Invincible Chronicles of Nick - By Sherrilyn Kenyon Page 0,56
you gave me yesterday. And I need to get another one.”
Devus’s entire face turned bright red. He reminded Nick of a pressure cooker about to blow its gasket. “How could you have lost the list? How is that possible?”
Nick shrugged with a nonchalance he didn’t feel. “Mom says I’d lose my head if it wasn’t attached to my shoulders. Guess she’s right, huh?”
Devus grabbed him by the front of his hideous yellow Hawaiian shirt and held him in two tight fists. “Listen to me, you little punk. Time is running out, and if you think I’ll spare you, think again. I need you to get started immediately today. If I don’t have five of those items in my hand by three, I swear I’ll see you jailed by four. You hear me? And you know what happens to boys who get sent to jail from this school.…”
A cold chill and premonition danced down the length of his spine at the look in Devus’s eyes and the twist of his features. If he’d had any doubt before about Dave’s suicide, that ended it.
The coach was psycho.
And he’d killed Dave.
I’m so dead. How could he get out of this?
A knock sounded on the door an instant before Casey walked in. “Coach Devus?”
The coach literally flung him into the desk before he stepped between Nick and Casey. “What?” he snarled down at her.
Grimacing, Nick straightened to watch the confrontation.
To Casey’s credit, she didn’t back down or flinch at his irate tone. Dressed in a pair of tight jeans and her red cheerleading camp T-shirt, she was exceptionally cute today. She blinked in that vacuous way Nick was beginning to suspect was staged, and smiled. “Miss Dale wanted me to ask you for Friday night’s schedule to make sure she knows what time to have us meet the buses. You can’t do the play-offs without the cheerleaders, you know? We’re a vital part of team motivation, and we’ve been working hard on new cheers for the game.” She winked at Nick. “It’s guaranteed to lift the players’ morales.”
Nick didn’t dare comment on that.
The coach growled before he went to his desk and opened the drawer Nick had searched last. Did I put everything back? If something was out of place, the coach didn’t notice—thanks to Casey’s interference. Devus snatched a sheet of paper out, then slammed the drawer shut. “I already gave this to her.”
Casey shrugged. “She said she misplaced it.”
The coach cut his glare toward Nick. “There’s a lot of that going around lately.”
Ignoring the dig, Casey pranced to the desk to take the paper from his hand. “Thank you, Coach Devus.” Then she faced Nick. “Do you mind helping me for minute? I need someone who’s tall or at least taller than me.” She smiled back at Devus. “You don’t mind my borrowing him, do you, Coach?”
His snarl deepened as he snatched a piece of paper from his clipboard. Folding it up, he held it out to Nick. “You better remember what you’re doing, boy. You hear me?”
Nick nodded and then before he could stop it, the suicidal part of his personality blurted out. “That was three by five, right?”
His nostrils flared. “Five. By. Three. You better remember it.”
“Got it.” Nick tucked the paper into his back pocket as he silently cursed the coach.
“Thank you, Coach Devus,” Casey said, holding the door open for Nick, who felt ill over the entire encounter.
How was he ever going to get out of this?
Casey led him toward the gym. But instead of heading into it, she pulled him toward the alcove where the vending machines were kept so that they would have a little privacy as the students started arriving for school.
“Are you okay?” The concern in her voice mystified him. If he didn’t know better, he might think that she actually had feelings for him, but that was impossible.
“Yeah, why?”
He saw the panic in her eyes as she looked back toward Devus’s office. “I thought he was going to hurt you, Nick. What did you do to him?”
Like he was dumb enough to answer … Well, there were times he was that stupid.
Today wasn’t one of them.
“It was nothing.”
“Nick,” she chided, “that wasn’t nothing. That was pure, ugly rage, and you’re lucky he didn’t rebreak your arm.”
He wasn’t recovering from a break. He’d been shot, but he didn’t want to get into that with her, so he tried to move past her. Before he could make it, she had her hand in his pocket.