"Hey," the other man said, using his grip on Neil's hand to pull him up onto the curb. "Welcome to South Carolina. Flight go okay?"

"It was fine," Neil said.

"I'm Nicky." Nicky gave Neil's hand another hard squeeze before letting go. "Andrew and Aaron's cousin, backliner extraordinaire."

Neil looked from him to the twins and back again. Where the twins were light, Nicky was dark, with jet-black hair, dark brown eyes, and skin two shades too dark to be a tan. He also had the better part of a foot on them. "By blood?"

Nicky laughed. "Don't look it, right? Take after my mom. Dad 'rescued' her from Mexico during some la-di-dah ministry trip." He made a show of rolling his eyes, then jerked a thumb at the others. "You already met them, right? Aaron, Andrew, Kevin? Coach was supposed to be here to let you in, but he had to head up to the stadium real quick. The ERC called him, probably with more BS about how we haven't publicized our sub yet. In the meantime you're stuck with us, but we've got Coach's keys. Suitcases in the trunk?"

"It's just this," Neil said.

Nicky arched an eyebrow at him and looked at the others. "He packs light. I wish I could travel like that, but hell if I ain't materialistic."

"Materialistic is just a start," Aaron said.

Nicky grinned and caught Neil's shoulder, guiding him past the rest toward the front door. "This is where Coach lives," he said unnecessarily. "He makes all the money, so he gets to live in a place like this while we poor people couch surf."

"You have a nice car for someone who thinks he's poor," Neil said.

"That's why we're poor," Nicky said dryly.

"Aaron's mother bought it for us with her life insurance money," Andrew explained. "It's no surprise she had to die to be worth anything."

"Easy," Nicky said, but he was looking at Aaron when he said it.

"Easy, easy." Andrew lifted his hands in a careless shrug. "Why bother? It's a cruel world, right Neil? You wouldn't be here if it wasn't."

"It's not the world that's cruel," Neil said. "It's the people in it."

"Oh, so true."

They rode the elevator up to the seventh floor in silence. Neil watched the numbers tick above the door so he wouldn't look at Kevin's reflection. Unease over being so high off the ground was almost distraction enough. He preferred staying to lower levels so he could make an easy escape if need be. Jumping out the window here was definitely out of the question. He made a mental note to find any and all fire escapes.

Wymack's apartment was number 724. They gathered around the door so Aaron could dig the key out of his pocket. It took him two tries to remember which one he'd put it in. Neil didn't notice when he found it and unlocked the door. He was too busy staring at Aaron's pants pockets. They were much too flat to be hiding a pack of cigarettes, but Neil had seen Aaron put the pack away before crossing the street at the airport.