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“Jesus. What the fuck has gotten into you? You’re not normally like this. Aren’t you supposed to be one of the more chilled-out ones like me, that helps keep those two on an even keel?” Kane motioned to Xavier and Drew. “What’s gotten into you?” Kane placed his hands on my shoulders, slowing me down and establishing eye contact.
“It’s more like what he’s gotten into. No, who he’s gotten into, that’s the problem.” I resisted the urge to slap the smug smirk from Fox’s face, instead looking back at Kane and shrugging my response. I didn’t trust myself to articulate the problem as Fox continued. “He stormed out during her epic meltdown in the cafeteria, and she followed him. They were like a married couple having a domestic, but they’re not married, and instead of being at home, it was in front of three hundred strangers. It was fucking wild.”
“Jesus. So much for being ‘secret’.” This was Drew. Xavier was uncharacteristically quiet.
“Anyway, a bunch of time passed, and when we went outside they’d both disappeared. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out where they went and what they were doing. I saw him in the hall at afternoon classes, and he was like this then. Fuck knows what she said or did to knock him off his perch, but anyway, here we are.”
“I’m just pissed off with all this shit. Like Drew said, it’s supposed to be a fucking secret society, and here I am in a roomful of people having my dirty laundry laundered, dried and ironed. This is not what I signed up for. None of it is. Now my business is all over Wildfire, and I can feel eyes on me as I pass through the halls. Isn’t this the exact opposite of what we were supposed to achieve? We’re supposed to be silencing her, when, in reality, all we’re doing is bringing unwanted attention. And I know it’s only a matter of time—probably about one hot fucking minute—before all of this gets to the Dean and Coach. Then I’m in deep fucking doo-doo.”
“Calm down and stop whining like a bitch,” Drew spat out.
“Oh, I’m calm. I’m pissed is what I am. There’s a big difference, and if you refer to me as a bitch again, you’re going to find out exactly what.”
“That a threat?”
“You just called me a bitch. Don’t treat me like a pussy too. I don’t make threats, Drew.”
“Listen, this shit is getting tired, and all this infighting isn’t getting us anywhere.”
“What’s not getting us anywhere is whatever the hell it is we’re supposed to be doing to warn off Honey St George. As she made abundantly clear to the six hundred ears listening intently, she’s not about to back down any time soon. And for the record, she also told me she has about one hundred backup copies of her article and notes—probably one stored on the fucking space station—plus it’s in her head, so deleting that file was next to useless. Worse than that, it made us look like lame have-a-go chumps. I thought you said this Dillon guy was supposed to be the best of the best.”
“He is the best.” Xavier looked at me like I’d shat in his shoe.
“Well you could have fooled me, because from where I’m standing, it looks a whole hell of a lot like amateur hour, to the max. She’s laughing in our faces, publicly and privately. Speaking of which How in God’s name have I ended up as the face of Cygnus? You’re the grand wizard or whatever the fuck.”
“Ouch! Dude you cannot say shit like that.” Drew winced.
“What, make jokes about the KKK? Yes I totally can. One of the few black perks is that we can say off-key shit like that. You on the other hand, absolutely, one hundred percent, cannot.”
“As if I needed telling.”
“Anyway, my point still stands. He’s the grand Pooh-Bah, yet I’m now the poster child for the organization. How does that work? As Honey has quite rightly pointed out, I’m just one of your fucking henchmen and let’s face it, if this all goes to shit, I’m the one most likely to take the fall—football captain or not, because of this.” I made a circular motion round my face. “You’re untouchable, and it will be us insignificant flunkies who’ll be offered up to the pitchfork carriers as sacrificial fucking lambs.”
“All the more reason why we need to shut her the fuck down.” Xavier looked at me as though I was a few cards short of a full deck.
“I don’t disagree. Where we differ is our opinion on how best to do that. It’s clear to me that she’s not going to back down if we carry on this way. Not the least of fucking reasons being that she’s told me so multiple times. And if it’s one thing I’m learning about that girl”—apart from how mind-numbingly, exquisite she felt wrapped around my dick, and how good it felt to slide my fingers over her smooth alabaster skin— “it’s that she’s stubborn as a motherfucker, so I for one, totally believe her. She’s not scared of or intimidated by us. Which, given what she knows, or thinks she knows, means she has bigger balls than some of you guys.” I looked pointedly at each of them.
“In fact, the more shit we do to her, the more determined she becomes to bring us down. And don’t ask me why, but for some weird reason I get the vibe that this isn’t just about making a name for herself as a journalist.”
Xavier’s head snapped my way, and he rolled it back and forth a few times, ironing out the kinks with a loud crick-crack.
“What do you mean? What is it about then?”
“I don’t know. It doesn’t feel strictly professional. It feels... personal, you know?”
“Not really.” Drew was snappy.
“Me neither, to be honest man, but if there’s one thing playing ball has taught me, it’s to go with my gut, because we have instincts to keep us safe, and for some reason mine are telling me that she has an ax to grind or something.”
“Speaking of what’s going on between the two of you privately.”
“Which we weren’t.”
“Not right now, but you mentioned it earlier...”
I left him hanging. If Drew wanted to know something, he was going to have to come right out and ask me. He stared me down. I stared right back.
“Jesus. So what the fuck is going on between you?”
