Leverage Read Online Free PDF

scrubbed my hand over my face and glanced in the rearview mirror, pulling it toward me for a better look. Shit, I was a mess. The whites of my eyes blazed red, making the irises glow bright green. Dark stubble covered my jaw and chin. And I hadn’t combed my hair after my shower. I finger-combed it, but even still, the dark bags under my eyes made me look tired. With a groan, I twisted the mirror back into place and focused on the road ahead.
    I left my car in the parking garage and started the long walk back to Hansee. I couldn’t avoid passing McMahon Hall or glancing down into the sloped landscape well where Leo’s body had fallen the night before. My jaw ticked, my hands tightly fisted in my jacket pockets as I peeked up at Leo’s balcony, imagining those eyes peering over the railing yet again.
    Breathe. Don’t look. Eyes forward!
    I complied with the command in my head, my gaze on the sidewalk straight ahead. But then I noticed the eyes that kept turning in my direction as students passed me by, their heads pivoting back to whisper into their friends’ ears.
    Guess I was the object of their gossip now. That’s fucking great.
    I turned up the path at the end of Whitman Court and spied Hansee through the trees. Katy was sitting on her backpack on the cold, damp pavement near the front door. At least it wasn’t raining yet, but the gray sky was turning darker by the minute. It wouldn’t be long.
    She stood when she noticed me approaching. She looked worse than I did. Her face was pale and splotchy, and the whites around her frigid-blue eyes glowed red. Her blonde hair, normally sleek and perfectly styled, hung in an unruly mess over her shoulders and down her back. She appeared rumpled and weary and twitchy as her eyes darted about.
    She closed the last few feet between us, rushing into my chest and throwing her arms around my neck, something she had never dared before. There’d always been a weird tension between us. Not bad, just uncomfortable when Leo was around. I’d never betray a friend—especially Leo—and move in on his girl, but that didn’t mean I didn’t notice her physically. After all, Katy was hot with a smokin’ body and supermodel looks. And though she never made it seem like she’d ever cross that line either, she didn’t seem to mind when she’d catch me staring at her. Honestly, Leo had been a lucky man.
    I allowed my arms to snake around her waist, but then I pulled away and forced her back, aware of the stares and whispers around us. I took her by the arm and walked to the front doors, using my ID passkey for access. We took the stairs up to my third floor room and closed the door against the ogling gossip.
    Katy began to pace around the tiny space. Her hands wrung over each other again and again. That’s when I noticed how red and chapped they were, like she’d been doing it for the last fourteen hours. I grabbed and held them still, gazing down into her frantic eyes. They darted back and forth and filled with a thick layer of tears before she looked away, pulling her hands with her as she renewed her frenetic pacing.
    I couldn’t stand to watch her, to see her so upset, at a loss for what to do. She stopped at the tall window and peered out through the old, pebbled glass, looking, but not seeing. Her hands rested against the divided diamond-shaped panes. I stepped up behind her and put my hands on her shoulders. I squeezed and let them trail down her arms to her elbows then her wrists, encircling them as I’d watched Tyler do with my mother. It seemed to have calmed my mom, and I wanted to do the same for Katy.
    Her chin dropped to her chest, and her hands took hold of mine as she turned to face me. I was struck dumb as I stared into her bright blue eyes, so sad and lonely, so tortured and barren, even as the tears pooled up, spilled over, and ran down her cheeks.
    “I’m sorry, K. I wish I could—”
    “Shhh,” she said and put her forefinger to my mouth. Then she drew her