Page 58 of The Freshman

“You can.”

“How do I know that afteryou have sex with me on the beach, you wouldn’t drown me in thesea? How do I know after having me in front of the fire, youwouldn’t burn me in the flames?”

“Woah, stopit.”

Alfie shook his head. “How do I knowyou wouldn’t slit my throat after tying me up and making mebeg?”

Nate sighed. It didn’t soundimpatient, more of a sad exhale of air. “I’d never hurtyou.”

Alfie squeezed his stinging eyes shut.“But how do I know you didn’t say that to them before you killedthem?”

“The men I killed deservedit.”

“But why?”

There was another long silence, andAlfie rubbed the heel of his hand on his eyes. They were closed,but moisture still escaped and clung to his lashes.

The phone hissed with Nate’s exhale.“I’m not doing this.”

“Don’t hangup!”

Nate growled, and the hairs on Alfie’sneck shot up.

“I don’t want to talkanymore.”

“Please, you’re tearing meapart. This situation is tearing me apart. I need to know you’renot a monster, that you’re not evil. There has to be areason.”

“Have I done anything toyou that makes you think I’m evil?”

“Not to me, but that file.What you did to those men, your own dad. I don’t know specifics,but I know it was bad.”

“Yes, it was bad, what Idid, but it needed to be done. I found out they hurt someone I careabout, hurt them in the most unforgivable way, and not once, butover and over.”

“Who?”

Alfie could hear Nate’s heavybreathing, imagined his nostrils were flaring with each forcefulexhale.

“My sister.” He growled.“I didn’t know what they were doing to her. They were clever,convinced her no one would believe her. When I found out I wantedthem dead. I wanted them to pay for what they did to her, and Iwanted to give her closure. I wanted her to feel safe, and I wantedher to know they suffered.”

“You wanted revenge forwhat they did to your sister? Why does your file not say any ofthis? They all think you did it for no reason, but if theyknew—”

“That is not my story totell,” Nate snapped. “I only provided the conclusion, and I willnot have my sister put through hell to knock a few years off mysentence.”

Alfie shook his head. “You kill themand get yourself locked up. How does that help her?”

“She has a life now, ahappy one with a man she trusts, and a family of her own. That isall any big brother wants for their sister. I have freed her fromfear, and whatever scars she has will be mended by her newfamily.”

“What aboutyou?”

Nate snorted. “I’m behind these barsas I should be, have been for ten years. I’m not serving a sentencefor killing those animals, but for letting my sister down, notrealizing what was happening until it was too late.”

“She doesn’t visit you,”Alfie whispered.

“She’s moved on. I wouldonly be a reminder. I failed her as a brother—”

“You can’t haveknown—”

“Enough!”

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