Read Online The 25th Hour by David Benioff - Free Book Online Page B

Lords of the Outer Boroughs was the initial review, a moniker that Monty seized for his own and ran through his hip-hop spell checker; the Outta Buro Lordz soon became the most admired clique in the school. Jakob reveled in his status as an honorary member, if always conscious that he lived, after all, on Central Park West, that his father was a tax attorney, that his knowledge of the outer boroughs consisted of Yankee Stadium to the north and Kennedy, LaGuardia, and his cousins in Forest Hills to the east.
    Now it is Slattery and his associates who dine at expensive restaurants, while Jakob grades grammar quizzes in his eleven-foot-square apartment, boiling water for another meal of spaghetti and tomato paste. Jakob generally enjoys playing this game, the How Pathetic Is Your Life? game, but not now, not tonight, not when his friend is headed for federal prison in the morning.
    Slattery finally emerges from the bathroom, drying his hands on a towel. ‘You ready? I’m starving.’
    Jakob turns off the television with the remote control and stands. ‘What’s he going to do with Doyle?’
    ‘Huh?’
    ‘Where’s Doyle going to end up?’
    ‘Oh. I don’t know.’ Slattery throws the towel onto the coffee table, opens a closet, and pulls a black cashmere overcoat off a wooden hanger. ‘With Nat?’
    Jakob shakes his head. ‘I doubt it.’
    ‘With his dad? I really don’t know. You like this coat? A friend of mine brought it back from London.’
    ‘Frank,’ says Jakob, picking at his fingernails, ‘are you ready for this?’
    ‘Ready for what?’
    ‘For tonight?’
    ‘I got to tell you,’ says Slattery, buttoning the coat, ‘it was such a crazy day at work, I haven’t even thought about it much.’
    ‘You haven’t?’ asks Jakob, startled. ‘He’s your best friend.’
    ‘You don’t have to explain it to me, I understand that. What do you want me to do? We’re going out with him, we’ll have a few drinks, what am I going to do? Come on, let’s move. Tie your shoes.’
    Jakob gets down on one knee and begins lacing his rubber-soled hiking boots. ‘I’m nervous about seeing him. I really am; I’m scared. It’s like visiting a friend who’s in the hospital with cancer. What do you say? He’s going to be living in a cell for seven years. What do you say to him?’
    Slattery shrugs. ‘You know what? I don’t think you say anything. I think we go out with him tonight, and we try to have a good time, and if he wants to talk about it, we talk about it. He’s going to hell for seven years – what am I going to do, wish him luck? We get him drunk and try to give him one more good night.’
    Jakob ties a double knot and stands. ‘You make it sound like you’ve done this before.’
    ‘I have. My cousin got sent up for three years. Ready?’ Slattery opens the front door and waits for Jakob, one hand on the light switch.
    ‘He did? You never told me that. What for?’
    ‘He’s a fucking thief, that’s what for.’
    The biggest scandal in Jakob’s family was a bulimic cousin. He wonders what other secrets Slattery has been keeping. ‘So he got through it okay? In prison and all?’
    ‘No. Not even close to okay. Come on, come on, let’s go.’
    ‘Wait a second,’ says Jakob, patting his hip pockets. ‘Where’s my wallet?’
    ‘Oh, Jesus.’
    ‘I had it when I came in here. I know I had it.’
    ‘It’s sitting on the sofa, schmuck.’
    Jakob retrieves the wallet and pockets it. ‘It’s weird, though, I think, just knowing Monty, I think he’ll be okay.’ He sees the expression on Slattery’s face and continues, hurriedly, ‘No, no, I’m not saying it will be easy. If it was me, I’d never make it a day, I know that. But it’s Monty. He’s tough. He’s always been tough.’
    ‘No, he hasn’t,’ says Slattery, flicking off the lights, ‘and he won’t be okay. I don’t know what you’re thinking, Jake. There’s not going to be a happy ending.’
    Jakob exits the apartment