Things didn't really change. 

Once again Kellen had summoned me right away for some likely inane reason. The freshman who'd been sent for me scampered away before we even reached the room, scared by my grumbled tirade. I didn't knock; I'd been summoned, after all. "What the hell, Kellen? This better be good—"

"Hero!" Kellen grinned, tossing me a can of soda.

"Darn." Jackson annoyingly ruffled my hair as he passed me, eyeing the can as I set it down. "I was hoping you'd open that." 

"I'm not that stupid. What do you guys want?"

This was a small change that would take some time to get used to; Kellen being less of the controlled dictator than usual, and more of a typical teenage jackass. He jumped into the couch in a playful way I'd never witnessed before. The past week and a half had been full of those moments, especially when it came to the Trifecta. Perhaps it had something to do with Jess and I being an official part of their world now.

"The Hellhounds are making some kind of weapon. Intel hasn't been able to find much. Could you please find out what you can about it, Cole?"

Please, a word so foreign coming from him that it almost made me laugh. As much as I wanted to refuse, it sounded interesting. "What do you know already?"

"Oh good!" he said, pointedly ignoring that I hadn't said yes.

I realized that his exclamation wasn't directed at me when a folder appeared in my hands. "Whatever we know is in there," Leon said.

"Fine."

As I turned to leave I heard three things.

Kellen saying, "Oh and Cole, we need this information like yesterday, 'k?"

This was immediately followed by Leon's, "Ooh soda!" then the unmistakable whoosh of carbonated beverage spraying out of its container into his face.

I stumbled out of their room cackling. Lark and Remi were outside, and gave me a confused look, one which I returned as they knocked and waited longer than I would have thought before being let in. I realized I'd never witnessed the same level of familiarity between the Trifecta and the Core, as they showed Jess and I. Maybe it was because we simply refused to act as if they were Gods on earth as everyone else did.

-.-

I sat comfortably on the couch, a cup of the most heavenly cappuccino in my hands. I'd woken up early and driven out to town—a ridiculously long drive—to get cappuccinos for the Aces that had been up late. By the time I'd returned they needed to be reheated, but they were still good. I sniffed the cup in my hand and took a sip, smiling as the rich flavor hugged me. 

"Holy Shit! Cole, you can't pull that Ace shit on me!"

Opening one eye, I looked at Kellen on the floor of his bathroom with one hand still on the doorknob. Oops. "I bought you an Americano from Rose's." Waving a hand at the cup on the table, I looked away before I'd have a chance to fully process that he wore only a towel around his hips. Still as he grabbed his coffee, slowly stretching his lightly tanned ivory torso in front of me, I watched as water dripped out of his hair and onto his shoulders.

"Thanks," he breathed after a long sip. "But you can't just break in here and be, waiting to scare the crap out of me."

"Well, that takes all the fun out of scaring the crap out of you, now doesn't it?" 

"What are you doing here?" He asked, setting his coffee back on the table in front of me. Dear God, Nicole stop staring at his biceps, it's not like you haven't seen any before. 

"Enjoying my coffee in the quiet."

"I can see that. I mean why in my room?"

"I'm not in your room." I was enjoying bothering him too much.

"In my dorm, then." He glowered at me, muttering about me testing his patience too early in the morning. Too easy.

"Whatever their weapon is, it's well under wraps. There's nothing; no texts, no emails, no research trail."

"I figured," he sighed and disappeared into his bedroom. He returned wearing a shirt and boxers—a big improvement on the towel that almost turned me into one of Jackson's worshippers—and flopped down onto the couch beside me. Behind Jackson's door, an alarm went off and he ran out and into the bathroom.

"I was hoping you'd find something so we could try to spin it." Kellen sighed. "Nothing? Like.... nothing?"

I slid my gaze sideways to him. "I said nothing, didn't I?"

"Just checking."

We sat silently sipping at our drinks, listening to Jackson loudly running through his checklist for the day.

"Augh!"

I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing; this time I got to witness the epic reaction. Jackson pulled the door open, saw Kellen and I sitting there like two meditating monks and jumped. The stumble was my favorite part, the terrified wobble backwards, followed by the melodramatic clutching of his chest—so worth the risk of being caught in their room so early!

Jackson, already half dressed in jeans and with a towel draped over his shoulders, righted himself. I thanked my brain for behaving, glad it hadn't chosen to drool over Jackson as well. That would've been supremely weird.   

With a smirk, I gestured at the table once again. "I bought you an Americano from Rose's."

"My heart just stopped and you're talking about coffee?"

I giggled into my drink and he yanked the coffee off the table. "Where the hell did you come from anyways?"

"I've been here since before you woke up, you goof." 

"You walked right past us." Kellen snickered.

"What are you doing here?" Jackson grumbled after sipping his drink, almost exactly as Kellen had minutes earlier.

I glanced at Kellen with a grin and opened my mouth to repeat my earlier non-answers, but before I could say anything he slammed a pillow into my face. "Start that again and I swear, I'm changing my locks."

"Start what?" Jackson looked between us, confused.

"So... you want me to come back?" I challenged.

"What?" Jackson asked again.

"I didn't say that, now did I? I said I would change my locks, thereby making it impossible for you to do this again." Kellen's tone was teasingly condescending.

"Yes," I turned to face him. "But by saying that's how you'd keep me out, you're also implying that you weren't bothered by it before and weren't planning to change the locks, thereby leaving the possibility of it happening again open."

"What?" Jackson eyed Kellen suspiciously.

"No. I just meant that as punishment for being so damn annoying, I'd lock you out."

"So... you want to punish me?" 

"WHAT??" Jackson's incredulous cries reached such a volume that someone in the next room banged the wall. "Will someone please tell me what the hell you two are talking about? Because I feel like I might need to injure one of you."

As he eyed Kellen like he would be the one to get injured, I laughed so hard that I couldn't help the tears running down my face. There was a loud raucous hiccoughing sound coming from Kellen and I chanced a glance at him before deciding that he wasn't dying and I could return to laughing.

"You guys were doing that on purpose weren't you?"

"You boys sure catch on quick." I stood, tossing my empty cup at Jackson. "As much as I'd like to keep bothering you numbskulls, I've got work to do. We found a code to their messages that we're trying to break."