“I don’t get why you guys are so on edge around him,” I said as we were passing Rob on the sidewalk leading back to the dormitory.
We had just walked over to check out the auditorium where the Winter Gala would be held. The boys wanted to get a feel for the layout in case anything strange went down during the party (which it very likely would), and I wanted to see it as well to see if it would help me come up with some sort of plan of escape that night.
“Well for one thing he’s new,” Michael said. “And we all know better now than to trust people who seem to just suddenly appear on the doorstep.”
He was referring to David and how he had us all fooled at the beginning.
“For another thing, he’s super attractive,” Julian added.
Adam rolled his eyes at him. “Way to let the cat out of the bag.”
I laughed. “You guys are jealous? Really?”
“Yeah it’s pretty silly isn’t it?” Adam asked. “I mean here the three of us share you to begin with and yet we’re still jealous of some other guy.”
“That’s because he’s new,” Julian said. “At least we all know each other well enough to know what we’re up against. But this new guy is a wild card, on top of being really good looking.”
“Jesus, man. Haven’t you heard of the concept less is more?” Adam asked Julian.
That made me laugh again. “You know I love you guys. You don’t need to be worrying over some simple shit like that.”
Michael kissed me on the cheek as the three of them still surrounded me while we walked. “We know.”
When we got back inside the dormitory, Rob followed the directions I had given all the students and got into the elevator. We, on the other hand, took the stairs. As hot as Rob was, the other guys really didn’t have anything to worry about anyways, because I was way too preoccupied with trying to figure out how to save them all from David to give Rob any of my time or attention. Any time that wasn’t spent either working or thinking, I spent trying to find some sort of comfort in the arms of Michael, Adam, and Julian.
That is, until David called me into his office again.
“I have another task for you,” David said.
He looks tired. “Wonderful. Hit me with it.”
He paused to look at me from head to toe before he cleared his throat. “I want you to get to know our new student.”
“What, why?” I asked.
I didn’t have time to be the welcoming committee.
“Because he’s a cop,” David answered curtly. “And I have several connections inside the city police force. I was able to find out that Rob is an undercover cop who was sent here to investigate allegations of foul play on the school’s campus.”
I smiled when I saw how much David hated to admit that there was law enforcement sniffing around his trail of corruption.
“Well that ought to be a lot of fun,” I taunted.
“Sneer all you’d like,” David warned. “But if things go badly for me, you can bet that they will go doubly as bad for your three doting lovers.”
Again, my hands were tied, and I was put into a position of compliance in order to keep David from threatening the lives of the three guys I cared about.
“What do you want me to do?” I asked reluctantly.
He nodded, as if satisfied with my compliance. Which made me dream of multiple ways to kill him while he slept. “I want you to keep an eye on him, find out as much as you can about him, and keep him from finding out the truth.”
“What, is that all?” I asked sarcastically. “You don’t want me to sleep with him too and have his firstborn?”
David snickered. “Well now that part is up to you, I suppose.”
“I wasn’t being serious,” I said flatly.
He shrugged. “Doesn’t matter if you were or not. If that’s what I need you to eventually do, you’ll do it to protect your boys. Remember that. I know your weakness. So, just do what I said. Keep him out of trouble and find out what he already knows. He seems to like you; use it to your advantage. Let him take you on a date and then find out what he’s really doing here.”
I can’t wait until you’re dead. “Fine,” I said.
David started to say something else as I was walking away but I was honestly so sick and tired of it all that I just ignored him and kept walking. As luck would have it (or maybe it wasn’t luck at all but rather the fact that he’d been watching me), Rob arrived at the dormitory entrance at the same time I did.
“Hey,” I said when held the door open for me. “How are things going? Are you adjusting to campus alright?”
“Yeah,” he smiled.
God, he has an incredible smile.
His voice pierced my thoughts. “Thanks for asking. Hey, I was wondering if I could talk to you about a few more things pertaining to the school?”
For an undercover agent, he really wasn’t that subtle. “Yeah sure, what would you like to know about?”
It’s kind of a lot,” he said as he laughed it off casually. “Maybe I could take you out for a bite to eat and we could talk about it all over dinner?”
I was getting ready to say no, but then I remembered what David had told me to do. I also thought about something else, though. Something the boys surely wouldn’t like.
“Wait, like a date off campus?” I asked.
