“It’s the least you could do,” River says, with a lot more bite than I expect. “After what you did. I haven’t forgotten about Franklin.”
I don’t think it was a hundred percent Reaper’s fault, but I’m never going to say that to River.
“Neither have I,” I say anyway. “Besides, it’s not about the frat house. It’s more complicated than that.”
Reaper folds his arms across himself. “So what’s that got to do with me? I don’t give a fuck about you Chaos assholes.”
My eye twitches in annoyance. “But you care about Pandora, right? And Carly, and Samantha?”
That’s what Pandora had said, anyway.
I can’t help but wonder how close Pandora is to Reaper. She’d been awfully close to him the one time I’d seen them in public, and I know she hangs out with him and Carly sometimes. I don’t want to be jealous, but…
Maybe it would be better not to have him helping us.
My words have their intended effect, though, because Reaper narrows his eyes. “What does this have to do with them? Other than Pandora’s wild plans. She’s dragging Carly into all sorts of shit.”
River steps forward, chin up, and meets Reaper’s gaze. “You want revenge for what happened to Carly? This is going to get you there. Forget masked attacks against a bunch of people who can barelydefend themselves. You’ll be hitting people in power. You can cut off the head of the hydra.”
Reaper stares at River, and the two of them are silent while they continue their little mental pissing contest.
“Forget it,” I say harshly. “We don’t need Reaper. We’ve got Fenrir already.”
Reaper snaps his head in my direction. “Winters is helping you?”
“Yeah,” I tell him. “He’s going up against River for the main event. But we need a few other fighters.” I grin at him. “Unless you think you can’t handle me.”
It’s a play I’ve seen Blaze do before—challenge them, belittle them.
Bait them.
Reaper reacts exactly like all the others. He sneers at me. “I can handle you, Alvarado. But I’m not going easy on you. And when I’m done beating you up, I’m telling my entire crew that it’s a free for all.”
“Uh huh,” I say. He talks big, but I’m not impressed. “Beat a man while he’s already down? That’s real classy, Reaper.” I shrug. “But whatever. If you can take me down, tell them what you want.”
I’m not entirely sure I can hold up against Reaper. He’s big, but he’s also fast. I’ve seen him in the fights with River, who has more experience in that arena than I have. I’m good, but I think Reaper’s better.
It doesn’t matter.
I just need to get him there. The rest of it will pan out.
Reaper flips me off. “Yeah. Get ready to be whipped, Alvarado.” He stops and turns to River. “And you can tell Pandora I don’t control Kratos. If she doesn’t want him there, she’ll have to convince him not to show. He’s been bugging me non-stop about what the fuck this is about.”
I have a feeling trying to tell one of Pandora’s siblings what to do will be about as effective as tellingherwhat to do.
“He’s part of your crew,” River says. “If you can’t control him, what kind of a leader are you?”
Reaper growls and takes another step toward River. He raises his arm, but I grab his wrist before he punches River.
“We’re in the fucking admin building,” I hiss at him. “You want to fight us? Show up at the fundraiser.”
Reaper shakes my hand off, then turns to storm off.
I hope that means he’ll be there.
I glance at River. “What the fuck was that? You couldn’t be nice for three seconds?”
“To him?” River sneers. “No. It’s his fucking fault Franklin?—”
