The Academy--The Bird and the Beetle

by C. L. Stone

  I wasn’t sure. Would they trust me? I’d already left them behind. They wouldn’t trust me when Axel told them what really happened with Marc’s leg. “They may want to know.”

  His fingers smoothed back and forth along my jawline. “Kate, I need you to promise you’ll try to convince them. I think when you see, though, you’ll agree. It needs to stay a secret.”

  I hesitated, considering. It would require the Academy boys to trust me, and they had no reason to. I’d abandoned them. My curiosity was getting to me. He didn’t seem like the monster they told me about. His warm fingers and those eyes, the golden flecks sparking, made me silent promises, and I surrendered. “I promise.”

  ♠♠♠♠♠♠

  He showed me back to the bedroom, where I could get the clothes he’d purchased for me. I used his bathroom to shower. I shaved by borrowing one of his razors and got dressed. I tried not to focus on the fact that his bathroom was bigger than the hotel room. I allowed myself to be jealous of him for having plush towels that felt soft against my clean skin. I wanted to wear one all day and even toyed with the idea of stealing it.

  When I was dressed, I opened the bathroom door. He was sitting on the bed, studying something on his cell phone. I approached, and his head lifted. Those hazel eyes lit up, sending a wave of sparks through me that I didn’t want to think about. He turned his phone off, tossing it back onto the comforter. He leaned back on his hands. “See, I didn’t think you were a pink dress type of girl when I first saw you.”

  I twisted my lips. “I hated that thing.”

  “I could tell.” He curled his fingers in a come hither motion. I hesitated a moment before I approached slowly. He snagged my hands, and pressed our palms together, intertwining our fingers. “Well, before I show you my devilish side, let’s go out.”

  “Huh?” I tried not to be distracted with his open flirting. I didn’t encourage him, but I didn’t stop him, either. It was tempting to see how far he went. Part of me was flattered, this handsome, rich guy who could have had anyone was at least curious and playing with me. I tried not to forget that he probably had girls in his bedroom all the time. I didn’t want to be another notch on the post.

  “We’ve got a few of hours to wait,” he said. “Until then, what do you want to do?”

  “Why do we have to wait so long?”

  “Who we want to see won’t be available until later.”

  “Who are we going to go see?”

  His smile broadened and he brought one of my hands to his mouth and kissed the knuckles. “So you can knock me over with a vase and run out on me? No thanks.”

  My heart was tripping over itself. This was becoming difficult to control. “I may not use a vase.”

  He laughed, pushing me away and standing up. He grabbed his phone, putting it in his pocket. “When’s the last time you went sailing?”

  SAILBOATS

  It wasn’t like I had much of a choice. He was going to go sailing with or without me. Now that he knew people were on to him, he could skip town if I left him alone. Not that I was any sort of law enforcement, but I didn’t want to leave him alone if he decided he wanted to run.

  And it wasn’t like I could just lose him now. I was going to find out what he was up to. Wouldn’t Marc, if he had any sense in him, have done the same thing?

  He had a Mercedes in the garage. It was black, with tinted windows. At first look, I recoiled as it seemed so gaudy a car to have. He opened the passenger side door for me. The interior was heady with the smell of new leather. Is that what new cars smelled like? I’d never been in one before.

  I’d gotten my boots back, and I retied them to distract myself as he got in. Guilt weighed on me a bit as I thought my shoes were too dirty to put inside his nice new car. He didn’t say anything so I forced myself to forget about it.

  After he started the car and pulled out of the garage, he headed south toward City Marina.

  To get to it, he passed right by the Sergeant Jasper. At the sight of the boys’ apartment tower, I pulled back in the seat, trying to be small. At the same time, I scanned the parking lot, looking for their cars. The guilt was heavy, even though I felt I shouldn’t be. I was still a stranger to them. If I disappeared forever, they would forget about me in a couple days. They were probably at that house from yesterday, on the roof finishing the work I had caused a delay in. Everyone except for Marc, who was probably recovering. He was probably happy I was out of his hair.

  “Something wrong?” Mr. Coaltar asked.

  “No,” I said. I turned my head and purposefully avoided looking at the apartment tower any more. “What’s your name, anyway?”

  He grinned. “You forgot? Like you forgot your boyfriend’s name?”

  “I know your last name is Coaltar,” I said. “I mean your first name.”

  He tilted his head around as he looked at me. “Are you sure you’re an FBI informant?”

  “The rumors I heard were only about what you were up to. There weren’t too many details.”

  “Like my name?”

  I rolled my eyes. “I can call you Bob if you’d like.”

  “Close. Try Blake.”

  I twisted my lips. “Blake?”

  “Something wrong with it?”

  “I don’t know yet. I don’t know if you’re a Blake.”

  He laughed. “Is there anything you do like about me?”

  I stilled, unsure how to answer him. The truth was, I didn’t know how to behave around him. Blake Coaltar sent new thrills through me, tempting me to play whatever game he was up to. I think I was tempted because he felt different. Most guys were predictable. He was a lot like the Academy guys, unpredictable, impulsive. I liked that. “Your car is okay,” I said.

  His smirk broadened and he stepped on the gas.

  It was a short stretch before he turned into the marina. He squeezed the Mercedes into a parking space. He shut off the engine and hopped out quickly, opening the door on my side. I joined him in walking toward the docks.

  The chill of the night before still lingered, even with the sun beating down on us. The light made the water sparkle and it dazzled my eyes. The air was fresh, salty.

  He hung an arm around my shoulders. “Come on, Kate. Tell me you’ve got a pair of sea legs.”

  “Might have paddled around in a canoe once or twice.” Lie. I’d never been anywhere but to the beach. I hadn’t ever been on a boat.

  We ambled our way toward a length of dock and passed a handful of people as we went. I scanned the various sized boats rocking on the water. I didn’t spot anyone that could be identified as security. There appeared to be so many boats parked close to each other. A number of them were huge, including a few three-story yachts that were parallel parked along the broadest side of the dock. We walked right past the dock house, and no one stopped us or bothered to ask why we were there. What if we were here to steal one of these things? Would they even notice?

  “You do this often?” I asked.

  “I’m not home too often. And when I am, I usually don’t have time for sailing,” he said. He stopped along the edge of the dock, facing into the wind. His blond locks swept into his eyes and he brushed them away from his face. He pointed to one of the smaller sailboats at the far edge. “There she is.”

  I squinted. The boat’s sails were down, and compared to some of the other boats around it, it seemed so small. “All that money and you’ve got that thing?”

  He grunted. “You just don’t know anything about boats. That, my dear, is the biggest boat a single person can sail on his own. Unless you’re going to tell me you know a thing or two about sailing.”

  “And if I did?”

  He grinned. “Then I’d buy a bigger boat.”

  “I thought you said you had a yacht.”

  “Do you want to go sailing, or do you want to go to Europe?”

  “What?”

  “I only take the yacht for long distance trips. I’ll show you my yacht when you’re ready for t
hat.” He nudged me toward the sailboat.

  He climbed on first and then held out a hand to me to help me get onboard. He pointed to where he wanted me to sit on the front deck. I wanted to do something besides watch him, but he insisted on doing it himself. He tugged this rope, and he pulled that lever. Soon he had the sailboat pulling away from the docks and out beyond the edge of Charleston.

  And he did it in exquisite precision, with that broad smile on his face, the tan clashing against his white, perfect teeth. His hazel eyes were wide, excited. His hair blew around in the breeze, the tips teasing his cheeks, and he had to release the helm on occasion to brush hair away from his eyes.

  I stared at the water to relieve the butterflies doing whirligigs in my core.

  When the boat went past the stretch of peninsula and out into the harbor, he opened the sails fully and the boat sped up. I wanted to compare it to driving with the top down on a car, but it was much better than that for some reason. The air felt cleaner. The water splashed as the boat lunged forward. We were getting away from people instead of diving into traffic. Freer. Fuller.

  He didn’t go far, just out into Charleston Harbor. The city sat behind us, with Mount Pleasant to the north and John’s Island to the south. When we were near the middle of the harbor, he slowed, dragging in the sails until we were almost dead still.

  “Okay,” I said. “I may like your boat.”

  He released a rich laugh, running a hand through his hair. “At least I have something going for me.” He sat down on the deck next to me, sitting cross-legged and leaning back on his hands. “Girls are usually into the good looks and fat pocketbook.”

  “Meh,” I said.

  He smirked. “Well shut my mouth. Miss Kate doesn’t like handsome faces.”

  I rolled my eyes and looked out toward Mount Pleasant. Sailing really wasn’t all that bad.

  But if I had felt uncomfortable wasting time with Corey the day before, I felt worse now. Again I felt the guilt that I should be working instead of masquerading like this. I had to think about Wil. It seemed deeply unfair.

  Suddenly, it hit me how Wil was out there somewhere, at school, maybe even worried about me because I’d been gone for so long. Was he mowing lawns still on his way home when he should be studying? Was he distracted because he hadn’t seen me in a couple of days? He’d probably get a kick out of sailing.

  “Sugar,” Blake captured my chin, drawing me from my sad thoughts to look at his hazel eyes. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

  I shook my head, pursing my lips. I couldn’t tell him about Wil. Despite everything, I still needed to prove what he was up to. I couldn’t have him chasing down Wil in case this was all an illusion.

  When it was clear I wasn’t going to answer his question, his fingers released my chin, and he planted a palm against my cheek. “I’m not the bad guy, Kate. I wish you could trust me.”

  “I’m not allowed to go on just your word,” I said.

  His eyes narrowed. “Who really sent you?”

  My lips pursed. The truth was, no one did. I came on my own, but the whole mess started because the Academy guys had a curious itch. And I’d already promised not to tell anyone about it.

  Blake’s palm soothed over my cheek. “You’re full of secrets,” he said. “And you come to me demanding mine? Seems a little unfair.”

  “If it were a good thing, it wouldn’t need to be a secret.” I didn’t hide the distrusting edge in my tone. I regretted saying it after.

  His frown deepened. “What’s happening to you, Kate? Maybe I don’t know you, but you can’t even tell me exactly why you’re following me. Or who you’re working with.”

  “I don’t want any recourse just in case you’re really out here to tie my legs to a rock and throw me overboard.”

  He huffed and backed his head up. “Are you serious? Listen to yourself. Is this what you think of everyone you don’t know? All you had was a rumor to go on. I let you into my home, onto my boat, and you want to still pretend I’m some crazy person?”

  I didn’t have a good answer for him. I didn’t know him at all a few days ago. If I had passed him on the street like any other person, I may have paused at his good looks but I wouldn’t have thought anything more. However, I still couldn’t forget how Raven had looked warning me about him, or how serious Marc had been about protecting me from him. Now that I was here with Blake, it felt all muddled. He felt like just a normal person. He didn’t feel like a drug dealer. Or was I just hoping?

  Blake released me, sitting back on his hands. “Sweetie, I don’t know what to tell you. I’m not a perfect guy, but I don’t do drugs. I’m not interested in them.” He paused. “But telling you this isn’t helping.”

  I shrugged. “Doesn’t hurt.”

  His gaze didn’t move from me. “What about you? Who is this Kate that showed up at my door out of the blue?”

  “What about me?”

  “Let’s start with something easy. Where are you from?”

  “Here. Charleston.”

  “A local,” he smiled. “Ever been out of the state?”

  I shook my head.

  “Not much of a traveler?”

  “Never had the chance.”

  He nodded slowly, his hazel eyes tracing over my face. “Was Brandon really someone you just met that day?”

  My heart fluttered at the thought of Brandon. The kiss we’d shared I could still taste on my lips. I kept telling myself I was doing this for him, as much as for the others. He wouldn’t feel obligated to protect me any more after this. I swallowed back my feelings. “Yes. Well, I bumped into him the day before, but that day of your party was the first time we’d said more than a few words to each other.”

  “What did you argue about? That night at the party?”

  Heat drifted across my cheeks. My fingers wandered, tracing the smoothness of the wood of the boat as I thought of a lie. “Sports,” I said. “Apparently he’s a Yankees fan.”

  Blake leaned into my shoulder. “And who are you for?”

  “... The Steelers?”

  Blake grinned. “So you prefer football to baseball?”

  Damn. “Yeah?”

  He shook his head. “Nice try. If you’re going to lie, you need to at least get the teams right.” He stood up, and dusted off his jeans. He opened his hand to me. “Come on.”

  “What are we doing?” I planted my hand in his.

  “I’ll show you how to drive this thing.”

  “Me?”

  Blake taught me how to hold the helm and direct the boat this way and that. He kept control of the sails and had me just focus on turning the rudder via the wheel. We made circles around the bay. It was a good distraction, keeping me busy with something so I didn’t have to think about the boys and why I was there.

  It only lasted a couple of hours before my stomach started growling louder than the boat splashing against the water.

  Blake beamed at me. “Someone keeps a tiger in her shirt.” He drew in the sails again until the boat was turned around, heading back toward the harbor. He nudged me out of the way. “My turn to take over.”

  “You won’t let me drive back to shore?” I asked.

  “It’s best if I do it,” he said. “Until you get more practice in.”

  “It can’t be that hard to aim the boat at the dock and go,” I said. Not that I had much confidence in my sailing skills, but it had been fun while it lasted, and what was the likelihood I’d ever get another chance?

  “Don’t pout those sweet lips at me and pretend you’re the sudden expert sailor,” he said. “There’s things out here you need to look out for and you don’t even know.”

  ‘Like what?” I asked.

  He lifted his head, gazing around and spotted something in the water. He pointed out to it. “That.”

  I followed his line of sight to a buoy out in the middle of the water. It was white, with red markings and numbers that I didn’t understand. “So I shouldn’t run into those?”

/>   “You shouldn’t pass that invisible line. Well, we could there, possibly, because this little boat would float right over the sand bank it’s trying to warn you about. It’d probably stop the yacht.” He scanned, pointing to another buoy close by. “But see that one? The depth of that rock or sand bank or whatever is just below the surface, that’s one we don’t want to get close to. We’d crash, and my boat would sink.”

  I scanned the water now, looking for the markers. Now that I’d noticed them, they were everywhere. Little red or white buoys that were really discreet warnings about what was below the murky depths. “You have to stay between the buoy lines?”

  “Sometimes. You have to know when you need to change course. You have to know the rules to know how you can bend them.”

  “Is that your philosophy?” I asked.

  He grinned, steering the boat toward the harbor. “Seems to be yours, too.”

  THIEF VS. THIEF

  By the time we got back to City Marina, it was just after noon. He parked the boat and tied it off. When everything was put away, he jumped off onto the dock, holding a hand out for me.

  I waved him off but he insisted, grabbing my hips and planting me beside him. I wobbled on my feet, but he held me steady until I stopped swaying.

  “Whoa,” I said, embarrassed. Why did solid ground feel so unstable?

  “You’ve never been on a boat before,” he said, the sly smile playing on his lips at catching me out. He released my hips, but snatched up my hand, holding it palm to palm on our way back to the parking lot.

  He unlocked his Mercedes and held open the door.

  “Where do you want to go to lunch?” he asked.

  I shrugged, wanting to say the closest hamburger stand. The truth was, I’d eat his car, I was so hungry.

  He gunned the engine, looking up and down the street and taking his time, before making a right. “I’ve got an idea. I don’t know if it’s open yet. It might be just a dinner place, but we’ll see.”

  “I hope it’s not one of those places that serves rabbit food.”

  “Do I look like a rabbit? I’m hungry, too.”

  He made his way into downtown, winding between streets I didn’t recognize. Blake pulled into a back lot between two close buildings on Broad Street. I hopped out before he could run around to open my door just to irritate him. Southern men hate it when you open your own door.