Before You Go | A Prequel

4.4 | Cold Blooded

THE WORDS DANCED ON THE PAGES before Nico like they were tangled up in some never-ending waltz. Page after page, word after word, he mumbled to himself as he read, reciting the words as they appeared in succession.

"...Plaintiff attacks the November 25 board as a selfishly motivated effort to protect incumbent board from a perceived threat to control...,"

He paused to take a sip from the glass of water, and for a split moment he considered just dousing the rest of it to his face as some half-assed wake-up call. 

No, too much clean-up.  

He sat the glass down half-empty, next to the plate of half-eaten pizza crusts, and he rubbed his temples before resorting himself to immersing his mind once more into the sea of letters and words, incumbents and defendants and dissenting opinions and good-fucking-GOD, his mind was going to explode.

"...it is established in our law that a board may take certain steps such as the purchase by the corporation—,"

The slightest tremble of the desk sent a ripple through the glass of water. He paused once more, brows knitting together as he stared at it, wondering if his mind was playing tricks on him— perhaps this truly was the preamble before the imminent implosion, perhaps he really had fried his brain. 

But then it was still. Nothing. And he was just about to tear his eyes back into the boggling swamp of words when he felt the growing rumble under his feet, and his chair began to shake. 

An earthquake? Since when did the east coast have earthquakes—

The cacophony of screams left him with no further time or grace to keep pondering, and immediately he sprung up from his seat. Leena looked up at him when he burst through the double doors which separated the tiny office from the billiard room, her exasperation evident by just her eyes which peeked over the novel she was reading. Before he could open his mouth to speak, the culprits of the noise came quite literally barreling  down the stairs in a runaway-carriage (otherwise known as a clothes-bin).

The two passengers, twins Gus and Ellie, flopped over one another as the basket hit the floor. Nico's breath hitched in his throat as he dashed over to them, but his concern was quickly thwarted by the chorus of giggles erupting from the heap.  Caspar traipsed down the stairs shortly after them, the rascally grin on his face dissipating as soon as he saw the stark disapproval on the older brother's face.

"What the HECK, Cas—,"

"Relax,"  droned a voice behind them. It was soon prefaced by a tepid Claudia sauntering down the remaining steps. She rolled her eyes as poked at a tupperware dish with a fork, "They pretty much begged him to do it."

"Again! Again!" The younger twins jumped as they exclaimed and tugged on Cas. "Let's go again!"

"Um, no? Not again?" Nico snapped at her. "Look, I'm not taking anyone to urgent care tonight. And guys, I'm studying down here. Come on."

Ellie scrunched her face at him as she frowned, but it was quickly eclipsed with a new idea. She looked to Caspar with bright eyes, "Let's go to the big stairs!"

"Yeah!" chorused Gus.

"No!"  Nico couldn't believe his ears. Exhaustion and irritation burned hot at his temples. "Find something else to do. Anything that doesn't involve infliction of bodily harm. Please."

"Ughhh. You're no fun," Claudia groaned. "I was looking for a show."

Nico glanced at the contents of the dish she was holding and he couldn't help but cringe at the bed of egg whites situated on blanket of cabbage. "That looks disgusting," he said before thinking. She cut her eyes at him in a glare— as if obviously she knew that.