Page 72 of Kings & Corruption

I remembered the flex of his muscles when he’d punched Marvin, how easily he’d moved on his feet, and clenched my thighs to stop the need that screamed to life in my pussy.

“He’s replaying the fight,” Rock said. “Making notes for next time. It’s what he does.”

“Why does he do it?” I asked, watching his retreating back.

“To prove he’s the baddest motherfucker around,” Oscar said.

“Prove to who?” I asked.

A wall of secrecy slammed down over his eyes. “You’ll have to figure that out for yourself, tiger.”

Rock glanced at his phone. “You good?”

I narrowed my eyes. “You’re not walking me to class?”

“You made it clear you don’t want that,” Rock said.

“That didn’t stop you yesterday,” I pointed out.

Rock grinned and looked at Oscar. “I think our girl actually likes us.”

I sighed. “I’m not your girl. And I don’t need you to walk me to class. I just don’t understand the sudden change.”

“We made our point,” Oscar said.

I lifted my eyebrows. “The point being?”

“That you’re with us.” Oscar’s voice was steely. “That if anyone messes with you, they’re messing with us. And they don’t want to mess with us.”

“So I’m free?” I asked. “I can just… go to class?”

“Sure,” Rock said. “Just text us when you leave one class and again when you get to another. So we know you’re safe.”

“I knew there was a catch.” I rubbed my forehead, trying to contain my frustration. “I’m not leaving campus. I don’t even have a car.”

“It’s for your own safety,” Rock said. “Or I could walk you to class instead…?”

I sighed, hearing the threat loud and clear. “Fine. I’ll text.”

“Cool.” Rock leaned down and kissed me on the lips. “Have a great day, babe.”

I looked at Oscar to see if he was feeling territorial, but he just grabbed my hand and kissed me too.

“See ya, tiger.” His voice was a sexy purr, and I gotta say, if this was a dream, it wasn’t a bad one.

I watched them swagger off and wished someone was around to pinch me. A second later, I remembered that I wasn’t supposed to trust them. Even if they were being straight about Emma, about being willing to help me find her, there was still a whole lot I didn’t know about the Kings, as evidenced by the scene at the Orpheum.

My second day at Aventine was surprisingly ordinary. I felt a little guilty when Professor Ryan was overly friendly — he’d picked up on all the right signals when I’d barged into the lounge — but I was at Aventine now. I couldn’t afford to worry about being nice. I had to find Emma, and I had to keep myself in one piece at the same time.

That meant playing by their rules, which meant being willing to break the usual ones.

I sat with Claire in the cafeteria, but she was already with Quinn and Erin, so I didn’t get to call in her promise to talk in private about Emma. It was nice to feel like I already had a few friends, even if Alexa Petrov did glare at me from across the room while she whispered and laughed with her posse of Russian dolls.

I followed orders and texted the group chat every time I left one class and arrived at another, but only because I didn’t want Rock to show up and babysit me for the rest of the day.

By the time I finished with classes and started toward the parking lot, I was feeling pretty good about the upcoming year at Aventine. Then I spotted my roommates at the Hummer and remembered they might actually be the death of me, or at least the death of everything I’d ever believed about myself.

Neo was leaning against the driver’s side, his bruised face only making him look more menacing as he glared at my approach, while Oscar lay on the hood of the Hummer, his faded T-shirt riding up just enough to give me a glimpse of the hard abs that had been teasing me since day one.

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