Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 77287 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77287 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
I breathe in deep, thinking of everything I need to make happen, feeling more sure than I have in a while.
Kieran is still a fire that needs to be put out.
And I’m still not comfortable with the fact that Cal Thorne thinks he can blackmail Weston, but that’s a situation I need to consider carefully, hopefully after a vat of coffee.
I loop around to the front of the house and as I’m walking down the sidewalk, someone catches my eye.
“Sev?” a voice calls out, and I turn to face the opposite direction on the sidewalk.
It’s Niko.
“Yo,” I tell him.
There’s no use trying to make up an excuse.
Niko’s already walking over to me with his eyebrows up, hiding a smile. “You’re leaving Onyx House?” he asks.
“What are you doing up and out of the house so early?”
He holds up the tiny bag he’s holding. “Ollie likes hot sauce on his eggs, and we ran out.”
“You’re really going for the Boyfriend of the Year award,” I tell him.
“And are you going for Hookup of the Year? You slept with Wes last night, didn’t you?”
“I don’t kiss and tell.”
“Oh, bullshit. I saw Wes wearing that watch you used to wear. And come on, you used to tell me about every girl you hooked up with back in the day.”
“Well, maybe I’ve changed.”
“God, you are crazy for him, aren’t you?
I let out a long breath, looking down Red Row at the thick green leaves that are bursting from every branch, still dripping with raindrops.
“Listen, I’d be running around campus with a megaphone talking about it, if it were up to me. But Weston is… gun-shy about it. For obvious reasons.”
Niko nods. “He probably thinks you’re going to drop him like a bag of bricks.”
“Jesus, Niko.”
“I mean, that definitely has been your reputation for… forever.”
“All I’m saying is please don’t blab about it to the other guys. Not yet. For his sake, not mine?”
“I can keep a secret,” Niko says with a nod.
“Yeah, like you secretly were fake-dating Ollie before you fell head over heels for him, too?”
“Love is a powerful thing. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you all along, you just didn’t want to listen.”
That word hits me hard, as something I always practically tried to avoid.
Love.
Niko starts to walk back toward Onyx house and I stop him. “Do you have a few minutes, actually?”
“I have at least five,” he says. “What’s up?”
“Any chance you’d be willing to be a buffer for me right now?”
“What do you mean by buffer?”
“I mean Kieran might attempt to strangle me when I walk into the Daggers house, and I want someone there to defuse him like a bomb, if that’s the case.”
“Yikes,” he says with a nod. “Okay. Five minutes. Let’s go.”
Double Daggers doesn’t seem too different from Onyx House when we walk in. A lot of the guys are up and in the kitchen already, firing up the stove for a big breakfast and guzzling electrolyte drinks for their hangovers.
I spot Kier at the edge of the dining table by the window, sitting alone and looking very tired with a giant cold brew in his hand.
He fixes his eyes on me and Niko instantly, and I walk over to sit right next to him with Niko beside me.
“How are you feeling?” I ask him.
“Dead inside,” he says back. “No pills, no good.”
“That’s never a fun thing.”
He sighs, leaning back a little in his chair. “But it’s the right thing. And I know that,” he says. “I, uh… think I might be addicted. In a really bad way.”
I’m shocked to hear such a raw statement from Kieran. I exchange a glance with Niko and he gives me a sympathetic nod.
“You’re going to be okay, Kieran. You have a whole frat full of guys who want to help, and apparently there’s a counselor who deals with this stuff on campus, if you’re interested.”
We chat for a few minutes about last night and he apologizes profusely for hurting Noah, and for flying off the handle for the majority of the dinner. He’s convinced that he ruined any chances with the exec he wanted to make a connection with last night, and he’s resigned himself to the fact that he isn’t going to be offered a position, even though the lawyer asked him to send over his resume a few days prior.
After Niko stays for five minutes like my moral support, he heads back to Onyx House.
I hang out with Kieran for a couple of hours, chilling in the living room and watching some cheesy 80s action movie on TV.
As the credits start to roll, Kier lazily picks up his phone, glancing at the screen.
He sits up straighter on the couch, his eyes widening.
“Holy shit,” he whispers.
I lean over and look at the screen.
He has an email from the Callahan law firm. An offer for a fully-paid summer internship, starting as soon as this school year is over.