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PROLOGUE
BANE
I pull my vibrating phone out of my pocket and answer without looking. “Hello?”
“Nothin' but net.” Nova smirks with a shit-talking grin.
The basketball swishes through the hoop and the grin slips from my face at the familiar voice in my ear.
“Hey, kid, it's Eddie.”
“Fuck,” I murmur, my gut clenching.
“Yeah, uh, I tried your old man—”
“I'll be right there,” I interrupt quickly, wishing he'd stop talking.
“But he's not answering, and she's in real bad shape, kid. I don't want to call the sheriff, but—”
“Yeah, I'll come get her.” I jab the red button to end the call and shove my phone into my front pocket. I expel a breath and bottle up the resentment and frustration and shove it deeper in my chest. “Fuck,” I exhale quietly and glance toward the sky.
“Top that shot, bro. I dare you,” Nova taunts the other team. I don't even have to look to know he's probably showboating the hell out of our win.
He doesn't care that it's a harmless game of basketball in the park—that kid likes to win.
“I'm out,” I call over my shoulder and start walking off the basketball court without looking back.
“Yo, Bane, you scared, man?” one of the other players jeers.
“Scared, Brian? We're up by twenty, man. Game's over anyway,” Nova taunts. “Later, losers.”
“Wait up,” Silas calls, his voice louder than Nova's. I'm not even remotely surprised when I see him next to me a moment later. I love the guy, but sometimes I wish he wasn't so fucking perceptive. “What's up?”
“Where we heading now?” Nova asks a second later, slinging an arm over my right shoulder and Silas's left. His floppy dark blond hair hangs over his sweaty forehead, and I resist the urge to shrug him off. He shot up like a tree this summer, and the little shit's been strutting around like a proud peacock for weeks now that he's reached our height. “I heard there's a bonfire on the beach tonight. Last hurrah before summer's over?” I see his brows waggle out of the corner of my eye.
“Nah, I gotta go to The Wild Boar.” I don't look at him, even though I feel his gaze boring into the side of my face.
“Want some company?” Silas asks, his tone even.
“Yeah, man. I could use a drink. I'm parched after wiping the court with those Crestview dicks,” Nova says, dropping his arms from our shoulders. He doesn't move from his place between us though.
I arch a brow but keep my gaze on the street ahead. “You're fucking thirteen.”
Nova throws his arms across our shoulders again. “Bro, you just ate half a chocolate cake for my birthday last week. You know I'm fourteen. Besides, since when does age matter when you're a fucking Reaper, yeah?”
“Calm down, baby brother,” Silas says. He shrugs Nova's arm off his shoulder and pivots to grab him in a headlock. It quickly devolves into a faux wrestling match. “You're barely a fledgling.”
Any other day and I would join in on the heckling at the very least, but I can't do that today.
I stop and watch them for a few seconds. “I gotta do something for my dad, but I'll meet you guys down there in an hour.”
Nova pops out of Silas's hold, his face bright with excitement. “No shit?”
I jerk my chin up. “Yeah, man. I'll see you at the bonfire.”
Nova pumps his fist in the air. “Hell yes.”
Silas stares at me, but I just tip my head back and walk backward, silently communicating the only way I know how that I'll be fine.
