But didn’t he already have that answer? What did Sang do when she was lonely? She found the first available one of them that was close by. And how did he feel about it? Nothing. Well, he missed her. Kota missed her now. However, if he couldn’t be there next to her, he wanted Nathan or Victor or any of them with her. He didn’t trust anyone but his Academy brothers to take care of her. When he had watched Sang crawling into Gabriel’s lap at the party, he was happy she was happy. He did want her in his own lap, but he felt he could wait. She was right there.
He grumbled to himself. This was confusing.
“I think we need to put this off,” Dr. Green said. “Focus on the rules and we’ll talk about this later when she’s in better shape and we’re all more familiar with her. It may turn out none of you want to date her. The Academy might learn about her and want to take her into another group. We don’t even know if she’ll want to stay with us or if she even wants to date any of you.”
“That’s correct,” Mr. Blackbourne said. “So rule one, no one touches her further unless she moves first. Rule two, no intimate date locations unless she suggests it first. Three, until the appointed time where a decision is made, no one should date another girl and no more guys can join the group. Sang’s too vulnerable to bring in another member or could feel hurt if she sees you with another girl.”
“So if she kisses one of us? We can kiss her back after that, right?” Gabriel asked, his eyes squinting, as if trying to understand exactly what he could get away with.
“If she really does it first. A kiss on the hand, you can kiss her on the hand. A kiss on the mouth, then you can kiss her there. You can mimic how she touches you,” Mr. Blackbourne offered. “And you all have to agree to this. No jealous arguments about who gets to hang out with her. No one fights over who is holding her hand today. If that happens, I’ll have to insist you all back off even if she does try to take it a step further.”
“I think that’s a call for a unified agreement,” Dr. Green said, putting his hands behind his back and smiling pleasantly at all of them. “Are we in agreement with three rules in the case of Miss Sang Sorenson? Plus the job of finding out the truth and then deciding if we convince her father to let us take her?”
Everyone turned to Luke, the first in line at the table today. Luke’s dark eyes focused on the opposite wall, as if already dreaming up what he was supposed to do. “I am willing,” he said in a quiet voice, “and I will obey.”
It was an impossible request. The first girl in the group, and they were making crazy promises. It meant Kota couldn’t date her until she asked him out. Or maybe he could. Hadn’t he kind of already asked her? His mother did, but Sang had said yes. Did that mean he could take her? He couldn’t kiss her like he wanted. He thought about all the ways he had touched her before. What could he do with her now?
Victor was next. “I am willing,” he said, “and I will obey.”
“I’m unwilling,” North rushed in. North always had to cast a different vote, Kota knew that. Being unwilling, though, just meant he wasn’t happy with the rules. “but I will obey.” And there it was. He wasn’t happy but he would follow through. It was enough.
“I am willing, and I will obey,” Silas said, his voice strong, as if he’d already made his decision for everything and he was waiting for the meeting to be over.
“I am willing, and I will obey,” Gabriel said, staring off at the table.
“I am willing, and I will obey,” Nathan repeated, flexing his fists. Kota knew this meant he wasn’t happy with it.
Kota was last. He could bring this all to a halt right now if he said he would not obey. Three words. I won’t obey. The ruling would be overturned. If he did, it would force them all to back off and remain strictly platonic with her. No one could date her if she stayed with their group.
If he did decline though, he would have to establish himself as platonic with Sang for a while, and hope that sometime in the future the others would find other girls they wanted and they could overturn the decision. Maybe Sang would outright say she wanted out of the group and join another Academy family, but she could still date him if she wanted.
It was a big risk. This would assume she was interested in him at all. It would cut off her chance with the other guys if she had feelings for one of them. How would she know they wanted her if they weren’t allowed to tell her or pursue her? Could he expect her to wait as a friend in a slim hope she might understand and still want to be with him? If they all establish themselves as platonic, what would stop her from trying to date someone else?
All Kota knew was that his need to touch her and to hold on to her was winning out. If he agreed, he could go home to her as soon as their job was over and curl up with her in that damn attic all evening. Someday maybe she’d kiss him and he could then kiss her back.
Could he risk that she might kiss one of the others? What would he do if she did?
Share her or possibly lose her forever.
Kota knew the answer to this. “I am willing,” he stated, inducing a pitch of assurance. He would not be misheard in this instance. He knew this weeks ago when he first started watching her, before that first night he bumped into her. He wanted Sang, even if he had to share her. “And I will obey.”
THE END
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Books by C. L. Stone
The Academy Series:
Introductions
First Days
Friends vs. Family
Forgiveness and Permission (Coming Soon)
Other C. L. Stone Books:
Spice God
Smoking Gun
READ AN EXCERPT FROM THE NEXT BOOK IN THE ACADEMY SERIES
T he A cademy
Forgiveness and Permission
Year One
Book Four
by C. L. Stone
onslaught
If you had asked me last week when my life changed, I might have said it did when I met Kota Lee and he dragged me into the world of the Academy with secret agendas and boys who were handsome, who knew how to infiltrate, spy and rescue and did so on a regular basis.
Today, if you asked me the same question, I would say it was when my mother told me she wasn’t my mother.
My name is Sang Sorenson. I was your untypical straight A student who was shy and never had a friend in my life until I met Kota. I had an abusive... I guess I should call her a stepmother, who didn’t want me and a father that was never there and didn’t want me either. The only thing my father asked me before he disappeared back into his double life was to keep my head down and keep an eye on my older half-sister until the end of the school year and to take care of my stepmother if she managed to make it out of the hospital. He left us money and a house. We were on our own.
And my sister, Marie, didn’t want me there, either. After I revealed to her what our father had said, she claimed she didn’t need a babysitter and she could handle things herself.
But I made a promise to my father, and from that to the dead mother whose name I didn’t even know. He had promised her to take care of me and I would allow it, for now and I wouldn’t abandon my sister like our parents had abandoned us.
But I also had Kota, Luke, Nathan, Silas, North, Gabriel, Victor, Mr. Blackbourne and Dr. Green. Nine friends. Nine members to my own secret family. They looked after me and promised to be there for me no matter what.
Except I had a sketchy idea of what family meant, and what they wanted with a girl with such a complicated situation.
I could only wish, with all my h