Accessory: The Scarab Beetle Series: #4 (The Academy) (13 page)

He turned, a concerned expression on his face giving way to something much happier. His smile picked up the moment his eyes met mine. “Kayli,” he said, his cerulean eyes sparkling with amusement. He held his arm out, reaching for my hand.

I put mine in his, holding onto him as he gently pulled me to stand beside him. “Do I have time to talk to you?” I asked.

He squeezed my hand gently and then looked down at the dock. “Not too long,” he said.

I followed his gaze, spotting Axel and Brandon walking down the dock, talking with a security guard. Kevin and Raven followed them, dragging along several sets of rolling suitcases behind them.

“Want to take a short walk?” I asked, tugging at his hand.

“We should stay nearby,” he said.

I tugged him toward the walkway at the edge of the ship that lead around the perimeter. “Let’s just go make a circle.”

He smiled and followed my insistent hand. I hurried along around the far side of the ship. He held on as we passed rows of deck chairs, cleaned and ready for tomorrow. We didn’t go too far, as far as this level of deck allowed. It seemed the ship went on a good distance beyond, but we’d have to go to a different door to reach the other side.

“Do you know what’s been going on?” I asked.

“I heard the story from Marc,” he said. He sounded a little hoarse, different than his regular smooth, happy voice, making me think he’d been talking a lot or maybe even shouting. Whatever it was, it almost made him sound sexier. “I’m not missing anything, am I?”

“Is Axel mad?” I asked.

“He’s not happy with Marc,” he said. “I don’t think he’s mad at you.”

“But he came along,” I said. “They’re bringing suitcases.”

“He’s not beyond going home if it doesn’t check out,” he said. His fingers shifted against my hand. His head remained bent, and he focused on the wood along the deck. “To be honest, I’m not so sure about all of this.”

“Why?” I asked. “We’d be helping a lot of people if we do this right.”

“Maybe,” he said. “Or we could be helping Ethan sweep things under the rug that shouldn’t be swept away.”

“It’s not his fault his dad is corrupt.”

He paused in our walk, turning to look down at me. His happy eyes held a touch of strain, the same worries I’d spotted before I’d approached him. “Are we helping him or the people?”

“We can’t help both?”

“It’s a tricky line,” he said. He released my hand to rub his palm across the back of his neck. “Kayli, Axel might spend a few days here helping you gather info, but it’s to evaluate Ethan as well as you. If he doesn’t like the situation, or how things are handled, he’ll tell us to relinquish all information to Ethan and then we all walk away.”

“Well that’s not fair,” I said. “What if it takes longer to get information and to evaluate?”

“How long did it take you to agree to work with Ethan?” he asked.

I pressed my lips together, unwilling to answer. It didn’t seem like the same thing. I didn’t have an Academy to report back to. I believed Ethan was being honest about his intention to right the wrongs within the company. I believed him when he said we’d be helping innocent people keep their jobs.

A breeze swept around us. I folded my arms across my chest, bracing against the chill, wishing I’d stopped to grab the jacket. I’d left it in that lounge.

Corey’s smile lifted a little. He reached out to me, at first rubbing my arms. When I stepped forward, he opened up more and drew me in. I pressed my cheek to his chest and he wrapped his arms around me, warming me up.

I remained like that, breathing slowly, listening to Corey’s heartbeat. It was something I did often when we were together in his bed at home. Hearing him now, feeling him, it suddenly made me very, very tired. Could I walk away from Corey or the others if Ethan wanted me to stay, to hire me on to help him? “What should I do?” I asked.

“Just be honest,” he said, his chin moving in my hair as he spoke. “Tell Axel your goals and hopes for helping Ethan. He’ll hear you out.”

“I don’t want to just give up if I can do some good.”

“Believe or not, Axel will want the same thing. The only difference is, he’s asking whether what we’re doing really is good. Buried secrets come out eventually, especially with so many people involved. He doesn’t want us in the middle if it’s all going to go down anyway.”

I sighed into him, my breath coming back to warm my face. “There’s one more problem.”

He rubbed my back, his fingers following my spine, slow, warming. His face shifted until his mouth was against my forehead. “What’s that?”

Be honest, he’d said. “Blake and Doyle are on board. Blake was hired by Ethan first. It was Blake that asked for me to come along.”

His hand stopped moving along my back, but he still held onto me, his arms tightening around me. He was quiet for a long moment. “Well, shit,” he said.

I popped my head up, knocking into his cheek. I didn’t think I ever heard him curse before. He stared out at the river and shifted, thinking, frowning.

“They aren’t going to like that, are they?” I asked.

He slowly started to shake his head, and then more adamantly as he spoke. “Nope, no, they won’t like that.”

“He’s helped us so much, Corey.”

“I know that,” he said. “I actually kind of like him. I mean, I don’t really know him that well. Once I got over thinking he’d try to hurt you, I considered what he’s done since, and...I realized we probably look more the villains to him, which is understandable. He’s not such a bad guy, though. I might have been trying to do what he does if I didn’t have the Academy.”

“He was in charge of the team,” I said. “But I told Ethan I wouldn’t join unless
I
lead the team. We’re co-leads now. We’re not allowed to make any moves unless we can both agree on them.”

Corey took his palm from my back and lifted it to his face, rubbing his cheek. “Well, actually, that might help us.”

“How?”

“I have to work out the details,” he said.

“Should I tell Axel?”

“I don’t know yet,” he said. “Although sooner would be better than later. Maybe you should talk to him like you’ve done to me. Privately. So that way he doesn’t have my brother or Marc putting in their protests. He might be more reasonable that way.”

Relief once again swept through me. He was so smart. I hugged onto him tight. “I knew I could talk to you.”

His arms wrapped around me once again. His head dropped down and he kissed me gently on the top of the head. “You can always talk to me.”

I smiled into his chest, warmed by his kiss and his sweet words. I’d never had a best friend before, but Corey was one now. I hoped he’d stay that way.

We stood there together for a long moment, until he finally rubbed at my arms and started to pull away. “We should get back,” he said. “We’ll need to be on our best behavior if you’re going to convince Axel.”

“So I’ve convinced you?”

He smiled at me, big and friendly. “Are you kidding? Ethan’s got a stack of numbers to figure out and at the end we face off the big bad bosses? That’s like the best kind of video game. I’m in as long as the other guys are.”

That was the key. I’d have to convince all of them to stay onboard and to pursue these bad guys right to the end.

Corey held onto my hand as we walked back around to the gangway. So I had five days to convince Axel to stay. I had to remember, too, that I probably wasn’t just trying to convince him. It might also mean trying to convince the Academy to let them stay, since they were so loyal.

Well, if the Academy helped people, and Ethan was attempting to, then I simply had to show that Ethan meant well and just needed help in doing the right thing. Would that be hard to do? They helped him before.

A ROOM FOR TWO

W
hen we reached the gangway, Axel continued to talk to Brandon and the security people. Kevin was shifting around the rolling luggage pile. I didn’t know where Raven went.

I hung onto Corey since I was still cold, but we walked over to Kevin. His black hair was cut really close to his head now; his dark skin was visible through the short hair. He wore his red jacket, the one I’d seen him in the first time I saw him, when I’d tried to pick his pocket at the mall. He had a strong nose and broad lips and while he appeared to be a normal, everyday sort of person, there was something about him that made me think he was fully aware of his surroundings. His keen eyes shifted as he worked, taking note of movement, of the wind, of shadows. I hadn’t spent much time with him, but he had come by the apartment a few times.

“Hey,” Corey said to him. “Is that everything?”

“Everything that was in the car,” Kevin said. He turned to look at me, smiling. “So big bad Kayli Winchester is in trouble again.”

“Not my fault this time,” I said.

“I swear, I can’t sneeze without hearing you’re in the middle of something deep.”

I grinned. I’d gotten used to Kevin. He was always very honest, sometimes brutally so, but I kind of liked that. Most of the time, anyway. I was grateful he lived with his girlfriend and not at the apartments with the rest of us. “You’re coming along this time?”

“Shouldn’t be a problem to hang out for a few days,” he said. “This should make up for it when I get back. Did I show you what I finally decided on for Mindy?”

He pulled a tiny box from his pocket and opened it, revealing a diamond engagement ring.

I leaned in, as did Corey. The stone was a square cut, and the band looked to be silver. “Nice,” I said. “I still say you’re a sucker for asking.”

“She hasn’t stopped hinting at a ring since I brought up the question about kids.” He shook his head and smiled, the dark skin contrasting with his white teeth. “My own fault. I jumped ahead apparently in how this whole planning a lifetime together works. Good thing I was thinking of asking her.”

“Congrats, man,” Corey said. “I can’t believe it’s really happening.”

“I can’t believe I’d actually consider getting married,” Kevin said. He closed the box and put it back into his pocket, zipping it closed when he looked at me. “If you would have asked me two years ago, I would have said forget it.”

“I still say forget it,” I said. “Take the ring back, save the money from the wedding to buy a house.”

Corey elbowed me. “What’s wrong with you? Don’t like marriage?”

I shrugged. “Why? Do you need a piece of paper to say you’re together?”

“Do you not like the paper?” Corey asked. “Or do you not like having to wear the dress?”

“Both.”

Kevin smirked, a rare occurrence for him. “Well, remind me not to ask you.”

“Deal.” I grinned again. I was glad for Kevin, but I couldn’t help thinking of girls back in high school who’d already been planning weddings by cutting out pictures from magazines. Dresses, fancy cakes, churches. Totally not my thing. Well, maybe the cake part was a good idea.

Axel whistled, drawing everyone’s attention to him. His shoulder-length black hair was drawn back into a ponytail. He was wearing khakis and a white ribbed undershirt, along with an olive drab jacket. He usually didn’t wear the khakis unless he was at the aquarium, so I must have interrupted his work. He wore his glasses now and I couldn’t tell his mood. With his steady eyes and confident demeanor, he had a way of appearing he knew everything, even what I was thinking.

Then there was the way he’d been talking to me lately. He always asked how I was feeling. He always asked if I needed anything.
Fine
and
no
were my standard answers to his questions. But then, the odd thing was, he’d compliment something: my eyes, ears, lips. Before I could formulate something in response, he’d walk away, or would talk to someone else in the room, like he didn’t need me to respond. It left my heart racing every time, and yet he never did more than that.

He stood a short distance from the gangway, raising his hand and making a circle. “I need a meeting,” he said. His voice was steady, smoky and commanding. “My team.”

The security team had left and were walking back toward the security house. Kevin, Corey and I shuffled to join Axel and Brandon. Brandon was looking a little tired, and since it was late, I thought he might have gotten woken up and told to pack.

I’d been more sensitive to his moods since we’d been in the hospital together. Identical in every way to Corey, except Brandon’s eyes were sad, his cheeks were tinted red, like he’d spent a little too much time in the sun today. He wore dark jeans and a red T-shirt under a black jacket, a spare since I’d stolen his other one. There were a couple of grease stains on his jeans. If he’d been asleep, he’d probably put on his jeans from the day of working at his motorcycle shop before hurrying over. That might make him grumpy. I did my best to look contrite and sympathetic, an effort to avoid a fight right from the start.

Luckily there were a lot of distractions, so while he did wave shortly to me, he didn’t have much of a chance to say anything.

Axel’s gaze fell on each of the guys’ faces, although he avoided mine for the moment. “Where’s Raven and Marc?”

“Raven went to go get Marc,” Kevin said.

“Marc went to work out with Avery where to fit us all,” Corey said.

“I’ve already lost two of you,” Axel said. He put his hand out and counted off as he made his points. “Now listen everyone, I know it’s late, but if we’re going to do this, we need to start work now. I want to know the ins and outs of this ship. I want the manifest for both crew and guests. I want an objective and then I--”

“I can help,” I said. I didn’t like interrupting Axel, but I didn’t want him to depend on the boys to do all of this for him when there were things already prepared. Blake said he’d make a binder for me and put it in the room, so hopefully if Avery was listening, he’d make sure it would get there.

Axel turned and everyone’s eyes landed on me. “You’ve got something for us?”

“I’ve got some material for you to go over,” I said. “And a game plan in place if you want to hear about it. I can share the materials I was given: ship schematics, crew and visitor rosters and an outline of the next few days.”