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“Don’t worry about it,” I try again.
He gives me a look, and I stop protesting. I’m used to sweeping problems under the rug, but this is probably one time when I should quit before I end up on the downslide. I’m already in a new place trying to find a new job and adjust to a new life. Eating something with alcohol in it might seem like nothing, but it’s the kind of nothing that could snowball.
I really don’t need that. Not now. Not when things are so good for Secret.
I just want to bask in her happiness and do as much as I can to look like a half-decent role-model.
Not that she’s ever needed that from me. I just want to make her proud.
For once in our lives, it would be nice to feel like I’m doing something right.
We enter the building, and I let Ryan lead me up the stairs and to the apartment door.
The unmistakably sweet scent of Dylan and Secret’s combined perfumes slips out into the hall when he unlocks the door. Caramel and vanilla. They’re perfectly matched, and it makes me happy for Secret that Dylan’s as sweet as his scent.
Ryan leads me inside and stops to lock the door.
“Secret!” he calls out. “Leanne’s here.”
The first door to the right opens, which is the first of two bedrooms they have.
Secret’s standing there in a white sweater and light-colored jeans, her eyes bright behind her glasses. She smiles at me.
“You have to see this!” She takes my hand and I follow her into the room.
Dylan’s standing by the side of the bed, looking over some kind of architect’s drawing.
He looks up and gives me a smile, his green eyes fixing on Secret a second later and going all soft and gooey.
“What is this, exactly?” I ask, looking over the drawing, trying to locate something that tells me what it’s for.
“It’s Colvindale Academy,” Secret says as she moves to Dylan’s side and points out a section that looks like it’s been added in marker next to the printed building plan.
Dylan puts an arm around her and shudders before he rests his head against her shoulder. “I almost got sent to this hellhole.”
“Okay,” I say, as I move closer and take a better look at the odd map next to the building. “What’s it for?”
“We’ve got a plan,” Secret says. “You remember how I told you we’ve been working on getting the academies to change?”
“Wasn’t that mostly Cassidy?” I ask, trying to remember the details. I know Cass inherited his father’s fortune, and I know he was going to be using a portion of it on lawyers to help make Omega academies safe places. I can’t find a way to tie that into this.
“At first,” Dylan says. “Cassidy sent the lawyers in with so much evidence of awfulness that those crusty old dicks behind the board that runs the academies were forced to clean up their acts. They had to put new rules in place, effectively stopping the rich Alphas who were pumping in money for decades to retain any kind of hold over what goes on in them.”
“They’re going to run like real schools now, and the social side is going to be more like a true mate match finding thing,” Secret says, smiling brightly. “Isn’t that awesome?”
“It sounds amazing,” I tell her. “But how does that tie in with this?”
“Colvindale had a reputation as the worst of the worst,” Secret says. “It’s going to shut down and the Omegas are going to be transferred, but we’re expecting a fight.”
“A fight?” I ask, glancing in concern at Dylan.
“A real one,” Dylan says, his smile wry. “The Alphas who’ve been using this place are psychopaths. They go to socials to hunt prey. Omegas go missing from Colvindale all the time. They’re never found later. This is the old fairground. It’s where we expect to have to fight them to save the Omegas, and any Beta staff who are still around.”
“Tell me you don’t mean you and Secret when you say we?”
“Like Seth would even let us tag along,” Secret grumbles.
I manage to exhale. Thank God for Seth.
