Page 79 of The Square

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE - DANNY

I stare at himfor a second then look over at Christine to make sure this is acceptable to her. Her lips are making a pursed pout, like she’s considering things. Then she nods, closes her eyes, and lets her head fall back into the couch.

For a few moments I just stare at her throat. The way it’s stretched taut from the position of her head. How easily someone could hurt her. The many ways one could end things using a throat.

It’s sick.

Kinda.

But it reminds me of something I’d forgotten. The way one throat could change the lives of dozens of people. “Remember that time we took the polar bear trip?”

Christine lets out a chuckle.

Alec says, “Eish, man. Why do you have to bring that up?”

“Because Christine got sick, remember?” I turn to her and find her nodding. “Your throat was a mess, you were coughing so hard you bruised your ribs, and you lost your voice.”

“But she still made us stay in that god-forsaken cabin for six more days,” Alec says.

“Long enough for all of us to get sick,” I add. “By the last day, the entire camp had strep throat and the whole place was on lockdown. They wouldn’t let anyone leave until we’d all been on antibiotics for forty-eight hours, so we ended up staying two extra days.”

“And by that time the three of us were better.” Christine smiles. Then laughs. Because we made the most of those last two days.

“My mad, crazy girl,” Alec says, remembering how the trip ended.

“Hey,” Christine says. “I wanted to see some fucking bears, OK? And we paid a lot of money for that trip. It wasn’t my fault I got sick on the plane ride out there. So…” She shrugs.

“So you stole a fokken truck in the middle of the night, came and got us out of bed, and we went out alone.”

“Hey, I stole their rifles too,” Christine adds. Like this makes it so much less insane.

There were so many bears out that night. Dozens of them. And I’m pretty sure they thought the three of us were a tasty late-night snack.

“You were fearless,” Alec says. Now he’s got his eyes closed too. Head propped back against the couch. But he’s smiling as he remembers.

“You were always fearless,” I add. “No fucks to give about anything or anyone.”

“Not true. I gave all the fucks.”

“For us,” I say. “Sure. But not anything else.”

“Remember those three bears we saw going back?” Alec says.

And of course we do. Because it was two big ones bloody from fighting and a smaller one, pacing back and forth, watching them like it was upset.

“They were us,” Christine says.

I nod. Because they were. I don’t know jack shit about polar bears except you can’t trust them. Which pretty much makes them like most people, I guess.

But these three looked like they were up to something. Some secret plot was concocted, and it didn’t end well, so they were hashing it out.

“And we came up with that story about them,” I say.

“They stole the Crown Jewels.” Alec laughs, eyes still closed. Head still back. “And almost got caught because someone else didn’t do their job.”

“Fucking Eliza,” Christine says.

I’d forgotten that part. That Christine’s story about the fighting bears was about her and Eliza’s elaborate plan to steal the Crown Jewels.