Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 76298 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 381(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76298 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 381(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
“You don’t have anything to gain from ruining me. The dean’s still got you by the dick, doesn’t he?” Malcolm doesn’t reply and Emilio nods to himself. That was exactly my thinking and it feels good to be proven right. “That’s what I figured. The only person with the means and the motive is Dean Wotherspoon.”
“He wants to meet with you tonight.” Malcolm glances at me, looking uncomfortable. “Up on the cliffs. He says you know the spot.”
Emilio cracks a smile for the first time since the fire. “That’s poetic of him. What does he want?”
“He wants to make a deal. You give him whatever blackmail you have on him, and he leaves you alone. Rebuild Calico, become a regular-ass student, whatever you want. A fresh start, those are his words.”
“A fresh start,” Emilio echoes, leaning back in his chair. For a long time, he’s quiet. I stand there wondering what’s going on in his head. I want to scream at him, to beg him to ignore this. If Emilio gives up his blackmail material, there’s nothing holding the dean back. We’ll be ruined, and Calico really will be dead.
“Tell the dean I’ll come,” Emilio says finally. “Tell him I’ll take the deal. I’ll destroy the recording and he’ll leave me alone. Calico is finished.”
Malcolm’s face gets serious. He nods slowly. “I’ll tell him that, but are you sure? You’re really done with Calico?”
“Tell him what I said. And Malcolm? Make sure nobody else knows about this.”
“The dean would rip my head off if I told anyone.” He sighs and turns away. “Well, Emilio, it’s been fun sparring with you. I’ll miss the fights.”
“No, you won’t.”
He flips Emilio off and leaves. The door clicks shut and I whirl to face Emilio, heart racing, confusion ripping through me.
“Why?” I manage to choke out.
He smiles and stands. “I asked you to trust me a while back. Do you remember, pet?”
I glare at him. “What’s that got to do with anything? You’re talking about ending Calico.”
“Pet.” He comes closer. His eyes are bright now, lit up with an inner fire I haven’t seen in days. “Trust me. Can you please trust me?”
I let him put his hands on my hips. I shiver with how good it feels to be touched, even if it’s only a glimpse of the old him.
“I can trust you, but this is killing me, you know that?”
“Good girl,” he whispers, leans down, and kisses me gently. “I have a meeting to prepare for.”
Chapter 29
Kaye
We trek through the forest. Emilio holds a flashlight, illuminating the winding path. Everything seems strange, foreign, even after only a few days of staying on campus. The smell of charred wood lingers in the air and I wonder what the house looks like now, if the few remaining walls and that concrete foundation have sunk into the earth and disappeared, or if the skeletal remnants will stand like a monument to what we used to be.
“No matter what, don’t get involved in what’s about to happen.” Emilio speaks quietly and doesn’t look back at me. I stay at his heels, walking close to him, nervous about all this. “Can you promise?”
“I promise.”
“No matter what.”
“No matter what. But, Emilio—”
He shakes his head to cut me off and I close my mouth. He made me promise that if I came with him, I wouldn’t interrupt. He made me swear I’d trust him.
It’s hard to go along, knowing he’s about to sacrifice everything.
Calico is done, but at least it’s like he’s waking up. This is the brightest, most animated I’ve seen him, and there’s a part of me that wants to see Calico disappear if it means getting this version of him every day. But I think back to that day on the boat, to that initiation in the basement, and I wonder if this is only ever a shadow of what we could’ve been, if that house hadn’t burned to the ground.
There’s no use wondering and worrying. It won’t bring anything back, and besides, there’s an entire world ahead of us. I want to take his hand and hold it, but I keep to myself and keep walking.
The path steadily winds upwards until the trees fall away and the cliffs appear. The boulders are like I remember, big and fractured. Standing twenty yards away and looking out at the moonlight ocean is a lone person, hands clasped behind his back.
He looks over as Emilio shines his flashlight on him. Dean Wotherspoon smiles.
“You came.” He turns and faces us. Emilio lowers his light. The moon’s full and bright and I can see the wicked grin on the dean’s face. “I wasn’t sure you would. Malcolm said you seemed off.”
“I want to be done with this.” Emilio moves closer. I stay where I’m standing, far from the edge, and look out at the water.