“Yeah. Thanks.” Ezio takes a look around the room before he waves and heads to the front door. “I’ll see you around. If you decide to stay as a brother, of course.”
That, more than anything, takes me off guard. “What?” I ask.
What has Blaze said to him? Does he know I plan on bailing for NVU next year?
He couldn’t talk to me about anything important, but he could discussmewith Ezio? Hurt and betrayal race through me, damn near leaving me breathless.
Ezio pauses by the door. “What, ‘what’?”
I shake my head. “Nothing,” I mumble.
Fuck him.
Fuck Blaze.
“See you,” I say, ready for him to be gone.
He leaves after flashing me an obviously fake smile, and I close the door behind him with a little more force than necessary.
I should go upstairs and do my assignment, but I’m too unsettled by the conversation. I head to the kitchen instead, where I know my dirty dishes from the morning are still in the sink. I turn on the water, rinsing them off.
Ezio knows something.
He may not have all the pieces of the puzzle, but he’s started to put together what he does know. I have a feeling this isn’t the last time he’s going to try to corner me in hopes that I’ll tumble down like a house of cards.
I shove the dishes haphazardly into the dishwasher, and I’m turning to head back upstairs when I hear keys in the front door.
I tense, unsure of whether it’s going to be Blaze or River.
I really don’t want to see either of them.
Glancing over my shoulder, I see River entering the kitchen. Better than Blaze, I guess.
I’ve always been a light sleeper, which is the only reason I know River has been getting home in the early hours every night for the past week. The quieter he tries to be, the more noise he makes, and I’ve gotten tired of being woken up from him rustling around in the kitchen and banging around pots and pans.
“Asch?” he asks.
I glance at him, noting that he has a black eye he definitely didn’t have the day before.
It’s not like we’re friends, and we don’t hang out, but I see him often enough to where I can tell he’s been coming home with injuries. The visible bruising, the way he sometimes walks like he’s wincing in pain… He’s getting into fights, and I don’t think it has anything to do with boxing.
I wonder if it has to do with Pandora.
“Tate still giving Pandora trouble?” I reply.
River blinks at me. “What?”
I gesture to his face. “The black eye? Who’re you getting into fights with?”
His face shutters. “None of your business, Alvarado,” he says, and while his voice is as flat as his expression, there’s still something there.
I shrug. “Okay.”
I sound more nonchalant than I feel.
I don’t think it has to do with Tate, who would have to be downright suicidal to go against Blaze once he’s put his foot down. Tate might not think Pandora is a threat, but heknowsBlaze is.
Does that mean he’s doing business for the Bouchards? Has Blaze let River in?
