More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
Wymack didn't care if he had nine Foxes or twenty-five. He'd stand behind them until the bitter, bloody end.
Kevin felt his fall from grace keenly.
condescension.
what a sweet Christian girl was doing fighting the unofficial sociopath of the team,
The latter was absurd, but the former was impossible.
They were different kinds of heartless and Neil, for all his problems connecting with other people, didn't want to be a monster.
"Neil is a walking tragedy."
"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.
Neil's phone went off the next morning and startled five years off his life expectancy.
Neil heard his short, ragged breaths as Kevin valiantly fought off a panic attack and it did nothing for Neil's nerves.
Riko offered her his hand in the most condescending handshake Neil had ever seen.
Neil didn't need to be told twice, but he didn't get far.
derisive
I've basically made things a thousand times worse for him. I'm not sorry, though."
"Tell me you aren't really Nathaniel."
They were piecing Neil together and building a real person around all of his lies.
it was hard to ignore an opening line like that.
"Oh my God." Nicky looked torn between horror and pity. "Seriously? That might be the saddest thing I've ever heard."
If the Ravens weren't in class, they were expected to be at Evermore. They lived and breathed Exy on a scale no other team could or would.
Neil was sure every Fox tensed when Riko reached for Kevin, but all Riko did was wind an arm around Kevin's shoulders and pull him into a short hug.
"Do you need Renee?" "Oh, Dan," Andrew said, amused and pitying. He stopped in his doorway to look back at her. "I don't need anyone. Goodbye."
"Don't make me hurt you," Andrew said. "I don't want blood in my ice cream."
"New team rule." Matt mimed banging a gavel on the table. "Never again put 'Andrew' and 'mellow' in the same—oh my god."
"Stop hiding. This was your idea; deal with the consequences."
They'd never be perfect, but they were going to be all right. They'd come to the Foxhole Court as fractured messes but they were fixing each other one semester at a time.
Neil swallowed hard against the burning knot in his throat. This wasn't his family. It wasn't his problem. It wasn't his mother. Neil's mother was ashes and bones buried in a California beach. She was gone forever. Neil would never hear her voice again and would never get another phone call from her. She'd never sit him down and explain why she'd run or apologize for hiding his connection to the Moriyamas. She'd never watch him play with the Foxes in semifinals. She wouldn't be there when he gave his testimony. She wouldn't be there when he died.
"Cass, though, Cass? Cass would have been. She really wanted to be. Oh, you don't know.
"Oh, you just might be the best thing to happen to the Foxes."
He saved all his love for the NCAA and national Court.
He withdrew completely, leaving just the memory of his heartbeat against Neil's mouth, and spun away.
but he should know how expensive I am by now.
"Oh, now he says it," Andrew said, and got out of the car. "Too late."
They were two halves of a miserable whole, inseparable co-conspirators.
Wymack stabbed a finger at the ground in front of him.
He ran until he couldn't breathe, but he never stopped hurting.
"Kevin," Andrew called from out of sight. Kevin nearly knocked the chair over in his hurry to answer.
Kevin's kind of a full-time job."
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.
I have better things to do tonight than watch you powwow."
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.
He was their family. They were his. They were worth every cut and bruise and scream.
