Page 148 of Kings & Corruption

I didn’t think about Professor Ryan until we hit the door of the lecture hall. Then it all came back to me — Joshua Ryan touching me at Ruby’s, Rock breaking his fingers, Rock and Neo telling Oscar to get me out of there.

I had no idea what had happened after I’d left, and I’d been too shaken by the news of Nikki’s death to care about some pissing contest between the Kings and my professor.

Now my whole body crackled with nervousness.

“Don’t worry about him,” Rock said, as if reading my mind. “He knows better than to fuck with you now.”

I didn’t have time to ask questions. Rock pushed the door open and we stepped into the lecture hall, already half full of students thanks to my little interlude with Rock under the tree out front.

I breathed a sigh of relief when I spotted Joshua Ryan standing in front of the giant chalkboard. I hadn’t realized until then that I’d been worried the Kings might have killed him.

But there he was, looking down at something on his laptop. It wasn’t until we got closer to the front of the lecture hall that I saw the bruises that shadowed his face. His nose was bandaged (broken?), his lip was split, and it looked like he might have taken a few stitches up by his left eyebrow.

He moved carefully to pull down the screen he used to project information while we took notes, like it was painful for him to walk and reach.

“Fuck,” I muttered. “What did you and Neo do?”

“Don’t you dare feel sorry for him,” Rock said. “You think you’re the first student he’s preyed on? He’s lucky he’s alive. That wasn’t a given.”

I shivered a little as Rock turned to me. “Thanks for looking out for me at Ruby’s.”

He touched my face, and I spotted several of the other students turn to watch us in my peripheral vision. “Always. Everyone at this school needs to know you’re ours. They fuck with you, they meet with us.”

Four months ago the words would have made me roll my eyes and assert my independence. The fact that I now felt a flush of warmth was proof that I’d really fallen down the fucking rabbit hole.

He kissed me on the lips, then turned to give Professor Ryan a meaningful look before turning back to me. “See you after class, kitten.”

I slid into one of the rows, taking a seat on the end, and pulled my laptop out of my bag. I was not looking forward to staring at Joshua Ryan for an hour and a half. I didn’t trust myself not to feel sympathy, and if Rock was right, he didn’t deserve it.

I hadn’t gotten around to telling him “no” exactly, but the power dynamic between teacher and student was all kinds of fucked up, and it was clear from Joshua Ryan’s confidence at Ruby’s that this wasn’t his first rodeo.

I thought maybe he’d avoid looking at me during class, that we’d just pretend the incident at Ruby’s hadn’t happened, but when I looked up from my stuff, he was staring right at me.

And he didn’t look scared. He looked furious, his face drawn with rage, eyes blazing with accusation.

* * *

I was still unsettled when I made my way to the cafeteria that afternoon. I hadn’t expected Joshua Ryan to be cowed exactly, but I definitely hadn’t expected the kind of open defiance he’d shown after getting beaten bloody by the Kings.

I debated saying something to Rock or Oscar, then decided against it. Professor Ryan was entitled to be pissed, even if he’d crossed a professional boundary, and I didn’t want to be responsible for a broken arm or leg.

Or worse.

Did I really believe the Kings were capable of murder? So far I’d only seen them beat the shit out of two people — Enzo and Joshua Ryan — but they carried guns with them everywhere.

And it wasn’t just the guns that made me think they were capable of murder, it was the easy way they handled them, the way they didn’t hesitate to put the hurt on any man who displeased them.

Would they kill if someone went too far?

Maybe.

The admin building was buzzing, students huddled in the halls and making their way to and from the cafeteria. It took me a minute to realize why it was so much more crowded, then I remembered the Bad Ball.

Everyone was showing pictures of their costumes to friends, careful to hide them from the general population to avoid being copied. I wondered again what the Kings had in mind, then decided it didn’t matter. They could literally dress me in a paper sack for all I cared, although given Neo’s taste in gowns, even a paper bag would be emblazoned with the Dolce logo.

I waited in line to grab a prepared sandwich — turkey and avocado, my favorite — and a bottle of water, then wound my way through the crowd. It was so packed I had to hold tight to my sandwich as I was jostled and shoved.

I sighed with relief when I made it to my regular table.

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