I head upstairs, softly humming to myself as I get everything ready. I suspect it won’t take him long to join me.
That’s when I catch sight of the burner. I’m halfway tempted to toss it in the garbage, except I look at it.
Leo’s finally responded.
I’m really sorry, pet. I’ve been busy and I didn’t realize the phone wasn’t working on the network. I had to wait to hook up to secure Wi-Fi at the hotel. All your messages came in at once. I’ll make sure I check in more often, when I have a secure connection. Love you.
Is that bullshit, or is that the truth?
Who knows?
But I’ve read the message, and I know Leo has their Signal apps set up to show a message has been read.
They’re also set to auto-delete thirty minutes after they’ve been read, so I snap a screenshot for Elliot to see later.
I hear Elliot downstairs moving around with his walker, meaning he’s about to put on Duck and come upstairs.
So, what does this petty bitch do?
I shut off the phone, of course.
I don’t want Elliot reading that tonight. I want him focused onme.
Onus.
I’ll tell him about it later.
After I’ve rocked his fucking world.
