Page 94 of Furious
“Hmm,” Lev considers my words. “We all need to have a conversation with him when tempers aren’t flaring as much as they were earlier today. He left pissed off and I think he owes Zara an apology for how he spoke to her. If she’s not feelingwell, having Ares scowl at her like she’s done something wrong probably isn’t what Zara needs right now.”
I exhale as the knot of tension in my stomach gets tighter with every passing second. “Did anyone ever tell you that being always right is fucking annoying?”
He grins. “Someone has to do it.”
It’s getting late. Dave and the others are going to start trickling out of the backyard very soon. “Let’s get this over with.” I whisper. “I don’t know why, but I have a bad feeling about tonight. What if Ares knows?” I finally say it out loud.
“I’ve thought about it.” Lev reassures me. “You know your brother. If he knew, he would be obligated to report it and the whole thing would have been shut down.”
“But what else could he have been talking about earlier, then? What else does he think we’re lying to Zara about?”
Lev claps my shoulder to reassure me. “Maybe he thinks that we’re lying about being ok with sharing. Every time I tried to help him get some time alone with Zara, he had this skeptical tone when he thanked me. Maybe he thinks that we’re pretending to agree on Zara not choosing to single him out. So that we’d have to fight just one another once he walks away.”
It makes sense. That’s exactly like Ares would think.
However, that doesn’t ease the knot in my stomach. “How are we going to deal with Smith? The guy’s more slippery than an eel.”
We begin walking toward the end of the backyard. “I’ve been thinking about it. Ideally, we’d find him before the race and talk to him. Maybe he’s interested in racing for Morelli, anyway. He would be guaranteed to get paid as opposed to now.”
“What if he isn’t? The guy acts like he has something to hide.”
Lev’s brows lower, his expression determined. “Then we drag him in front of Fox and Morelli, kicking and screaming. I don’t care. Last week, Smith arrived at the last second, right before therace started. If he shows up late again, you and I do anything in our power to stick close to him. Especially toward the end. Whether Smith wins or loses tonight, he might try to disappear again. We can’t let him.”
Anxiety rears its ugly head. “What do you mean? We can’t cause an accident. If anyone gets hurt, we can’t really go to the hospital.”
“It shouldn’t come to that. Both our bikes should be faster than Smith’s Ducati at top speed. We just need to close down on him if he tries to get away. I don’t want anyone to get hurt, but I bet Morelli had a plan for that, too. His family must have their own doctors, who probably know not to ask too many questions.”
My best friend is right again. I just need to make sure I don’t choke again like I did a couple of weeks ago. We can end this tonight if we both play our part.
ARES
What the fuck is this?
Blending in with the crowd at the Gamma party was child's play. The house was so full that no one noticed an extra guy in a hockey jersey and a baseball cap. I kept an eye on Chance and Lev, keeping my distance and hiding my face into a solo cup filled with water, pretending to be one of the tipsy people who support the Cove Knights whether they win or lose.
Luckily, I didn’t see Zara, Heather or Angela, the only people who could really blow my cover if they spotted me.
I knew I was onto something when I noticed a few hockey players sneaking out of the house from the backyard once the party began to die down.
It was harder to stay hidden once people started leaving, but thankfully, almost everyone had consumed enough booze to make them less observant.
Of course there was underage drinking at the party. I wasn’t surprised about that. If the school really wanted to clamp down on that, I bet most of Greek Row would be deserted.
Chance and Lev, however, didn’t seem to be drinking like the rest of their teammates and frat brothers. That should have probably made me feel good that they weren’t being stupid—every team member who drinks despite being underage is risking their spot on the team and Dad would kill Chance if he got in trouble with his coach—but for some reason, seeing them drinking soda rather than beer made me even more suspicious.
When they finally left the house from the same door at the end of the backyard fence as some of their teammates, I followed.
I knew something was definitely going on when they walked to the most remote part of campus, past the ice arena and the football fields, right into the woods.
If I had to guess based on every college movie I’ve seen in my life, I would assume that they have some kind of fight club situation going on; or even worse, some kind of secret society thing. If they’re doing drugs, or worse, encouraging girls to take drugs to take advantage of them, I’m going to kick their asses. Both situations would explain why they were meeting with someone like Morelli, and why they kept it a secret from me and from Zara.
But despite their secretive behavior as of late, I know my brother and my best friend too well to think that they would do drugs. I also know that they would never take advantage of a woman who’s intoxicated. Whatever stupid shit they’re mixed up in, I know there’s a line they would never cross. So the fight club scenario is the most likely one.
I almost think I’m right when I see the lights around a clearing in the woods. There’s a legit crowd gathered around. People are drinking and dancing to the music that’s blaring from a boombox attached to speakers somewhere.
The crowd is my best bet to keep a low profile, but I need to know what the fuck is happening, so I walk around the clearing, weaving through the bodies toward the old building Chance and Lev walked into.
Could that building be where they fight? No, it doesn’t make sense. Everyone is gathered out here, but I don’t see any makeshift ring or any space suitable for a fight.
