Never Back Down by Christopher Swann

Author:Christopher Swann
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: CROOKED LANE BOOKS

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Ethan’s house technically has two bedrooms, but the guest room is full of all kinds of junk, so I sleep on the sofa. As usual, Ethan protests and tries to get me to sleep in his bed while he takes the couch, and as usual I refuse. To be honest, I like sleeping on his couch. It’s both firm and comfortable, something you don’t find with all couches. But more than that, I like being up late on my own, having the run of the kitchen if I want to get a glass of water or a snack without waking Ethan up, snuggling with Wilson, watching a Tom Hanks movie—I’m a bit obsessed—with the sound low or completely muted with subtitles on. I like having that freedom in the middle of the night while also having my brother in the next room, so I’m not really alone like I usually am.

Tonight I stay up late checking and rechecking Twitter to see if Caesar messages me, but he doesn’t. I also think about Finn, wonder where he is, if he sleeps like a normal human being, or if he just meditates, or hangs upside down in a closet somewhere like a goddamn bat, plotting ruin and wreckage. Is he behind my uncle’s arrest, and Frankie’s? What’s his game plan, other than the general destruction of my life? Is he outside this house right now, in the dark, watching? At that thought, I make sure to get my pistol out of my backpack and slide it under my pillow. Soon after that, eyes on my phone, I fall asleep.

When Ethan’s alarm goes off in the other room, my eyes open. I slept hard, and aside from feeling a little groggy, I’m rested. I hear the shower turn on and I get up and pull some workout clothes out of my backpack. My black sneakers aren’t running shoes but they’ll do. Then I make coffee in Ethan’s French press. When Ethan walks into the den, yawning, I’m stretching in front of the TV. “Already made some coffee,” I say.

Ethan says nothing, just nods, his eyes half-open, and makes his way to the kitchen. My brother is not a morning person and can’t function without a jolt of caffeine. By the time he walks back out, sipping coffee from a mug, I’ve already hit the bathroom and am bouncing on my toes. “Going for a run, big brother. I’ll see you a little before one, yeah?”

“I’ve got a new classroom, remember?”

I remember. After all the craziness with Marisa a couple of years ago, Ethan moved to a new classroom and office in a brand-new building. Too many bad memories in the old one. I bend and tighten my shoelaces. “See you there. Be nice to your students.” He waves as I go out the front door.

I jog down the front steps and down the driveway, my stride lengthening until I reach the street. To the left, toward Roswell Road, the sky is full of clouds unraveling, shaded with pinks and golds from the rising sun.

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