I shake my head. I’m already hopped up on the giant mocha I had an hour ago.
Adrienne, however, yawns in assent. “I think I will. I didn’t get much sleep last night.”
Genevieve, Adrienne, and Mikhail move off toward the eatery.
Ricardo withdraws his arms from around my waist, leaving burning strips along my skin.
“Hey,” my mouth protests without my permission as Ricardo spins me toward him.
“You went rigid just now. What was that?” he asks, locking eyes with me.
There is no way I’m telling him it’s because I wished, only for a nanosecond, that he kissed me because he wanted to and not because Kenneth was around. It would only make his ego bigger than it already is. No, instead I choose to poke the bear. “If you wanted to see me with my hair down, you could have invited me to hang out in the kitchen with you guys that night. Instead I come down for a snack and see all of you palling around without me. What was that?” I’m whispering by the end, realizing how vulnerable I sound. How lonely. I should have kept my mouth shut.
“Oh, mon coeur. I’m sorry.” He wraps his arms around me and pulls me into a soft hug. “If I’d known how difficult it is for you to be away from me, I would definitely have invited you.”
Groaning even as I laugh, I pull away. “Yes, that’s me. Creeping down the hall to be closer to you. Arg, you’re the worst. Don’t you take anything seriously?”
Laughter rumbles from his throat. “Nope. It’s more fun this way.”
I’d like to kiss that smug look off his face. That, I bet he’d take seriously. I frown. I can’t believe I just thought that. I have to put some distance between us before I do something I regret. “Whatever. See you later.” I move into the stream of people navigating the hallway.
“Whoa, whoa, not so fast. Where’s the fire?” Ricardo says, snagging my arm as I try to sail past him.
“Nowhere. Just decided Genevieve and Adrienne had the right idea, getting away from you.”
“Ouch. Alright, let’s get some coffee.”
“You weren’t invited.”
Even though it’s been a few weeks, I’m still pleasantly surprised when the crowd parts to let the two of us pass. “I’m your devilishly handsome plus one.”
“About that, I think we should break up.” No. Yes. No. Yes?
Ricardo stops in his tracks. “No, no, no. That’s a terrible idea. This is way too much fun. Plus, you know why I was late? My mom tried to corner me after class, and you were my excuse to leave. All of the girls on campus are nicer to me now that I’m a committed man. And Kenneth isn’t jealous enough yet.” He looks a little green as he talks. I didn’t know he was so hell-bent on avoiding his mom. Or having such a hard time dating only one girl the first month of the semester.
Oh no. It hits me. This Saturday. It’s couple’s night at the swing club because it also happens to be Valentine’s Day. Crap. What am I going to do about that? I can’t spend it with Ricardo. That would be way too… real. I should put a stop to this right now, before I dig myself even deeper. I’m already in neck-deep as it is. But the way he’s looking at me right now...
“Come on, Char. Give me a couple more weeks? Please?” Ricardo’s giving me puppy dog eyes, his hands knotted under his chin, and darn it if it doesn’t make me want to concede.
My instincts war within me. Protect myself by pushing Ricardo away. Give in and keep up the act. “Okay,” my mouth says before I can make up my mind.
Ricardo grins. “Great. You won’t regret it. Wait until you see my moves when we go dancing. I’ve been practicing.” He waggles his eyebrows at me, and I can’t help but laugh. Even though I’m pretty sure he’s wrong about regretting this whole mess after it’s over. Ricardo’s shoulders relax as he throws his arm around me and we resume our walk toward the eatery.
“Oh, hey, before I forget. You talking about creeping in the halls reminded me of something weird. I saw someone lurking toward the classrooms one night over break, but didn’t think much of it at the time. I’m pretty sure it was a girl. We should go back through that footage and see if we can identify her. It’s a far away shot from the camera at the front door, but it’s worth a try. At the least, it could give us another suspect in the great mystery of who killed Professor Rook.”
My lips purse. A girl? I’m not sure how that would connect to Professor Rook’s death. The person who attacked me was definitely a guy. Still, anticipation courses through me at the possibility of finding another piece to the puzzle. “Can we go tonight? I want to see who it was.”
Ricardo’s head shakes. “Sorry, mon coeur. I’m not on duty again until Saturday. If you come visit me then, I’ll show you. Then we can go dancing with everyone. It’ll be great.”
“I have to wait until Saturday? But what if it’s important?”
“It’ll still be there.”
Thinking back to how easy it was for Ricardo to delete me from the footage of the night Professor Rook was killed, I have my doubts. Still, if some girl was skulking around the classrooms, I want to know about it. They might have been doing the exact thing I’ve been dying to do, even though I haven’t yet found an opportunity.
Break into Professor Rook’s desk and look through his student files.
Okay, I’ll say it. Watching Ricardo pick the lock on Professor Rook’s desk is doing it for me. He’s hunched over in the shadows behind the desk, the curls of his hair draping his neck as he works. I clasp my hands between my knees to keep from reaching out to caress Ricardo’s hair.
The academy building is silent around us, as if the ancient building itself knows the importance of our task and has taken a vow of silence. As with the other times I’ve snuck around where I’m not supposed to, my heart is dancing in my chest. Adrenaline sings through my veins, making me antsy with anticipation.
The infinitesimal click of the drawer’s lock giving sounds audibly, making me lean forward in anticipation.
Ricardo grins at me over his shoulder, and in this moment I’m so very glad we made the no kissing rule. Because if we hadn’t? I’d probably jump him right now. An image of me shoving him against the desk and pressing my lips to his makes my skin tingle. I’m in way deeper than I realized. I freeze, not sure how I feel about this turn of events.
“Mon coeur?” Ricardo whispers, his eyes sparking pools of liquid heat. “If you don’t stop looking at me like that, this evening is going to take a very unexpected turn.”
His earnest tone is what snaps me out of my decidedly less-than-innocent reverie.
“Let’s just do what we came here for,” I whisper, kneeling beside him and pulling the drawer open with a slow, silent hand. Once it’s open, I pause, listening. All is quiet. When we came down here, the security guard was on rounds, so we may not have much time. He could come up the hall at any moment, and I have no doubt he’d go straight to the headmistress if he found the two of us in here, poring over files from a drawer that was supposed to be locked. He’d accuse us of cheating, probably, which would mean immediate expulsion from the academy.
Adrienne told me that Professor Rook kept indicators in his files of who his clients were, and I need that list if I’m ever going to figure out who would want me to stay away from the investigation of Professor Rook’s death.