Yet a Stranger (The First Quarto #2) - Gregory Ashe Page 0,43

and hopped into a pair of jersey shorts. When he opened the door, he held out his hand.

Theo smiled when he saw the tank, and he placed a paper bag in Auggie’s hand.

“I can’t go,” Auggie said. “And I’m not giving you back this—what is it?”

“A breakfast croissant.”

“I’m sorry, Theo. Can we talk to him later?”

Theo shook his head. “I just wanted to drop that off because I figured, first weekend, frat house, you probably needed some food in your stomach. Did you take something for your head?”

“I’m all right.”

“Did you drink water?”

“I’m totally fine.”

“You really need to drink water. When you’re drinking, and when you’re hungover.”

“I’m not hungover,” Auggie said around a mouthful of bacon, egg, and cheese goodness.

“Right,” Theo said. “Ok, I’ve got to get over to Wayne’s. Hope you feel better.”

“Wait.”

Theo stopped in the doorway.

“I mean, shouldn’t I talk to him too?”

“You can’t go.”

“We could go later. Maybe tomorrow.”

“It’s a murder, Auggie. Every day, it’s going to get harder to solve. Anyway, I was thinking about it on the way over, and I actually think it’s better this way.”

Auggie swallowed another huge bite. “Better what way?’

“You do your thing. Stay safe. Take care of yourself. I’ll figure this out.”

“Oh, fuck no.”

“I’m not cutting you out. I’ll still tell you what I learn. We’ll work on it together, but this way, we can do it without putting you in danger.”

Auggie tore off two savage bites and spoke through the mass of half-masticated food. “Oh. Fuck. No. Daniel. Theophilus. Stratford.”

“If it’s about the money, you’ll still get your half. The Reeses never have to know.”

“Get my slides,” Auggie said, pointing at the closet.

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me.”

“And the magic word is . . .”

“Now, motherfucker.”

It had been a gamble, and Auggie let out a silent breath when a tiny grin crossed Theo’s face. Theo opened the closet, found the Adidas slides, and tossed them onto Auggie’s bed. Auggie polished off the sandwich, snapped an angry face to Dylan, and shoved his feet in the slides. “Let’s go.”

“No, remember? You can’t.”

“God, I hate you sometimes.”

Theo had biked over, so they took the Civic. They were at a stop light when Auggie turned, grabbed Theo’s elbow, and started punching him in the shoulder as fast as he could. Not hard. But over and over again. And not soft either.

“Jesus,” Theo said, laughing and trying to twist free. “What the hell, Auggie?”

“You know what,” Auggie said, releasing Theo’s elbow to point a finger at him.

“Jesus,” Theo said again. He was still laughing.

“Mother. Fucker.” Auggie said, punctuating each word with another punch.

“I’m not going to be able to use this arm tomorrow,” Theo said.

“Good. That’s the least you deserve.”

“What’d I do?”

“Don’t do it again, Theo. Do you hear me? Your ass is toast if you do that again.”

“What the hell happened to your language? You sound like you’ve been hanging out with Cart.”

“The last thing you want to do, trust me, is bring up your boyfriend right now.”

“Touchy,” Theo said, but he was still smiling as he massaged his arm.

Then the light turned green, and a horn blared behind them. Something inside the Civic shrieked as they accelerated.

“And quit looking so goddamn pleased with yourself,” Auggie snapped.

“Part of it’s that it’s just so easy,” Theo said, a smirk growing, “but it wouldn’t be so fun if you weren’t smart enough to figure it out.”

At the next stop light, Auggie punched his arm another twenty or thirty times. Just to make his point. Theo, the son of a bitch, just laughed and tried to fend him off.

When they knocked on Wayne’s door, it opened almost immediately. Wayne was standing there, a sandwich in one hand; behind him, an open bottle of Miller High Life was sweating on the table.

“I guess you can come in,” Wayne said. “I’ve got to leave in a few minutes.”

“You said you didn’t mind talking,” Theo said. “That’s why I called ahead.”

“Yeah, well, you dicked around, and I had a client ask for an extra session. Come in if you’re going to come in.”

They followed him into the apartment. Mark McGwire was staring down at them from his frame. On the TV, a pair of talking heads rehashed a Cardinals game from the night before. Auggie had seen the show, but he couldn’t remember what it was called. He caught a whiff of the beer when Wayne picked up the Miller High Life, and as Theo closed the door, Auggie pretended to stretch so that he could look over his shoulder

readonlinefreenovel.com Copyright 2016 - 2024