THE REST of the week went about as expected. Imagine every day being a Monday. It went a lot like that.
I sat at my desk while Bryan paced the length of my dorm room, every so often stopping to check his phone for the time. He’d drop an upper-level curse and go back to pacing.
“Would you relax?” I twirled in the chair and stared at the ceiling, wishing I was about to spend a Friday night with anyone other than Vanessa Graves and her father at a dive bar on the other side of the island. Bryan’s pacing did nothing for my anxiety. “Why are you so worked up?”
“I don’t like this.”
“You think I do? I have to share a drink with the ice queen of the academy and her father. I’m just glad you guys are coming.”
“If they ever show up.” He stopped long enough to check his phone again.
“They’ll be here.” I hoped.
A knock at the door caused us both to still and exchange glances. That’d better be one of the guys and not any number of alternatives. One knocked. The others, well, didn’t.
Bryan refused to let me answer my own door—so not the time for chivalry, dude—and insisted I stay back. Yeah, like that was going to happen. He used his massive tree trunk of an arm to keep me away as he answered the door. When we saw who it was, we both stilled again.
“Ness?” we said in unison.
Vanessa made it a huge production to storm into my room. Once inside, she struck her normal pose of a jutted-out hip, arms crossed, a look of contempt gracing her annoyingly beautiful face. “My father wanted me to come get you. For some reason, he thinks you’ll ditch the meeting.”
Because I totally would.
She tossed an unimpressed glance Bryan’s way. “I should have known you’d be here. Practically shacking up now, aren’t we?”
“Always a pleasure,” he retorted and mock bowed.
“Well, well, well. If it isn’t the wicked witch of the water.” Clay snorted at his joke as he walked into the room, followed by Rob and Leo. “That’s a good one, right? See what I did there? That’s funny.”
“Don’t tell me you’re all coming.” Vanessa huffed and changed hips. “My dad’s invite extended to her only, not her little groupies.”
“We have no idea what you’re talking about.” Bryan’s attempt at innocence needed work. He nodded for the guys to follow him. “We’re just going to a bar to hang out. Come on.” Once they were all out in the hallway, he hurried back into the room. “Forgot one thing.”
He swept me into his arms and stole a kiss so fast, I gasped. He took advantage of my open mouth and thrust in his tongue, searching for mine. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him back, pressing my body to his. His kiss, so deep, so breathtakingly passionate, heated me from the inside out. I knew he only did this for Vanessa’s benefit, but I didn’t care. I’d take his kiss any way I could get it.
By the time we came up for air from eating each other’s faces, I was dizzy. He grinned and licked me from his lips. “See you later, Katy.”
“Later,” I whispered, unable to do anything more. Damn, did that boy know how to give a kiss.
“You’re disgusting,” Vanessa snarled.
The guys all laughed and popped out, leaving me alone with my least favorite person.
I smiled sweetly and waved to the open door. “Shall we?”
3
Deception Brewery was disgusting. I began to wonder if DB really stood for the name or the random dead body I suspected had graced this fine establishment a time or ten.
The old tables weren’t from this century. Neither were the floors. Hello, DB? The 70s called. They’d like their décor back. Everything was covered in a fine film of filth, making every surface sticky and gross. I was afraid to touch anything for fear I’d pick up some communicable disease with no cure.
I had to squint to see, which made no sense. Why squint in the dark to see better? The lighting was terrible by design, for sure. Judging by the mixed crowd of those in desperate need of dental care, others who probably kept the porn industry in business, and the rest drowning themselves in glasses of liquid, the less lighting, the better.
And then there were those with seriously bad hygiene that permeated the air. The entire dive smelled like a cross between BO and bad decisions. We hadn’t even been here a full minute and I wanted to take a shower to wash off the stink.
My shoes stuck to the floor as we made our way over to a table in the back. Wolf whistles sounded, which Vanessa lapped up by flashing a flirty smile and flipping her hair. I kept my head down and fought the urge to teleport out. Virgil Graves could meet me at a nice café. Or maybe a park. Hell, I’d even meet him in the warehouse where I’d nearly died defeating Spencer and Alec. Anywhere but here. This place needed to be condemned, along with the patrons.
“Hi, Daddy!” Vanessa’s squeal earned several head swivels. I shrank down lower inside my coat and stole glances around, searching for the guys. Where the hell were they? I didn’t see them, which only edged my anxiety higher.
“Have a seat.” He didn’t even glance up from his phone as he waved at the chairs on the opposite side of the sticky high-top table. Reluctantly, I pulled out a chair and eased into it, regretting every move. Even the seats were sticky. So gross. I’d have to burn these jeans and wash my hands with industrial-strength soap to cut through the diseases now breeding on my fingers.
“You too, sweetheart.” Graves nodded for Vanessa to join me on my side. She seemed to deflate before my very eyes, her excitement wilting from her face and stilling her expression, her shoulders sinking. Even her spine seemed to
