Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 82415 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 412(@200wpm)___ 330(@250wpm)___ 275(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82415 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 412(@200wpm)___ 330(@250wpm)___ 275(@300wpm)
“Why did he do the background check on you, in particular?”
“I’m guessing he checked out more people and got lucky when he found me, and then pulled a few strings so I’d room with Luke.”
I’m so suspicious of this crew and their motives, but I have bigger concerns. “But you don’t know that this…guide…will give you what you want.”
“Of course I don’t, but it won’t keep me from trying.”
Dissuading him is clearly an uphill battle, so I change tack to get answers to other questions that have crept up since I first accepted that maybe this crap Alexei was talking about wasn’t just a con. “So the guys tonight, they’re in this Saints group with Preston and his friends? But how does that work if he needs you to spy on them? Are they doing something on their own?”
Alexei’s gaze narrows. “Like I said, I’m not giving you a detailed explanation of what’s going on. You were worried about me, which I appreciate, but now you get this stuff is real and why I must do this.”
Which brings us back to those fucked-up pages.
I run through all the things I should say.
No, this is too much.
Don’t do this to yourself.
Please. I’m begging, Alexei. Don’t.
But I already know, between what he said and the determination in his expression, nothing I say will change his mind.
“So you’re just gonna find someone to fuck you…in all these different positions? Make him think it’s a kink you’re into?”
“I’ll figure it out, Matteo.”
I don’t doubt that either.
As I’m trying to figure out what to say next, there’s a click at the door, and I glance over my shoulder just as Brad steps in.
“Hey, man. Hey, Alexei,” he says, looking exhausted as fuck. He plops down on his bed.
I’ve always been cool with Brad, but now I’m looking at him with suspicion, wondering who the fuck he really is and has been in all the time I’ve known him. Part of me wants to confront him and demand that he explain what he and his buddies were doing at the church, but Alexei’s dagger eyes keep me straight.
“Busy night?” I ask, surprised it comes out as cool as it might if I hadn’t seen him fucking floating with his boyfriend.
“Eh, just the usual. When did you guys start hanging out?”
“Shortly after the ’80s movie party at Alpha Alpha Mu,” Alexei says. “Malcom wanted some guys to game with, and Matteo was free.” He turns to me, smirking.
It’s concerning how good the guy is at making up a plausible lie on the fly. Alexei’s got secrets, and plenty of them, apparently.
“I didn’t know you liked gaming,” Brad says.
“We don’t know everything about each other, I guess.”
Isn’t that a fucking understatement?
Brad doesn’t seem to pick up on the dig. Just shrugs, then groans. “I should take a shower, but I think I’m just gonna pass out.”
“Cool, cool. I’m gonna head out,” Alexei says, slipping past me.
“What? Right now?”
He grabs his coat off my desk and heads for the door. “Yeah, man. See you around.” And I figure he’s saying that for Brad’s benefit.
I consider following him, but this isn’t the kind of thing I can discuss with him in the hall, and he’s just going down to his room, which Luke will be in, so I’ll have to sit with all this on my own…
Fuck, I won’t get any sleep tonight either, will I?
7
ALEXEI
Saturday is Cody’s birthday, so I get together with the Sinners at the pizza place down the street. When the pizzas and Brad’s and Luke’s calzones arrive, the guys dig in, but I’m not that hungry. I’m on edge—for a variety of reasons.
Guilt from spying on people who are supposed to be my friends.
Tension because tonight’s the night the Saints are meeting with the guide to decide if they can help me with getting answers about my brother.
Uneasiness from avoiding Matteo the past few days.
Since I showed him what these guys could do, he’s been trying to get me alone again. Thursday afternoon, he was at the pickup game. For a guy who’s shown up maybe one other time in two weeks, and who was too distracted looking at me to play well, I knew what he really wanted.
After seeing what the Sinners got up to, he has more questions, but I can’t share everything with him. I can’t tell him about the monster those guys unleashed. Or what happened the night I was attacked. Then he really wouldn’t want me casting this conjuring spell.
After I ignored him through the game and in the shower room, he started texting:
Alexei, we need to talk.
Come on.
Write me back.
He’s blowing up my phone like I imagine some girls blow up his when they want to mess around with him again.
As Cody grabs a breadstick, Seth pops his mouth open, and Cody grins before tearing off a piece and tossing it, landing it right in Seth’s mouth.