“Oh. So now you want to rush.”
She should be thanking me. “I can’t believe I thought you were my dream girl.” I take Keni’s hand and guide her through an obstacle course of rainwater, debris, and equipment that’s been knocked over. We’re almost to the opening when something pops into my head.
Keni said some of the side effects of this drug were insanity and aggression.
My mind spins on Keni acting one way with me and then another. Aggressive. Angry. Then sweet as pie.
I stop and turn. “You’re on that stuff, aren’t you?”
“What?”
“You’ve been taking it.”
“Me?” She points to herself.
“You’ve been acting strange since the day I met you.” In fact, if the chemist is her brother, then…maybe it’s a family business. “Are you helping him get people hooked on it? Did you give it to Blake? Did you put some in the mimosas to make new customers?”
“What? No! Move out of my way, Huff.” She tries to step around me, but I block her.
“I don’t believe you.” All the pieces start falling into place. She’s not some innocent bystander. I bet she’s the one pushing this shit on people. She probably gets them into it, and later they find out it’s a lifelong commitment.
“Why would Blake confess like that on the field?” I ask.
“I don’t know,” she says innocently.
“I think I do. He was trying to make amends because he knew he was going to die. He knew that shit was making him do bad things—like trying to kill us.” It never made sense why Blake made that confessional rant. Now it does. He was trying to go out with a clean conscience. “He didn’t want to be the monster that stuff turned him into. That’s why he begged for forgiveness.”
“Blake was an idiot,” Keni snarls. “He kept taking too much. The other guys—you don’t see them running around in a constant roid-rage. They take their injections. They’re fine.”
“Guys like Kyle?” I remember him saying something about jumping into that water to save me that night. It was probably a lie. He would know that pool was toxic. He would know it would kill him. They just never expected me to live, and the last thing they wanted was for me to have them arrested for their part, so they acted all cool and blamed it all on Blake. The dead guy. “Innocent us. We had no idea.”
“Honey, I’m not telling you who’s a subscriber.”
“You don’t have to. Because I know it was all you. River has no idea that stopping the injections will kill you. Otherwise, she wouldn’t go around pushing people like Blake to stop. She was only worried about the other side effects.” That’s why River never told me what might happen when this poison leaves my system. She doesn’t know. She probably doesn’t even know Keni is part of the whole thing.
I continue, “River was pushing Blake and his friends to stay off that stuff, and you didn’t like it. Can’t have all your best-paying customers dying on you. Isn’t that right? So you told Blake and his buddies if they wanted their next dose, they’d have to shut her up. I just happened to be there, but it was River you wanted dead. You didn’t like her messing with your business. And the guys, once they’re on it, they have to do what you say, because then you can withhold their ‘medicine.’ That’s why you’re really here, right? You’re making sure your poor sick friends know the score and get their next dose.”
She probably told them they have to bring her back in the house and kick River out or else. It’s what I’d do if I were evil and needed that sorority to be my hub to run my business. It puts her in contact with all sorts of people.
People like me who looked like lonely wimps. It finally makes sense why she singled me out at the party. I bet she saw me as a potential customer.
Keni shrugs. “What’s it matter to you? Because you won’t be getting shit when it comes time.” She bolts around me for the opening.
“Wow. You are an epic cu—” The beam gives way and smashes me on the head.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
“Hello there, mister. How are you feeling?”
I open my eyes to the biggest, warmest, most beautiful brown eyes I’ve ever seen.
“River.” I try to sit up, but my head feels like scrambled eggs.
“Take it easy, big man. You have a concussion.”
“I do?” I reach for the spot where the beam hit me, patting it softly. I don’t feel anything. No lump. No cuts.
“Yeah. You were hit really hard.” She brushes her hand over the side of my face. “But of course you heal pretty fast.”
“What happened to Keni?”
“A bunch of us heard your conversation and told the police. She’s been arrested. Her brother, too. Huff, you need to know that I would never—”
“Don’t say anything. I know you wouldn’t keep me in the dark like that.”
“Good.” She takes my hand, cupping it in between hers.
“What is it?” I can tell she’s got bad news.
“The doctors aren’t telling me anything—I had to drama my way in until your parents get here—but the internet is exploding. A bunch of the guys on the team are telling everyone it’s true. If they stop taking the drug, they’ll die. They’re demanding someone cut a deal with Morris.”
“Morris?”
“Keni’s brother.”
Oh. The mad chemist.
She continues, “His lawyers released a statement saying that Morris is refusing to give anyone the formula. And, from what MJP is saying unofficially, they’re confirming the drug’s side effects are real. Once the level drops too low, the person dies. It’s why they stopped the trials. The heart just swells up and stops.”
Well, crap. That doesn’t sound good.
River adds, “Morris says he’ll keep making the drug if he’s given immunity. Him and Keni.”
“No. That’s not right.”
“I know. But it’s that, or watch half the football team, half my sorority sisters, and my best friend in the entire world kick the bucket.”
“Best friend?” I ask.
“And boyfriend.”
I smile. “I love hearing you say it.”
“Huff, I’m going to ask you to do something that I know is crazy. Totally insane. But no judge is going to let Morris out. This is way too big. Half the world doesn’t even believe this is real, and we’re almost out of time.”
“Please don’t tell me you want me to break him out of prison. I won’t do it.”
“I want you to break in. Talk some sense into him. Tell him to give us the formula. There’s a lab that says they’ll help us—the families—and make a batch. They’re out of the country, so once they do that, someone has to pick up the drug and bring it here. Without going to jail.”
I try not to laugh. She’s right. That’s totally insane. “You want me to break into a prison—”
“Jail. Morris hasn’t been tried yet. But all you need to do is point out to him that no one believes him, and it’ll be too late for Keni by the time they see the proof.”