Reaching over, I slap the back of Torin’s head, and he twists around to scowl at me. “What. The.Fuck.”
“She already hates us,” I remind him cooly. “What do you think charging out there to punch the guy shedoeslike is going to do? Remind her of how fantastic her scent matches are?” My voice is thick with sarcasm. But when Torin doesn’t want to listen, I have to be a prick to get through to him.
“But he?—”
“Igetit,” I cut in. “I didn't exactly enjoy watching Juniper hug another guy on the street.”
A guy who wasn’t nearly as ugly as I wanted him to be. But maybe it’s what we all deserve: we made her miserable, and now we get to watch her with someone who makes her happy.
Torin stares at me for a beat. Then he sits back in his seat, still scowling, but he doesn’t get out and do something stupid, which was the point of the head slap and the heavy sarcasm.
“Fine,” he mutters. “I won’t tell him to keep his hands to himself.”
My attention swings back to the red brick apartment building halfway down the street.
Juniper had stood outside it, on the top step, one hand around the door handle, a tiny frown between her blonde brows as she stared toward us. She’d felt us watching. We’ve stayed hidden. For now, parked behind a guy flirting with a pretty redhead.
Juniper looks beautiful. She looks…happierthan I thought she would.
I hadn’t expected that.
I don’t feel good admitting this, but a tiny part of me had been hoping that she’d need us to save her. That we could swoop into her life, find her struggling, and give her everythingshe needed and wanted. That she’d be grateful we’d reappeared. We’d apologize and explain how we got things wrong. She’d forgive, and we’d make things right.
But she ran from Archer when she saw him. And from what we’ve found out, she has a job, friends, an apartment, and maybe even a boyfriend.
“What do we do?” Archer asks me.
I sit back, my head against the seat rest and my eyes on her apartment building. “I have no fucking clue.”
We hit up every hotel in the city, trawling for a particular maid’s uniform, hoping we’d find Juniper. Eventually, we found the right hotel. A budget three-star that looked like a two-star. All it took was a wad of cash passed to a guy on the front desk to confirm that yes, there was a hot blonde maid called June, and for a hundred more, he’d take a peek in the employee files and tell us where she lived.
I’d held Archer back before he could break the guy’s nose.
“That’s June’s address he’s handing out to anyone prepared to pay for it,” he’d snarled at me.
I arched my eyebrow at him and waited for him to start using his brain. Thankfully, it hadn’t taken too long before guilt swirled in his gaze, and he stopped needing to be held back. So now we’re outside her apartment building, in Torin’s black Audi, and I saw something I never expected to see.
“Juniper looked happy,” I say, hoping Torin and Archer will tell me it was just in my head.
Torin and Archer don’t say a word. They stare off toward the building that looks so tired and old, it’s a wonder it’s still standing. The thing isold.
For the last two weeks, Archer has been like a starving wolf, trawling every city street. Torin has barely slept, driving around for hours at a time, sometimes falling asleep outside the housewith his head against the steering wheel. Now that we've found Juniper, none of us knows what to do.
I can’t stop thinking about her nest. Every time I close my eyes, I see the torn silk. The shredded cashmere. The destruction of a space that was meant to bring her comfort.
“Maybe we should let her go,” I eventually say.
“She’sours,” Torin growls.
Furious, I jerk my head toward him. “She nearlydiedtrying to break the bond between us. Don’t you think maybe we should respect that?”
But the bond is still there. It has to be. Why else am I as drawn to her as I always was? Why else does she still feel like mine?
He stares at me, bristling. He slams his arm against his door. Then he drops his head back, massages his forehead, fighting to get control of himself.
Archer turns to look at me, his expression knowing. “Then why are we here? Why wereyouas determined to find her as we were?”
Juniper’s apartment door swings open before I can respond to a question that makes me a hypocrite. Because I’m as bad as Torin as Archer. Just as hungry and desperate to find Juniper and explain all the ways we messed up.
