Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 117363 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 587(@200wpm)___ 469(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117363 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 587(@200wpm)___ 469(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
“Kevin?” she guessed.
“No,” Jeremy said. He didn’t elaborate that he’d called Kevin last night, catching him right before the Foxes boarded their flight back to South Carolina to give him the good news. Jeremy had woken up to a string of text messages this morning that did nothing to make him feel better about this. A picture was forming around all of Kevin’s scattered insights, and while Jeremy couldn’t quite put his finger on it yet, he was left with the unsettling conviction that the Trojans were doing the right thing by risking a Raven on their lineup.
“Hey, Laila,” he said. “I need your help with something.”
“Sure,” she said.
Rather than answer, Jeremy scrolled to the only unused number in his Contacts and dialed out. There was a chance no one would respond, given the hour and unknown number, but someone picked up right before it could cut to voicemail. An unfamiliar and accented voice answered with a neutral, “Yes?”
“Jean Moreau?” Jeremy asked. “Jeremy Knox.”
Jean immediately hung up on him. Jeremy considered the blinking timer on his phone, amused despite himself. Laila pushed herself up on one arm to stare at him, suddenly looking very awake. Jeremy grimaced an apology at her for not taking two seconds to explain and tried Jean again. This time Jean let it go to only three rings, and he answered with the same “Yes?”
“Sorry about that,” Jeremy said. “I’m juggling a few things here and think I hit the wrong button. This is Jeremy Knox, from USC? I got your number from Kevin after the game last night. Do you have a minute to talk?”
The silence that followed was so profound Jeremy had to see if the call was still connected. At last Jean said, “I need a few minutes.”
“Sure, of course,” Jeremy agreed. “I’m free all day, just call back whenever.”
This time Jean did hang up on him, and Jeremy could turn his full attention on Laila. “We’re signing Jean to the lineup next year,” he said.
“This Jean?” she asked, gesturing to her own bare cheekbone. “You aren’t serious. He’s the Ravens’ best defenseman. They’ll do whatever it takes to keep him.”
“No, they won’t,” Jeremy said. “Rather, they can’t.”
He hesitated, wondering how much he was allowed to say. He’d told Rhemann and Jimenez why Jean was up for grabs, and they’d agreed they wouldn’t tell anyone outside the rest of the Trojans’ seven-man staff. Jeremy wouldn’t volunteer anything to the Trojans Jean didn’t want them to know, but Laila and Cat were different. They were his best friends, and with every one of Kevin’s texts making him feel like he was getting in way over his head, he was desperate for some backup.
“They’re both asleep,” Laila said when she realized he was stalling. “It’s just us.”
Jeremy scooted a little closer all the same. “He’s too injured to finish the season. Kevin called it hazing, but this morning he said Jean is off the court until late June.” Laila glanced down at her hands, silently counting weeks since Jean’s disappearance, and Jeremy nodded when her eyes narrowed in alarm. “Supposedly Edgar Allan is trying to hush it up by transferring him out, which means he’s ours if we can convince him to come over. For now he’s hiding in South Carolina with Kevin.”
“Inspiration for Kevin’s shade the other week?” Laila asked.
“I wonder.” Jeremy flexed his own left hand with nervous energy. “I asked him what he meant by that, but he didn’t answer. Laila, you ever feel like—like you’re making a choice you can’t come back from? But even knowing everything could go completely sideways, you’d make that choice every time?”
“Every morning I wake up and choose to be your friend,” she said dryly. She eased out of the papasan chair and grabbed the beans from the coffee table. “Come on. This conversation is going to need more caffeine.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Jean
Jean hung up on Jeremy Knox a second time and immediately called Kevin. It took two attempts before Kevin answered, and his greeting was more a grumpy yawn than anything. Jean checked the time, saw it to be half-past ten, and figured the Foxes had been up late getting back from the west coast. He didn’t waste time feeling sorry for the other man but demanded, “Why is Jeremy Knox calling me?”
“If you haven’t figured it out yet, I can’t help you.”
“You are not trying to send me to the sunshine court,” Jean said with incredulous dismay. “The only place more inappropriate than there would be here.”
“Where else would you go?” Kevin asked, losing a bit of sleepiness for impatience.
“Penn State would have made more sense.”
“Absolutely not,” Kevin said, and Jean could almost hear the curl of his lip in distaste. Until Edgar Allan came south this last fall, they’d shared a district with Penn State and faced them throughout the regular season. They were each other’s biggest rivals, and Kevin had always let that animosity get the better of his common sense. He would admit under duress that they were a stellar team, but he’d never say it with any real warmth. “I don’t trust you that close to West Virginia.”