Chapter 78
Chapter Seventy-Eight
Robin
When I step back into the kitchen, I catch Katie and Pierre talking quietly, heads close together, bent over a plate of something that looks desert-like. The sound the door makes closing behind me makes them jump apart.
I think I might have ruined a moment. Damn.
Katie’s giving Pierre a sad glance while his gaze fixes on me.
“Um, hey,” I greet, heading straight for the laundry room. “I’m back early. I’ll sort the next loads. You can finish your food.”
Though I seriously doubt I’m back early, I want to give my co-workers the chance to catch their moment before it slips away.
I get into the laundry room and realize the machines are all still going.
They all have a few minutes left on their cycles.
Katie steps into the room a second later, blowing out a weary breath as she leans back against the wall next to the door. It swings closed, and she gives me a wry smile.
“I’m so sorry,” I start.
“Sorry?” she asks, looking confused.
“It felt like you two were having a moment out there, and I rushed in and spoiled it.”
“Oh,” she says, sighing. “Don’t worry about that.
It wasn’t special. We always get close, and the tension starts to get all sexy, and nothing ever happens.
It’s like he prefers the thrill of the chase to ever actually catching me.
Or he just doesn’t like me at all, and I’m generating the tension on my own. Ugh. Who knows? It just sucks.”
It sounds complicated, and I have no idea how to make her feel better, so I keep my mouth shut.
She sighs a little more and pulls a strand of hair free from her elaborate up-do, twisting it around her finger. “Sometimes, I wish I wasn’t into men. They’re way more hassle than they’re worth.”
The machines stop, one by one, and she pushes away from the wall.
“Okay, moping over with. It’s time to get back to work.”
She smiles and chats like normal once we start to deal with the laundry.
The afternoon is mostly spent washing, drying and organising laundry, while other academy staff take away the baskets to bring the clean stuff back to the rooms they came from, and bring us new bundles to get started on.
The system feels streamlined, designed to keep us busy with a few minutes of rest every hour.
It’s a little tiring, which is a surprise, but I guess that’s because I’ve been living like an invalid for a while. I know I’ll get used to it, and nothing about it is difficult to learn.
“Almost there!” Katie exclaims, pointing to her watch as I load up the last of the baskets with cleaned and dried items.
“Wow. It’s been a quick day.”
“I know, right?” She closes the dryer’s door. “It can be kind of boring sometimes, but there’s usually enough work to make the time pass quickly.”
“So, I guess we just leave the baskets for the others to pick up?” I ask.
“Yeah. We’ve moved them so the next shift should know they’ve to be taken back to the rooms. Worst thing that could happen is they get washed twice, and that’s really nothing.”
She leads the way out of the room.
The kitchen seems busier now, with a few members of staff prepping things on the counters, and Chef Pierre paying close attention to whatever he’s cooking on the oven top.
“We’re out,” Katie sings as we pass. “So long until tomorrow.”
Pierre doesn’t look up. It’s a bit rude, but I guess I don’t really know him.
Maybe Katie’s right that he’s only interested in flirting.
We leave the kitchens and walk along the corridor toward the stairs.
“We’ll be staying on duty in the laundry room this week,” Katie tells me.
“Lana doesn’t want you running all over the building when you’re not ready for that, but we’ll get to do the taking stuff back and forth part at some point.
It can be kind of fun. Sometimes the Omegas are friendly and want to talk when you bring their stuff back. ”
“So, they’re in their rooms usually, then?”
“Well, lately they are, but when the schools running with classes and everything, we might hardly ever see them. Lana’s taking her time to put a regular schedule back in place. The whole thing with Warren Corvina screwed up a lot of stuff. That’s why security’s so tight.”
“Warren Corvina?” I ask, trying to remember what she told me about him before.
I know I’ve heard the name, and it was linked to something awful.
“You haven’t heard about him? Oh, Robin. He’s a monster. He’s a psychiatrist who was abusing Omegas. He was brainwashing them, including his own daughter, so that evil Alphas who think Omegas are their property could use them. It’s so disgusting.”
“He was brainwashing Omegas at the academy?”
I think that’s what she told me about him before.
She nods as we get to the staircase. “I don’t know how many or who they were, but he was here a lot before he got put in prison. He was definitely doing that stuff here.”
“But he got caught for it, right?” I ask, as we start walking up the stairs.
“Not exactly,” she says, catching my shocked look and nodding.
“Yeah, you heard that right. He got locked up for killing a kid. That was something to do with blackmail, I heard. He was making crazy amounts of money, too, but no one seems to be looking too deeply into that. The brainwashing thing isn’t being taken seriously by the cops or anyone else in general.
But a lot of people here know it’s true because of stuff they saw. ”
We hit the landing and stop walking.
“That’s a lot,” I admit, still processing half of what she just told me.
“I know, right?” She nods. “Well, we’re lucky he’s locked up. And we’re doubly lucky that Lana’s the one in charge now. She’s not going to let that kind of stuff happen again.”
Katie smiles. “Anyway, don’t go to bed thinking about that, okay? I don’t want to be responsible for any nightmares. You can call me later if you want. Or come and see me. Anytime.”
“Thanks. I think I’ll be okay.”
We say goodnight and she goes upstairs.
I move along the corridor to my suite, hand going into my pocket for the key before I remember I gave it to Falcon.
My heart skips a beat at the thought of finding him inside my suite.
I know Lana won’t like this, but I don’t think she’ll kick me out for it.
I stop at the door and reach for the handle, finding it unlocked when I turn it.
Pushing the door inward, I step inside.