Page 171 of Endless Anger
He slumps in a matching armchair, kicking his feet up on the glass coffee table between us. “Feels like I’ve fully regressed into being a child again, but hey. At least I don’t have to make myself supper any time soon.”
The smirk he gives is easy. Practiced. Still, I don’t comment on it.
“Anyway,” he says, shaking himself and leaning back. “Where’s your other half today?”
“She went back to Fury Hill to pack up her dorm, since she’ll be staying off-campus next semester.”
“I didn’t think that was allowed.”
“Well, it wasn’t. Until our moms went up there and threatened Bauer within an inch of his life. He’s pretty agreeable now that we all have a bunch of shit on him.”
Foxe snorts. “I’ll bet he is. It’s too bad you still haven’t burned the place down yet.”
“Working on it.”
He nods, blowing out a long breath. “What brings you around then?”
“Can’t a guy come check on his best friend without an ulterior motive?”
“Best friend, huh?” He gives me a look. “I know better.”
I wring my hands together and then unzip the bag on my lap, pulling out the wooden box that Lucy shoved into my hands all those weeks ago, accusing me of having some nefarious plan with it.
She wasn’t wrong, really, although this one had been a duplicate. I’m still not sure how it got there, or who made it, but I’m coming to accept that some things in life just don’t get answers.
But the real box was my doing, and the stuff I had tucked inside would have incinerated the forest surrounding the school. That was why I’d brought it.
After receiving that cryptic email, I’d decided to enroll at Avernia—just long enough to burn it to the ground and displace Lucy, forcing her to safety.
Then I got attacked before I could put it into motion. Once I’d taken care of that, I abandoned my goal to find Lucy, afraid that she’d be the next target in the woods. From there, she consumed my life, so I never got around to setting the fire at all.
Now, with the threat to Lucy at least contained for the moment, it hardly seems worth the trouble.
For me anyway.
Holding the box out, I cock an eyebrow at my cousin. “Thought you might want this.”
“Your box of paraphernalia? I’m touched, Asher. Truly.”
Asher.I think that might be the first time he’s called me by my actual name since we were kids.
Guilt blossoms like a fucking botanic garden in my gut, but I ignore it. That emotion does no one any good.
“I’ll leave torching Avernia to you if you’re interested.”
Foxe takes the container, staring down at it silently for several beats. “Do I look like I’m in any condition to be setting things on fire?”
“Doesn’t have to be right this second,” I tell him. “Or even a year from now. Do it when you’re ready, or don’t do it at all. Makes no difference to me. I just thought that having the option would help you sleep better at night.”
His chin lifts, the red rings around his eyes brightening as the light shifts on his face.
“If I’m having issues sleeping, I know you probably are too.” Patting my legs, I push back to my feet.
“You love me,” he says, a slow grin breaking out across his face.
It hits me in the center of my chest, that glimmer of the old Foxe. Makes me hopeful that he’s still around somewhere inside there.
“Don’t read too much into it.” Tossing a balled-up pair of socks at him from the coffee table, I head for the apartment’s entrance, shrugging on my coat.
