25. River
RIVER
Pandora
Love the plan. I’ll talk to Reaper to get him on board. You should talk to all your friends.
Wait, do you three have friends?
I glower at the text, but I can’t deny that making friends hasn’t exactly been at the top of my priority list. Maybe I’m a little gun-shy after what happened to Franklin, and maybe feeling like an outsider with Blaze and Asch has fucked with me a little bit.
I should try harder. Maybe if I was better friends with my frat brothers, I could mediate somehow.
I doubt it, though.
My loyalty is to Pandora, and they’ve done all sorts of unforgivable shit to her.
No.
Not only them.
We have done the unforgivable to her.
I glance up at Fenrir, who’s waiting for me to finish with my phone. “Sorry,” I tell him. “Pandora’s being Pandora.”
Fenrir runs his hand through his bleached blond hair. It’s weird seeing him with all his piercings in. Normally he removes them for boxing practice, but now he’s got two eyebrow piercings, a nose stud, and multiple piercings across his ears.
I can’t imagine how much of a pain in the ass it is to redo them every single time.
“You keep skipping boxing practice,” Fenrir says. “Are you done with the team?”
I grimace at the question, but despite what I’d told Blaze, I do have to consider the fact that I might be. The thrill of the fight just isn’t there with the boxing team anymore, and I have to be careful not to go overboard at the other fights if I’m not going to fuck myself up for matches.
“No,” I say after a moment. I do need to make friends, and I’m more likely to find them on the boxing team than anywhere else.
Hell, Fenrir has been trying to make friends with me from the start, but I’ve been keeping him at a distance.
One of his dads is the leader of the Cresci organization, and while they have amicable relations with the Pavones, that’s never a guaranteed thing. I don’t ever want to find myself at odds with someone I consider a friend because of mafia politics.
Fenrir keeps staring, and thanks to the wolf tattoo on his neck, it’s like there are two sets of eyes on me.
“You heard about what happened with Pandora, right?” I ask quietly. We’re in an isolated part of the student lounge, which is quiet at this time of day, but I really don’t need anyone eavesdropping.
Funny, that other students keep going to class, oblivious to how fucked up the world around them is.
“Which part?” Fenrir asks. “I’ve seen…”
My entire body tenses, and my hand is curled into a fist before I even realize what I’m doing.
Fenrir holds his hand up. “Sorry, bad wording. I didn’t watch anything. But I couldn’t avoid hearing about it, or having it sent to me. My frat brothers were talking about it.”
Yeah, I guess it was hard to avoid. My jaw clenches.
“I know you hate Kappa Alpha, and I don’t blame you,” I say slowly. It doesn’t matter. I have to get him on my side with this. Blaze’s plan will only work if I can get others behind it, and Fenrir has more pull than I do with the team. “So I need your help. It’s for Pandora.”
“I was going to say, the shit she did to Keegan and Tate was hilarious.” Fenrir grins viciously. “I kind of get why you’re into her. Even if I’d prefer somebody a bit less, ah, volatile myself.”
Volatile.
That’s one way of looking at it.
I should be offended on her behalf, but as long as he doesn’t say that to her face or where she can hear it, he isn’t entirely wrong.
“Passionate,” I correct him anyway. “And vindictive, sure, but I would be too.”
“Yeah.” Fenrir gives me a calculating look, one that seems out of place on him. “Did I ever tell you, I have a sister? She’s six years younger than me. Boy did that fuck me up when my dads adopted her. Like I wasn’t enough for them anymore. They needed a better, purer child.”
From what I know of Silvano Cresci and Kyran Winters, which admittedly isn’t much, it doesn’t sound like they’d choose purity over someone like Fenrir. “Is that what she’s like?” I ask. “Pure and innocent?”
Fenrir laughs. “Nah. She pretends she is but if you piss her off, she’ll destroy you. But she’s sneaky. I think she learned from Silvano. Everyone always thinks Kyran is the scarier one, but that’s only if your biggest fear is getting your face rearranged.”
“Is that where you learned that?” I ask him. It’s a little weird that he’s telling me these things, but at the same time, I appreciate the gesture. It doesn’t help to assuage the guilt for avoiding him and his efforts to befriend me, but it’s something. “Because you’re pretty fucking good.”
Fenrir nods and jabs the air. “Yeah. He wanted me to learn to fight properly, instead of rushing into things and getting myself beat up. Anyway. My point. I resented my sister for existing, but somewhere along the way… I don’t know, I think I’d do anything for her.
” He claps my shoulder. “So I get wanting to protect somebody. Even somebody who infuriates you half the time. Most of the time.”
I offer a crooked grin. “Yeah. There was a time when I wanted to kill her.” I stare down at my left hand, with its missing pinky finger. “But that was complicated. Still is.” I take a deep breath. “Will you help me?”
Fenrir nods. “Sure. I mean, depends. I won’t chop off my dick for her or anything.”
I let out a surprised laugh. “Why would I ask you to chop off your dick?”
“I don’t know! Your girl isn’t rational!” Fenrir leans back in the lounge chair. “For all I know, she’s starting a dick-in-a-jar charity or something.”
“I think you’re safe from that club,” I tell him. The members of Kappa Alpha responsible for what had happened in the gym… Not so much. “We do want to do a charity event of sorts, though.”
“I’m intrigued.” Fenrir leans closer.
I hash out the plan with him, and by the time I’m done, Fenrir not only is on board, but he’s giving a lot of suggestions about the logistics. I don’t understand half of what he’s talking about, so I give him Blaze’s number so they can hash it out together.
I think Fenrir’s sister wasn’t the only one who picked up some things from Silvano Cresci.
“I’ll talk to my frat brothers, and the rest of the boxing team,” Fenrir promises. “And now I’m really late for class. I’ll catch you later.”
I nod. “Thanks, man. Really. I’ll pay you back for this.”
Somehow.
A glance at my phone tells me Fenrir’s not the only one who’s late. I grab my stuff and make my way out of the building. I could take the tunnels to avoid the cold, but that would add an extra five or ten minutes to my walk.
Of course, three steps into the cold, and I wish I’d chosen the tunnels after all.
Pandora’s Uncle Slayer is waiting outside the building.
My heart leaps into my throat. The last time he’d been waiting for me anywhere, I’d lost my finger. Did he find out about the gym? Does he think I did something else to Pandora?
Or is he here with news about my mom?
Fuck.
The tunnels would’ve been more isolated, but I know them better than her uncle ever could.
I think.
I take a deep breath, square my shoulders, then approach him.
“Slayer,” I say with a respectful nod. I’m dwarfed by his size and sheer presence, but I’ve learned never to show fear in the face of a predator.
Even at his age, he could take me in a heartbeat, but I don’t think about that. “I think Pandora’s in class.”
“Good thing I’m not here for her,” he says. He hands me a piece of paper that’s been folded over twice. “Here.”
“You didn’t have to come all this way to give me anything,” I say. Why would he bother when he could’ve given me information over the phone?
“I was in the neighborhood,” he says.
I roll my eyes. We both know that isn’t true. He probably wanted an excuse to check up on Pandora.
Slayer points to the paper. “Your mom’s new phone number. She’s in hiding. So far, I haven’t told anyone else where she is.”
“So far,” I repeat, my heart thundering in my chest. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m holding the key to finding her again or if I’m afraid my dad will find out where she is. Despite everything, I really do want my mother to escape him. “Does that mean you’re planning on telling people?”
Slayer shrugs. “Pandora would be pissed if I did.”
In other words, no. I would relax, but there’s no room for relaxing near Slayer.
“I appreciate this,” I say, holding the paper tightly. I don’t know if I’m going to call my mother. I still feel so betrayed by the fact that she bailed on me without a word, and I don’t think I know what to say. But having her number eases something inside of me because it means she’s still alive.
“So because you appreciate this so much,” he says, flashing me a grin, “let’s have a chat about Pandora.”
Oh, hell.
I know how this goes.
My mouth goes dry, and I instinctively shove my hands into my pockets.
I remember a flash of metal, and I feel it penetrating my skin. My empty knuckle throbs with pain, shooting all the way up my arm.
“Now’s a bad time,” I say hoarsely. “I have class.”
Slayer steps closer, and I resist the urge to take a step back. “All the more reason for you to be honest, and fast. Tell me what the fuck’s been going on that has Pandora avoiding us.”
I can’t tell him the truth, or he’ll do worse than take a finger.
But I can’t lie, either.
Double fuck.
“She’d be the one to kill me if I told you anything,” I tell him. “You have to know that.”
He chuckles, the sound dark. “Or I can be the one to kill you if you don’t.”
I can imagine bleeding out into the snow.
“I think that what happened to Samantha triggered some memories with what happened with Rachel,” I say, and it’s not technically a lie. “But don’t worry. We have a plan.”
“A plan,” he repeats. “I’m intrigued. Go on.”
If I tell him, the Pavone family will step in. I’m not sure that’s a bad thing. They could take care of it in one fell swoop. They’ve stepped away from most of the mafia politics, but they’re not exactly out of the loop either.
But that would mean the start of a war with the Bouchards, which would usher in a new era of bloodshed and pain.
This isn’t my decision to make.