Page 9 of Kings & Corruption

He held up a finger and fumbled around one of the seats, then pointed his phone at the screen. The volume was muted on whatever action movie he’d been watching, and a second later the lights came on in the room.

The guy standing in front of me was probably about my age, with dark hair and brown eyes. He wore basketball shorts and a tank top that showed off the sculpted arms of someone who spent a lot of time in the gym.

“Sorry,” he said, “I didn’t think anyone was coming until tonight.”

I moved into the room. “I’m Willa.”

“I know.” I raised my eyebrows and he continued. “Uh… Neo told us. That you were moving in, I mean.”

“Us?”

“Me and the other guys.” He grinned and an adorable dimple dented his chin. “I never expected to live with a girl at the Kings’ house, but I’m down.”

I stifled a sigh. I hadn’t even thought about the other guys, but of course they would be there. As luxe as the Kings’ house was, it was still technically a frat house — and that meant a bunch of college boys, or more accurately, sons of Mafia dons with something to prove.

This was going to be worse than I'd imagined. Then again, maybe it was good there would be other guys in the house. It would make it easier to avoid Neo and his band of merry morons.

“Sorry, I should introduce myself.” He wiped his hands on his basketball shorts and advanced on me with his hand out. “I’m Matt.”

I shook his hand and felt the grit of popcorn salt, but I couldn’t be mad. He seemed nice. I wondered who his parents were but didn’t want to be obvious by asking his last name.

“Nice to meet you,” I said.

“You too.” He looked around nervously. “You want a tour of the house or something?”

“That’s okay,” I said. “I should get settled. You wouldn’t happen to know where my room is, would you?”

He grinned. “I can guess. Come on.”

I had no idea what he meant, but I followed him into the kitchen I’d seen from the hall — one of the biggest freaking kitchens I’d ever seen — and up a set of stairs at the back of the house.

“The front stairs go to the second and third floors too,” Matt said. “These are closer if you’re not in the living room.”

“Got it.” The stairwell was surrounded by glass and made me feel like I was climbing into a giant tree house.

We passed the landing for the second floor and continued up another flight of stairs.

“What’s on that floor?” I asked.

“Those are our rooms. You know, the other guys.”

I heard the words that were left unspoken:guys like me, guys who aren’t Neo and Rock and Drago.

We stepped onto the third-floor landing and emerged into another hall, and if I thought the first floor was incredible, I wasnotprepared for this one.

One entire side of the wide hall was made of glass. It looked out over the back of the house where a huge swimming pool glimmered in the sun. A jacuzzi was positioned to one side of the pool, and the patio included an outdoor kitchen and lots of upscale outdoor furniture.

Beyond the patio, the trees at the back of the house swayed in the September breeze. They felt close enough to touch, almost like the third floor was nestled in their branches, and I was surprised to feel my shoulders drop as calmness settled over me.

“Wow,” I said. “This is amazing.”

I was glad Matt was the one showing me to my room. I didn’t want to give Neo and his boys the satisfaction of knowing I was impressed.

Matt turned to give me a grin as he continued leading the way down the hall. “Right? So much better than the other houses.”

I could only assume he meant the other frat houses at Aventine, just like I could only assume they sucked in comparison to the modern marvel that was my new home. The only research I’d done on the school had been related to Emma’s disappearance, which had consisted of reused file footage of Aventine’s entrance and the main building where Roberto had checked me in.

Matt stopped in front of a door at the end of the hall. “This must be you.”

---