Saturday morning the club looked the same as last time. White stone. Drive that made every car look rented. Sophia was already in the side room with coffee she had not finished.
"Same rules. You stand with me. You answer buildings, not houses. If David starts with the boy thing again, you do the work answer and stop. Do not look for Caroline. Do not look at Ryan like you are waiting for a fight."
"I was not going to."
"You say that. Then you do the face." She checked her phone. "Mercer is still moving. That is the only thing I care about in that room. Everything else is noise."
The breakfast room was fuller than last week. David was at the far end again. Caroline next to him, dark hair, watch she did not need. Ryan three seats down, already watching the door.
Sophia took a seat with a clear line on David and left the chair beside her. A man across asked who Ethan was. Sophia did the short version—walks Westhaven, caught the soft floor on Mercer—and the man nodded and went back to his eggs.
David did not nod.
"Still with Sophia," he said. Not loud. Loud enough. "I heard the college has you on a warning. Interesting combination."
Forks kept moving. Caroline did not look up at first. Ryan did.
Ethan set his water down.
"The review is held. The set passed. The walks are still the walks. If you want the Mercer notes, Sophia has them."
David’s smile was small. "Notes. Right."
Caroline turned her head then. Not to David. To Ethan.
"The wall on File was as thin as you said. The neighbor situation is real. I told David the listing was honest. He can decide what he does with that."
David’s jaw moved once. Ryan’s glass stopped halfway.
Sophia did not smile. She passed Ethan the sheet like they had done it before.
"If the number moves, we walk it again. If it does not, there are cleaner ones. That is the whole conversation."
Breakfast went on. A wing. A name. Ryan said almost nothing until they were standing for coffee.
He caught Ethan near the steps while Sophia was still inside with a donor.
"You think my mother covering for you fixes it."
"I think she said the wall was thin."
"She says a lot of things." Ryan glanced at the door. "My father does not forget paper. You live in that house. The warning still happened. One breakfast does not make you not a problem."
"I did not ask it to."
Ryan almost said something else and then did not. Sophia came out with her folder and he stepped aside like the whole thing had been nothing.
In the car she was quiet until the club was behind them.
"You did not pick the fight. Good. Caroline did more work than you did in there, which is fine, because she is the one who can spend it. Do not thank her in public. Do not text her from my car."
"I was not going to."
"See that you mean it." She dropped him near campus. "Mercer closes or it does not. Monday we look at the week. Go home. Veronica will want the short version of this morning and nothing else."
Caroline’s address came while he was still on the sidewalk. A hotel three streets over. Room under a name that was not Mitchell. After one.
The room was already open a crack. She let him in and locked it. No coat. Blouse she had worn to breakfast. She looked tired in a way the breakfast had not shown.
"Sit. Or do not. I do not care. David is in a meeting until three. Ryan is somewhere being himself. I have an hour and I am not spending it talking about walls."
"Okay."
She almost laughed. "Okay. That is all you have."
"You said the room. I came."
"You did." She crossed to him and kissed him like she was still annoyed about the table. "Do not be gentle. I am not in the mood for gentle."
He was not gentle. He got the blouse open and his mouth on her throat. Wicked Fingers under the lace. She made a small sound and pushed him toward the bed. Skirt up. Underwear aside. She was already wet. He rubbed her until her hips followed, then held her off with Make Her Wait when she got close.
"Do not— just—"
He waited until she was shaking, then let her finish. ~ah. Second Wave took the next one while his mouth was still on her, and she grabbed the sheet and did not try to stay quiet. He turned her, got behind her, and pushed in. She pushed back.
"Like that. Do not slow down because you think I need it."
He did not slow down. She came again with her face in the pillow, ~mh, and he finished in her because she did not tell him to stop. They stayed there until the hour started to feel short.
She fixed the blouse without looking at him.
"David will keep testing the boy story. I will keep answering it with the work. You keep showing up when I text. If you start needing it to mean something else, say so and I stop. I am not doing a romance. I am doing damage control that happens to feel good."
"I was not asking for a romance."
"Good." She checked her phone. "Go out the side. If anyone from that breakfast sees you in the lobby, this becomes a different problem."
[Repeat: Caroline Mitchell]
[Reward: 1,000 CP]
[Reward: $0]
[CP: 11,850]
[Cash: $4,950]
He took the side exit. Veronica got the short version when he got home—breakfast, Mercer still moving, no new paper from Mitchell’s office. Isabella watched his face and did not ask.
Ryan still had the paper. Caroline was spending against it. Ward had held the letter. Sophia had the week.
None of them were done with him. He was not done with any of them either.