Thief: The Scarab Beetle Series: #1 (The Academy) (28 page)

“He didn’t call?” Corey asked. He pulled his phone out, checking it. “There’s no message.

“I was just on the phone with him,” Brandon said. “He was checking in but asked...” He glanced at me. I got the unspoken signal that there was some business I wasn’t allowed to know about.

I grunted, picking myself up. “What do you want me to do? Lock myself in the bathroom?”

“Just go sit in my room for a minute,” he said.

I sighed, crossing the room, sending Corey a small wave and a playful pout. Play time was over.

Corey waved back, a smile caught on his lips.

I crossed the apartment, and found Brandon’s bedroom door. I hesitated going in, wondering why I couldn’t just sit on the couch. It felt awkward going into his bedroom without him there.

I twisted the handle, opening the door.

If I wanted to say Corey and Brandon had polar opposite bedrooms, I wouldn’t be stretching the opposites far enough apart.

Brandon’s bed was in the middle of the room. Against the far wall was a surfboard, leaning into the corner. There was a single short dresser near the foot of the bed, and a flat screen television hanging on the wall. That was it, Spartan.

I moved to the bed that had a deep green comforter. I sat on it, eyeballing the rest of his bedroom. His closet was dark. Music was playing on the stereo system built around the television, playing a sad Mayday Parade song.

I was about to start poking around his closet when Brandon materialized in the doorway. He looked in on me sitting on the bed and then quietly entered the bedroom, closing the door behind himself.

My eyebrows shifted up on my forehead, as I felt suddenly claustrophobic. “What’s going on?”

“I wanted to talk to you,” he said. He leaned against his door, folding his arms over his chest. “What were you doing with Corey?”

“Huh?”

“I mean the cutesy wrestling on the bed and all that. What were you doing?”

I blinked rapidly at him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. We were just ... I don’t know. Horsing around.”

“You were flirting.”

I didn’t care if it was true, I didn’t like the way his tone was accusing me of it like I had done something wrong. I climbed off the bed to stand on the carpet. “Did you want to ask me what I was doing, or are you going to tell me? And why is it any of your business?”

“Kayli.”

“Corey and I were just hanging out,” I said. I felt the heat rising inside me. I couldn’t date Coaltar. I couldn’t flirt with his brother. Was I not good enough? Did he still see me as the mall rat stealing wallets? “I’m doing what I’m supposed to, staying here when I could be out working and earning enough for rent next month. I’m stuck here, because Marc gave the order I had to be. Now what? I’m not allowed to have any fun? I have to sit there and do nothing?”

“Corey’s gay.”

I had my mouth open with whatever else I was going to say and then choked. “Huh?”

Brandon planted a palm against the back of his neck, rubbing. “I didn’t want to say anything while you were in there. My brother’s gay.”

I blinked after him. I didn’t get that vibe from Corey, but then, I hadn’t known him that long. Still, in my head it didn’t make sense. He held my hand. He was the one that started half of the times we were fooling around. “He didn’t say anything.”

“He doesn’t really tell anyone. I’m not even sure if he’s admitted it to anyone else yet. He’s never told me directly.”

“Then how do you know?”

“Because I know,” he said. He moved to the bed, sinking, folding his arms in his lap and bent forward to stare at his feet. “When we were kids, our parents had us always on sport teams. They thought it was cute to pair us up like that. He’d walk around the locker room trying to look normal, but he’d get a hard-on when the team had to shower.” He rubbed his palm against his cheek, his faint stubble making a scratching noise. “I mean, I guess that’s not the only thing. There’s the way he looks at guys sometimes, staring at their bodies. When the guys started talking about him, I’d kick their asses just to get them to shut up. There’s other reasons I know, too, but I figured it out and went through a lot to make sure no one messed with him about it back then. Guys can be shitheads in high school.”

“What’s the big deal now?” I asked. I sank back onto the bed next to him. “He’s a big boy. He can take care of himself. And who cares if he’s gay?”

He smirked. “Well, it is the South. I try not to just tell everyone.”

“You haven’t asked him?”

“I wanted him to tell me when he was comfortable.”

“He’s good looking and fun,” I said. “But I still don’t know him that well. Maybe I was flirting, but I ... I mean I was just playing. I wasn’t really thinking...”

He nodded slowly, his cheeks tinted. “I wanted to warn you before maybe you went too far and he wasn’t ... you know. If he didn’t respond back.”

I waved my hand through the air. “No, actually, this is perfect.”

A blond eyebrow shifted up in curiosity. Now that was very similar to Corey. “What’s perfect?”

“Gay guys are awesome,” I said. “You can do all kinds of cool things together and it never goes into a weird zone.”

Brandon huffed. “You’ve got strange ideas.”

“Unless you’re telling me Corey and I can’t hang out together.”

“No, no,” he said. “That’s fine. Hang out with who you want. I just didn’t want to see you disappointed later.”

I stilled on the bed, watching him for a moment. “Are ... uh ... are you?”

He smirked, shaking his head. “No. I thought maybe I was when I was younger. Probably because he is and I thought maybe it was genetic or something. But I’m not interested in guys.”

Just to be clear, I had to ask. “Are you interested in girls?”

He scoffed. “Yeah.”

“Sorry. I... yeah, Corey and you said you’d had girlfriends before. Forgot.” I combed my fingers through my hair, pulling it back away from my face.

An uncomfortable silence started between us. I stared at his blank wall. I realized that again I had jumped the gun on assuming what he was talking about and he had not only been looking out for his brother, but also looking out for me. I felt stupid.

Brandon looked at his feet. The music played on his stereo, now a slow Breaking Benjamin song.

“So ...” he said.

“Is Corey going to be busy for a while?”

He shrugged. “He’s probably going to be working late in the other apartment.”

I nodded. “What do we do? It seems like everyone’s working but us.”

“I’d be working,” he said, “except I’m supposed to not be.”

“Is it because of Coaltar?”

“Yes.”

“And me?”

“Yes.”

I twisted my lips and sighed heavily. “I messed up.”

He let out a breath, reaching to plant a hand between my shoulder blades and started rubbing. “I think we both did. I let Coaltar see he was getting to me. There was a rumor that he’s been known to tick off a few husbands, cause divorces, and ditch the wife after a week.”

I blinked, shaking my head. “Is that true?”

“I don’t know. Maybe. I was reading about it in the gossip columns.”

I huffed. “You read those? Aren’t those about old lady rose-society types, and old farts pretending the war is still going on?”

“I was doing research on Coaltar,” he said. “I needed an in, so I found one by studying where he went. I showed up at some local country club he was hanging out at.”

I sighed. I leaned back to sprawl out on the bed. “Is he really that bad?”

“We don’t know,” he said. He leaned on his side on the bed, his head held up by his hand, looking down at me. “That’s the problem. There’s rumors about people on his staff disappearing and never being heard from again. There was one about some gun program he was involved in offshore.”

“He said he did forensic testing on bullets a few years ago.”

Brandon nodded. “He’s weird. Eccentric. And I’ve got a bad feeling.”

I sighed, staring up at the ceiling. “What do we do?”

“We wait until we’re sure,” he said. He drifted a hand out, slipping his fingers across my brow to draw back a lock of hair stuck on my cheek. “Think we can get along until then?”

I smirked. “Maybe I should stay here with you. I end up getting bruised over in the other apartment.”

“If you want Raven to back off, come talk to me.”

“I can handle him,” I said.

“He’s not from here,” he said. “He hits you back. You know that doesn’t usually fly around here. One day he’ll do it to you in front of someone else and he’s going to get his ass kicked. I may not stop it when it happens.”

I turned my head to look at him. “Isn’t he your friend?”

He nodded slowly. “He is. I don’t always agree with him, but the only reason why I let him touch you is because I know if you really said stop, he’d stop. Or I’d make him stop.”

“We were just having fun. I’ll tell him to stop if I need to.” I paused, gazing at the depth of those blue eyes. “You act like an older brother, you know.”

The depth of Brandon’s blue eyes softened. “Yup. Born a couple minutes before Corey. Maybe it doesn’t really count, but I guess I was always the one looking out for him.”

“I’m the older sister,” I said. “Sucks, doesn’t it?”

He laughed a little. “He used to get on my nerves a lot worse. I think it’s because of the comic books and video games. He was always wanting me to play with him, and I didn’t really like those.”

“What do you like?”

He shrugged. “Normal things, I guess. Movies. Surfing.”

I leaned my head back, looking at the surfboard against the wall. “So you do use that thing?”

“I wouldn’t have it if I didn’t use it.”

“Where do you surf? I didn’t think the waves at the beaches were high enough here.”

“Usually, I’m out at the North Shore. I get a chance every now and again,” he said. “And when we travel, I like to go to the beach when I can.”

“How often do you guys travel?”

“Seems like a lot,” he said. “Along the coast, to Europe, or Africa. Depends on a few things.”

I propped myself up again, looking at him. He was on his back now, looking up at the ceiling. “I’ve never been outside of Charleston,” I said.

He turned his head toward me. “Do you want to leave?”

I bit my lip, not wanting to admit it. “I used to love it here. Now, I don’t know why,” I said. “Ever since... I guess a few years ago when...” It was hard to talk about. It was something I didn’t talk about with Wil as much. Like if I didn’t say it, it was easier to deal with.

He propped himself up again on his hand. “What?”

I swallowed. “I guess after my mom died, I just never felt the same. I wanted to run off a hundred times just to get away and couldn’t.”

His face softened. “I’m sorry,” he said quietly.

I felt the pang in my heart at his words, felt the sympathy he was trying to share. Accepting it, however, hurt. I tried to hide my desire to scoff at it, because I knew he was trying to be nice. Instead, I fell back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling.

“Want to watch a movie?” he asked after a few minutes.

“Yes,” I said, eager for a distraction to get me out of this conversation.

He picked a movie he liked, a western. I followed it for a while, sitting on one side of his bed, propped up by pillows. He sat on the other side of his bed. After a while, I was sinking lower on the bed.

Before the movie was over, I was dozing. It wasn’t boring, it was just a really long day.

Brandon leaned over, hovering over me. “Kayli,” he said, touching my arm gently. “Just get under the blanket.”

I did, thinking he was going to continue to watch the movie and let me sleep. Instead he hit the power on the television, casting the room into mostly darkness. He crossed the room, opening the door and checked the rest of the apartment. I saw lights being turned off. It reminded me of my old routine of checking the house and making sure everything was locked up before going to bed.

He returned, closing the door. The room stilled, and the sliver of light from the window gave me something to focus on. There was movement toward the closet. I think he changed from his jeans and T-shirt into pajama pants. Brandon slipped into the bed beside me, rocking it as he flipped over once, and then stilled.

For a while, I couldn’t sleep. I stared at Brandon’s frame, at the way his shoulder sloped and how the blanket draped across his body. The cotton sheets were soft on my skin, a different feel from the crisp starched-to-death hotel sheets. The bed was more comfortable and didn’t smell like bleach. I supposed the night before I’d been too tired to think about things like that.

Now that I was a little more comfortable with the guys, my head was filled with a mix of feelings, and trying to figure out how I ended up here. I wondered where Raven and Axel were. I wondered if Marc was with them. I wondered why they left. I might have even missed them.

I didn’t want to admit it, but they were growing on me. I had friends in high school, but when I’d had to leave abruptly after my mother died, I lost contact with a lot of them. Not to say that I was that close with a lot of people. Even when I was younger, I wasn’t shy, but found it hard to trust. Too many early days with bullies and jerks. Too many friends who betrayed me. Even when I was friendly with people, they never really knew me.

These guys were different. I felt it. I was in a bed next to one of them now, and I wasn’t weirded out. It had only been a couple of days, and I was trying to figure out my life by including them in it, no matter what happened with Mr. Coaltar, one way or another. I kept thinking about introducing Wil to the guys. It was hard not to dream about getting an apartment inside the Sergeant Jasper. Corey had brought up the idea. Brandon hadn’t argued with him on it. It was like they wanted me to.

I thought about what Axel told me earlier, about being recruited to the Academy. Did I want that? I didn’t know what it was, some sort of private surveillance group. Something more than that, maybe. It was a tempting offer.

But who was I now? Two days ago, I was the girl who hid in the shadows, trying to go unnoticed and survive until Wil could have a better life. I was still doing that, but who was I going to be when this was over, and Wil was in college? Maybe Axel was right about me not being a regular job girl or college girl, but did that mean I had to join the Academy? I didn’t even know anything about it. Where does a thief belong? What about when she makes a promise not to do steal anymore?