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 hoisted himself onto the rental car's trunk and dug a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket. He lit two and traded Neil one for his phone. Neil cupped a hand around his to shield it from the breeze. He studied Andrew's face as Andrew put his phone and cigarettes away, but Andrew gave no sign he was bothered by the bad news.
"You're going to have to replace it," Neil guessed. "If the insurance company won't cover a replacement for your car, take the difference from me. You know I have enough for it."
Andrew slid him a cool look. "I'm uninterested in your charity."
"It isn't charity," Neil said. "It's revenge. It wasn't my money in the first place, remember? I told you my father skimmed it from the Moriyamas. If you take some for your car, you're making Riko replace what his fans destroyed."
"Revenge is a motivator only for the weak-willed," Andrew said.
"If you believed that you wouldn't be planning how to kill Proust."
The doctor's name still tasted like acid, burning Neil's tongue and throat, but it wasn't enough to put a dent in Andrew's calm expression. Andrew gazed at him in silence for what felt like an eternity, then propped his cigarette between his lips and motioned Neil closer. Neil was sure he was stepping forward into a knife for bringing Proust up again, but he obediently closed the short space between them. Andrew caught the back of Neil's neck in a bruising grip to keep him from retreating. He pulled Neil's head toward him and blew smoke in Neil's face.
"This is not revenge," Andrew said. "I warned him what I would do to him if he touched me. This is me keeping my word."
He waited a beat to make sure Neil understood, then let go. The next time he raised his cigarette to his mouth Neil took it from him. Neil broke it between his fingers and let it fall to the asphalt by their feet. Andrew watched the halves roll away from each other and turned an unimpressed look on Neil.
"Ninety-one percent," Andrew said.
"Just take the money," Neil said. "You bought the last car with someone's death. You can buy this one with someone's life—my life. That money was going to buy my next name when I ran away from here. Thanks to you I don't need it anymore."
"Your life has a price tag you are already paying," Andrew reminded him. "You cannot barter away the same thing twice."
"You've lost the right to call me difficult," Neil said. Andrew shrugged that off, so Neil said, "Make a new deal with me."
Andrew tipped his head to one side, considering that. "What would you take for it?"
"What would you give me?" Neil asked.
"Don't ask questions you already know the answer to."
Neil frowned at him, lost, but Andrew didn't waste his breath explaining. He held his hand up between them and turned it palm-up. When Neil just looked at it, Andrew motioned to Neil's hand. Mystified, Neil mimicked the gesture. Andrew took the cigarette from his unresisting fingers and stuck it between his lips. It had nearly burnt out with no breath to keep it alive, but Andrew coaxed the flame back to life with a long drag.
"That was mine," Neil said.
"Oh," Andrew said, unconcerned.
Neil didn't care enough to take it back, so he watched Andrew smoke. Andrew held his gaze and said nothing. He was waiting, Neil guessed, for Neil to come up with a suitable trade. Neil had no idea what he was supposed to ask for, but he knew there were a hundred ways to mess this deal up.
Common sense said push for a reconciliation with Aaron, but if Andrew got backed into that truce neither brother would enjoy it. Neil should ask for something that would strengthen the Foxes, like permission to restart the group dinners and movies they'd had in Andrew's absence. He hesitated because it felt like a waste of a chance. Halloween had been surprisingly easy to talk Andrew into. Not surprisingly, Neil realized, because hadn't Kevin said it last fall? "When you know what a person wants, it's easy to manipulate them," he'd said. Neil just hadn't known until this year what—who—Andrew wanted.
Neil shook that off as counterproductive. His mind went from Halloween to Eden's Twilight to Sweetie's, and Neil finally figured it out. "I want you to stop taking cracker dust."
"And he says it isn't a righteous streak," Andrew mused, more to himself than to Neil.
"If it was righteousness I'd ask you to give up drinking and smoking, too," Neil said. "I'm only asking for this one thing. It doesn't have any effect on you anyway and it's an unnecessary risk. You don't need a third addiction."
"I don't need anything," Andrew reminded him, right on cue.
"If you don't need it, it'll be easy to give it up," Neil said. "Right?"
Andrew thought it over a minute, then flicked his cigarette at Neil. It singed the material where it bounced off his shirt. Neil ground it out under his shoe when it hit the asphalt. The cool look he flicked Andrew was wasted; Andrew's gaze had already drifted past him in search of something more interesting.
"I'm going to take your temper tantrum as a yes," Neil said. "I'll bring the money by your room tonight."
"Will you?" Andrew slid his stare back to Neil's face. "Rather, can you? Aaron doesn't want you in the room anymore, Nicky says. Something about you inviting yourself to fights that aren't your concern?" He waggled his hand in a so-so kind of gesture. "This phone tag nonsense has left the message a little unclear. Perhaps you'll explain to my face why you're suddenly so interested in my brother's life."
"I'm not," Neil said.
"Without the lies," Andrew added.
"I'm not," Neil said again. "I can't stand him, but we're out of time. I told you last October we can't make it to finals if we're a fractured mess. You two are holding us back. I had to start with one of you. Since everyone bets on Aaron and Katelyn, I thought he'd fight you for her."