“Yeah, well, Fenrir’s a particular dick,” Blaze mutters. “You recognize the name, right? FenrirWinters? That old gang that used to run in New Bristol. He’s got an inferiority complex a mile wide because his family name means nothing these days.”
Ezio lets out a startled laugh. “But if he’s a Winters, doesn’t that mean he’s part of the Cresci outfit? Blaze, you’d do better not to underestimate people based on their surnames. You know as well as I do that names aren’t what give people power.”
Blaze’s expression turns furious for a split second, but he smooths it over into a congenial smile. “Yeah, point taken. Anyway. See you around, River. And if you see Asch, tell him I’m serious about the junk he’s got lying around. It’s going into the trash this weekend.”
Do it yourselfis on the tip of my tongue, but I nod. “Sure,” I say.
I watch them leave.
If Ezio’s going to pull this frat together, he’s got a lot of work ahead of him.
My phone buzzes, and I groan when I see it’s a text from Pandora.
I leave it on read, like I have every other text from her in the past two weeks.
Maybe I have time for another round with the punching bag.
No amount of punching is going to get Pandora out of my head, though.
7
BLAZE
I finish the tour of the campus grounds in front of the burned remains of the Kappa Alpha house.
Ezio and I stare at it silently for a few minutes, like we’re sending a prayer for this building.
I’d only been there for a bit over a year, but it had felt like a second home to me. Never mind how I felt about Zayden or the rest of the fuckers. Even though I didn’t get along with everyone, Kappa Alpha Omega Sigma is stillmyfraternity. These were my brothers. This was my house.
“They’re going to tear down the remaining structure next week,” I say to Ezio. “I know they’ll fix it up and make it better, but I’m gonna miss the old place.”
“It had history,” Ezio acknowledges. For a moment, his face is expressionless, but then he offers me a smile that doesn’t quite meet his eyes. “But the new one will have history for you to build, completely your legacy.”
He means my father’s legacy.
I nod. “Yeah.” I rub the back of my head awkwardly. “So. You’ve seen the updated campus. Can I take you back to your hotel? Do you already have housing lined up?”
Ezio keeps staring at the building. “Was the room safe? It had fire protections in place.”
The room.
He means the secret office where we’d stored all of the information.
The one we’d caught Pandora in.
I shrug. “Probably not? Well, depending on how strong those protections were, but you can see that the fire got almost everything.”
“Let’s check anyway,” Ezio says. He steps around the caution tape and up the steps to the front door.
Shit.
I hurry after him. “Hey! It’s not safe. There could be structural damage. Do you want to get stuck down there?”
“We won’t,” he replies. He walks through the front door, and while he’s careful to pick around the debris and the parts of the floor that look less stable, he doesn’t seem concerned about the extent of the fire damage.
He heads straight for the basement, and without hesitation, he goes for the secret entrance to the basement. Selecting a key, he unlocks it and turns his phone’s flashlight on before stepping inside.
Everything’s exactly as we’d left it after Pandora escaped. After she’dcut me. I reach up to my chest and rub along the line of the cut she’d made. There’s a small sting still… and a small thrill.
