Spycraft Academy by B. Miles (sites to read books for free .txt) 📗

yours. You've never led me astray before and you're not going to start now. If you say something needs to be done, then it needs to be done."

He turned to Rosin, who ran her hand up and down his spine. She was smiling, but it was watery, unsure.

"I think it'll be dangerous," she said quietly, dropping her hand from Sam's back. He already missed the warmth of her palm. "But...if you need me, Sam, then you have me."

They would help him. They may not believe it was their job to do this, but they were going to do this with him regardless. They were his crew, through and through, and he made a solemn vow, whispered as a prayer in the echoes of his mind. I won't let anything hurt any of you, not ever. I am yours, you are mine, and I will give my life for all of you.

"While that’s all very sweet and touching, do you think that perhaps this can wait until morning? You're interrupting my beauty rest," Fletch drawled from his bed.

Mattie tsked and stood up, crooking her finger at Drina and tugging Rosin by her dainty wrist. Sam wordlessly stood up and followed them out. Like hell he was waiting till morning. There was no telling when Apelles would come for Sam...or Mattie.

Oh no. He'd told Apelles that Mattie had been with him. Granted, if Apelles wanted to parry, Mattie would be his first target anyway, but still. He'd compromised her.

Mattie led Sam, Rosin, and Drina into her room and quickly shut the door. It didn't occur to him that the first and last time he'd been in here, he'd shared a bed with the two girls who lived in it. He stared at Mattie's bed and remembered, vividly, the way she crawled to the edge on all fours and sucked him shamelessly into her mouth.

"Sam, are you alright?" Rosin said, waving her hand in front of his face.

He cleared his throat and smiled, back in the present. Mattie sat on her bed with her legs crossed, and from the way she was looking at him, he could tell she was remembering too. Drina shucked off the trousers she was wearing and plopped beside Mattie in nothing but her thin underthings.

Rosin turned around, saw Drina, gasped, and turned back around.

"Drina!" She squeaked.

"What? It's my room. You act like you've never seen smallclothes before."

"Of course I have!" Rosin huffed. "But they were mine."

Sam frowned at the top of her head. Drina and Mattie looked between one another, then looked at him, and he could tell what they were thinking because he was thinking it too. The only people that had the privilege of conserving their modesty were the people who didn't have to share public washing spaces. Nobles.

"Aw, c'mon Rosin." Mattie patted the bed. "We're comfortable enough around each other to tolerate a little bare skin. It's really not so improper."

"Maybe she'd feel better if you were wearing a little less?" Drina said.

"Maybe. Sam would certainly feel better." Mattie looked at him like she wanted to eat him alive. It sent heat to his groin but he didn't let his mind wander away from the task at hand.

"How about we save getting naked for later," he said, tearing his eyes away from Drina's long, bronzed legs. She pouted.

Sitting on Mattie's bed with the two of them was probably going to be counterproductive to his focus, so he sat on Drina's bed and faced the three of them.

"In case you're wondering," he started before one of the two sirens could distract him. "It was Apelles."

"You're kidding!" Drina's face was somewhere between shock and disappointment. "Man, I liked him. Wait, did you see his face? Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I saw his face," Sam said. "He caught me in the office lobby trying to follow him."

Come to think of it, he'd only seen Apelles' face when he was inside of the building. Outside of it, he had a mask on. He was wearing the right clothes for it, though...Sam was pretty sure. Tight black from head to toe. And why did he jump out the office window? He could have just lifted it and not drawn Sam's attention.

It didn't add up...unless he was trying to catch Sam's attention, get Sam to follow him into the woods...or unless he was giving chase to the real thief because he'd been telling the truth. Either way, Sam had to figure it out, and his only current lead was Apelles.

"Wait, you like him? Why? He's such an ass!" Mattie said.

Drina shrugged. "He's just a bit strict. And, you know, I always did need a bit of discipline to keep me in line." She wiggled her eyebrows and Mattie rolled her eyes.

"What? He's pretty!"

She might have been kidding, but he liked Apelles even less now. He didn't think it was possible, but apparently it was. He brushed off the thought as quickly as it came and refused to acknowledge it. He was not jealous and he was not a hypocrite.

"Anyway, Sam." Rosin was like a boulder, anchoring the two more easily distracted girls back to the present. "Plan?"

"Tie him up and beat the shit out of him?" Drina sounded a little too hopeful about that.

"Psychological torture?" Mattie suggested.

Sam rubbed the bridge of his nose and ignored them, sifting through his head to find an inkling of an idea. Apelles already knew Sam was onto him, and he knew who Sam ran with, so there was no sneaking up on the man at this point.

"We won't be able to corner him or catch him off-guard. Chances are that if he didn't get what he wanted the first time, he got it the second time. So, I vote we watch him throughout the day. Take shifts at night. It's not like we don't know where he lives. Rosin, Drina, I know this is rude, but I have to ask just in case it can help us now—what are your talents?"

It was so rude to outright