All eyes fell to me. “Yeah,” I croaked. “And, Tex, stop staring at me like that. Bee’s fine. I threatened the guy within an inch of his life. But it’s Pike. The only reason he’d be at Elite would be because he’s an implant… no way would we actually let the bastard in. Whose job is it to look at enrollment anyway?”
All eyes fell to Chase.
Cursing, he shook his head. “Look, if I had seen a Petrov, I would have shot him in the ass before he even stepped foot onto campus. And FYI, it’s not like we haven’t been busy making sure Tex doesn’t kill everyone.”
“Valid point,” Sergio muttered.
“Oh, screw you!” Tex stood again.
“Tex.” Nixon seethed. “Sit.”
“Like a good boy.” Sergio laughed.
Tex pulled out his gun. “Say it again. Really, I’ve been wanting to kill you for weeks.”
“Pull,” Chase whispered under his breath.
I cleared my throat loudly. “Petrov’s in the school. I called Sergio first thing for confirmation. The rest is his to tell.”
Sergio ran his fingers through his short dark hair. It had a slight wave to it now that it wasn’t long, not that I usually paid attention to that sort of thing, but if the idea was to make him look younger than his twenty-eight years, it worked. “I’m going to teach.”
“Ways to hack Amazon?” This from Tex.
“Ways to steal social security numbers.” Chase nodded. “Awesome.”
“History.” Ax spoke up, his eyes alight with humor.
And silence. Again.
Followed by howls of laughter.
The only people not laughing were me and Sergio. Then again, I never laughed.
Sergio scowled. “It will keep me close. I can gain intel, help Phoenix out since he’s the only other brave soul willing to hang out at Elite.”
“I graduated!” Chase all but yelled, as if he was petrified Nixon was going to make him go back into hell.
Tex nodded his agreement. “We both did.”
And I hadn’t — the unsaid little jab.
Sergio rolled his eyes. “Whatever. I have two doctorates.”
“Thus the teaching.” Nixon clasped his hands in front of him. “Fine, gather whatever intel you can. It’s possible Petrov is there just to make sure we aren’t doing anything… illegal.”
“Right, because we’re known for following the government’s rules.” I swore.
Nixon shrugged. “We’ve survived a commission. We can survive anything. Now, on to the rest of business. Phoenix…”
Why the hell was I in the hot seat?
“…how’s the adjustment?”
“Awesome. Someone even sent me flowers yesterday with a thank-you card. How the hell do you think it’s been?” I looked away from everyone and stared out the window. “My old family despises me, and my new family would rather see me drown than take over the Nicolasi empire. So, between babysitting the Cappo’s sister, making sure she walks in straight lines and doesn’t get herself shot — oh, and running a multi-million dollar enterprise, I’m pretty sure I’ll never sleep again, not that I ever got much sleep to begin with, but whatever.”
Chase slapped me on the back. Yeah, the last thing I wanted was comfort. “Give it time.”
If I heard that one more time. I was going to scream. I made brief eye contact with Nixon.
He cleared his throat and started asking Chase questions about the new associate.
Officially out of the line of fire.
My ears tuned out the rest of the conversation as feminine laughter floated in from the living room.
Her laughter.
Bee.
“Phoenix?” Nixon barked.
“Hmm?”
“Does that sound good?”
“Sure,” I lied. What the hell were we discussing?
“Really?” Tex’s eyebrows drew together. “Well, I guess if he’s okay with it, I have to be. Nobody else is going to protect her anyway.” He stood, basically meaning the meeting was over, while I stayed glued to my seat, wondering what the hell I’d just agreed to.
The guys and Mil went into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of wine.
Chase stayed next to me. “You do realize what you just agreed to?”
“Suicide?”
“Sort of.” He chuckled. “Look, I still haven’t forgiven you. I still don’t think you’re clean, so you know it’s bad if even I feel sorry for you.”
“What? Why?”
“Freshman class trip.” He nodded, and a smile broke out across his face. “You just agreed to go.”
“Class trip?”
“A weekend of fun up in the mountains… the hot springs… bikinis, Tex’s sister…” He whistled. “Yeah, have fun with that, monk.”
I snorted. “I have self-control.”
“Right.” Chase leaned in, whispering. “And we both know it’s only a matter of time before that thread freaking snaps, and in the end, who do you think’s going to cause it?”
As if knowing our entire conversation, Bee waltzed into the room and pinned me with a helpless look. “Math homework? I think I’m stuck, and the girls can’t help me.”
That made no sense. Couldn’t help? They had no problem with math — adding, anyway — when they raided the stores on their mega-shopping trips. I stared at Bee. Had she even asked them?