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Neil had often wondered how he would handle being called Nathaniel again. He liked to think that he would be fine; best case scenario he’d just brush it off and move on, worst case he’d have a meltdown and with any luck one of the Foxes would be there to pull attention away from him. But in all his time thinking of these hypotheticals he only ever thought of the press, or the Ravens, or some random Exy fan with a grudge against the Foxes. He never tried to imagine what would happen if one of his father’s people called him Nathaniel… He really should have planned for this.
The day had started normal, practice in the morning, a brief interruption by classes, and then practice again, and now the team was headed downtown for dinner. Everything was going great, until they passed by the construction site on campus; one minute they were talking about how they were going to destroy the Terrapins at Fridays game, the next they heard someone shout “Nathaniel” from the shadows.
They all stopped immediately; Allison was the first to respond.
“There’s no one by that name here, get lost.”
Dan had pointed the freshmen in the direction of the diner with an order to keep moving, Neil was beyond grateful, it was too early in the year for any of the new kids to even feel like a real part of the team and they certainly weren’t part of Neil’s family, he didn’t want them around while old wounds were reopened. The rest of the Foxes moved to form a barrier between Neil and the stranger.
The man who’d been waiting in the shadows started towards them and Neil felt Andrew take a step closer. Neil breathed in and counted to 10 before exhaling, it was just going to be an angry Ravens fan or asshole reporter, Neil would restate Allison’s order to get lost and the team would walk away; everything was going to be fine.
Everything was not going to be fine. The man reached a spot under a streetlight and Neil recognized him immediately. Romero Malcolm was at PSU; Romero Malcolm, former member of Nathan Wesninski’s inner circle, and current member of the FBI's most wanted list, was standing not 15 feet from the Foxes… and he had a knife.
Something inside Neil shifted, prepared for a fight; Neil’s tenuous grip on Nathaniel’s temper started to slip.
“I don’t like being lied to Miss Reynolds, I’ve come a very long way to talk to Nathaniel and if the rest of you have any common sense you’ll keep walking and give us a moment in private.”
Romero’s voice sent a chill down Neil’s spine; he was pissed, and Neil had a good idea why. Romero’s partner, Jackson Plank, had been detained by the FBI only a week ago, an arrest made possible by the information they’d gathered from Neil in Baltimore.
This time it was Nicky that tried,
“Allison already told you, there’s no Nathaniel here.”
Neil had to do something, he needed to stop this before one of his friends got hurt. He took a step forward and felt Andrew mirror the action; Andrew had picked up on Neil’s tension and he wasn’t going to let him face it alone. Neil was grateful, but what he really wanted was to put as much distance between Romero and Andrew as possible. Neil would never forgive himself if Andrew got hurt trying to protect him.
Romero’s voice cut through the night again,
“I’m not leaving until I talk to Nathaniel, just make this easy on yourselves and hand him over.”
Romero tightened his grip on the knife as he spoke and he looked more than ready to take out as many of Neil’s friends as he had to.
Neil could feel his grip slipping; his blood was boiling, Nathaniel was just under the surface and ready to fight.
Romero stepped closer,
“Move out of my way or I’ll move you myself”
He pointed his knife at Dan as he spoke and Matt threw a punch. The hit landed but Romero swung his arm around and caught Matt’s arm with his blade. Matt stumbled and Renee stepped in, she managed a couple good hits before Romero backhanded her, Aaron caught her just before she hit the ground.
Romero had taken a step back to recover and was cleaning the blood off his knife with his sleeve. There was a splash of blood on the ground, more was seeping through Matt’s fingers where they were wrapped around his bicep. Renee was using Kevin as a crutch and there was a bruise rapidly forming on her cheek.
Nathaniel bared his teeth.
Andrew obviously felt the shift in Neil’s posture because the next moment he was offering up one of his blades, the other already in his own hand. Nathaniel accepted the knife, pushed through the barricade his Foxes had formed, and headed straight for Romero. Someone tried to stop him but he shook of their hand without looking back.
“You wanted to talk to me Romero? This all seems like a bit much just for a conversation, but I guess you’re pretty lonely now that Lola and Jackson are out of the picture.”
Nathaniel held the blade ready to fight, he felt Andrew right behind him; apparently Andrew was willing to let him fight his own battles, but not willing to risk him losing them.
Romero sneered at Nathaniel and took a swipe at him as soon as he was close enough. Nathaniel ducked but instead of backing away he barreled into Romero at full force. He was not going to let any more of his friends get hurt, he was going to end this.
Nathaniel slammed Romero into a half-built wall, wrenched the knife out of Romero’s grasp, and used his own borrowed knife to nail Romero’s hand to the wood behind him. Nathaniel picked Romero’s blade up from where he’d dropped it and rested it against Romero’s throat. The only sound was Romero’s agonized wheezing. Nathaniel forced himself not to think about the Foxes standing behind him, forced himself not to wonder if this was damaging their opinion of Neil… he would deal with their reaction to this once they were safe.
After a few moments, Romero finally broke the silence.
“Gotta admit, I wasn’t expecting you to put up a fight. Didn’t think ‘Neil Josten’ had it in him.”
Nathaniel smiled at the taunt, it was his father’s smile, he could feel it, but he didn’t try to fight it this time.
“You didn’t ask to speak with Neil, you made it pretty clear you were here to speak to Nathaniel. So here I am.”
Nathaniel slightly twisted the knife he’d lodged in Romero’s hand and heard the crunch of bone.
“That sounds broken, does it feel broken?”
Romero stared Nathaniel down a moment before he responded.
“You know, with a knife in your hand, and that smile on your face, you really do look just like your father.”
Nathaniel punched him in the throat.
“And now you look like your sister.”
While Romero struggled to catch his breath Nathaniel reached behind and removed the gun from Romero’s waistband. Romero reached for it but stilled almost immediately. It didn’t take long for Nathaniel to realize why, Andrew had just leaned against the wall next to Romero and his blade was pressed against Romero’s side. Nathaniel’s grin widened as he looked back up at Romero and waved the pilfered gun in his face.
“I could make you look more like your sister. How many bullet holes did she end up with in my father’s basement? Four, five, six?”
Nathaniel paused for an answer that didn’t come and then huffed out a laugh before continuing,
“I’m standing on a very fine line right now Romero. Balanced between ending this as Neil or as Nathaniel. It’s all a matter of how you leave this campus really, will it be in handcuffs or a body bag?”
Romero stayed silent, glare firmly in place. Nathaniel looked to Andrew, standing silent and apathetic next to Romero; Nathaniel knew that Andrew would stand by whatever decision he made, and that none of this was going to affect his opinion of Neil. Taking a few deep breaths Nathaniel thought of the Foxes, his family, standing just feet from them. Did he really want them to see him kill someone? Is that really a memory he wanted them to live with?
The answer was simple. Neil reeled in Nathaniel’s temper, and lowered the gun. Neil kept the knife at Romero’s throat as he pulled out his phone and dialed the number Agent Browning had given him. It rang 5 times before it was answered,
“This is Neil Josten, I have someone you’ve been looking for. Palmetto State University, the construction site near the library. If I have to do your job for you again I can’t promise the next one will live through it.”
Neil hung up without waiting for a response and the night was silent again.
It was 10 minutes before they heard sirens approaching, and another 5 before the squad cars arrived at their location. The police took in the scene and put Romero in handcuffs before loading him in the back of an ambulance. An FBI Agent appeared at Neil’s side just as a policeman moved to cuff Neil,
“That won’t be necessary officer, Mr. Josten is under FBI jurisdiction. An Agent will be waiting at the hospital until Mr. Malcolm is released and then we’ll be taking him off your hands as well.”
The police moved on and Neil stepped further from the team following the Agent’s lead.
What followed was a tedious line of questions that Neil could hardly focus on. Now that Romero was gone and the Foxes out of harm’s way Neil just wanted to focus on the fallout. He needed to know that they were okay, he needed to explain himself, he needed…
“Guess that’s it for now, if you think of anything else give us a call.”
The Agent was putting his notepad away, Neil couldn’t even remember the last few questions but he must have answered them. Neil watched the Agent get into his car and drive away before turning back to the others.
Andrew was standing just a step away, the rest of the Foxes were congregated at a bench about 50 feet away. Walking towards them Neil’s feet felt like lead. He didn’t know how to justify what had just happened. He didn’t know how to explain the anger that had taken over. In the end, it didn’t matter.
Before Neil could get a single word out Dan’s arms were around him. Her hug was fierce and it was exactly what he needed.
“Are you okay Neil?”
“I’m sorry.”
Dan and Neil had spoken at the same time, Neil heard Allison scoff next to them.
“What are you apologizing for? That asshole needed to be dealt with and you dealt with him, end of story.”
Neil pulled away from Dan and looked to the rest of the team, he didn’t see any judgement, none of them shied away from him. Could they really just brush past this?
“I should have controlled my temper, I should have just called the FBI as soon as I saw him…”
“It’s instinct to protect family Neil, we aren’t going to hold that against you.”
It was Matt’s arms around him now, his grip tight despite the bandage wrapped around his arm, the paramedics must have taken care of Matt and Renee while Neil was being questioned.
Neil stepped out of Matt’s grasp when Nicky spoke up,
“I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m starving. I’m sure the freshmen gave up and ate without us. Who’s up for pizza back at the dorms?”
Everyone agreed and Nicky called in their order while they walked back to Fox Tower.
Andrew settled in at Neil’s side and when Neil reached for his hand Andrew allowed it. Judging by the tight squeeze Neil’s hand received Andrew knew that he was shaken up from the encounter.
Here, surrounded by the Foxes, hand clasped with Andrew’s, Neil had never felt more grateful. These people had seen the darkest side of him and hadn’t turned away, they had seen the truth of Nathaniel and still held Neil close. He didn’t know what he had done to deserve any of them, but he knew he was never letting them go.