Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 109903 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 550(@200wpm)___ 440(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109903 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 550(@200wpm)___ 440(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
"Don't let it interfere with my team and I won't have to." Dan stepped aside, then asked, "Do you need Renee?"
"Oh, Dan," Andrew said, amused and pitying. He stopped in his doorway to look back at her. "I don't need anyone. Goodbye."
He shut the door and locked it. Dan stayed where she was a moment longer, then muttered angrily under her breath and turned on Neil. "Come on."
Allison, Renee, and Matt were sitting in a circle in the girls' living room and eating a sandwich lunch. Dan motioned to the kitchen, a silent invitation for Neil to help himself to their fridge, and took her place at Matt's side. Neil had already eaten, so he sat between Allison and Renee.
"How'd it go?" Matt asked.
"Higgins said something about needing Andrew as a witness," Dan said. "He didn't say what for and Andrew still won't give me a straight answer. He just told us to stay out of it or else."
Dan didn't ask Neil, obviously not expecting him to know what was going on. Neil didn't know the finer details, but he'd asked Andrew about Higgins' phone call a couple weeks ago. Children's Services opened an investigation on one of Andrew's former foster fathers. Andrew told Neil they wouldn't find anything. He hadn't said there was something to find if only they'd looked at the right person.
Neil didn't know who Drake was to Andrew or what he'd done, but Higgins obviously hit a nerve with that name. He wondered if Andrew was finally willing to cooperate or if Higgins could otherwise compel him to testify. It had to be a big case; Higgins must be desperate if he'd crossed the country on his own dime for a lead. Neil said nothing about it to the others, though. Andrew hadn't given away any of Neil's secrets, so Neil wouldn't give up his.
The best he could do was change the subject. "Before I forget, Andrew said I could invite you to the Halloween party at Eden's Twilight. It's on the twenty-seventh."
Matt dropped his sandwich back to his plate with a splat. "Bullshit."
"Andrew doesn't socialize with us," Dan said.
"He's making an exception," Neil said. "He doesn't think you'll come but he says it's okay if you do. I know we've got a game that night, but it's a home game, so we should get to Columbia a bit after ten. Will you come?"
Dan and Matt exchanged incredulous looks, but Renee said, "I'll go. Allison?"
"You want us to party with the monsters?" Allison asked. Renee only smiled. Allison clicked her manicured nails together as she thought, then lifted one shoulder in a shrug and picked at her lunch. "It could be interesting, I suppose. The campus party scene got boring two years ago. Dan, we're going."
"How the hell did you talk Andrew into this?" Dan asked, staring at Neil.
"I asked," Neil said.
"And he agreed just like that?" Matt asked, skeptical.
"He implied you were the harder party to convince," Neil said.
"Oh, did they tell you that story?"
Matt didn't sound worried, but Neil said, "No. Andrew's more interested in how you'd tell it, he said. But I'm not going to ask. It's not my business."
"Why not? You're the only one here who doesn't know, and I know you've seen these already. It's not like they're subtle."
Matt turned his arm enough to show off his track marks. Neil had spotted them within seconds of meeting Matt for the first time. Matt never tried to hide them. They were scars of a battle he'd fought and won long ago. Neil didn't let his gaze linger on them now but gave a small nod. Matt ran a hand down them and picked up his sandwich.
"Dad liked partying it up with the other rich shits of New York," Matt said, "but his party favors were drugs. He let me—encouraged me, even—to try whatever I wanted so I would fit in. When Mom realized what was going on she took time off from the circuit to get me clean. We thought I was okay until I started here. The juniors we had back then were into some pretty heavy things, and I was tempted. The only way I stayed sober was by hiding from them."
"By camping out on our couch for his entire freshman year," Allison elaborated.
Matt winced, not embarrassed but guilty. "I said I was sorry."
"Whatever," Allison said.
Matt tore his sandwich into shreds as he continued. "Last year the monsters joined our team. It took Andrew all of two weeks to figure out something wasn't right with me, and he took it upon himself to fix things. They invited me out with them to Columbia. When we got there Andrew gave me speedballs."
Neil's stomach bottomed out. "He what?"
"He didn't make me take them," Matt was quick to say. "He just offered them, and I was drunk and stupid and desperate enough to say yes."
"Coach should have kicked him off the team."
"He should have, except Andrew cleared it with Matt's mother first," Dan said, jaw tightening a little in old anger. "She knew Matt was having a hell of a time here and she wanted him to kick the habit for good. Andrew promised he could help, so she gave him her blessing. She flew in for the summer to help walk Matt through withdrawal and asked Coach not to punish Andrew. She even offered to pay Coach for the trouble."
"But—"
"No harm, no foul," Allison said carelessly. When Neil stared at her, she gestured at Matt. "You can't really have an opinion on this because you weren't here then. You didn't see what Matt was like. It was pathetic. He couldn't even look any of us in the face. Look at him now. The monster's methods might have been a little extreme but they worked."
"You're not really okay with this," Neil said to Matt. "What if it backfired? What if you hadn't gotten back up again?"
"Andrew had too much invested in Matt's success to let him fail," Renee said, speaking slowly like she was choosing her words with great care. Neil guessed she knew Andrew's reasons better than anyone else did, given her friendship with him. "I don't know if they've talked to you about Aaron's history, but you understand Andrew's, don't you? He's not allowed to fight his addiction. Watching Matt struggle was very hard on them both."