Not us…
Who is she texting?
I open her mirrored phone screen on the monitor in front of me and read the conversation between Eris and her best friend, a shady Russian woman named Romily Sokolov. They couldn’t be any different, but from what we’ve observed, they seem pretty inseparable.
“A friend to impress? Think she’ll help?” Kieran leans against the wall, arms folded as he sighs like he’s holding the weight of the world. “Eris doesn’t have to know. Not yet.”
“She’s going to figure it out.”
“Then let her.”
I nod in agreement, but I don’t say what I’m thinking.
If she runs, I’ll find her. I won’t let her go.
“And that,” I add quietly, mostly to myself, “is what makes her dangerous.”
Kieran’s gaze drifts back to the monitor, to the way she moves like she knows we’re there. “Or perfect,” he murmurs.
I can’t argue his logic.
Eris pauses with her key fob at her door, ready to open it until ler phone lights up in her hand. She drops her head back like she’s exasperated, touches the keypad on the door to lock it up, and leaves without ever entering her apartment.
“She won’t run,” I say, and I feel it in my bones.
Jace’s voice is rough with the edges of sleep and challenge. “Why not?”
“Because no one has ever picked her over themselves.” I switch the camera view from her hallway to the front entrance of the building, watching her climb into a black sports car that belongs to Romily Sokolov. “Other than her best friend… We’re the only people making her feel seen and heard.”
The silence that follows feels alive with tension.
Kieran tilts his head back and closes his eyes. “She thinks the app is the safest thing in her life right now.”
“And she’s right,” I acknowledge. “It is.”
No one moves as we watch her speed away in someone else’s car, going who knows where… To get into what kind of trouble?
I pull up the GPS location on her phone and study the map. I’m not sure how much time passes, but she finally stops moving, and I find myself frowning as I search the address… Because surely?—
“Did they go to a strip club?” Kieran asks me, sounding as confused as I feel.
“Yeah.” I scratch my head. “In the town over…”
“Stop stalking her,” Jace mumbles from the couch, a pillow over his face to block out the light. “If you want to know what she’s doing, just go find her. It’s less creepy than this.”
Kieran snorts, and I turn to grin at the now-sleeping smartass.
We all know what we’ve become.
And none of us have any intention of stopping.
Ifollow her from the cafe. It’s one of the few places she regularly visits, though she never shows up at the same time of day or sits at the same table.
I stay just far enough away to go unnoticed, but not so far that I might lose her.
Eris walks as if she’s trained herself not to look over her shoulder. She isn’t scared, just uber aware of her surroundings. It’s the quiet kind of alertness that’s cultivated from living in Crimson Bay. But also the kind that builds when someone won’t stop lingering in your shadow.
She pauses at every crosswalk. Studies reflections in the glass. Measures her steps so she doesn’t get too close to the people around her. She’s not paranoid… She’s paying attention.
