The Raven King (All for the Game, #2)

by Nora Sakavic

Impatience pulled Kevin's mouth into a hard line. "Knock it off. You can't leave." There was a heartbeat of silence, and then Andrew turned around with a wide, wicked smile on his lips. "I can't, Kevin? I'll show you what I can't do. Try and put me on your court today and I'll take myself off it permanently. Fuck your practice, your line-up, and your stupid fucking game."

"You've obviously got something Andrew wants," Matt said.

"Oh." Andrew slapped his fist into his palm as if the answer had just occurred to him. He flashed Matt a wicked grin but answered in German. "Maybe he's afraid she'll die on him like the last woman he really loved." Aaron shot him a vicious look. "Fuck you." "Christ, Andrew," Nicky complained. "I'm going to guess that was completely inappropriate," Matt said, looking between the cousins. "Do I want to know?" "Do you think we want to tell you?" Andrew asked in English.

"Why does Andrew do this?" Neil asked, unable to stay quiet any longer. "If he doesn't care about Exy, what's the point of going through this every Friday?" "Would you want to be crazy high every day of your life?" Matt asked.

Andrew leaned forward on his perch and smiled at Neil. "Hey, Neil. Honesty looks awful on you."

"Your parents are dead, you are not fine, and nothing is going to be okay," Andrew said. "This is not news to you. But from now until May you are still Neil Josten and I am still the man who said he would keep you alive.

"I don't care if you use this phone tomorrow. I don't care if you never use it again. But you are going to keep it on you because one day you might need it." Andrew put a finger to the underside of Neil's chin and forced Neil's head up until they were looking at each other. "On that day you're not going to run. You're going to think about what I promised you and you're going to make the call. Tell me you understand."

Kevin claimed he had something Andrew wanted. Neil didn't know what it was, but it had to be something big if Andrew was willing to defy the Ravens and work around all of Neil's problems. Neil made a mental note to talk to Kevin about it this weekend, but they had to survive the fall banquet first.

Running wasn't easy, but it was easier than trusting Andrew. But Neil remembered the weight of a key in his palm, its metal soaked through with another person's body heat. He remembered Andrew's promise to see this year through with him.

"First day of practice I told everyone Edgar Allan had transferred districts, you remember? Andrew spent that night here with me. At first I figured he was mad at Kevin for lying to him, but he was more worked up about you. I mostly tuned him out then, but I probably should have listened."

Neil put his hands in his pockets, feeling his keys in one and his phone in the other. He twisted his fingers through the key ring, tracing ridges with his fingertips until he found the key to Nicky's house in Columbia. Andrew gave it to him in August when he first promised to protect Neil.

It came back to him at practice when he spotted Andrew and Renee. They were standing together near the goal, and Andrew was gesturing excitedly as they went on about something or other. Neil watched them longer than he meant to and remembered Nicky's words.

Andrew, though, nodded in the face of it and told Neil to stay.

But that didn't count, because Andrew was Andrew, and this was definitely the last turn he needed his thoughts to take. He dragged his attention back to the task at hand and vowed never to listen to Nicky again.

"Why are you so special?" Matt asked. "I'm not," Neil said, confused. "Andrew doesn't give ground to anybody. Why does he keep saying yes to you?"

He withdrew completely, leaving just the memory of his heartbeat against Neil's mouth, and spun away.

"I won't lie and say I didn't think about it, but I decided to stay. I trusted you more than I was scared of him. So trust me now if you can. I'm not going anywhere. I'll take care of Kevin until you return."

"Trust you." Andrew enunciated each word like he'd never heard them before. He laughed curled his fingers tight around Neil's chin. "You lie, and lie, and lie, and you think I'll trust you with his life?" "Then don't trust 'Neil'," Neil said. "Trust me."

Neil waited, but Andrew didn't let go. With so many people watching them Neil couldn't lift his shirt. He did the next best thing and dragged one of Andrew's hands under the hem. He pressed Andrew's palm to the ugly scarring across his abdomen. Andrew's eyes dropped to Neil's shirt like he could see Neil's marred skin through the dark cotton. "Do you understand?" Neil asked. "Nothing Riko does will make me leave him. We will both be here when you get back."

She wasn't the first to say that, but Neil wondered if Andrew's opinion of him would change when he was off his medication.

"Thanks, but I can handle him," Neil said. "We noticed,"

"Your lack of survival instincts is supremely distressing," Riko said. "Take that look off your face before I carve it off." Neil hadn't realized he was smiling too, a cruel look he'd inherited from his father. Neil lowered his cup so Riko could get a better look at it. "I would love to see you try. You think I'm afraid of your knife? I'm the Butcher's son."

Somehow he made it close enough again to grab Riko's sleeve. "You even fucking think about touching him—

"Do you have my ticket?" "You're not going," Kevin said. "Do you know what he'll do to you?" "Do you know what he'll do to Andrew if I don't go?" Neil said. "I don't have a choice. I have to go. You have to trust me." "He will break you." "He wishes he knew how," Neil said. "Trust me. I promise I'll come back, and when I do I'll bring Andrew back with me. It's going to be fine. So do you have my ticket or don't you?"

Facing Riko like this went against everything his mother taught him. He'd been raised to run, to sacrifice everything and everyone to ensure his own survival. His mother had never given him ground to stand on. Maybe that was why he hadn't been strong enough to save her in the end. A jumble of lies had nothing to fight for. But Neil Josten was a Fox. Andrew called this home; Nicky called him family. Neil wasn't going to lose any of it. If two weeks with Riko was the price to keep his team safe, Neil would pay it.