Page 6 of Root

He nods. “Man to man, right here and right now, Rush.”

Something in me perks up and puffs at that. Man to man. I like it. I look at my cousin.

“You’ll go to your regular school, but never answer to the name Beckett, keep on being Rush. Call Mia your mother. Some people know who you are, others suspect. Many just think there’s a kid here and I sent you away. Muddy the waters, Rush. It’s why you’re Rhodes, not Wilder.”

“I like Rush. Did mom call me that?”

“You would. And yeah, we all did from the moment you could walk,” he says. “You never sat still once you worked out how to walk. Always fucking rushing places. You were always Beckett in public until they died. So, you’re now officially Rush.”

With that, he rises and starts to head to the door.

“Niko,” I call, ignoring the glare, “will you stay? Just a bit.”

At first, I think he’s going to say no, but then he points to the covers. I scamper under them, and he comes up, tucks me in, and lays down on top of the blankets.

Thing is, I might be a man, but every time I close my eyes, I see the bodies. Ben’s. Kara’s. I inch close to the heat that rolls off Nikolai, one that says life.

“Can I…?” I just turn and squish into his thereness.

He doesn’t move, but after a second or three, he sighs. “Fine, as long as you never call me Niko again.”

CHAPTER TWO

Rush

Age 16

I take another fucking swig of cheap bourbon bought with a fake ID.

Music pounds around us as Cal offers me another line. I cut more white powder into it on the mirror, and then I crush and chop it finely before using the sweet fifty to snort it up.

The coke hits like a buzzing hammer to my senses, and the world flares bright and fast and wild. I do the other nostril, then rub some of the bitter power residue around my gums for the numbing effect.

Nothing’s ever gonna touch that first high, but it’s worth the chase. Like this, the surge of confidence burns into clarity. I eye Felicity, the one with straight, purple-edged, white-blonde hair and the biggest tits I’ve ever seen.

They’re the only live tits I’ve seen, but they are unarguably the biggest and the best. She’s drinking, rolling on MDMA, and those big black-pupil eyes are giving me blow job vibes.

Maybe more, if I’m lucky.

“Yo, Rush.” Cal holds his hand out for the mirror. I pass it to him. “C’mon, man, that’s a lot of coke you just hoovered up.”

Christ, does Cal whine. I look at him. “I bought it.”

“You could steal it.”

I wanna say no one steals a thing from Nikolai unless they want to be dead, but that might ruin my macho image, so I don’t. I sneak another look at Felicity who’s almost falling out of her top. She wants it.

“Hey, do you think she’ll suck my junk if I ask?” I look from Cal to Emilio. “I wanna hit that bad.”

“Those sluts are gonna drop it all for us tonight,” Cal says with a whoop.

The girls, two others with Felicity, are the ‘it girls’ in school, and they’re always asking for invites over. Fucking Nikolai won’t let me have friends over in the mansion, so this is the next best thing: a party in the back. House is off limits; as fucked up as I am, even I know not to go there. Even if Nikolai’s away.

Emilio hands me the joint, and I take it, dragging the Purple Party strain of fine, strong bud into my lungs. “I could sell this.”

Felicity slinks up to me. “Rush…”

“The guesthouse is free,” I say as I leer at her.

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