Page 60 of Kings & Corruption

“Reva, this is Willa,” Oscar said when things calmed down. “Willa, Reva manages the house.”

Now I understood. I’d been wondering how the Kings kept the house clean and in good repair. I couldn’t imagine Neo cleaning a toilet or even calling for a plumber.

I smiled and held out my hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”

She laughed and pulled me into a sandalwood-and-patchouli scented hug. “I gave up handshakes with my Southern roots many moons ago, darlin’.”

I heard the remnants of an accent in her voice when she said it.

Maybe I should have been annoyed to be hugged so enthusiastically by someone I barely knew, but I found myself squeezing her back. It had been a long time since I’d been hugged by a woman. My own mother wasn’t a hugger. She was a fixer, a judger, someone who showed her love by telling me all the things I did wrong, all the ways I was making life harder for myself.

I almost didn’t want to let go when Reva pulled back to look at me. “Wow! You are a beauty,” she said. “No wonder these boys want you here.”

“That’s not why,” Neo grumbled, heading for the fridge.

Reva lifted a mischievous eyebrow and turned to Oscar as he asked about her summer.

I headed for the back stairs, not wanting to intrude on their reunion, and spent the rest of the afternoon going over my notes from class and organizing my homework.

Later that night, I sat at the kitchen island while Rock made dinner (some kind of pasta with chicken and sun-dried tomatoes that made my mouth water). We’d been talking about the key and the cleaning crew, and I didn’t know why I was surprised when the guys went from zero to sixty by suggesting we break into the house of the cleaning lead.

“Can’t we just lift them off the crew while they’re cleaning?” I asked. I was not down for a B&E charge, or for scaring some innocent person half to death if they found us digging around their house.

“Cameras,” Neo said.

It was how he always talked to me. Short. To the point. Not an ounce of friendliness.

I hadn’t seen him all day, and I’d almost forgotten how much his attitude toward me got under my skin. The fact that he looked good enough to eat in gray sweats and a white tank top that showed off every one of his stupid muscles only made it worse.

“Only on the second floor,” I pointed out.

Rock turned off the heat under the skillet and reached for the plates he’d stacked on the counter. “The first floor cameras will pick us up on the way in. It’s too risky after hours when the rest of the student body isn’t there to give us cover.”

“Right.” I chewed my lip.

“We can figure out who’s cleaning the building by staking it out at night,” Oscar said.

“Yeah, but then what?” I asked.

“Whoever it is will probably be asleep during the day,” Neo said, opening the fridge. “You and Rock can be in and out and have the keys back before they wake up.”

“Except that means breaking and entering.” I eyed the pasta Rock was piling on three plates. “And stealing the medals during the day.”

Neo shut the refrigerator door and set an already prepared salad with chicken on the island. “Yep.”

“But that’s… that’s crazy,” I said, remembering all the people milling around the admin building. The second floor was quieter for sure, but it wasn’t empty.

“It’s doable,” Neo said, digging into the salad as Rock set plates of pasta in front of Oscar and me.

“You don’t like pasta?” I asked Neo. He had me skittish as a cat, afraid he would rip my head off every time we interacted, but I wasn’t going to let him know that.

“He likes pasta,” Rock said. “Just not tonight.”

I thought about the Hummer’s disappearing headlights the night before, Oscar’s cryptic answer when I’d asked if they’d left the house at midnight.

What the fuck were these three up to?

“Think any of the other teams are close?” Oscar asked just before shoving a bite of pasta into his mouth.

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