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It was decently organized. That was odd to me since most boys I knew were slobs. Not Corey. What wasn’t hung up was folded on shelves built into the closet. The majority was what I would expect: T-shirts and jeans, comic book references on nearly every shirt. Then, on the outer edges, there were clothes that didn’t fit his style at all: tuxedos, polo shirts, hipster, redneck, sophisticated. Costumes.
Spy clothes? If you had to blend in, best to look the part, like how they’d given me a dress before.
Okay, so they were spies. Got that. How do I get to know their purpose? There’s got to be a leader. It clearly wasn’t Axel, because he reported to Mrs. Bernard. What about that doctor ... Dr. Roberts? I’d tried to steal his wallet and he’d brought me to the guys. Maybe he was the boss, but still, from what I could remember, he didn’t seem like the boss.
I didn’t expect a history report about the Academy to be lying around, but maybe another one of those files, an address, a paycheck stub of some sort, anything.
I swayed on my footing, staring into the closet, trying to figure out how much time I had to go through the boxes at the top. Some were marked as “comic books” and “DVDs” but I wondered if Academy paperwork or spy stuff had been mixed in with it. Maybe there was tax info. Would he hide more photos and files in those boxes?
I went on tiptoe, trying to reach the top box on a stack. I barely caught the corner, and tried pulling slowly. It was heavy for its size.
The sound of the door opening startled me and I pulled down on the box. It fell over, and hit me on the shoulder as I tumbled backward. The box flew open, and comics slid out. I jerked my body to try to stop it and landed on my butt.
Corey stood in the doorway. He blinked down at me for a moment, his head tilting as his eyes went to the closet, the open box, spilled comic books all over the place, and me on the floor.
Busted.
He smirked, and closed the door behind himself. “Looking for something to read?”
“Sorry,” I said. “It said comics, and I got curious. I was only going to peek.”
“Didn’t know you liked comics,” he said. He got on his knees on the floor, and started picking up. “You okay?”
“I didn’t mean to snoop,” I said. “I just...”
“Don’t worry,” he said. He stacked the books up, dropping them back into the box. His smile lifted, reaching his eyes, lighting them up until they nearly glowed. “Go through whatever you want. Nothing to hide here.”
“You’re not weirded out?”
“Are you kidding? I’ve got a brother, not to mention the other guys, and then there’s Raven. You’ve got to get used to your things being pawed through around them. But next time, if you need help getting a box down, ask me. I’ll help.”
Nothing secret in his closet, then. I studied him as he continued to clean up the comics, checking for dents and folds. His happy disposition never faded. It was difficult to think of him as a spy when I first found out, but I knew his computer skills now and I saw what he could do when we had taken on Coaltar together.
Maybe if I wanted to get to know the Academy, I had to get to know them. I had to get them to trust me and tell me about it. If it was a secret group, they seemed to want to include me in it. Didn’t Axel say he wasn’t sure how interested I would be?
If I proved to be interested, and showed a desire, would they tell me all about it?
Would I be sinking deeper into their world? If I didn’t want in, would they kill me?
Corey didn’t look like a killer.
But he did have gun.
I scooped up the box, trying to lift it and put it back. “So what’s going on?” I asked. “I got up and no one was here.”
“Well,” he said. He walked up behind me, until I could feel his chest at my back. He helped with the box, putting it into the closet. The flexing of his arms so close distracted me so it was mostly him putting it back. “I’m on my way out of town. There’s a job I’ve got to do in Florida. I think you’re supposed to—”
“Can I go?” I asked, hoping. This had to be the secret job in Florida, the one Axel took. I’d gotten a glimpse once at an Academy job with Coaltar, but I fumbled it by taking the lead, crashing his boat, and shooting Coaltar in the leg. If I wanted to know about the Academy, I could find out how they worked by working alongside them on their jobs. They’d let me in on one. I could join them on others. I’d just have to keep my mouth shut and let them take the lead so I could learn more.
This one sounded good, because it came directly from one of their higher-ups. Corey was such a sweetheart. I could go with him and he may even answer my questions. This would be the perfect excuse to get him alone and talk.
Corey looked at me, his smile brightening. “You want to? It’ll be boring. Sounds like a simple enough job. Most of this is going to be drive time.”
I hesitated. There was Wil, after all. He was still missing to me. However, I reminded myself, I couldn’t let them find Wil, either, until I was sure they weren’t going to drag him into something neither of us wanted. “It won’t take too long?”
Corey’s eyes shifted as he thought, calculating. “It’s a four hour drive. If we start now, we could possibly be back by tomorrow morning. If it really doesn’t take too long, we’d sleep there a few hours and head back. If we get caught short, we can just drive overnight. I think we’d be back in time to meet Wil at school in the morning.”
“Sounds good to me. Just you and me?”
The corner of his mouth lifted higher, and then his lip dipped a little in a small pout. “Raven’s coming along.”
A long car ride with Raven? I guess Corey needed another driver, plus he was good security. Could I get information from Corey with Raven around? I’d have to take a chance. “Where’s the other guys?” I asked.
“At jobs. Marc’s doing his own thing. Axel’s going to be taking care of his animals and he’s got other stuff planned. Brandon’s at the shop.”
I wanted to ask more about Brandon’s shop and what Marc’s thing was but passed it off. It was a tough decision, trying to pick which one to stick with, but Corey was an easy target. I could get close to him without worrying about any relationship complications, and I wanted to avoid Brandon and Marc right now. “And it’s okay if I go?”
“Sure,” he said. “Grab some clothes, just in case. Just some overnight stuff. I don’t expect it to take that long but helps to come somewhat prepared.”
I scurried to the living room, spotting my bags near the sofa. I dragged them back to Corey’s room, plopping them on the bed. I picked up Marc’s boots again to wear.
Corey was going through his clean basket of clothes and the closet. He brought out a small stack of jeans and T-shirts, and then a dressier pair of slacks and clean button-up shirt, and then got out an overnight bag. He glanced over at me as he sorted throu
gh what he had. His eyes went to the book bags as I plopped them onto the bed. “Moving in with me?”
“Erm, actually, I don’t know. I don’t really have...” What could I say? I didn’t want to unpack just in case I found something I didn’t like and needed to run. I didn’t want to say no in case things weren’t that bad, plus I didn’t have anywhere to go, and didn’t know how long it would actually take to find out the truth about the Academy. Limbo sucked.
Corey’s eyes brightened. “It’s not a problem.” He went to the closet, sliding over the doors further. He rearranged his clothes, pulling a couple of stacks of folded items and placing them on top of boxes on the higher shelf. He dug out some empty hangers deeper in the closet and made room closer to the front, leaving the empty hangers closer to the middle. He stood back and pointed to what he’d done. “There’s some space if you want it. And borrow whatever clothes you need.”
Sure, buddy, I’ll move right in. He really was way too nice. “I did,” I said, motioning to the clothes I was wearing that I’d borrowed from him last night.
He smiled, and he studied me in the boxers and T-shirt. “Looks better on you.”
My lips moved, wanting to say something, a compliment, a thank you, a joke. I couldn’t think of anything, and a flurry of good feelings buzzed through me. I was crushing on him so hard, and he was being such a sweetheart.
Please don’t be a bad guy.
He pulled out another overnight bag, handing it over to me. I used the bathroom quickly to freshen up and to put on underwear and a bra. I wore my own clothes: shorts and a tank top. When I returned, I packed another shirt and shorts into the overnight bag, and threw in a T-shirt of his and boxers to sleep in. I threw in makeup samples I still had, and one of the hotel shampoos I’d collected.
The cell phone fell out of the pocket of one of the book bags. For a moment, I held up the cell phone, debating. “Corey?”
“Hm?” he fiddled with his own bag, tucking in his laptop and then a 3DS.
“Do I keep this phone?” I asked, and showed it to him. I’d only used it once to call them when Wil was missing. Since it belonged to them, it didn’t feel right to hang onto it since I was here with them.
