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“Could I…could I leave if I didn’t like it?”
“Yeah,” he said. “Although I wouldn’t invite you in if I didn’t think you’d like it. You’ll have to trust me, though. It’s not just something you understand overnight. It’s a learning experience.”
Tell me about it. I’d been trying to weasel my way in, asking so many questions, and even though I got what he was saying about it, I was still completely lost. I sighed heavily and nodded. “Maybe after we find Sara and everything.”
“We don’t have to wait even that long to get started,” he said. He shifted, nudging me to move. He pulled back the blanket and readjusted the pillows. “Let’s lay down. I’ll tell you what I can. We’ll sleep a bit, because we don’t know when we’ll get another chance. We’ll need to be ready if Axel calls and we have to go.”
I adjusted myself under the sheets. He got up, put the pizza in the fridge and turned off the lights. In the dark, he slipped off his shoes, socks and jeans and then crawled into bed beside me.
I settled in, stretched. Corey talking to me, his honesty about it, his happy nature, made it too easy to try to trust.
Slowly, he moved forward, until he could hook an arm under my neck, and tug me closer facing him. I welcomed it. Knowing he was gay made it easier to snuggle with him without questions, without worrying about what Brandon or Marc or anyone else would think, because it didn’t mean anything but a friendly cuddle.
“What do you want to know?” he asked.
Now that I knew I could probably ask him anything I wanted about it, and that I just needed time for him to explain, I was trying to figure out where to start. “Just tell me about these rules you have to follow.”
“The first rule is trust your family,” he said.
I snorted. “Okay, that doesn’t work.”
He laughed. “It’s not what you’re thinking.” He squeezed me a little. “The second rule is family is a choice.”
I thought about that. “You can’t choose your family. It’s all blood relations.”
“No,” he said. “That’s the trick. Maybe we’re twisting the term a little, but father describes the relationship to your birth parent. If your dad was an ax murderer, we wouldn’t ask you to consider him family and to love and trust him. Family consists of people you care about, who care about you, who try to make an effort. People consider friends and pets part of the family all the time.”
“And that’s a rule?”
“They’re the most important rules,” he said. “Everything else is based on it. You have to team up with a family you trust, and it will always be your choice.”
“So, if I go to the Academy and tell them I trust you guys and want to join your team, I could? I thought Brandon…Brandon said once a girl couldn’t join a guy team.”
I felt him shrug. “It’s a suggestion, not a rule. There’s a reason, of course. They tend to like girls having their own team. A girl on a guy team can cause a few problems. Like with Kevin.”
“Huh?”
“I mean, Kevin’s got a girlfriend, right? What would she think if he’s gone off to Florida with some girl for a couple of nights?”
“She doesn’t trust him? I mean I can keep my hands off of Kevin.”
“Maybe she should trust him,” he said. He shifted a little, moving closer. He yawned. “Maybe, but… it’s one of those situational things. Kevin wants to keep Mindy in the dark about the Academy. He doesn’t want her to worry about him. It’s a risk, because now he has to explain why he may be on an assignment, with say, you. But if he’s only hanging out with guys, see, at least the majority of the time, it might make it a little easier. He’s still taking a risk, though. He may be gone at odd hours of the night or for days on end, which makes anyone suspicious and jealous. The Academy simply wants us to consider the consequences when we bring in anyone to the team, especially if it can cause a disruption with other members’ relationships.”
“I get it,” I said. “But I could still…well, then no. I can’t join you guys. Because Kevin… and I mean if the other guys get girlfriends, then that wouldn’t work.”
“It’s not impossible,” Corey said. “I mean, I haven’t worked out the details. I think I’ve heard of a team that did it successfully. But if you really, really wanted to stay with our team, we could figure it out. And even if it doesn’t work out and you worked with a girl team…”
“Ick,” I said. “I don’t want a girl team.”
He laughed. “Okay, well, who knows? You may like some of them. You could still hang out with us if you join them.”
“Girls have cooties; didn’t anyone ever tell you that?”
“You’re a girl,” he said.
I sniggered, snuggling into him. “If I wasn’t…” I trailed off then, as I was tempted to ask if I wasn’t, maybe he and I could hook up. Brandon had said he was waiting for Corey to come to him with the whole gay thing, so I wanted to respect that. “I mean, it’d be easier for us.”
“You’re fine how you are,” he said.
“Oh my god, you’re so corny.”
I got a poke in the ribs. “And you’ve got cooties.”
I settled then, feeling oddly better. Family. Is that what the adoption was for? Was it just their technical term saying they wanted me and Wil in the family?
I listened to Corey’s breathing slowing down. His body shifted as he relaxed.
And I vowed that I’d find a way, if it were possible, to keep Corey on any Academy team I joined, or I wouldn’t join at all.
TEAMWORK
A thin gray line of light falling on the carpet by the window was the only indication that night had turned to day the moment I opened my eyes. It was dim enough to make me think it was super early, so I rolled over, away from the light.
My leg knocked into Corey’s.
Corey grunted, flipped over and dropped an arm over me.
I fell asleep again like that.
Buzzing interrupted the silence maybe an hour later. Corey sat up sharply. He sucked down air through his nose, exhaled through his mouth in a shot and then looked around.
I rolled back over, ready to go back to sleep.
“Kayli,” he said, his voice croaky.
“Mergh.”
“It’s your phone.”
I stretched out a leg to kick him, barely, because it was more a sleepy, weak nudge. He was being goofy. I don’t have a phone.
After the sleep fog started to clear at the sound of another rattling vibration, I sat up as quickly as he’d done, looking around, remembering I did have one. Was it Blake? If it were the other guys, they’d call Corey.
I scrambled to get up, getting caught with the blanket twisted around my legs.
Corey got up faster and grabbed it from the table.
My heart was in a panic. I reached for it. “Here!” Would he answer? Would Blake have the sense not to respond? After all I’d done to get Corey to trust me with telling me things, I didn’t want Blake to ruin it.
Corey looked at the screen, his eyebrows shifting up and then he held it out to me.
My heart in my throat, I thought maybe the screen said Blake’s name somehow or that he recognized the number.
But when I looked at it, and the phone call went to the voicemail, I realized I didn’t even recognize the number.
Blake with another phone?
“Who is it?” he asked.
“I don’t know.” At least I was honest there. I hit the buttons, trying to figure out the voice mailbox, and while I waited for the message, I came up with a lie in case it was Blake. Solicitor. They hung up. Wrong number.
“Kayli-bailey,” cried the unmistakable voice of Future. “Someone’s got a shitload of hot guys she’s not sharing. And I’ve got news. Call me back, bunny.”
How…Blake. He must have gotten to her and given her the number? Or maybe Axel went to find her.
“It’s Future,” I said. I tapped at the phone to call her back.
“The cros
s-dresser guy… girl…” Corey asked, rubbing at his face and yawning.
Future picked up before I could answer him. “Hey, there,” she said. “Okay, where are you?”
“Why?”
“We found her, we found her,” she sang into the phone. “But you have to come to us because we don’t want to leave and lose her.”
“Found who?”
“Sara’s mom. Your friend and I found her.”
I brightened, put my palm over the phone to talk to Corey. “It’s Future. She found Sara’s mom.”
He beamed. “Awesome.”
“What do we do?” I asked Future. “Where is she?”
“We’re outside…where are we?” she asked someone else. A male voice spoke but I couldn’t place it. “242 Kimble. Hurry up before she leaves or something.”
“We don’t have a car.”
“Shit, what happened to your van?”
“Uh,” I looked at Corey. “We have to go to her. Future is trying to watch to make sure she doesn’t leave. How do we get there?”
Corey got his phone, and started typing. “I either call a cab and go pick up the SUV or get Axel to come back.”
I spoke to Future. “We’re working on it.”
“Make it quick. I’m going to steal your man.” She hung up.
I rolled my eyes and put the phone away. I took a few steps along the carpet, looking around. “Where’s my stuff?”
Corey pointed to my bag in the corner while he held the phone to his ear. “I can’t get Axel. He’s not picking up.”
