Page 11 of Wicked Royals
I let out another sigh. With one hand, I gestured for them to lean even closer to me. “Fine, yes. There are tunnels running under D.C. But it’s not that interesting. They were built ages ago so that government officials could get from one place to another when they didn’t want to be seen in public. That’s all. Hardly anyone actually uses themanymore.”
“Who else knows aboutthem?”
I shrugged. “A lot of people. I overheard the Secret Service telling my parents about them when we first moved in here. The real question is who can access the tunnels, and the answer is: not many. All of the entrances are secret, and even if you find out where one of them is, you can’t get in without a keycard. They added that as a security measure about twenty-five years ago when someone mentioned the tunnels in aninterview.”
Marissa’s shoulders slumped. “So we can’t sneak into the secret White House passageways fromhere?”
“The White House is two miles away,” I said. “You wouldn’t want to walk that far inheels.”
Simone tilted her head to the side. “You sneaky bitch. You didn’t actually answer thequestion.”
“Oh my god. They gave you a keycard, didn’t they?” Marissa said, eyeswidening.
I snorted. “Of course not. Do you really think they’d give one tome?”
“Yes. You’re the VP’s daughter,” she replied, folding herarms.
“Trust me, that’s not considered important enough to warrant that type of security clearance. But…” A devious smile curled up my lips. “I might have a cardanyway.”
“I freaking knew it! How did you getit?”
“My dad dropped his in the garden room a while ago, and I found it. He told his Secret Service detail to get him a new one and cancel the old one so it wouldn’t work anymore, because he thought he must’ve lost it out on the street somewhere. I got the agents alone a while later and told them that he found the old one and didn’t need it to be canceled anymore, but he still wanted the new one as a spare. That way the old one would still function. I honestly didn’t think it would work, but it did. They believed me, and the old keycard still works justfine.”
Marissa’s brows rose. “So you’ve actually been in thetunnels?”
I nodded. “Yeah, I’ve poked around them a fewtimes.”
“What’s itlike?”
“Honestly, it’s pretty boring. I’ve never been able to find any of the so-called secret rooms, so I’m pretty sure they don’texist.”
“I want to look around anyway,” Katesaid.
I pointedly lowered my gaze to their shoes. All three of them were wearing stilettos. “You guys really want to walk around a bunch of dirty old tunnels in those?” Iasked.
I found high heels comfortable to walk in, but that was only because I was so used to it, and I also had big feet which seemed to make it a lot easier. Marissa, Kate and Simone all had small feet, and they always whined that it was painful to walk in heels because ofit.
“I don’t care. I’ve had enough wine to kill the pain until tomorrow,” Simone said. “Besides, if it gets that bad, we can just come back here and borrow some flats fromyou.”
“They wouldn’t fit,” I said, hoping they’d give up and drop the subject. It was a dumb idea to sneak around the tunnels at night. They were cold and wet most of the time, and there really wasn’t much to see downthere.
Kate let out an impatient huff. “We’ll take some from your mom’s wardrobe, then. She’s close to oursize.”
That was true. My mother was curvaceous but short with tiny feet, whereas I’d taken after my father in the looks department. By the time I was fourteen, I was already a lanky five-eight, and I’d grown another inch and a half after that before finally stopping slightly short of five-ten when I wassixteen.
I chewed my bottom lip for a second. “Um. Idon’t—”
Simone cut me off before I could argue again. “Please? I really want togo.”
“Please, please, please?” Kate added, eyes shiningfervently.
I held up my hands. “Fine. We can go for a little while, but only if you guys do somethingfirst.”
Marissa’s frowned. “What?”
“Go and talk to Rowan,” I said with a smug smile. “He’s the one you should’ve apologized to earlier. Notme.”
She folded her arms. “Are youserious?”
