Page 19 of Break You

I never wanted to take money that had been obtained the way Pete “earned” his. I loved him dearly as a brother, but I truly hated what he did, and wanted as little to do with it as I possibly could. I definitely didn’t want to benefit from the proceeds in any way. It was an unspoken rule that he didn’t talk “business” with me, either. It was stupid, really, because I knew exactly what he did and how he did it. Yet, if I did the “hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil” thing, I could somehow divorce all of that from the brother I loved, and who constituted almost my only family. I fully acknowledged my rampant hypocrisy, but I also knew I was only human. Nobody was perfect, least of all me.

Pete: your dad must be a fucking saint

Me: Well, I wouldn’t know.

Pete: or me but for some stoopid fucking principles ur gonna end up in a shallow grave

Pete: u dont get that from ma

Pete: or me

Me: FFS. What is it with guys and this obsession with bad shit happening? You know that statistically speaking, you’re more likely to be a victim of a crime than me, right?

Pete: BS.

Pete: id like 2 c them try

Pete: and what guys

Me: You.

Pete: u said guys like more than one

Pete: theres only one me

Me: It’s early. My brain isn’t working properly yet. I just meant you.

Pete: dont bullshit me kid

He had the most suspicious mind of anyone on the planet. He’d been doing what he did for so long, I wasn’t sure if it was an occupational hazard—you always had to watch your back—or if he was just wired that way. I suspected it was an unfortunate combination of the two.

Me: Okay. But it’s nobody, just some guy I have a psych class with.

Pete: &

Me: And what?

Pete: Kiy… dont make me come over there

Me: It’s honestly nothing. We have to work on a project together, which is a shame, because we pretty much hate each other’s guts. But he thinks the skating thing is dangerous too, that’s all.

Pete: want me to kick his ass

Me: No! I mean it. I like it here, and I don’t want to get kicked out. I can handle my own shit, you know that. Not that there’s anything to handle. But if there was, I could.

Pete: i dont believe you

Me: Well, that’s up to you. As long as you don’t do anything to ruin this for me, I really don’t care what you believe. Anyway, I have to go. I need to try to catch a few more Zs before my alarm. Love you.

Pete: Big time.

I tucked the phone under my pillow determined to try to get more sleep. When that failed, as I’d told Pete it would, I decided to put the time to good use, and jot down some ideas about how Xavier and I could tackle the assignment together, or, more accurately, with minimal contact, but still get our grade.

I was surprised when I sent the document through to the college messenger and got a ping right back.

Xavier: Just took a quick look. Seems passable, I guess.

Me: You’re up early. Gotta get the jump on being an asshole?

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