Friday morning he finished the set Ward had already called good enough and put it in the drop folder before ten. The review stayed held. That was the only clean thing on the board.
Caroline’s text had said noon, two blocks off campus, black SUV. He walked it. The street was quiet enough that he could hear his own steps. Ryan was on the far side of the quad with two people from the mixer and did not cross. Madison was not there. He did not look for her.
The SUV was where she said. Windows up. Engine off. She unlocked it when he reached the passenger side and did not speak until the door was shut and the locks clicked.
"Seat back. Hands on your thighs until I say otherwise."
He put the seat back. She checked the mirrors, then him.
"David had lunch with someone from the college this morning. Your name came up with the warning and the house. I told him the boy story was thin. I told him Sophia pays you for work he can check if he wants to check it. He did not like hearing it from me. He will like it less when someone else repeats it without me in the room."
"That is what you said you would do."
"That is the start. The rest is not free." She reached across the console and opened his belt herself. Her hands were steady. "You do not talk about Veronica. You do not talk about Ryan. You do what I tell you for the next twenty minutes. The five hundred from the wall stays a fee. If you start choosing, I stop spending political capital on a student who lives in someone else’s house."
He did not argue. She got him out and stroked him until he was hard, watching his face the way she had watched the breakfast table. Then she climbed over the console in her skirt, pushed her underwear aside, and sank down on him with a tight sound she did not try to hide. One hand braced on the headrest. The other stayed on his chest, not affectionate, just keeping him where she put him.
"Stay still until I say."
He stayed still. She rode him slow at first, then harder, the car shifting just enough that anyone on the sidewalk would have known. Wicked Fingers at her hip made her breath catch. ~mh. When she started to tighten he held her there with Make Her Wait. She swore under her breath, thighs shaking, forehead almost against his, until he let her finish. ~ah. She came hard enough that her weight dropped onto him and stayed there a second longer than the fee required.
"Again. Do not move."
He did not move. Second Wave took the next one while she was still full of him, and she bit the fabric of his shirt to keep the sound inside the glass. Then she lifted off, turned in the cramped space, and braced her hands on the dash.
"From behind. Now. Do not take your time."
He got behind her as best the seat allowed and pushed back in. She was slick and open and still fluttering. He held her hips and gave her the pace she had asked for. The windows had fogged at the edges. She came a third time with her face toward the street she could not see, ~mh, and he finished in her because she pushed back and did not tell him to pull out.
They stayed like that until her breathing slowed. She fixed her skirt, wiped the corner of her mouth with a tissue from the console, and looked at him in the mirror like she was checking a listing.
"You will be at the donors’ thing on Saturday. David will be there. So will I. You stand where Sophia puts you. You answer if someone asks about a building. You do not look at me like this car happened. If Ryan opens his mouth, you let me close it. You do not help him by answering."
"And the money."
"Already moved. Another five hundred. Next time I text, you come. Same rules. If you start deciding the terms, the story stays a boy in Veronica’s house and I go back to my own problems."
He got out. She pulled away before he had fully shut the door.
[Repeat: Caroline Mitchell]
[Reward: 1,200 CP]
[Reward: $500]
[CP: 10,850]
[Cash: $4,950]
Sophia’s email was already on his phone. Mercer was moving. Walk that afternoon if he was free. He typed that he was and walked to the Halston side of campus to meet her at the property.
The couple from the first showing were back with a different number. Sophia let him talk. He pointed at the soft floor under the sink and the window that still stuck. Quick Think kept the notes clean. The husband tried to talk over him once. Clean Ask held the sentence. The wife wrote the number down.
On the sidewalk after, Sophia did not ask about his morning.
"Eight hundred for the week still stands. If this closes, the two percent is yours. Caroline asked whether you were free tomorrow for a walk she did not need me on. I told her you answer your own texts. Do not make that a problem for my listings."
"I will not."
"Good. Saturday you are with me at the donors’ breakfast. Same rules as last time. Mitchell will be there. Do not pick a fight with the son. Do not look like you are waiting for the wife to save you."
He went home with the afternoon still on his clothes. Veronica was in the kitchen with her laptop. Isabella was not in the room.
"Friday set?"
"Dropped. Ward held the review."
"Mitchell’s office has not called today. That is the only reason this conversation is short." She looked at him over the screen. "Saturday you are with Sophia. You will be home after. If David’s name is in my inbox again before Monday, we are past the point where I ask you for the version."
"I understand."
"See that you do."
Upstairs, Caroline’s second text was already there. Saturday after the breakfast. Not the car. A room. She would send the address when David was occupied.
He did not reply with a question. He replied with the time he would be free.
Ward had held the letter. Sophia had the week. Caroline had the next room. Ryan still had the paper, but the paper was starting to cost his mother something.
Saturday would show which of them spent it better.