to last me a week. Go back inside and bother the others now."
Neil feigned confusion as he got to his feet. "Am I bothering you?"
"Beyond the telling."
"Interesting," Neil said. "Last week you said nothing gets under your skin."
Andrew didn't waste his breath responding, but Neil counted it as a victory. He tossed his cigarette into the wind and went back inside alone. He took the stairs to the third floor but didn't make it more than a couple steps down the hall before the elevator opened. Looking back was instinctive. Neil had one second to recognize Aaron and another to register the fury on his face. Then Aaron slammed into him like a freight train and crushed him up against the wall.
Neil took a glancing blow to his cheek and a harder punch in the mouth before he wrestled Aaron off of him. Neil landed a good hit high in Aaron's gut as Aaron jumped him again, and then heavy hands ripped them away from each other. Neil darted a quick look around at the intervention. The fight had drawn a quick crowd from the nearest rooms. He knew these faces from passing them enough times in the hallway and stairwell; he knew their names and teams despite his best efforts to not learn anything about them.
Aaron made a violent attempt to get free, then settled for glowering at Neil across the hall. Neil tested his own restraints, found them equally unforgiving, and prodded the inside of his mouth with his tongue. He'd chomped his cheek when Aaron punched him and the first swallow wasn't enough to get rid of the taste of blood.
"Cool it," Ricky warned them, with his hands out toward both of them. "We've got enough trouble to deal with right now without your bullshit."
"We're good," Neil said.
Aaron wasn't keen on letting other people into his business, so Neil expected him to play along until they were alone. He underestimated how angry Aaron was. Instead of waiting for privacy Aaron tore at him in furious German.
"Fuck you! What the fuck did you tell her?"
The harsh sounds caught the other athletes off-guard, giving Neil enough time to respond. There was only one "her" that could get Aaron this riled. Neil regretted not answering Katelyn's text but he just shrugged nonchalance at Aaron. "Why, did she finally make up her mind? What happened, you showed up at her door to complain about the car and got an ultimatum in response?"
"You should know!"
"Hey," Ricky said. "Calm down, we said."
Neil ignored him. "I told her to make a stand. I never went back and asked her if she found her spine. For what it's worth, I did it before I found out how specific Andrew's promise was. I might have been a little more considerate if I'd known how stupid you were."