I frowned at the message before realizing it must’ve been a wrong number and tossed my cell back on the seat. That didn’t happen often, not when Alessio’s abilities meant keeping us off the spam lists, but maybe someone had misdialed.
A few seconds later, my phone went off again, only this time they’d sent a photo. I didn’t blink as I stared at the image, my whole body going still.
What the fuck?
I made the picture bigger and could clearly see the moment I’d kissed Shep on the neck yesterday while standing in line for takoyaki. What wasn’t shown was the way he’d pushed me back seconds later, telling me not to do that in public.
UNKNOWN NUMBER:
What will your illustrious leader think about this new development?
Wait…illustrious leader? Whoever this was knew about King? Or was I reading too much into that?
How the hell did they get this photo?
I lifted my eyes to Shep, who’d gone back to working on his laptop, and a strange, uneasy feeling settled in the pit of my stomach.
This was the asshole who’d doctored the video. The same one who’d threatened me and was now apparently adding stalking to his list of crimes.
I ground my molars as I tried to think of a way to call this fucker and get to the bottom of whatever shit they were pulling. But being an unknown number meant I couldn’t dial out, only respond via text.
“Theo?”
“Huh?” My head snapped up, and when my eyes locked with Shep’s, I did my best to mask my annoyance at what I’d just been looking at.
“Something wrong? You went quiet.”
Trying to play it off, I plastered on my best smirk. “I can do that occasionally.”
“Yes, but you’re usually sleeping.”
“You would know.”
Shep lowered his eyes over me and then gave a slow nod. “Yes, I would. So tell me, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing, I just—” My phone picked that exact moment to vibrate where I’d laid it face down on the armrest.
I flexed my fingers around the device as if I could crush it, and when it stopped, I looked back to Shep.
“Who’s that?”
“No one,” I answered a little too fast.
“Is it Yuki?”
“Who?”
Shep rolled his eyes and closed his laptop. “Your playboy date, genius. How soon they forget.”
Oh, right.Unfortunately for Yuki, I’d fucked him out of my system with Shep. The only thing I remembered from that date was the tiger shrimp.
“Non. Not Yuki.”
Shep’s eyes narrowed on me. “Why are you so agitated, then?”
Because I want to check what else this asshole just sent, and you won’t quit looking at me.That was what I wanted to say, but then Shep would demand to see the texts, and I wasn’t letting that happen.
“I’m not. I’m just restless because I’ve been sitting still too long. This flight takes forever.”
