Then Noah cleared his throat. “Okay. Let’s get down to business.”
I forced myself to look at him instead.Focus.This was about the video. Not about Liam’s arms or his bed or the way my heart was racing just from being in the same room.
Noah gestured to his desk, where his laptop was open to what looked like building schematics. “My computer science guy came through. The text originated from a student account from the Kingswell Athletic Department.”
My stomach dropped. “A Kingswell athlete?”
“That means one of your people is fucking with us. No surprise,” Liam said.
“It’s not—” I stopped because what could I say? That not everyone at Kingswell was like that? Most were.
Liam snorted. “See, you can’t even—”
Noah cut in, pulling up another window. “Which means it’s on a server which we can only access through the basement of your athletics building.”
“Who on my team would...” I said. My chest tightened and his face flashed in my mind. Short brown hair, grayish eyes. Braden.
“Not sure.” Noah zoomed in on the building plans. He held up a small USB drive. “My guy gave me these blueprints and this. The file’s stored locally on that server. If we can get in and plug this into the main terminal, the script runs automatically and deletes that file from the student account.”
I looked at the plans. Hallways. Stairwells. Room labels.
“You want us to break into the building?”
“I want you to retrieve what’s yours and delete evidence that could destroy both your futures. But yes. Technically, breaking in.”
Liam stood. Walked over to Noah’s desk, arms crossed. He’d already seen all this, clearly. Already knew the plan.
“When?” I asked.
“Tonight,” Liam said, his voice flat.
“And if we get caught?”
“We won’t.”
I turned to face him fully. “That’s easy for you to say. You’re not the one with a father who’d—“ I stopped. Swallowed. “If I get expelled, I lose everything.”
“Yeah?” Liam’s jaw tightened. “And what do you think happens to me? I’m here on scholarship, remember? Or did you forget not everyone gets a trust fund safety net?”
Heat rose in my chest. “I didn’t—”
“Whatever.” He looked away. “Point is, we’re both screwed if this goes wrong. So maybe save the rich boy panic for later.”
The words stung more than they should have. I wanted to snap back, but Noah cleared his throat.
“Can we not do this right now?” Noah looked between us. “You two can hate each other after we delete the video and save your rowing careers.”
Liam shifted his weight, still not looking at me. “When do we go?”
“Tonight,” Noah said. “Late. After everything closes.”
“And if we get caught?” I asked again, because someone needed to think this through.
“We won’t.” Liam’s eyes finally met mine.
Green. I’d forgotten how green they were. Not the polished emerald of expensive jewelry. Something darker. Like deep water in summer. There was something hard in them. Determined. Angry, maybe. And something else that was there, that only he and I knew about.
“You really think you can pull this off?” I asked.
