Page 59 of Kings & Corruption

Then I got the hell out of there and booked if for the entrance to the admin building, my mind turning over what I’d seen and what it meant for the game.

It said a lot about how much my life had changed in the last few days that I wasn’t even surprised when my phone dinged with a text from Oscar.

Where the hell are you?Oscar texted.We had a deal.

I typed as I crossed campus to the parking lot by the lecture halls.YOU had a deal. I never agreed to anything.

You didn’t even wait for me after class.

That was from Rock, and I could almost hear the disappointment in his text.

We got out early.

Why was I explaining myself to them? I didn’t owe them anything. The only reason I was stuck to them like glue was because I didn’t have a car and the Kings’ house was in the middle of nowhere.

I spotted them way before I reached the parking lot: Oscar leaning against the Audi like some kind of fucking supermodel and Rock pacing like a mountain lion.

“I can’t believe you ditched me,” Rock said, shaking his head sadly.

I rolled my eyes. “I didn’t ditch you. I needed to drop a class so I went to the admin building.”

Oscar held the passenger door open, then stepped closer when I went to slide into the car. He smelled fantastic, like cologne and sweat and old books, and it went straight to my pussy like a thunderbolt.

“Don’t do that again, tiger.” He leaned closer, murmuring in my ear. “You might just earn yourself a spanking.”

I suppressed a shiver and slid into the car, clamping my thighs together and ordering the lust galloping through my veins to stand the fuck down.

Oscar closed the door and walked around the driver’s side. The car started with a sexy purr and Oscar backed out of the parking space.

“You’re both making a big deal out of nothing,” I said. “You’re going to be thanking me in a few minutes.”

“Why would we thank you for blowing us off?” Rock said from the back seat.

“Because I talked my way into the teachers’ lounge while I was in the admin building and now I know who has a key to the case,” I said.

“How can you know that just from visiting the lounge?” Oscar asked, pulling onto the main road that ran through campus.

“Because I got a look at the case. There’s no dust.” It was a glass case, so I expected it to be cleaner than an open shelf. But not that clean. “I’m talking not a speck of dust, not even a smear on the glass.”

For a few seconds, nobody said anything.

Oscar broke the silence. “The cleaning crew.”

I nodded. “The cleaning crew."

Chapter27

Willa

Iwas still thinking about the possibility of taking keys from the cleaning crew when we stepped into the kitchen from the garage and found an older woman bent over and studying the contents of the fridge.

She straightened when she heard us come in, her long gray hair a mass of waves around her lined face, a printed tunic flowing over her jeans. If her arms hadn’t been stacked with an assortment of bracelets, some of them colorful and others clearly made of gold, I might have thought she was displaced and looking for food, which was why I was surprised when Rock’s face broke into a grin, his arms opening for a hug.

“Reva!”

She came toward him with a grin. “There are my boys!”

She walked into his arms and I stood awkwardly by while she exchanged hugs and greetings with the guys.

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