Total pages in book: 131
Estimated words: 145402 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 727(@200wpm)___ 582(@250wpm)___ 485(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145402 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 727(@200wpm)___ 582(@250wpm)___ 485(@300wpm)
It took her a half-second to realize what she was looking at, and she was on her feet with a shrill, "Are you kidding me?"
Dan was in the kitchen scarfing down breakfast and Renee was in their bedroom, but Allison's outburst brought them running. Dan was on Neil's left, so she saw it first. She ground to a halt, but only for a second. A heartbeat later she was across the room and on the couch where Allison had just been sitting. Neil didn't know she could move so fast.
"This is a joke," Dan said, grabbing Neil's chin. "Neil?"
"He told me to transfer to the Ravens," Neil said. "He said I could finish this year with the Foxes but that I'd move to Edgar Allan this fall. They inked me in preparation and I couldn't stop them. I wanted you to know in case Riko says something about it. I'm still a Fox no matter what he says. I wouldn't sign his papers."
"Take it off," Dan said.
"It's permanent," Neil said.
"Nothing's permanent. Take it off. Matt will spot you the money."
"He will or I will," Allison said. "I don't want to see that on my court. Kevin's tramp stamp fouls the atmosphere enough."
"Kevin knew about this, didn't he?" Dan said, incensed. "He knew what Riko was going to do to you and he let you go anyway. The next time I see him—"
"You'll do nothing," Neil interrupted her. "Kevin didn't have the right to stop me."
"He let you go to Riko in his stead."
"No," Neil said. "Kevin didn't factor into any of that. He knew it wasn't about him."
Dan wasn't expecting that. Confusion took the edge off her anger. "You said Riko was trying to get to Kevin."
"I said Riko focused on me because of my relation to Kevin," Neil said. "I didn't say that's why I went. I just thought you should know about this before the season kicks off."
Dan let him get to his feet but seized his elbow before he could get far. Neil looked down at her, but she was staring across the room at nothing. It was a minute before she spoke.
"You never had any plans to go home for Christmas, did you? That whole mess about your uncle flying to Arizona—you made that up so we wouldn't ask too many questions or wonder why you weren't going to New York with Kevin."
There was no point denying it. "I did."
"I get that you don't trust us completely," Dan said. "I don't like it, but I think we've been pretty good at working around that all year. We haven't pushed you to give us more than you're comfortable with and we haven't asked why you're like this. So don't do this to us. Don't sit here and lie to our faces." She finally looked up at him, frustration pulling hard at the corner of her mouth. "We're your friends. We deserve better than that."
"If you always got what you deserved, you wouldn't be a Fox." Neil tugged out of her grip. She let him go without a fight, looking a little startled by that blunt rejoinder. Neil tried to stamp out the trickle of guilt but couldn't quite manage it. "I've never had friends before. I don't know how this works. I'm trying, but it's going to take time."
Time was something he didn't have, but that wasn't worth mentioning. Dan accepted his apology and promise with a weary nod, and they let him leave in peace. Neil stopped by his bathroom to put a new bandage over his tattoo. He still had time to kill before class, so he sat at his desk with his textbooks. He meant to review his notes from his previous lessons. Instead he drew fox paws across the pages until it was time to go.
Neil didn't text Dan until lunchtime, wanting to give her a couple hours to cool down. Either she'd forgiven him or she'd forgotten the morning's fiasco, because she responded almost immediately with the numbers he needed. Neil ended up programming both into his phone. Nicky had a habit of filling up Neil's inbox, and Neil couldn't afford to lose track of these ladies.
He reached out to Katelyn first. He must have caught her while she was in class, because it was almost an hour before she got back to him. It only took a couple messages to realize there was no good time in their schedules to get together today. She promised to make time tomorrow to hear him out, though, and that was good enough.
That afternoon Neil finally got the confirmation he was looking for: even though Andrew was off his drugs, he still had weekly sessions with Betsy. Neil knew what time Andrew's sessions started and assumed Betsy would have a small window without patients before Andrew showed up at her door. As soon as Neil knew Andrew was on his way to Reddin, he steeled his nerves and dialed Betsy's desk.
She answered on the second ring with a pleasant, "Dr. Dobson."
"It's Neil," Neil said, and continued before she could act surprised and pleased to hear from him. "I need a yes or no. If we can talk Aaron and Andrew into doing joint sessions with you, can you fix them?"
There was only a brief pause before Betsy said, "I will certainly try."
"Don't try," Neil said. "Don't guess. This is too important. Can you or can't you?"
"Yes." He could hear the smile in her voice: not amusement, but approval. "If you can get them here, I will take care of it. Neil?" she said as he was starting to move the phone from his ear. "I like the honest side of you."
Neil hung up on her.
-
It was too early in the year for the library to be crowded, so Neil had no trouble finding Katelyn. An oversized cup of coffee sat at her elbow and Neil was tempted to detour past the cafe for his own drink. He didn't want to look like he was staying, though, so he headed down the aisle to her table without stopping. A biochem textbook was pushed off to one side as she highlighted relevant portions of her notes. Aaron had the same book in his room, as he was studying biological sciences. Neil guessed their similar majors and overlapping classes was how they'd finally met outside of games.