I stare at my shoes as I contemplate whether to tell them or keep a secret of my own. Since it’s their job to find things anyway, it’s only a matter of time before they find out the truth. “She only came home with me—”
“Because of the deal you made?” she finishes, drawing my gaze. “If you believe that, you’re as crazy as you are cute.”
“How’d you know about the deal?”
“It’s our job.” David slaps my back. “Now, are you ready to do this?”
I don’t know if he’s talking about taking the last test or putting their advice on women into practice. I decide it doesn’t matter. I’m not going to do either one. As much as my curiosity is pushing me to take that last test and see what exactly a tactical retrieval expert does, I can barely keep my head above water with my current class schedule while holding down a job. No way can I take on something like this on top of everything else. “Sorry, between school and work, I don’t have time for anything else.”
“Did I mention it’s a paid internship?” Bailey points out.
That snags my attention. “What would I be doing?”
“Training, mostly. When you’re ready, we’ll ease you into the role by assisting on finds until you’re ready to take the lead on one of your own.”
“You’d pay me to train me?” It sounds too good to be true. My guard is immediately up. As if I didn’t have enough reason to question their motives. “Would I have to leave school?”
“No. That’s the beauty of the program. You’ll remain here at BU, in your same major, and graduate with the rest of your class. Your training will be incorporated into your existing classes.”
Now it really sounds too good to be true. “You’re going to pay me to do exactly what I’m already doing?”
“More or less.”
It’s the more part that has me worried. “What’s the final test?”
“You’ll know it when it happens.” She walks to the door. Jason reaches for her hand. She eyes it before shaking her head. Uh oh. Jackson’s words got to her. I don’t envy Jason for the groveling he’ll have to do to make up for it. It sucks. He didn’t even do anything wrong.
I follow them, irritated they dangle something like this in front of me all to leave before I can finish the final test. “That’s it?”
“For now.”
“What do I do until then?”
“Whatever it is you do here.” David opens the door and ushers them all outside before nodding at me. “Your best cover is to do what you know. The more you deviate, the more likely you’ll mess up.”
My chest tightens. Now I need a cover? Before I can ask why, they disappear, leaving me wondering what the hell I just agreed to.
13
{Emma}
“How was your date?” I ask Britt as she does the walk of shame into our dorm in the clothes she had on last night. I have no right to judge since I did the same walk less than an hour before. She has that morning sex glow about her. I wonder if I have that same look about me. Granted, it wasn’t exactly sex, but a hand job in the shower isn’t a bad way to start the morning.
I pour a cup of coffee and add the perfect amount of creamer before handing it to her. She accepts it and inhales the steam. Her hair is a mess. So is her makeup, and yet she still looks ready for the runway. I’d hate her if she weren’t already my best friend.
“I’m in love,” she declares.
“Of course you are.” I grab my book bag and nod for her to follow. “Come on. We’ve got five minutes to get to lab.”
“We have lab?”
“It’s Friday.”
She rolls her eyes. “I hate lab. Can’t we skip it?”
“Not if we want to pass.” I hate lab, too, but I hate the thought of an F on my transcript more. Besides, Ryan works in the lab. I wouldn’t mind seeing him again, if for no other reason than to watch him in his element. I’ve observed him in private. I need to see how he acts in public. That’s the only reason I want to see him again. I’m sure of it.
“I don’t care if I pass.”
“You will if you get put on academic probation.”
“God, you’re such a hard-ass. What are you, my mother?” She follows me out of our dorm and across the quad to the IT building.
No. If I were her mother, I’d be the one doing the walk of shame, completely hungover, and relying on Britt to nurse me back to health all so I can do it over again tonight with a different guy. I swear that Amy Winehouse song was written for Jacqueline Pearson. A couple of her songs, actually. Jackie switches boyfriends faster than Britt and declares she’s in love with each and every one. Like mother, like daughter.
I think about my mom. If I turn into half the woman she is, I’ll be happy. After my dad abandoned us, my mom worked two jobs to put food on the table. I lied about my age and got a job at fourteen to buy my own school clothes so she didn’t have to get a third job.
“I hope Nancy isn’t there,” Britt says, pulling my focus back to our race to get to lab before the TA from hell marks us late. Not only will she make Britt throw out her perfect cup of coffee, but she’ll find some way to pile more work on me just in time for the weekend. The bitch hates me and I have no idea why.
I relax when I don’t spot Nancy and we hurry to the last two computers still open. They’re up at the very front of the classroom. We both groan.
“I hate sitting in the front,” she grumbles.
So do I. It makes us bigger targets for Nancy. “If you would have come home earlier, we would have gotten here earlier.”
“I couldn’t.”
We sit down and I wiggle the mouse to wake the computer. “I don’t want details, and yet, I do.”
“He made me pancakes this morning. No guy has ever done that for me before.”
“Pancakes. The breakfast of champions.” I keep to myself what I had for breakfast. After the shower, Ryan toasted the bagels to perfection and made true on his promise to whip up some eggs. Who knew? Not only can he bring me to orgasm in record time, he can also cook. Not a bad combo.
“Would you be serious for like one second? I’m trying to pour my heart out here.”
When I don’t acknowledge her, she grabs my hand off the keyboard and the computer beeps. Try number one on my username and password is an epic fail.
“Okay.” I give her my undivided attention. “He made you pancakes.”
She beams as her smile brings a brilliant twinkle to her eyes. I swear I hear some guy behind us sigh as he, no doubt, gets caught in the Britt web.
“With blueberry syrup and whipped cream. Of course, we ended up doing something a little more creative with the whipped cream.”
That explains the morning sex glow.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” I put up my hand to stop her from filling me in on the details. “This conversation just got really awkward.”
“What? I tell you everything.”
“Not in the middle of class.” I nod at the mouth-breather directly behind us. We both roll our eyes. I over exaggerate a shudder and Britt covers her mouth as she giggles. She suddenly whips around to face her computer. I immediately bring my fingers to my keyboard. Only one person causes her to look like she’s paying attention.
“Good morning, ladies.” Nancy Pettigrew—yes, just like the movie—walks up, her stained coffee cup in hand. It used to be white, but since she never washes it the inside is more a baby shit brown. She always has nasty coffee breath that overwhelms me when she invades my personal space to talk to me, which is every time she talks to me. “Is that coffee, Brittney?”
“Tea,” she lies. “I have a scratchy throat like I’ve been screaming all night.”
I snort and cover it up by coughing.
“You know the rule about drinks in the computer lab.”
She eyes Nancy’s cup. “Is that coffee?”
Nancy thins her lips into a snarky smile and takes a long drink. “Teachers are granted a few exceptions.”
“You’re not a t
eacher,” I point out. “You’re a teaching assistant. You’re doing the teacher.”
She nails me with a heated glare. Okay, so maybe I do know why she hates me. She scoots closer and the stale coffee on her breath oozes into my nose. I breathe through my mouth. She then sits on my keyboard, causing it to beep. Damn. Fail number two. One more invalid entry and I’ll have to call over a green vest. That’s the uniform for the students who work at the computer center. They hate dealing with password-challenged students like me. I know this from experience. Technology scares the shit out of me. I know how to Google and check my email. That’s about it. The green vests smell my fear.
“How’s the midterm coming? Do you need any help?”
I know better than to trust her. She never does anything to help me. The last lab she helped on earned me a C-. I have no idea what I was thinking signing up for a programming class. Actually, I do. When I read the title, Java in the Morning, I seriously thought I’d be in a class about coffee. It’s a core class, so I have no choice but to suffer through it.
“I’ve got it under control,” I tell her. “But thanks for the offer.”
She lifts a penciled-in eyebrow, mocking me. “Really? Why not show me what you have?”
Shit. “It’s not due until break. That’s a month away.”
Nancy moves her ass off my keyboard. “Oh? Didn’t Professor Baker tell you? He moved that up. It’s now due in two weeks.”
My fingers skip as I attempt my password. Awesome. I just locked myself out of the computer with my third failed password attempt in a row. After I swallow down how much I want to tell the bitch to choke on her coffee, I turn to her. “No, I guess I missed that memo.”
“I guess so.” She gives me a smile that shows off those gross coffee-stained teeth.
Oh, how I hate this TA.
She’s doing this on purpose. I swear. She hates anyone under twenty-five. I’m only twenty-two. Britt’s even worse off at twenty-one. Nancy hates us both with a passion. Maybe we remind her of her youth. Of what she’ll never be again. Young and attractive.
“Is that going to be a problem, Emily?”
I let her take the snarky win by calling me by the wrong name. I know better than to go up against Nancy Pettigrew. The last person to tell her no ended up failing a major project. “No problem, Nancy. Two weeks. Got it.”
“We won’t have much time to work on it during class,” she adds. The bitch. “It’s going to have to be in your spare time.”
There’s no such thing as spare time for a college student. Especially one who works weekends. I force a smile. “Of course it is.”
“You didn’t have any plans between now and then, did you?”
Like I’d tell her even if I did. “Was there anything else you needed? I have a lot of work to do.”
She pushes away and goes off to annoy a cluster of girls doing their makeup. I blow out a breath and stand.
“Where are you going?” Britt asks.
“To grab a green vest.”
She nods in understanding. “Locked yourself out again? You are the most password-illiterate person I know.”
I roll my eyes and approach the desk where all the lab techs in green vests congregate, just waiting to make fun of people like me.
“Yes?” The guy sitting front-and-center doesn’t even look up at me as he waits.
“I need my password reset.”
He sighs. “I’m just about to go on break.”
I glance at the clock. It’s only ten minutes into the class. “What about one of them?” I nod at the two other green vests just sitting there, eyeing me the same way this guy is eyeing me—like I’m somehow burdening them by asking them to do their job.
“They aren’t assigned to passwords today.”
“But they know how to reset them, right?”
He sighs again and it immediately pisses me off. It must be my red hair. I have the shortest temper on the planet. This idiot is about to find out what happens when he pisses off a redhead. “Is there anyone else who can help me? Your boss, maybe?”
“He’s busy. You can wait until I get back from break.” The little shit is taking great pleasure at holding my password hostage. I hate nerds and take a breath to tell him where he can stick his attitude when a voice catches my attention.
“Brandon.”
The kid jumps to his feet as another green vest walks out from the breeding ground of green vests. Holy shit. I know that mullet. I almost don’t recognize him without the thick glasses and don’t know why I wouldn’t. It took us twenty minutes this morning trying to wrangle the damn contacts into his eyes.
“Hey, Ryan.” I’ve never been so happy to see another green vest and greet my fake boyfriend with a wide smile. “Fancy meeting you here.”
“Hey, Emma.” He flashes that damn crooked grin and my heart flutters a little. He’s really good at looking so goofy. Good goofy. Cute goofy. He glances at Brandon. “Is there a problem?”
I whip my attention to Brandon and smile triumphantly. Who’s got the upper hand now, dickhole? “I don’t know. Is there?”
“I was just about to reset her password,” Brandon lies. The little shit.
Ryan shakes his head. “Nice try. Go check the paper in the printers. We’ll talk about this later.”
Brandon’s shoulders slump as he’s assigned shit duty. Without a word, he stands and shuffles off. The other two green vests behind the counter make themselves scarce.
Ryan turns his attention to me and my stomach flips. I can’t help liking the way he told Brandon what to do. I like a guy who isn’t afraid to show a little dominance. His confidence adds a little something extra to his charm. “That guy is on my last nerve. Yesterday he had some first year convinced to give him her phone number in return for resetting her password.”
“What a tool.” I shake my head. “Are you sure you want me to turn you into something like that?”
“Not like that one.”
“You can’t pick and choose, buddy. A tool is a tool.”
“Why do you sound so disappointed?”
“Because you’re better than that.” I watch Brandon grab reams of papers and haul them to the group of printers. Why they don’t store the paper closer to the monster machines is beyond me.
“Maybe I’m not,” he mutters.
His comment pulls my attention and earns him a frown. I’ve only known Brandon for less than five minutes and I know Ryan is so much more than that guy will ever be. “Maybe you already are.”
He studies me intently and I stare him down. No boyfriend of mine—fake or otherwise—is allowed to belittle himself around me. “What was it Brandon refused to do? Let me take care of you.”
My heart jumps at that declaration. I don’t know whether to be flattered or a little scared he wants to take care of me after a single night together. “Excuse me?”
“I mean this. Let me take care of this.” His ears turn beet red as he closes his eyes and mutters a curse.
I suck in my lower lip and bite down to stop myself from asking him to sneak into a closet with me. There’s no rationale for why I’m acting like a horny slut with a lady boner for him. He’s my protégé, nothing more. “I need my password reset.”
“I can help you with that.” He pulls up a chair and sits at the computer behind the desk. “What’s your username?”
“ERAE69ME.”
He lifts his eyebrows as he looks at me, a wicked glimmer in his eyes. “Interesting username.”
“You should hear my password,” I tease with a wiggle of my eyebrows. We both laugh.
Typing like a ninja on crack, his fingers flying across the keyboard, he then gives the monitor a nod. “There you go.”
“Thanks.” I turn to go back to the lab.
“Wait. I want to talk to you about—” He stops as a girl from my class walks up and leans on the counter, shoving her boobs into his face. He colors to his ears and drops his attention to the monitor, clearly avoiding staring at
her chest. “What, uh… How can I…um… Yes?”
“Hi, there.” She leans down even more. If she’s not careful, her girls are going to pop right out of that ridiculously tight shirt. “I guess I don’t remember my password. Can you maybe help me?”
What’s with the baby talk? What is she, fourteen? I grit my teeth to stop myself from saying anything when something interesting happens. I’m watching Ryan as he stumbles on the keyboard. Seconds ago he had no problem typing, now it looks like he’s stuttering as bad as he talks.
To girls.
It clicks. No wonder he’s single. And a virgin. The poor guy can’t even talk to a girl. He stuttered when he first talked to me, and everything came out wrong. Only after he got to know me did he relax enough to actually act like a normal human being instead of the spaz I first met. I realize I’m going to have to do a lot more mentally with him than I am physically. We fixed the eyes. Tonight, I tackle the hair. Next, wardrobe. And then, the real work begins.
The girl thanks Ryan and swings her butt as she walks away. He stares at it, his jaw on the desk.
“Close your mouth,” I snap, irritated he’s so obvious.
“What?” His act of innocence is nowhere near convincing.
“Do you want me to come back later? Give you a little alone time to think about Miss Boobs A-plenty?”
“I don’t get why you’re mad at me. Aren’t players supposed to gawk at pretty girls?”
“I’ve never once caught you gawking at me.” And, goddamn it, it pisses me off.
The twinkle in his eyes catches me off-guard. “That’s only because you’ve never caught me.”
14
{Emma}
He’s so good at saying something that makes me like him again. Knowing he gawks at me when I’m not looking has me all tingly. I love the way he looks at me, like there’s no one else in the world who can hold his attention when I’m talking to him. Every girl deserves a guy who looks at her like that. “What’d you want to talk to me about?”
“Are you coming over tonight?”
I hate the way my heart flips at spending the night with him again. Maybe we’d make it past hand jobs this time. “Isn’t that what girlfriends do? Practically live at their boyfriend’s place? We can’t use my place. I live in a dorm with a nosy roommate.” I’m not ready to explain any of this to Britt. This is just an act, right? Besides, his mod gives us more privacy to pretend to be boyfriend and girlfriend, while having a little fun together. As friends. Only friends.
Reluctant Hero (TREX Rookies Book 1) Page 10