Nicky used to work at Eden's Twilight down in Columbia. He was on break one night when four men decided they could beat the homosexuality out of him. Andrew stepped in to protect Nicky, but he went too far. It was one thing to join the fight and another thing entirely to keep at it when the men were unconscious and bleeding out on the sidewalk. Andrew would have killed them if the club's bouncers hadn't hauled him away. The press had a field day with it; Neil read all about it when he was researching the Foxes.

"She was hurting Aaron, so Andrew stopped her," Neil said. "Aaron should have been grateful, but he mourned her like he didn't care what she'd done to them. He took sides."

"You really think so?"

"It makes sense to me," Neil said. It might even explain why Andrew hated Katelyn, though Neil wasn't sure which interpretation to go with: that Andrew wouldn't let another girl come between them, or that he was still punishing Aaron for choosing the wrong side three years ago. "I'm guessing they've never talked about how she died."

"Not since I moved in, and I showed up the day of Aunt Tilda's funeral," Nicky said. "They won't even talk about the little things. I don't see them having a belated heart-to-heart about Andrew's intentions anytime soon."

Nicky propped his elbow on the table and cradled his face in his hand. Defeat looked unnatural on his face and made him finally look his age. Neil had almost forgotten that Nicky was several years older than his cousins. He was a sophomore like they were, but he was the second-oldest player on the team after Renee.

"The only reason I stayed when Coach offered me a spot was so I could fix this," Nicky said. "I thought if I had more time I could show Aaron and Andrew how to be brothers again. And I'm not giving up, not by a long shot, but I've realized by now I can't fix it on my own. I hate to say it, but I wish Renee would hurry up and make her move."

Neil had no idea how the conversation had gone from murder to Renee. He ran over the last couple seconds of their conversation in his head, then gave up and asked, "What? I thought you didn't like her."

Nicky bolted upright like Neil struck him. "Who doesn't like Renee?"

Neil almost volunteered himself as a prime example, but he didn't want to derail the conversation further. He amended his words to, "No one likes how friendly she is with Andrew."

"Not to throw my own cousin under the bus, but everyone knows he's not good enough for her. In a perfect world Renee would settle down with a nice Christian boy who'd invest in her charity projects and love her half to death. In this world she's got her eyes set on Andrew. I'd intervene for her sake but I'm getting desperate. Andrew needs something to distract him from all of his issues."