"Hypothetically," he drawled, "I hire only the best in the business."
I nodded to myself as the pieces took shape in my head. "Then would you say, hypothetically, that someone playing at that level of the game would be able to figure out when some emails had been opened?"
"Opened? Not just delivered?"
"Yeah," I said. "But they're not recent. We're talking old emails."
"How old?"
I glanced at my phone. "More than a decade."
Kaisall was quiet for a long moment. I heard him typing. Probably messaging one of the hackers he didn't have on his payroll. Another beat passed before he said, "I need more than a minute with that one. If you can send me?—"
From inside the house, I heard a door slam followed by a loud, booming belly laugh and then, "Come on, let's bake bread! Do you know about yeast?Yeast.Yeast! It's like an alien word. A word from literal aliens. But for bread. Did I tell you I bake bread every weekend? But not for the aliens. It's for me."
A breath whooshed out of me. "Kaisall, I have to go. My mother got my fiancée high."
"Your—what? When were you going to tell me you got engaged?"
"It's a stupid long story," I said, striding across the patio.
"Congratulations?"
"I'll explain it over beers," I said. "That you buy."
"Fuck you," he crowed as I hung up.
I pocketed my phone and yanked out the earbuds as I stepped inside only to find Audrey sprawled on the floor, her hair flipped over her face, and giggling. I pointed at my mother, who had the good sense to look guilty. "What the fuck is this?"
"It was an accident," she said. "I swear."
"I'm sorry. Did I need to explicitly tell you that you're not allowed to drug my fiancée? Because I'd thought I made that clear the last time you pulled this shit."
"It really was a mistake. I didn't have my glasses on," she said. "I mixed up the mints with the molly."
"I can't fucking believe you." I dropped to the floor beside Audrey and brushed her hair out of her eyes. I swept a thumb over her warm, rosy cheek. "How are you doing, princess?"
She grabbed my wrist, holding me in place. "I feel…pink."
"Yeah. I can see that. I'm going to pick you up and?—"
Her eyes went comically wide as she glanced all around. "Up from where?"
"You're on the floor, baby."
She laced her fingers with mine and grabbed for the front of my shirt, dragging me closer with startling strength. "How did I get down here?"
"The details are hazy but it started with my mother being a psychopath."
"I'm going to make some tea," Mom said. "Tea always helps."
"Don't you dare," I said. "Water is the only thing I'm trusting from this house."
"How about I run down the street to Gary's and get some seltzer? I know Audrey always orders sparkling water with lime."
"Yeah. Sure. Perfect. Go the fuck away." My mother hurried out the door as I hooked Audrey's arms around my neck and gathered her up. "Hold on tight for me, Saunders."
She nuzzled her face into my neck and proceeded to lick her way from the base of my throat to my ear. It was almost enough to make my knees buckle. I knew this wasn't what she wanted and I had no business reacting to her right now but my dick was late in receiving that message.
