“Shit,” Julian said as he grabbed me and pulled me into one of the closets with him. “Be quiet. Don’t say a word.”

He pushed a bunch of hanging clothes in front of us, which probably wouldn’t work to conceal us that well, considering our legs were still exposed. I reached out and slowly pulled the closet door shut, careful not to make any creaking sounds as it moved.

I even held my breath as footsteps bounded down the hallway.

“Are you sure it’s okay to blow off the rest of the exams?” Adam said.

“Absolutely. My mom will write scores in for us that will probably be better than what we could have gotten anyway. Being seen taking the first exam is all that was necessary,” a voice belonging to Michael answered. “And when I take over Lineage, there won’t be exams at all. They’re a complete waste of time, in my opinion.”

“Doesn’t every student,” Julian whispered.

I elbowed him in the ribs and glared at him, daring him to make another noise. And when he curled his lips over his teeth to mute his sounds and shut his mouth, I turned my attention to the voices in the hallway that kept growing closer.

“Isn’t that kind of putting the cart before the horse a bit?” Adam asked.

“Careful.” Michael’s voice oozed with malicious intent. “Don’t forget, I’m the one who brought you here.”

“How could I,” Adam said.

There was just enough defiance in his voice to make it sound as though their “friendship” might have a few threads of rivalry running through it as well.

Michael snickered. “So, how come you keep going to Goldshire? You know my mother will be highly pissed off if you end up getting spotted over there.”

“I’m not going to get caught,” Adam said.

I heard him pop the top off a beer. Or, possibly a soda? I don’t know, he seemed like more of a ‘beer in the middle of the day’ kind of guy instead of a ‘Mountain Dew on the go’ kind of guy. And while it seemed a little early in the day, I’d probably turn into a raging alcoholic if I had to share an apartment with Michael too.

Or carried the burdening secret of a murderer still at large.

Michael’s voice took on a fluttering tone. “Is it for Lisette?”

Adam didn’t answer him and my ears perked up at the question.

Then, Michael chuckled. “You can’t have her anyway. Besides, if she were to find out about anything that happened, she’d hate you.”

“Pretty sure she already does hate me,” Adam murmured.

“Good. Then, you need to stay away from her. It’s too risky. And if you ever betray us for some stupid girl, you know that’s going to end badly for all of us, right?”

Adam growled. “Is that a threat?”

“She’s not worth it, Adam, you know that. Be smart.”

I heard the sound of footsteps coming closer as Adam left Michael out in the living room and walked toward his bedroom. There wasn’t much that Julian and I could do besides hope that we weren’t seen and wait for the guys to fall asleep so that we could sneak out. If we could just make it out of the apartment, the chances of us sneaking off campus under the cloak of night were fairly good.

But it only took a second for that entire plan to be shot down, because the first thing Adam did when he came into his room was open the closet.

I almost screamed out of sheer reaction, but I managed to keep it in. It was a ridiculous hope to think that Adam wouldn’t see two sets of legs hanging out from beneath his clothes. If he was startled too, he also did a good job of keeping quiet about it. Perhaps he was more afraid of Michael than he was of whoever could possibly be in his closet. He pushed away the hangers to either side of us and stared at us dead in the face.

To say the look on his face was one of shock would have been a complete understatement.

“What are you doing here?” he asked in a hushed whisper.

“Umm.” I didn’t think that the honest answer was the best thing to say.

“Look,” Julian said to him. “I know you’d probably like nothing better than to rat me out. Hell, I’d do the same thing if someone was in my closet. But from what Lisette has told me, it seems like you care about her, and she could get in a lot of trouble for this.”

“Trouble isn’t the word for it,” Adam said before he looked back at me. “What were you thinking? Didn’t I tell you not to do anything stupid?”

Julian laughed quietly from behind me. “Good luck trying to talk her out of doing anything.”

“Okay guys, thanks for all that,” I whispered. “Now, can we please try to get out of this mess? Adam, can you help us?”

I really hoped that he had temporarily forgotten about the whole “stay the hell away from me” thing and would help Julian and I escape.

“Michael!” Adam shouted.

Great, we’re fucked.

His eyes stayed locked with mine. “Michael, damn it, your mother is texting me again. She says you left you your phone in the exam hall. She seems mad. I don’t think phones are supposed to be allowed in the exam halls, are they?”

I heard Michael make an exaggerated groan from the other room.

“But what if he already has his phone on him?” Julian murmured from behind me.

Adam smiled and pulled two cell phones out of his pocket. I didn’t even ask why he would have stolen Michael’s phone, and I didn’t care. I just wanted to get out of there.

“Tell her I’m on my way to get it now,” Michael shouted back at him.

Then, there was the sound of the front door opening and closing.

I never thought I’d be so damn relieved to hear a door open and shut in all my life.

“What happens when he gets there and finds out you lied?” I asked.

Adam shrugged his shoulders and tossed Michael’s phone onto the top of his bed. “I’ll deal with it later,” he said. “Come on; let’s get you out of here.”

“Thanks,” Julian said as he held out his hand to Adam. I was surprised at how polite he was considering how much he hated all the people from Lineage.

And also basically any guy that looked at me.

Adam didn’t return the gesture, though. Instead, he gave me another warning. “If you come here again, you’re on your own.”

Adam walked backwards away from the closet before he turned toward the hallway. He walked out of the room and I knew he was waiting for us to follow him, so I stepped out of the closet. However, my eye caught Michael’s phone still laying on Adam’s bed.

“Don’t,” Julian warned softly.

I swiped Michael’s phone anyway and slipped it into my pocket. After all, if it was worth Adam stealing, then it was definitely worth me stealing.