“Remember Knight Reed?” I asked, being passive about it. I dunked another dumpling before popping it into my mouth. “That boy from Maywood Heights?”
“I do.” She frowned and when Ben looked at her, she shrugged. “He’s a boy who lived at one of the houses I used to clean. Greer and I lived at his grandfather’s estate for a while. I was one of their live-in housekeepers.”
“Ah…” Ben lifted his head before his eyes flashed. “His grandpa isn’t Gerald Reed, is he?”
My chest tightened at the thought he knew anything about the Reeds. “Yeah, why?”
Ben lounged back, his fingers threading across his chest. “Well, we have him to thank for our spanking new uniforms. Gear?” He flashed his utility belt, and I supposed his uniform did appear new. Honestly, I wouldn’t even know the difference since I didn’t really pay that much attention. Ben smiled. “I heard his grandson goes to Pembroke. Do you two know each other closely?”
“No, why would you ask that?” I said this too fast, enough for them to both notice when they narrowed their eyes. I pushed around my hair. “I mean, not particularly. I ran into him.”
“Did you? How is he?” Mom asked, and though I maybe had ill will toward Knight and his grandpa for firing her and making us homeless all those years ago, my mom wasn’t nearly as petty. She’d moved on, and when the whole thing went down, I hadn’t recalled her really being mad at all. If anything, she’d just been more sad. “Greer?”
I jumped. “Yeah?”
She smiled. “What did he have to say? How is he now? He used to be such the little adult back then, Ben. Seriously, I’d never seen a child direct a house just like his grandpa. He liked things a certain way, a terribly bossy little thing.”
More like entitled as fuck. Dampening my lips, I said nothing. “Sorry, and it’s nothing. I just ran into him.”
“Are you sure—”
“I said it’s nothing.” And really, this whole thing was fucking stupid, coming here to eat with them. For all I knew, he was still watching me. I gathered my things, tossing my trash before reaching over and hugging Ben. “Thanks for the food.”
It’d been on his tab, always, and after he returned the hug, I reached and kissed my mom, doing the same with a hug.
She rubbed my back. “Okay. You got homework or something? It’s not that late.”
Yeah, that. I nodded. “And sorry. I’ll try to do the dinner thing more.”
They both smiled at me, but mine couldn’t really be full. Knight Reed was in my freaking head, and the way Ben talked about him and his rich grandpa, you’d think he was one of the Reeds’ biggest fans. Maybe he was, blinded just like Haley, Keisha, and Sophie had been. Even my mom held no ill will toward the Reeds, myself the minority.
Mom offered to drive me back to my dorm, but since the transit authority ran every ten minutes and I had a pass, I just hopped on, holding the bar on the short trip home. Getting off at my stop, I just wanted a shower and found my roommates belly down with their textbooks on the floor. I’d missed our nightly study session tonight due to family dinner.
“Hey,” I said, passing quickly through the room. I didn’t really want to talk to anyone, just wanted to shower, and was in and out of the room before they’d barely been able to say hi. Sophie called down the hall for me, and as I opened the door, she said his name.
“Knight’s waiting for you in your room,” she said, but it was too late.
My hand had already been on the knob, steps made to go inside, and I couldn’t even stop my momentum if I tried. I was jerked inside my bedroom by a hand that encased my entire wrist, and once pulled in, the door was slammed behind me.
I was forced up against it, a knee between my legs and warm breath breezed against my ear. Knight Reed smelled like heaven laced with something hellish, the devil in designer threads staring back at me.
“Big mistake, little dove,” he said, dragging his nose along the shell of my ear. He put hands on either side of my head. “Going to the cops?”
Chapter Seven
Greer
My heart beat like a jackrabbit, Knight’s lips brushing my earlobe. “Stop.”
“Or what?” he breathed, a smile in his voice. “You’ll tell on me? Go back to the campus police?”
“I didn’t tell—”
His hand slammed the door, and I jumped, quivering between his arms. What the hell was he doing?
He curled a finger against my throat. “I own the campus, baby. Fuck, own the real police.”
“I didn’t…” Braving up, I stood tall. My jaw tightened. “I didn’t say anything to them, asshole.”