Both Brennon and Calder groaned, expecting friendly Rin to cave and share the evidence they’d collected.
He probably would have too, but he was still annoyed about being woken—three times—by dick this morning, and hadn’t forgotten about that stunt Ives had pulled during their competition. In fact, if Ives hadn’t been such a major asshole that day, Rin never would have revealed himself to Kelevra in the first place.
He plastered on a smile and shrugged. “We didn’t get anything. Hopefully you’ll have more luck.”
Brennon tossed an arm around his shoulders as they made it back toward the car.
“So much for friendly Rin,” Calder laughed and then fist-bumped him.
If only they knew.
Chapter 19:
Calder ditched them the second they were told by the forensics department it would take a few hours for them to process the “blood” samples. The students who headed it were all juniors and seniors. They’d be graded on how well they worked with the sophomores on their case assignments, so in a way, handing in the fake samples helped them out as well.
Brennon and Rin had gone to the other side of campus to see the technicians about fixing the multi-slate, another department also made up of juniors and seniors. That was going to take even longer than the samples.
It was pretty late in the afternoon by the time they settled down at the on-campus coffee shop and ordered large drinks to sip on while they passed the time.
“You grew up with him, right?” Rin tentatively asked, staring out the window to his right to try and feign a disinterest he wasn’t feeling. Attempting to make it seem like it’d only just occurred to him to ask, and only in passing since they had nothing else to do. “Kelevra?”
“I mean,” Brennon shifted in his seat, “yeah. We’ve never been close or anything, but he’s hung out with my older brother a few times at events and dinners that both our families are dragged to. Why? Want to know more about him?”
“Sure,” he ran a hand through his hair, “if you’ve got anything. Might as well find out more since I’ll be spending the rest of my life with him and all.”
Brennon’s brow furrowed. “You really aren’t going to contest it? Seriously? Marrying someone you don’t know is insane already, but marrying a guy like Kelevra…” He shook his head. “He’s not right, Rin. You’re too…nice, to be forced to be with someone like that.”
He grunted. “I’m not that nice.”
“Why, because you lied to Ives back there?” he scoffed. “Come on. We’re helping each other out but it’s still a competition. Of course you didn’t want to share our findings, and neither did Calder or I. Like, look. One time in the fifth grade, Kelevra got mad at some kid for buying the last soda flavor he liked so he beat him with a metal lunch tray. He needed to be hospitalized for over a week after. Did Kelevra get in trouble? Nope.”
Sounded like something the Imperial Prince would do. He was quick to react and didn’t bother stopping to think things through beforehand.
Like getting engaged to a guy he’d only known a handful of days.
“Another time, he was racing—”
“Racing?” Rin interrupted.
“Yeah, down by the north docks, hoverbike races. I’m not surprised you haven’t heard about them. It’s a big deal though, pretty underground and invite only. Brings in a lot of money.”
“And he participates?” Rin couldn’t picture it no matter how hard he tried. Kel on a bike? In one of his ridiculously fancy suits with the laces of his corset tightened to the point he couldn’t breathe? The potential grease stains alone should be enough to turn the pompous Imperial Prince off the whole thing. “No way.”
“Not him,” Brennon confirmed, “Madden. The guy is nuts. He rarely, if ever, loses. One time he beat a guy from that small fry gang, the Shepherds? The Shepherd had words to say about it and he ended up insulting Kelevra in the process.”
“Let me guess,” Rin drawled, “he hit him with something heavy?”
“Nope.” Brennon sipped his drink to pause for anticipation. “He ran the dude's bike over with his hovercar. Thing was worth over fifty thousand coin.”
Rin let out a low whistle.
“He’s not a good guy,” Brennon said. “He’s a Devil of Vitality for a reason.”
“He’s got rage issues. I already knew that.” He still had the bruises to show it. Though, the damage to his face had been all on him. Rin had been trying not to give himself away with all the attention from both Kelevra and Baikal, but then his brother had to go and open his big trap.
It wasn’t like a single busted lip or a cut eyebrow really mattered. They were both pretty set at the moment. If not for his brother, he most likely would have let Flix beat him a little longer and then would have tapped out. He would have laughed and joked that he had a lot more training to do as a sophomore, and then he would have made up an excuse to get the hell out of there.
Instead, he’d slipped up and revealed his skill level, and then had hooked up with Kel.
