Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 117363 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 587(@200wpm)___ 469(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117363 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 587(@200wpm)___ 469(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
The kitchen was a curious thing, and Jean took his time ransacking the cabinets. The Nest had a kitchenette, but aside from the fridge and coffee maker it required no other appliances. The Ravens’ approved meals and snacks were all provided for them: in part to ensure they remained on track with their nutrition and mostly because the team had no time to prep any food for themselves. The Foxes had a two-burner stove top, a toaster, and a microwave. Jean hadn’t seen a microwave in years.
Getting something made for dinner was only half the problem; the other half was in figuring out if there was anything worth eating. The freezer was a disaster, stuffed with breakfast sandwiches on croissants, some calzone-style meals with obscene amounts of fat in them, and premade pasta dishes full of processed ingredients. The fridge wasn’t much better off, with milk, juice, and vodka dominating one shelf and takeout boxes haphazardly stacked on another. There was an entire drawer dedicated to cheese. How Kevin ever opened the fridge without having an aneurysm, Jean didn’t know.
Before he could resign himself to going hungry, he found a plastic carton of salad mix behind the vodka and a Tupperware of cooked chicken that didn’t smell like it’d gone bad yet. It took three tries to find the silverware drawer, and Jean stared down in disbelief. Half of the drawer was full of mini candy bars. He threw them all into the trash before grabbing a fork and slamming the drawer shut.
He and his chicken salad made it back to the couch with only a minute to spare. Dinner was set aside long enough for him to settle Kevin’s laptop on his lap again, and Jean pulled up a fresh USC game. He couldn’t not watch the Fox and Raven match, but it’d be nice to have a real match waiting as a palate cleanser.
A blur of orange had him glancing up to confirm the Foxes were at the court door. Jean looked back down at the laptop to see if the game had finished buffering, and then his brain caught up with his eyes. He shoved the laptop aside with careless urgency.
Fuck USC and all their games past and present. Kevin Day was crossing Evermore’s court with his racquet in his left hand. Jean pushed off the couch and moved to the coffee table for a closer view.
“No,” he said to the TV. “You can’t.”
He couldn’t, but he did.
The Ravens had watched Kevin’s slow and graceless return to Exy, and they’d had ample time to study the way he was forced to play while using his less dominant hand. Somewhere along the way they’d all forgotten what he used to be like. Jean thought of Kevin’s words this morning, I am tired of being called second when I am better than he will ever be, and his blood roared like static in his ears as Kevin made fools of the Raven defense line.
He was furious with them for falling apart, and angrier at the coaches for putting Grayson and Zane in together. They were the next-best defensemen after Jean, but they had loathed each other since Jean’s freshman year. After what Riko did to them in January, they could barely stand to be in the same room together. Getting played for fools by Kevin was only throwing fuel on the fire.
It was inevitable they’d break first, and unsurprising it was Zane who started swinging. Kevin was never shy with his opinion when it came to Exy, and even now with so much on the line he was likely tearing Zane a new one for being such a fuckup. Zane went after Kevin with everything he had, and it took both teams to haul him off. He was thrown off with a red card, and Abby was let on to give Kevin a quick checkup. He waved off her concern as unnecessary and proceeded to score on the foul shot.
Kevin wasn’t enough, of course. One man could not hold an entire team together. But then the Ravens made the critical mistake of fouling Andrew Minyard himself, and Nathaniel crossed the court in record time to throw Brayden off his feet. The master took advantage of the foul to call on fresh players, but Nathaniel and Boyd stayed near Andrew as the Ravens traded places. Riko’s return to the court was inevitable: the King would cut his Queen’s throat and be done with the whole charade at last.
In response, Andrew sent Boyd off the court. Jean saw the limp in the tall backliner’s step as he made his way to the door, but his replacement didn’t take his spot. The Foxes’ captain instead went across the court to wait alongside Kevin. Nathaniel, in turn, moved to guard Riko.
“This is madness,” Jean said. “Even you aren’t that idiotic.”