Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 122030 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 610(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 407(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 122030 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 610(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 407(@300wpm)
“If they find a violation,” I continue, “they don’t just get kicked out. It’s a whole corporal punishment situation over there.”
“Jesus.” Fenn spins away in his rolling chair then gets up to pace the rows of dark computers.
Lucas slumps, dragging his hands through his hair. “Dude, I don’t have five grand. Not even close.”
“That’s the best I can do on short notice.”
I feel bad for him, but this isn’t my usual sort of gig. I can’t hack my way through a firewall to Gabe. The human element tends to make these things much more complicated.
Fenn quits pacing. “I can cover it,” he says. “I’ll wire you the money tonight.”
I nod. “Done. I’ll let him know.”
Lucas shoots up from his chair. “What, seriously?” He’s gaping at Fenn.
My stepbrother shrugs, blue eyes going shuttered. “No sweat. Won’t even make a dent in my account.”
I don’t doubt that.
“Fenn, thank you, man.” Lucas is practically ecstatic with relief. “I wish I could say I’d pay you back, but—”
“It’s cool.”
“Anything you ever need, I’ve got your back.”
“Text me what you want the message to say,” I remind them. “Both of you. I’ll pass it along.”
“Hey, uh, one thing.” On our way out of the lab, Fenn stops Lucas. “How’s Casey? You talk to her lately?”
Lucas suddenly becomes a little cagey. Apparently all that gratitude didn’t last long. “Yeah,” he offers in a noncommittal tone. “We talk.”
I want to be anywhere else, but I can’t walk fast enough to get out of earshot. Watching Fenn pine is getting exhausting.
“Okay, and?” Fenn pushes.
That gets him a pained look. “I’m not getting in the middle of anything.”
“Dude, come on.”
“I’m sorry. She doesn’t say much.” Lucas seems as desperate as I am to be anywhere else than at the mercy of Fenn’s brokenhearted grasping. Maybe that’s why he goes for the jugular, hoping it’ll be enough to get Fenn off his back. “Only thing she’s sure of is that she wants nothing to do with you.”
CHAPTER 13
CASEY
Lucas: Fenn asked about you earlier. Kind of cornered me on it, actually.
Me: He can rot in hell.
Lucas: Tell me how you really feel lol
LUCAS IS STILL TYPING, SO I PUT DOWN MY PHONE FOR A SECOND and finish brushing my hair as I get ready for school on Friday morning. When I check again, there’s a long message waiting on the screen.
Lucas: If it helps, I never thought Fenn was good enough for you anyway. I watched him and Gabe get into all kinds of fucked-up stuff over the years. The dude drinks too much, like he thinks it makes up for his lack of substance.
I’m typing an objection before I can stop myself. A sudden instinct to defend Fenn.
Me: Just because he’s a lying asshole doesn’t mean he lacks substance.
I know how Fenn comes off to most people. And I suspect it’s intentional. The party boy facade masks all the ways he’s still struggling to hold himself together. Fenn feels everything so deeply in ways most people will never understand.
He’s also entirely undeserving of my defense, so I push the thought aside. Whatever good qualities he has, he did something unforgivable. There’s no coming back from that. I don’t care how sad and lonely he is. I’m not about to get suckered into that trap again, and even the momentary urge to feel sorry for Fenn reignites the smoldering embers of my rage. He took my friendship for granted and made me a doormat. Because kindness is a quality people never fail to abuse. They assume it makes us weak and naive. I guess in my case they’re right.
I was weak and naive. I was stupid to trust him. Stupid to love him. And the anger I feel toward both him and myself stays with me all morning.
During first period, I could snap pencils with my eyelids. It doesn’t help that throughout class, Ainsley and Bree sit in front of me and can’t shut the hell up, their voices like yappy, barking dogs in the middle of the night who won’t let me sleep. I don’t want to listen, but it’s impossible to concentrate on anything else.
“Gray’s taking me to Boston this weekend to see Taylor Swift from his dad’s skybox,” Bree gushes. “It’s going to be, like, the most.”
“Are you flying in?” Ainsley asks her.
“No, I’m pretty sure the skybox is inside the building.”
Sister Katherine looks over from her desk as the two giggle to themselves. We’re supposed to be working on our outlines for the major history paper due next month.
“Focus on your work, ladies,” she chides.
“You could ask Lawson out and we could double,” Bree says as if the teacher hadn’t even spoken.
Lawson? As in Lawson Kent?
That gets my attention, mostly because I can’t imagine that guy going on a double date. Have they even met him? From what I know of Lawson, his idea of a good time would be doing lines of cocaine off a girl’s bare butt and then daring each other to jump in front of moving trains and try not to die.