Page 28 of Break You

“Okay, so you fought back. Congratulations. Now, if you’re lucky, your neck will snap instantly and you’ll be dead within seconds. If not the rope will cause cerebral hypoxia. The whole thing could take up to twenty minutes, so you’ll have plenty of time to contemplate what an amazing fight you put up.”

I sliced the zip tie on her wrists with my Swiss Army Knife, then shoved her hard, barely stopping to watch her fall.

* * *

Back at Trinity Hall, I rapped on Drew’s door.

“Yeah?”

I pushed the door open and walked in.

I could tell he was pissed off, even from the set of his shoulders as he faced away from me looking at his screen. My suspicions were confirmed when he turned to face me, his features distorted in anger.

“What?” I had no time for his hysterics.

“Really? You know full well what the issue is.”

“Maybe I do, but I want to hear it in your own words, so that I don’t misrepresent your intellect.” I knew that line would piss him off, and I gave zero fucks.

“Fuck you.”

“Okay. And now you’ve had your girly tantrum, can you speak like a grown adult man, or is that beyond you?”

“What the fuck was that shit show before?”

“I believe we discussed that it was part of the cygnet initiation process, and it was a perfect piece of theater, don’t you think? Just the kind of drama and mystery we’re known for—or suspected of. What exactly are you confused about?”

“Don’t do that.” He looked at me as though he wanted to strangle me.

“Do what?”

“Jesus, Xavier. Don’t treat me like I’m an idiot. I get it. I know you’re the untouchable God of every fucking thing, but as your 2.I.C. in Cygnus, and apparently, your closest friend in life, do me the fucking courtesy of not blindsiding me in shit you’re dragging me into, especially when said shit could land me in jail.”

“Message received, loud and clear. You’re not to be relied on when I need it. Maybe I should just bypass you and go to Kane or Fox when I need shit done.”

“Seriously? I’m going to ignore the fact that you just tried to bait me like a grade-schooler.” Except he wasn’t ignoring it. I didn’t miss the curl of his fist or the vein throbbing violently at his temple. “What the fuck was going on with the girl? You should have told me about that beforehand. And just to be clear, it’s not that I’m not up to it, it’s that I want to know what I’m getting myself into before it happens, so that if I get a knock on my door from the police in the middle of the night about a murdered student, I know what to say.”

Speaking of murdered, I glanced down at my watch. Twenty minutes exactly.

“Well, you know all you need to know. Did you get all the cloaks and masks back from the cygnets?”

“Yeah, they’re in the locker along with all of ours, except yours. I counted each one back in myself. So, are you going to tell me what the deal is, or not?”

“Not.”

“Christ. Sometimes I wonder why I even fucking bother with Cygnus, or the friendship, or any of it. You expect me to watch you co-opt us all to stage an elaborate intimidation routine on a girl, and not say anything? The same girl who seems to all of a sudden be everywhere you are, with whom you have mad chemistry, yet claim not to give a fuck about. I don’t believe in coincidences at the best of times, but this is clearly some kind of vendetta, or some shit. So…?”

“So, nothing. You know all you need to know, and all you’re going to know. End of.”

“We’ll have to agree to disagree on that one.”

“I don’t have to agree to do shit.” I knew I was being a dick, but Drew was pissing me off, big time.

“I know, oh untouchable, inflexible one. It’s a figure of speech. I would never actually expect you to compromise, let alone capitulate. I realize it’s not in your vocabulary, but I’m not the issue here.”

“Then what is?”

“The roomful of people who just witnessed it go down. Whatever ‘it’ actually was.” I looked at him silently, unblinking. “The cygnets. Jesus, Xavier, sometimes I wonder about how your brain works.”

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