I grin. “You shady motherfucker. How long have you been planning this? Or did you just figure out what moves to make?”
“I’m not being shady; I’m being smart. Why don’t you tell me why she hasn’t asked either of you for a repeat performance?” He points at the screen and hums, “Hmmm?”
I narrow my eyes on him.
“Tell me when you figure that out.” He smirks. “I’m putting in the work to keep her. Because once I get her, I’m not letting her go like you two did. Honestly, Silas has surprised me more than you. He slept with her… What does that tell you?”
“That she’s already ours,” I say, studying Kieran more than I was a few moments ago. “Even if she doesn’t know it yet. None of us will walk away, so what are you playing at?”
He spins in his chair to face me, though he doesn’t stand. “That’s just it, Jace. I’m not playing. I’m going to make sure she likes me, so when this blows up, she doesn’t hate me. I’m getting my foot so far in the door that even if she hates us, she’ll miss me enough to answer my call.”
The sound of footsteps breaks through the hum of the monitors, and Kieran’s words hit me like an atomic bomb. Silas walks in with coffee in one hand, his phone in the other. He looks like he hasn’t slept in a week, but he’s too composed to admit it.
“She left ten minutes earlier than usual,” he says, frowning at the monitors.
Kieran clicks into another feed. “Means she didn’t sleep well either.”
“Or…” I counter, holding my hands up. “She wanted extra time to talk to us before she had to pretend to be normal.”
Silas glances up from his phone. “Which one of you was in the chat log?”
“I started slow.” Kieran shrugs. “Got flirty. She asked what would happen if she said yes.”
“She’s getting closer,” I say softly, nodding as I think through the change in her messages. “You feel it, right?”
“She’s testing us,” Silas states, rubbing at his jaw. “Comparing our tones. Watching how we shift. She wants to know who is who, but do we tell her? I don’t think so. Not yet, anyway.”
“She’s smart,” Kieran murmurs.
“Too smart,” Silas agrees. “She’ll figure it out soon. For now, she seems to enjoy poking at us as she tries to figure us out.”
I drop into a chair, leaning back with my hands laced behind my head. I attempt to relax even though my heart is rioting in my chest.
“Then we better make her fall in love with the whole package before she can pick us apart.” I suggest, scrubbing a hand down my face as Kieran suddenly makes so much more sense.
No one argues.
We just sit there in the glow of the monitors, the hum of the servers filling the silence. The world outside her apartment continues without her knowing three men are building a brand new universe around her.
The next camera feed flickers with motion that shouldn’t be near her empty apartment.
A hooded figure trying to use a fob to open her door.
Daniel can’t hide from us much longer, though.
It’s just a matter of time before everything falls into place.
Including his disappearance.
And Eris being safe in our arms.
Tuesdays are the worst days after Sundays. I don’t know why that is, but I know it’s a scientific fact.
And today is the kind of Tuesday that slowly eats at your patience until all you want is hard liquor and a long nap.
I’m tucked into a rented cubicle on the second floor of a shared workspace. The cheap laminate desk is sticky, and the walls are too thin. It’s a hub for freelancers and remote employees who need social interaction. They’ve built their little cliques, making a schedule so they can eat lunch together.
It’s cute… In a debilitating sort of way.
