“No, it’s Tate and Brock’s fault,” I retort, interrupting him. “We need Reaper there. Can you be civil with him for a day?”
River glares at me. “We don’tneedhim there,” he mutters.
“But it’ll help,” I say.
I glance in the direction of the administrative assistant’s desk, but it’s still empty.
“The more people we have on our side,” I continue, “the more likely this is to work.”
River continues to glower at me, and he crosses his arms against his chest. “Fine,” he mutters. “But only for a day. Only for Pandora.”
I nod, relaxing in my seat. “Thank you,” I say. I eye him. “You’re in a worse mood than usual. What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” River replies.
I arch a brow. “Nothing? This doesn’t seem like nothing.”
He grits his teeth. “Okay, maybe it’s something, but it’s not your fucking business.”
For some reason, that hits me hard, and I’m not sure why. “I thought we were friends,” I say, my voice carefully neutral. “Friends talk about shit.”
“We—” River starts to make a retort, only to cut himself off. “Okay. Yeah.” He licks his lips. “You’re close to your mom, aren’t you?”
The question catches me off guard, but I’m curious to see where he’s going with it. “Yeah,” I tell him. “I mean, we have our issues, but for the most part. She’s the only parent I have.”
River looks past me, his eyes distant. “I don’t have either parent anymore,” he says.
I thought he still had both parents, but I guess theanymoresays a lot. I wait for him to continue, nodding to him to let him know he has my full attention.
No one else is around, and even though this is a weird place for a personal conversation, I’m not sure if I’ll get it out of him if I try again later.
“My mom left my dad,” he goes on. “I always thought that if she did, she’d be the mom I’d always wanted her to be. Attentive, loving, thoughtful.”
Like my mom. For all of her faults, she’s always been there for me. Everything I could possibly talk to her about, she’s listened to. There isn’t much I wouldn’t tell her.
Except for everything with Pandora.
She’d be devastated if she ever knew I was involved with anything like that. I can’t ever let her find out.
River sighs and continues staring past me. “I had to get Pandora’s uncle to track her down. She told me never to call her again.”
I grimace.
“And that’s after my dad threw me out,” he continues.
“Fuck,” I mutter. “I’m sorry, River.”
“I don’t give a fuck about my dad,” River replies, shaking his head. “He’s an asshole. But I wanted a mom I could be close to. Now that she doesn’t have to worry about protecting me… I thought she’d try or something.” He laughs, the sound self-deprecating. “I guess I’m too much like him.”
“You’re not an asshole,” I tell him. He isn’t, mostly. From what little I’ve gleaned about River’s family, his dad was worse than just an asshole. “Maybe if you give your mom time?”
He huffs out another laugh. “No. No, she made it pretty clear where she stands.”
“Shit.” I don’t know what to say. Even the thought of my mom ever turning her back on me hurts. I’ve never claimed not to be amama’s boy. “You stayed with Pandora over Christmas, didn’t you? Her parents let up on you at all?”
River nods. “Yeah, it seems like it might be okay there, at least.” He exhales slowly. “I don’t know, man. I have the rest of the year figured out, but beyond that? No idea.”
“We’ll figure it out,” I say. “I still don’t know whether Blaze’s dad is going to continue his ‘scholarship’ for me. If not… I’m back in New Valence.”
