Lines furrow his brow. “Motherfucker. So, he set you up to rob the cartel, then screwed you over, then pretended he could offer you safety if you went to him?”
“It looks like it. I just don’t know why?”
I take a moment to type a short message to Chase, telling him there’s a recall on his specific make and model of laptop and he needs to book a time to have it replaced. I hope it’s generic enough that he won’t care. If he clicks on the link, a mundane motion, it will plant a script that would leave access to his machine open to me.
When I hit send, my head spins, for a moment.
River walks back to me, coffee mug in hand, then places his free hand on my back. “Then do what you need to do. What’s this?” He picks up Raven’s copy of the romance book they were reading.
“Oh, it’s from book club.”
“Sorry if that was too much. We forgot to cancel after I suggested it.”
I shake my head. “It wasn’t. They’re good people. I might have even enjoyed it.”
River flips through the book. “You know, Raven highlights all the sex in these books that she wants to try and leaves it lying around for Wraith to read it.”
My mouth opens. “She does not.”
He shows me a page with lilac highlighter and notes in pen. There’s the letter ‘W’ with a little heart next to it. “Maybe we should do the same.”
I shake my head as he closes the book and puts it down. “I’m not sure romance books are my jam.”
“It would be useful to have a user guide to just how your body likes to be played.”
I look up at him. “You think so?”
“There has to be books with non-binary characters, though.”
“We aren’t a monolith.”
“Neither are straight people. But seeing we’re both figuring out what our relationship means for us as a couple and individuals, I’m always open to suggestions. Not sure my search history will ever be the same after some of the things I looked up recently.”
“You researched me?”
He shrugs. “Just some homework to be a good partner to you. Learned some shit I didn’t know about.”
“Like what?”
“Well, like how if you go on testosterone, it can make you insanely horny, at first. One blog said they came three times before noon and were still cranky.”
I run my fingers over his ink. “That can be true. Does that scare you?”
“Fuck, no. Atom told me that one book club, the girls were reading about vampires, and when the women ovulated, they went feral for the guy and fucked him and sucked on him for, like, two days straight until the urges passed. The guy was left broken. We agreed that sounded like a good weekend.”
His answer makes me laugh. “With T, it can last months.”
He tugs at the waistband of his jeans. “I feel like I’m up for the challenge, sweetheart.”
“Well, you might be in luck. I spoke to Greer about possibly going on a low dose. Emphasis on the low part.”
River grins. “Tell me when and I’ll mark it in my calendar.”
“Fine, I’ll—” My laptop pings. “Holy shit. That was fast. Chase took the bait.”
“Already?” River puts the book down and stands behind me, hands on my shoulders. “What does that mean?”
“It means I have a pathway in to all his files. While I look, tell me what happened last night.”
