Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 84289 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84289 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
But we’re safe.
Miraculously.
For now.
Sevan has a few little tools he apparently uses for lockpicking, and he’s got a few thin pieces of metal out on his lap, now.
We’re under a small roofed entryway that leads up to the administration building, and no snow is actively falling on us, but I can still tell that Sev’s fingers must be cold.
For a moment, he fumbles.
He works one of the metal pieces into a portion of the lock and jiggles it a bit, then it just falls out.
And then it happens again.
Each time I see the piece fall down and the door remain locked, my heart lodges up somewhere closer toward my throat.
“How’s it looking, Sevan?” Roman asks.
“Just need a little more wiggle room to make it latch,” Sevan says, focusing hard on the little lock.
I don’t think it’s going to work.
But I don’t dare to say that out loud.
And when I hear a voice coming from around the corner of the building, I nearly drop down to my knees in fear.
“Hey!” a curt voice comes from around the corner and I swallow hard, putting my body in between Niko and whoever it is.
When I see Noah’s face come around the side of the building I swear I might pass out from relief.
“Noah,” I say.
“Yo, boys! You guys are doing risky things and you didn’t invite me? I’m offended, honestly—”
“Shh,” Roman quiets him. “Let Sev focus.”
Noah nods as he walks over, looking down at Sevan picking the lock.
“Percy told me you guys were on this part of campus and he told me not to follow you, so naturally, I wanted to,” Noah says, this time in a low whisper.
The snowstorm is picking up outside of the covered terrace.
Snow is starting to come down heavy, blowing sideways in gusts.
“Fuck,” Sevan curses as the little tool falls down onto his lap again.
Then he picks it up.
Jams it in again once more.
And yanks the knob, and it comes open.
“Holy shit,” I breathe, putting a hand on Sev’s shoulder. “You did it.”
“Grab the fucking thing,” Niko says. “Get it and let’s get the hell out of here.”
I can’t keep a smile off of my face, though.
We did it.
For Niko.
Finally, I fucking contributed something to someone’s life.
Roman pushes the front door open with a broad arm and I take a step inside, seeing the little bin that they put in front of the mail slot when the building is closed.
I sift through the top few letters and I find it.
A black envelope, with silver ink on it.
From Callum, without question.
“Got it,” I say, nodding at the guys. “Niko’s right. Let’s get the fuck out of here.”
“Get Sevan into the car first,” Niko says.
“Absolutely.”
Sevan brings out a little wipe that smells like harsh alcohol and wipes all around the door knob and any area that we touched.
“Nobody’s getting my fingerprints,” he says.
I exhale, nodding down at him. “Smart. Fuck. I never would have thought of that.”
We help Sevan back to the car, hoist him in, and collapse his wheelchair and shove it into the back.
I bring the black hat over the front of my face again and sprint from building to building, removing the notes and duct tape from each camera. I even drag my feet in the snow behind me to cover my footprints a little, but it doesn’t matter.
The snow is coming down so hard now that any trace of our footprints or wheelchair tracks will disappear within moments.
We take off back across campus, and I loop around, taking the car for a little looping circuit around residential streets, not going straight back to Red Row. When I head back, I take the route that leads up to Red Row from the park, not through campus.
For hours when we get home, I wait for some sort of call from security or the building administration.
It doesn’t come.
When Niko and I are alone in the front room, I finally pull out Callum’s letter and tear it open, looking at the contents.
The other guys didn’t even ask what the letter may have contained. They know Niko’s ex is insane, and they know it was something big.
But they respect our privacy, and they don’t ask what the bombshell in the letter actually is.
When I read it, it’s everything that I thought it would be.
And it still makes me fucking sick.
It’s Callum trying to inform the administration that Niko posts explicit videos online, and also telling them that Niko is “troubled” and has no place at the college. At the end, Callum says that Niko belongs with him.
Complete bullshit.
Niko is sitting on the couch across from me as I read the letter.
“Here,” I say, handing it over to him.
He takes the letter from my hand, but doesn’t look down at it. He looks over at the fire and simply walks over and tosses it into the flames.