Evan hitsa buzzer next to the door of the student housing wing. I haven’t been here yet, so I take a few moments to admire the building. It still catches me off guard how stunning this place is.
The locks click and Evan pulls the heavy door open, lifting his arm to guide me in front of him. There’s a large oval desk just inside. Two women and one man are stationed there. All eyes are already on us as we enter.
“Hey, boss man,” the dark-haired woman greets Evan. “You giving a tour?” The woman’s brows are up near her hairline. The other two just watch us with interest.
“I’m escorting Ms. Shaw to see Jacob and his sister. Has dinner already started?” He leans his elbow on the desk, an easy sense of familiarity between them.
“Nah, they don’t open the doors for another fifteen, but half the kids are probably already lined up and waiting.” She gives a slight shrug as if to saykids.“Want me to page them or you going to check to see if they’re still in their rooms?” She places her hand on the phone, waiting for his reply.
Evan glances over at me. “We’ll take a look around first. Thanks, Mickey.” The woman gives him a playful mock salute and casts her eyes over to me. “Nice to meet you, Ms. Shaw.” Her face is kind, genuine.
I smile in return. “Quinn, you too, Mickey.” I give her a wave and follow Evan as he pulls open another door, which I assume leads to the rooms.
“Main floor is for the younger kids,” Evan informs me, as we begin to pass by doors that are spread fairly far apart with communal bathrooms every so often. One door flies open as we pass and I see inside as a short, redheaded girl barrels her way through. I catch a glimpse of a few bunk beds and a cozy woven rug on the floor before my view is cut off by the door snapping closed. “Slow down, Kit,” Evan warns, and the girl’s steps falter, but she grins up at the big man.
“Sorry, Mr. Winters.” She lisps around several missing front teeth. My heart does a little flip at her utter cuteness. I watch as she looks over her shoulder to see if Evan is still watching, then breaks out into another run. Evan is facing forward, but when I observe him, I note the grin on his lips. He knows exactly what the girl is doing.
“They bunk together?” I make the assumption as we continue to pass rooms with mostly closed doors.
“Yeah, in groups of four to eight, until they’re a little older. Then we split them into pairs or quads.” Evan reaches the bottom of an open set of stairs and again motions for me to go ahead of him. “They’re up on the third floor.” I move over to the side so he can keep pace with me. The stairs are empty, so there’s no need for him to follow behind me.
I keep my steps even, not wanting to rush and be panting by the time we get to the top. Evan nods to a man sitting behind a small desk on the second floor when we pass.
“Are Riley and Jacob rooming together?” I tuck my hair behind my ear.
“Yeah, Riley’s only been here a few weeks, so switching up her roommates wasn’t a big deal. We usually try to keep siblings together, unless there’s too large of an age gap. That can be tricky.”
I look around and make sure no one is around to overhear us. “I noticed you sometimes call Jacob, wolf. Do you always know…” I let the question hang, not wanting to offend him or anyone else by askingwhatsomeone is.
“Yeah, you’ll get a sense for it,” he answers easily. I’m not so confident.
There’s another small desk when we reach the third floor. This one is empty. Evan leans his head over the counter and hums. “Someone should be here.” He looks around again then pulls his phone from his hip. “Who’s on the third floor?”Evan walks over to a door that has a long glass window on one side and peers in. “Found him.” He ends the call and snatches the door open. “Rand!” Evan barks.
The sound in the room, though not loud, dies the moment Evan speaks, even the sound from a TV gets lowered quickly.
“Yeah, yes. I’m here.” Evan pushes the door open and reveals a few couches and a pool table. I can’t see the entire room, but I’m guessing it’s a place for the older kids to hang out.
“Why aren’t you at the desk?” Evan holds the door open for the man to pass through, and his eyes hit me when he avoids Evan’s gaze.
“Just a little tiff with the kids. I was handling it.”
“Next time bring them out here or call someone else to deal with it. You don’t leave the desk unattended.” Evan is a little gruff, but adds, “We’re looking for Jacob and his sister.”
Rand lowers himself into the chair behind the desk. “Probably still in their room, they weren’t in there.” He hooks his thumb over his shoulder.
Evan taps his knuckles on the counter twice before saying, “All right, we’ll go check. Anything going on in there I need to know about?” Evan jerks his head to the side, meaning the common room Rand was in.
“Same ole, same ole. Chloe and Michelle beefing,” Rand answers, sounding as if the issue with these two has been going on for a long time.
“Might need to separate them again if they keep it up. Bring it up at the next meeting.” With that, Evan places his hand on the small of my back and guides me down a long hall to the left. I watch Rand’s eyes dip to where Evan’s hand is before his lips curl up a tiny bit.
I purposefully ignore the heat from his palm and keep my focus trained ahead of me. “This is them.” Evan drops his hand from my back and raps on the door.
I hear some shuffling from the other side, and then I see Jacob’s face through the slit of the cracked door. When he sees Evan, he tugs the door open the rest of the way. “Hey, Jacob. Settling in okay?” I ask.
“Quinn!” He steps out and grabs my hand, towing me right past Evan and into the room. My head jerks back quickly at the fast movement.
“Careful,” Evan growls, and tags along behind me.
