Page 108 of A Dead Man's B-Side
We didn’t need to look hard to find him after spotting the boy making his way out of Remington Tower and heading for the trail up to the Quarters.
We caught up to him and flanked his sides, walking in silence back to our dorms. Usually, Wolf had the courtesy of making way for students walking in the opposite direction. Today, no kindness came. If they expected it, they would finish the short interaction with a bruised shoulder.
Anger seemed to be radiating off him in waves, and maybe August only wanted to dissipate it.
He held up a quarter he must’ve scavenged out of his pocket as we marched up the hilly path. “Guys, check it out, we’re on quarter street.”
It was meant to be an unfunny joke, to relieve the slight underlying awkwardness swaying between us. A joke you huffed out a breath over or rolled your eyes at. But August hadn’t accounted for Wolf’s crappy mood and sadly took the brunt of it. “A good thing too. You wouldn’t be able to afford walking on dollar street, you poor bastard.”
I cleared my throat but didn’t let a word out. Wolf may have been the one who could do no wrong with the heart of a saint, but I’d never known him to have such a mean streak when he got angry.
Then again, I’ve only known him for a short period of time in the grand scheme of things. I sent a sidelong glance to August, who only glared in an annoyed fashion, almost as if, in the four years he had known Wolf, he had seen this before.
Ajax seemed to get the joke late, which one, I didn’t know. His huff of air turned into a chuckle that transformed into a laugh. “That was funny–”
August’s tongue, once again, got the better of him, sprinting before his mind could walk. “The air in your head takes time to heat and kick-start your brain or something?”
Ajax’s smile vanished before he whipped his head to August. The boy in question must have seen something in the jock’s eyes because it didn’t take long for him to inhale a deep breath anddisappear running to, most likely, lock himself in his dorm. Ajax scoffed cockily and began chasing him up the path.
Surprisingly, August was a fast fellow. Maybe it was his smaller form and something to do with aerodynamics, but I didn’t linger on the thought as, way down the road, I could see their small bodies running, one after the other, into Fourth Quarter.
“What’s got you in a pissy mood?” I asked.
Wolf groaned and threw his head back, loosening his tie in the process. “I had plans for this break. Big plans. And now my uncle is calling me back to Kingsley Manor to handle some family affairs. I don’t know what about.”
I was glad he’d brought the topic up, because there’d been a question playing in my mind since I’d eavesdropped on Thaddeus. “Isn’t your brother handling the family affairs? What with him on the board.”
Wolf shook his head, a faraway look taking over his gaze. “No–I mean, yes. Yes, he handles the family affairs. Or more specifically, the family’s business affairs. But I haven’t seen my brother in years. When my father died, Evan remained his successor. He may have been ‘disowned’ but my father… I don’t know what he was thinking and what was going through his head, but he didn’t write Evan off the will. Maybe, even then, he knew that his eldest was his best bet. I wasn’t exactly heir-shaped at the time he’d written his last will and maybe he wanted to see me grow before making his final decision but… that’s the thing. Death creeps up on just about anyone. Unexpected little thing, isn’t it?”
I nodded slowly at the otherwise tragic backstory, had Wolf’s voice not been so clinical, devoid of any emotions.
“So, your brother got everything, but he stays away from family? Isn’t that what your entire fortune is tied to, though?”
Wolf scoffed a bitter laugh. “Ironic, isn’t it. He’s close with every one of our cousins, uncles, and aunts. But he somehow can’t be in a room withus. Prick.”
I remembered what Evander had said about hisLu. “Maybe… maybe he still cares and is just scared of what you might think of him? He’s been gone a long while… It can be hard to reconcile under the circumstances.”
Wolf narrowed his eyes at me for a moment, not entirely suspicious, and I wanted to let out a nervous chuckle to fill the silence that suddenly enveloped us, until he looked back down at the path in front of us. “Yeah, maybe that’s it.”
“So why were you angry at Rain?” I pushed my luck.
Wolf’s anger came back in full force, the fresh memories probably returning to the forefront of his mind. “She delivered the news… and a little extra.”
I twisted my lips to the side in contemplation before speaking. Rain Atlas Jett was constantly playing the middleman between students and parents. Not because she enjoyed it, but because parents couldn’t very well send letters with what would be old news by the time they arrived, and they also couldn’t come in person. From what August told me, most considered themselves too important for such trivial matters. “What isa little extra?”
Wolf scoffed and shook his head, letting his tongue poke against his cheek. “You know how Rain can get sometimes. Just… forget it.”
His words made me do the complete opposite. Sure, Rain was probing and at times a thorn in my side, so I could have easily found myself agreeing with him. But she didn’t provoke Wolf, nor did she even glance in his direction if he was looking.
That night, when the moon was full of empty promises, I kept my gaze fixed and narrowed on the mist hiding the field down below, Wolf’s words running circles in my mind. For reasons I was not privy to, I felt as if his situation would somehow involve me.
I just could not figure out how the events would come to pass.
Chapter Seventeen
Lily Poole
1982
