Page 10 of Lords of Misrule
“She made some points I hadn’t thought about.”
I smile. I like her already, but that she can put Rowan in his place? I’m impressed.
“Stop fucking grinning like that. She’s a pain in the ass.”
“She’s got a nice ass. Especially in those shorts she was wearing. What were her points?”
Rowan’s lips flatten at my assessment of her.
“That if we don’t do it right, we’ll end up in jail. That we might not have the resources to do it right.”
“Pretty big points.” My brow furrows. I go along with most of Rowan’s plans when it comes to our side hustle. He’s cleverer than me when it comes to this stuff, and I’ve never had to live the way he and Finn did growing up. I never had to think the way he does. At least not yet. My time is running out on that front pretty fucking quickly. So I trust that he knows what’s best. It just makes me nervous that these are things he hasn’t thoroughly figured out.
“I didn’t expect the professor to not pay up. Seems fucking stupid to go into debt to a student betting money illegally. I thought that would cover us with shit like this. And it has,” Rowan argues defensively.
“Until now.”
“Because he’s too fucking stupid to know what’s good for him.”
“What if we worked with her?”
“With her?” He looks at me like I’m a fucking idiot.
“If she hasn’t stolen them yet, maybe there’s a reason. Something she’s waiting on. Something she needs help with. She’s just one person so maybe she needs help to get them out of the house or storing them.”
“I doubt she wants our help.”
“Not if you keep pissing her off,” I admit and receive another flash of warning in Rowan’s eyes.
“Have you gotten any more information on her?”
“I’m working on it. It takes a minute if I don’t want to seem like I’m trying to stalk her.”
“Stalk faster,” he grouches. “In the meantime, I’ll see what Finn knows.”
“What I know about what?” Finn walks into the room at just that moment, headed for the fridge.
“Charlotte,” I answer, Rowan’s already busy scrolling his phone for something.
“Just fucking leave her alone, would you? It’s awkward as fuck with her already in that class,” Finn groans.
“She’s going to steal the paintings,” I interject when I see Rowan’s face light like he’s about to tear into Finn. They don’t argue often, but when they do it’s a fucking nightmare. So I do anything I can to avoid it.
“Charlotte’s going to steal the paintings from Professor Mitchell? She said that?”
“Not exactly. It’s not what she said. It’s what she didn’t say when I accused her of it. She looked guilty as fuck.”
“But why?” Finn looks confused.
“Who the fuck knows. Does it matter? She’s ten steps ahead of us already and she holds all the cards because she sucks his cock every night. We’re fucked. I don’t know how we fucking get out of it.” Rowan sounds defeated.
“I suggested offering to work with her.” I look to Finn, and his brow raises at the mention of it.
“But she doesn’t trust us.” Rowan shakes his head.
“She doesn’t trustyou.It’s pretty obvious she trusts Finn. Or at least has a soft spot where he’s concerned.”
“She doesn’t trust me. Especially not with Rowan in the picture.”
