Chapter Nineteen #2
He nods, and I join Mackenzie in the reception area where Adrianne is waiting with my sandwich.
“Here boss. They were not happy to see me after the whole ice cream debacle, so I may have promised them that Kalen would owe them a favour.” I snort. Of course she offered him up as collateral. If only she knew the weight of the word ‘favour’ that she bandys about like candy.
“You know you’re going to have to forgive him eventually. He fucked up and he knows it.”
“I know, but making him sweat it out doesn’t hurt either.”
I shake my head but I can’t help but smile. “Adrianne, this is Mackenzie.”
“Nice to meet you. I have to get back to class. I only asked for a toilet pass but I don’t know if I can talk my way out of this one.”
Adrianne runs off and leaves us to it. I go over to the administration desk and the lady prints off Mackenzie’s timetable and hands me a package that will have her device and room card in it. I open the thick envelope and pull out the swipe card and see that she’s on the same floor as I am.
“Looks like we’re neighbours.”
“Yipee,” she drawls sarcastically.
After a quick stop at the uniform shop, Mackenzie has one to start, and the others will be sent to her room.
On our way to the dorms, we pass by the oval as I give her a tour. I stop for a second when I see Onyx stretching.
“Oh nice, who is that?”
“Mine,” I growl, just as Onyx looks up and jogs over to us.
“What’s with the power suit?” On asks, frowning.
“Your dad took me to spring Mackenzie from lock up.”
“Hi, I’m Mackenzie,” she says, holding out her hand. In typical Onyx fashion he looks down at her hand and dismisses her. She pulls her hand back.
Onyx pulls me into his deliciously sweaty, shirtless body and kisses me.
“Slate and I need to talk to you tonight,” he teases with a wink and pulls away, running back to where the rest of his class is.
“Is he always so arrogant?”
“You may want to learn to reel in your thoughts. A Knox is not someone you want to talk trash about, and especially not my boyfriend.”
“Sorry, can I ask who Slate is?”
“Onyx’s twin brother. I may as well tell you now so you have time to process it all. There are four Knox brothers. All of them are my boyfriends. Yep, all four. And all four are the headmaster’s sons. Knox, as in welcome to Knox Academy.”
“No judgement here, whatever floats your boat is your business. If they all look like that one, you’re one lucky bitch.”
I chuckle at her comment, though I really need to work on being a boss and not a friend. I guess that will all come in good time.
We make our way to the dorm and I show her to her room. It’s a double so she’ll eventually get a roommate but right now it’s only her.
“This room is actually really nice.”
“Each room has its own bathroom, and we have a cafeteria or dining hall, whatever you want to call it. Breakfast is served daily from six, and when your timetable has breaks you can also go and get lunch. Same for dinner. There’s no real curfew but we all are usually back in our rooms after dinner – unless you feel the need to study in the library or one of the study halls. Oh and on your Susan.”
“Susan?”
“Sorry, your tablet, there’s a portal where you can order any supplies you need.
It’s all very basic, you’re here on a court order so everything is paid for.
You can’t go stupid but you can purchase what you need.
There’s a budget for clothes, but since you can hack shit, I take it that you can follow simple directions. ”
“All very basic,” she agrees.
“Remember, you might be good, but we have the best at our disposal. I chose you because I want a woman on my side. Everyone else within the club are men, so you would be one of the first. Don’t fuck this up before you get in.”
“Noted. How long until this initiation?”
“Not very long at all, so just hold tight.”
My phone rings, interrupting us.
“Hey Monty, is everything okay?”
“Yeah, I need you back down here. Get someone to show the girl around.”
“Okay, give me ten.”
I hang up and look at the time. It's just in time for lunch. I take Mackenzie and show her where the dining hall is and find Elsie quickly.
“Hey, this is Mackenzie and she’s new. Monty wants someone to show her around after lunch but I have a meeting with him. Could you possibly do it?”
“Sure,” she replies, eyeing Mackenzie up.
“Thanks. You win top best friend status, Baxter is demoted.”
“I’m telling him you said that.”
“I hope so.”
I leave Mackenzie with Elsie and disappear before Kalen shows up. He’ll want to tag along, but I like the feeling of being independent.
I knock on Monty’s office door before I open it. He’s sitting behind his large desk.
“Ready for round two?”
“What do you mean?”
“While we were at that hearing, I had Dirk and Cap pick up Kathryn.”
“Dirk?”
“He’s not a bad guy, Amelie. And he’s your family. You should give him a chance.”
“Because the rest of my family have been so good to me you mean?”
“Look.” He sighs. But he’s cut off by a knock at the door before he can continue. “Come in.”
In walks my uncle and Kathryn, the girl from the bar.
I’m still unsure of what use she can be because there was so little in her file, but there’s something about her that makes me want to give her a chance.
She’s hot in a grungy Kesha sort of way, with her blonde hair and cowboy boots.
Clearly she’s got changed since her court hearing.
My uncle nods at me, and I nod back. Kathryn looks around the room. She doesn’t seem to have as much attitude as Mackenzie.
“I’m going to take Dirk for a walk around campus. I trust everything here is okay for you to handle?” Monty asks.
“Sure.”
I wish he’d told me this before I showed Mackenzie around. I would have done them both at the same time.
“I’m Amelie,” I say, once Monty and Dirk leave.
“Kathryn. I remember your face.”
“You do?”
“Yeah it was months ago now, but you came into the bar and you sat with a guy. Samuel or S…”
“Sawyer.”
“Yeah, that’s him. He hasn’t been around in a while actually.”
“I’ve been keeping him busy,” I tell her and she laughs. Her memory is super good, and I’m starting to see that Baxter knows more about this girl than her one news article. He would never allow someone he knows nothing about to get close to me. I just have to figure it out.
“Are you going to explain to me what I’m really doing here? I’m sorry to be blunt, but a fancy lawyer doesn’t offer his services for free and then get me a deal to serve a few years here. There has to be a catch.”
“You’re right. I want you to work for me in a private organisation.” Damn, where were those words earlier? Private organisation sounds so much better than ‘club’. Mackenzie was right to tease me for being ten. “Long story short, you initiate, you pass, you get in and there’s no way out.”
“And what do I have to do? It’s not some weird sex place or anything, is it?”
“You do not have to have sex with anyone. We kind of work in favours, non-sexual ones. We have reach all over the world. It can open a lot of doors for you once you complete your time here.”
“And I don’t ever have to work at that bar again?”
“Not unless you want to. But you have an opportunity to study, gain a degree, and be whatever it is that you want to be when you’re done.”
She thinks it over for a second. “What the hell, I’m in.”
That was easier than I thought.
It’s like groundhog day when we both stop at the admin lady, then to the uniform shop and then the dorm rooms. I’m going to really need this visit with Slate and Onyx by the end of the day.
Maybe they’ll start with a massage. My damn feet are killing me in these heels.
I’m like a pro now, strutting around in fancy ass heels, but the foot ache is real.
You’d think with the obscene amount of money that Elsie spends on my shoes, they’d feel like walking on fluffy clouds, but no.
Apparently money can’t buy you comfort. At least not in the shoe department.
Which is why massages and orgasms sound so good.