“Fine. Explain.”
“Alright. Yeah, there was an after-party, after the game. Your brother and Enzo seemed to think it would be a good idea for the Cranham Kings to attend. And yeah, it was at Ashbrook House, and full transparency, there were a lot of Whelford Uni girls there. I dunno, they call us criminals while they swan around dripping in designer labels and expensive jewellery, but they seem to like slumming it with us when it’s convenient for them.” He rolled his eyes.
“Everyone likes a bad boy sometimes. Most of the Cranham students have just as much money as them, anyway. They just don’t like how we acquired some of it, which is understandable.”
“Maybe so. Even if all our money came from legitimate means, we’d still probably be beneath them in their eyes, because we don’t have the right names or contacts. But that’s beside the point. I want you to know that nothing happened between me and anyone at that party. Vesper can back me up. The Whelford Flames invited us, trying to, I dunno, improve relations, and Ryker agreed on everyone’s behalf.”
Pulling away from him, I pressed my body back against the stacks. He didn’t let me get far, though, closing thedistance between us until his chest brushed against mine. I did my best to ignore the heat of his body and the delicious scent of his aftershave that made me want to breathe him in. “I get that. But it’s none of my business, and I-I don’t care.”
He leaned in. “Liar.”
I trembled as his lips brushed over my ear. “Jay. Please…”
Lifting his head, he met my gaze, his eyes dark and serious. “When Gemma was sitting on my lap—that was purposeful. Volkov keeps watching me. He’s too suspicious. I think he’s waiting for me to slip up, and I knew I needed to try and divert his attention away from you. Fuck…I know it was a stupid plan, but it was the only one I had. Gemma was happy to go along with the charade, but we both knew it meant nothing. Less than nothing. She’s into Priya’s friend’s younger brother, and that’s the only reason I asked her to sit with me. I got them an intro, and she was returning the favour. I’d never have asked anyone else. I wouldn’t risk it. Fuck, Nova. If you saw Volkov last night?—”
“You don’t need to explain anything to me.”
“I do. You’re the only one I want, Nova. No one else compares.”
My heart stuttered, but I couldn’t let myself be swayed. “I knew about last night. Vesper told me. Today—whatever your reasons were, it’s not my place to care. It wasn’t my place to care about last night, either. You can do what you want.”
How I managed to get the words out, I wasn’t sure. My lip trembled, and Jay swore softly before angling his head to brush a kiss over my lips.
His mouth against mine was both the best and the worst feeling. It was over far too quickly, with Jay stepping away from me, rubbing his hand over his mouth as if he could chase away my taste.
“I shouldn’t have done that,” he rasped. “Fuck.”
“Time’s up,” a voice called from behind me. “King’s asking where you both are, and unless you want him to find out what’s been going on with you two, you’d better not keep him waiting.”
“There’s nothing going on.” Jay shouldered past Daniel, a hard look on his face.
“Yeah.” Daniel immediately looked contrite. “I know.”
Somehow, I managed to get my legs to work and even dredged up a smile for Daniel when he turned to me in concern.
“Everything okay?” he murmured when I reached him.
“It will be,” I said, and I hoped my words would prove to be true. My fingertips pressed against my lips. They still tingled from Jay’s kiss.
We ended up at a small table in a dusty corner of the library, where my twin was indeed waiting. He gave me a tight smile as I pulled out the seat opposite him. “Fuck what our parents say about keeping you out of the loop. I wanted to give you a heads-up on our current situation. Someone tried to sabotage another one of our supply lines. This time, it was one of the lorries we use to transport our goods. I still can’t work out if it’s anything to do with Operation Foxglove, but this wasn’t a sting operation, so it seems unlikely.” His jaw clenched. “Jay found some discrepancies in the clinic’s accounts. It’s possible that none of this is connected, but if it is…”
“Be careful. Keep your eyes open. Trust no one outside of this room, especially not your fiancé,” Daniel finished.
My mind was reeling. It took me a moment to process the information, but when I had, I stared at my brother, wide-eyed. “What? You think theVolkovshad something todo with the sabotage? Wasn’t it their shipment at the port? That makes no sense.”
Ryker’s fists clenched and unclenched on the table. “You’re right—it makes zero fucking sense, especially since they’ve worked so hard to put this deal in place to use our supply chain. But we can’t rule anything out. The Volkov Syndicate bankrolled the clinic when it started out, so they’re in a prime position to fuck with the accounts. Whether that’s connected with the sabotage, who knows, but like I said, we can’t rule anything out.”
“Okay. I don’t know, it seems too obvious to me. The clinic, that is. Surely, they’d know the fingers would point straight to them?”
Jay shook his head. “I don’t trust them. I overheard Volkov on the phone at the party last night, and…I don’t know. There was nothing specific, but it rang alarm bells.”
While I knew that distrust mostly stemmed from his dislike of Anton, I didn’t know Anton well enough to make any real judgements. We were barely even acquaintances, despite our pending wedding. I sat back in my seat, studying the three of them in turn. “So…what can I do to help?”
“Don’t put yourself in danger.” My brother gave me a hard look. “I mean it. I wanted to tell you what was going on so you weren’t left in the dark, but a big part of my decision was because I thought you needed to know the facts in order to keep yourself safe.”
“Ry, you have to trust me to take care of myself,” I said softly. “Tell me what I can do to help. Please.”
He sighed heavily. “Just…keep an ear out, I guess. Talk to Mum about people who have been visiting the clinic—you know how much she loves to gossip about whoever the fuck is the latest person to have needles jabbed in their face or whatever other shit they do for no fucking reason. Spend time with Anton if you can, but make sure there are other people around you both. I hate asking that of you, but it’s for your safety. I don’t want to believe that he’s involved, but like I said, we can’t rule anything out. Make sure he doesn’t see you as a threat. The last thing we want is him getting suspicious and messing up the deal while everything’s so fragile, thanks to this sabotage.”
