Page 18 of Cocky Professor

"Unless you're older than you look, then it will be a while," I said dryly. "The inner circle is rumoured to be made up of men over the age of fifty." Ryker was about half that age.

He frowned. "You don't know who's in the inner circle?"

"No one does," I said. "Except for them. It's one of those, 'if you find out, you'll be dead shortly after,' things. They don't even know who's a part of it with them. They don't communicate directly. They never meet in person, as far as anyone knows. They just issue orders and we follow them."

Ryker nodded. "I still want to be one of them. Don't you?"

He managed to tap right into a nerve I'd pushed aside for years. The yearning for power like that was strong, but I didn't have the connections to be chosen as a member of the inner circle. Not yet. With Chloe's help, I might be.

The irony that if she helped me get there, I couldn't tell her about it, wasn't lost on me. That was something I'd never be able to share with anyone. But I'd know and that would be enough.

"I've learned to take things one day at a time," I said evenly. "If that's in my future, and that'll happen when and if it happens. And if it's not, then I'll be privileged to be a part of the Brotherhood of Kings, either way."

Ryker looked sceptical, maybe even a little derisive. As if he thought I wasn't ambitious enough. He'd learn soon enough that ambition only got you so far. The old saying that 'it's not what you know, but who you know,' will always stand true.

That was exactly why I worked so hard to make the connections I did. I wanted, needed to know people. I needed them to see me. To understand what I was capable of. To see my loyalty if they let me show it.

All my life, I'd practised at making the right friends, and associating with the right people. All so I could manoeuvre myself into the right position. Including on top of Chloe Bell. She was the pretty little cherry on top of my cake. My balls ached just to think of her, and what she and her body could do for me.

If I was honest with myself, I could fall for her. Why not? She was smart, sexy and beautiful. She understood and saw me in a way no one else had. I suspected I did the same for her. Ours was as perfect a match as one could be. And it could only get stronger with time.

"I should get to class," Ryker said.

I glanced at the clock. "Me too." How much longer was I going to have to keep up with this charade?

Some days were more frustrating and boring than others. Fortunately, the afternoon class was one of my favourites; ancient Egypt. It must have been nice to be a pharaoh, with people willing to make pyramids for you. Monuments that would help people to remember you a few thousand years later. I didn't want literal immortality, but to be remembered by history would be enough. To have spent all this time living and know it wasn't all for nothing.

There was nothing wrong with being ambitious. We all wanted to leave a legacy behind, didn't we?

CHAPTER 8

CHLOE

I checked the time again before I knocked on Dane's door. It was late, and the corridor was dark, but I knew he'd still be awake.

That was confirmed with the sound of him moving around in his room before the door was unlocked and opened.

Surprise crossed his face when he saw me standing just outside, but he stepped back and let me in.

He was dressed in a pair of dark track pants and a T-shirt, his hair mussed in a way I've never seen before.

The look of him made my mouth dry and my panties wet.

"The meeting is still going, I see." I nodded over to the laptop that was sitting open on his bed. The screen showed a room full of people, some I knew, the rest I recognised from the news. My father sat to the far right of the screen.

"You're not supposed to know when the Brotherhood meets." Dane closed and locked the door behind me.

"My father's assistant said he flew to Tokyo this morning," I said. "It didn't take much to put together the pieces. I assume the camera and the sound are off?" The voices of the men in attendance at the meeting were audible, speaking in respectful tones.

I couldn't make out what they were saying, but I didn't want them to hear us.

"It is," Dane said.

"You've already said your piece?" I stepped over closer to him.

He looked irritated. "I sent in my submission and it was read out. But you're also not supposed to know how proceedings take place."

"You don't get to speak?" That seemed to be the source of his annoyance.

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