If this doesn’t convince Keegan to stay the fuck away… well, then castration and/or murder really is the only answer left.
Keegan should really be glad that I’ve been holding back.
6
BLAZE
“I still can’t believe you got your ass kicked by thatnewcomer,” I say.
Despite said ass kicking, River looks fine now. He’s chomping down on his burger, not at all bothered by the small bruise on his jaw. His hands don’t look too scuffed up either.
The cafeteria is crowded with all the students. When the weather was warmer, some people took their food outdoors, but with the freezing cold, everybody is in here.
River shrugs. If he’s bothered by the loss, he doesn’t show it. “We’re going to have a rematch next week. Now that I know how fucking fast she is, I can anticipate it better,” he says between bites. He swallows, then adds, “If she kicks my ass again,thenyou can make fun of me.”
“And how strong.” I grin widely. “She fucking lifted you straight off the ground. You weigh what, one-sixty-five, one-seventy?”
“One-sixty-seven,” he says. “Super middleweight, in boxing terms. If I keep eating like this, I’ll tip over.” That doesn’t stop him from eating. “I don’t know, man. Apparently, Bobbi lifts.” He grins at me. “It would have been no contest if I hadn’t already been a little tired.”
I nod indulgently. “Of course, of course.” I take another bite of my veggie wrap, then I say, “How was Pandora last night?”
“Needy,” River says. “She kept talking about Bobbi, though.” He rolls his eyes. “I think she has a crush.”
My stomach tightens strangely, the way it had last night when Pandora was talking about wanting to be bench pressed by Bobbi. “She wouldn’t go for her, right? Pandora was joking.” I bite my lip. “How bi is Pandora, anyway?”
“Um.” River pauses, shaking his head. “I have no idea what she’s been up to for the last year. She wouldn’t cheat on us, though. Three men have to be enough for her. Right?” He suddenly doesn’t look as amused as he had before.
Is three enough for her? She has three father figures, but that doesn’t mean she’s holding three up as an ideal. And if Pandora gets a taste for pussy…
“We’ll just have to keep her too satisfied to go chasing after anyone else,” I say. I finish my veggie wrap and ball up the wrapper. “I don’t know how she has so much energy. I used to thinkIfucked a lot.”
River snorts. “Even the three of us together can barely satisfy her when she’s in one of her moods,” he replies. “But she won’t go looking somewhere else.” He finishes his burger and wipes his mouth with a napkin.
“We need to make more progress on the other stuff,” I say more quietly. “But I don’t know where to start. There are so many files in the drive, it’ll take forever to go through everything—and that’sifthe info we need is on them.”
Exhaling slowly, River tears the napkin in two. “Yeah. I don’t know, though. It’s all just secrets. Unless someone actually confesses to killing a girl named Rachel, are we even going to get very far? I doubt they even know the women’s names anyway,” he says, his voice edged.
“There has to be a record of who got sent where. That’s importantinformation.” I bat the balled-up wrapper from one hand to the other. “There’s no way my dad didn’t keep track of that shit.”
“The question is whether the info is in those drives or not,” River replies. “But it’s not like you can ask. He’s—” He cuts himself off, his eyes narrowing at something behind me. “Oh, great.”
I turn to see what’s caught his attention. Holden and Brock are crossing the cafeteria in our direction, and while Holden looks nervous, Brock’s expression is thunderous.
“Ten bucks says this is about Pandora,” River says in a low voice.
“How?” I ask. “She was with you last night!”
Before River can answer, Brock and Holden stop in front of our table. Brock slams his hands onto the table, like the noise is going to intimidate us.
His hand must be healed enough, since he doesn’t wince in pain.
“You can’t even fight your own battles, Bouchard?” Brock sneers. “You send your girlfriend to go after Keegan?”
I sigh and reach for my wallet. I pull out a ten and hand it to River, who takes it with a shake of his head.
“I have no fucking clue what you’re talking about,” I say earnestly.
Holden glances at Brock, then looks at me. “You seriously don’t know? Blaze, you need to get her on a leash or something.”
