"Screw the season," Nicky said heatedly. "I'm sorry, but Andrew's my cousin, and I'll take him over championships any day. If Betsy actually left him on his medicine after what just happened I'd—" He couldn't make himself finish, but he gave an emphatic jerk of his hand.

"As if you feel any differently," Kevin sent Neil.

Neil fixed Kevin with a stony look. "Maybe if you'd stuck around a moment longer you'd understand why I don't care anymore. When you came upstairs, did you hear him laughing, Kevin? He was," he said, ignoring the way Nicky flinched and the quick look Dan shot Matt, "before Drake even hit the ground. So yes, even I would give up this season. And after everything he's done and every risk he's taken for you, you'd better feel the same."

"It's not that simple," Kevin started.

"Then simplify it," Neil cut in.

Kevin went quiet. A minute later, he started drinking in earnest. The others were quick to join him. Renee and Neil kept watch while their teammates tried to drink themselves blind over the next few hours. They had dinner delivered to the dorm even though none of them had much of an appetite. The deliveryman called Renee's phone when he made it to the front desk and Neil went downstairs with her to collect the bags. There were athletes coming and going in the lobby, and Neil didn't miss the way conversations died when the Foxes were spotted. Luckily no one was stupid enough to bother them.

Renee waited until they were on the elevator again before asking, "And you, Neil? Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," Neil said, and Renee didn't push it.

Dinner took some of the edge off their teammates' drunkenness, but not for long. Neil watched as they passed out one at a time. He expected the girls to retire to their bedroom, but only Allison got up and left. Dan fell asleep curled against Matt on the couch, and Renee nodded off on the floor with Nicky and Kevin. Neil listened to their breathing even out, the last man standing, and finally went to the door. He sat in one of the corners there so he could have a wall at his back and still keep an eye on everyone. It wasn't exactly comfortable, sleeping with his knees hugged to his chest, but he buried his face in his arms and willed himself to stop thinking for the night.