Page 29 of Kingston
Brown eyes twinkling, Dane laughs. “That or he did the same thing to me last year.”
My brows furrow. “Seriously? Wait, what?”
Dane clears his throat, picking up the coffee pot, and refills his mug. “Cannon wouldn’t have said anything to you if you weren’t his initiate. But he doesn’t think you can survive on coffee alone.”
“I beg to differ, I’ve been doing coffee-only breakfasts for years.” I sip carefully at the strong brew the guys prefer. I’ve never liked to waste my calories on breakfast food.
“Yeah, but that doesn’t stop the guy who is working on his kinesiology major with a minor in dietary science from mentioning it.”
Obviously, there’s plenty about the guys I don’t know. I had no idea about the dietary science minor. “Makes sense, I guess. But—” My brain whirs. “Does that mean what I think it does if he was bothering you last year?”
“Yes. I survived Kingston, Archer, and Cannon. So can you.”
Holy shit.Dane was in the same position last year as I am now. He knows these guys—which means, I need to know him better, too.
And if Dane was the initiate assigned to my guys, that leaves the current juniors or the graduates as the ones who were in charge of Will through the initiation process—the most likely to have information—and since the graduates aren’t here, that puts my primary focus on Alec, Stuart, and Joel. I’ll need to confirm that Will was their initiate, but I have a terrible aching sense of dread in my gut that my suspicions are correct. They’re such assholes.
And I also assume my guys at least knowsomethingabout Will. They were right here when he disappeared. They had to have been questioned by the police. At the very least, they had to have wondered what the fuck happened to him. But no one talks about it at all. Almost like they’ve agreed as a group that they won’t. Like they’d rather forget he ever existed. And that makes me so sick inside.
All this simply reinforces in my mind that I need to get closer to these guys. I have no choice but to become one of them. Because as a brotherhood, they protect their own. They’re tight. So tight, I wonder if I’ll ever be able to delve deep enough to find the answers I need. But if they think I’m trustworthy, maybe I can uncover the truth.
Jesus, my brain is going a mile a minute. I take a few deep breaths as I watch Dane bend down to dig inside the freezer drawer, pulling out something blue. It doesn’t register what it is until he tosses it to me.
I catch the flexible blue ice pack with both hands. “Um. Thanks,” I murmur.
“It might help. Couldn’t hurt.” He shrugs and shoots me a small smile before he walks out of the room.
Standing there alone, my mind twists and spins again as it’s taken over by thoughts of these three men who stand between me and the truth. My heart pounds hard as my chest constricts, fear washing through me and coating my skin with sweat. It’s entirely possible that Kingston, Archer, and Cannon could have been directly involved in what happened to Will.
We certainly haven’t had the best start, and as much as I want to think the hot guys who are responsible for me could possibly be decent human beings, I’ve been wrong about men before, and there’s an awful lot that is not currently pointing in their favor. Yet, I’m oddly attracted to them. I don’twantthem to be the kind of assholes who could have made Will’s life here difficult.
Archer is wickedly smart and witty as hell. He’ll be able to keep up with me, no problem, so I’ll have to be careful around him. Cannon’s achingly possessive touches and eyes that burn directly into my soul have already begun to throw me off balance. And Kingston. I don’t know nearly enough about him. So far, he’s been extremely controlling. A ruthless leader—and I’m the bane of his existence.
I knew I’d remember day one with the brotherhood because of the striptease, but I had no idea the following day would bring something quite so memorable. Day two, bite mark and swollen ass. What more could possibly be in store for me on day three? I’ve already been threatened and groped. This game I’m playing is more dangerous than I ever imagined. These three stand in the way of everything I hope to accomplish here… and I have a terrible feeling a battle of wits and wills is about to ensue.
EIGHTEEN
ELLIOT
Little does the brotherhood know,I’m actually glad for the household duties I was assigned. It pissed me off at first that they immediately gave me the stereotypically female chores, but, in hindsight, I’ll be able to explore the house under the guise of cleaning. And by explore, I mean snoop. If they ever realize they’ve given me exactly the unfettered access I need, they won’t think it’s so funny.
I laugh internally as I give the kitchen counters a final wipe down. I started working in the kitchen first—that way no one could say I wasn’t being a responsible, productive member of the brotherhood. But of course, there’s nothing much of interest here. Happy with the cleanliness of the kitchen, I glance over my shoulder, out into the living room, and note no one else is around… which means it’s the perfect time to wander through the house on my own.
Most of the guys are lying low after last night’s party. I really want to take a peek into their rooms, but it’s not a great time when half of them are napping. Later this week will be a better bet. All my classes are done by eleven every day, so I’ll come home, clean, and poke around as much as I can.
As I wander through the house, I find the library again where I’d been questioned by the guys on the first day, then a huge laundry room with multiple machines (some of them actually running, to my surprise), another sitting room of sorts, and way too many bathrooms to count, which kinda sucks for me, considering I’ll be cleaning them.
It’s a beautiful place, that’s for sure. It’s wasted on some of these guys, but that’s only my opinion. Treading carefully, I locate the stairs leading to the basement level. I know this is where the juniors’ bedrooms are, plus Bridger’s, but I haven’t a clue what else might be down here. Can’t hurt to have a look.
When I reach the bottom of the stairs, my mouth drops open. One wall is all windows and big glass-paned doors looking out toward the pool. There’s a hot tub I hadn’t previously noticed in the backyard off to one side. It’s mammoth. Big enough to fit twelve, I would think, though it makes me laugh to imagine twelve male brothers all in it together at once.
A hallway off the main room catches my attention, and when I glance down it, there are four doors leading to what I assume are bedrooms. They’re all closed. Without a clue what everyone’s up to, I ignore those for now, and look around the main room. There’s a full bar, which is not really a surprise to me, but I do find it amusing, seeing as how my research revealed Kingston is the only one of legal drinking age in the house until Cannon turns twenty-one in a few weeks.
Apparently, they like their entertainment. A monster TV is mounted on the far wall with a huge couch in front of it. Their setup includes a pool table, Ping-Pong, and about a dozen different arcade games. It’s like every little boy’s fantasy down here.
Once my eyes have absorbed all the fun, I spy framed photos hung above the arcade games. There are about ten of them, quite clearly members of the brotherhood—and they look relatively recent.Oh, man.Tell me I’m not this lucky.Biting my lip, I get as close as I can, hurriedly looking at each image to find the right one. That’s if they’ve already put it up.
That one.Sure enough, I recognize everyone in the photo except the three guys dead center. And oh god, my heart aches as I study Will. The odd, forced smile on his face is about as far from true Will as it gets. When was this taken? Ugh. It’s not like I can ask. Though maybe it wouldn’t be so strange for me to say I noticed the photos down here and was curious?
