“And what about you two?” I inquire, glancing between Kieran and Silas.
“We’ve always been close,” Kieran answers, steady and honest. “Once you downloaded the app… We started watching more closely.”
I don’t ask why.
The answer is already in the room with us. It appears as an elephant none of us seem to have the willpower to talk about.
But I need to say it.
I curl my legs underneath me and pull the blanket off the back of the couch, draping it around me. I’m not cold. It’s just that everything in me feels too exposed.
“This was supposed to be fake,” I whisper. “You were supposed to be fake.”
“The app was. We were.” Silas leans forward, voice dropping until it reaches into my chest, twisting around my core. “You made it real. You pulled us beyond the algorithm.”
Thick silence falls over us again, charged and alive, waiting for someone to touch the wire so it can zap us. My skin buzzes through the tension, mind spinning with no destination in sight.
My thoughts are just too loud.
Inside me, something feral paces.
It blends seamlessly into the shadows, licking its talons as it swats at its prize. The hunt is over, but there’s no boredom looming.
These men showed up without asking, broke into my apartment, and beat Daniel in my honor.
They didn’t knock or hesitate or even hide how much they… didn’t hate the experience. I almost wonder if they enjoyed themselves.
They don’t treat me like a victim or try to coddle me.
They treat me as if I’m already theirs.
And I like it.
God help me, I like it too much.
The obsession that’s carved into my bones rises, oozing molten lava into my mind. My fingers tighten on the blanket as I try to quiet my thoughts.
Was it crazy to want them?
Have I ever wanted anything as much as I want them?
Not their protection or the way they look at me like I’m something they would bleed for.
But the way they seem to exist for me, as if I flipped a switch none of us can ever turn off again.
And that possessiveness I’ve been trying to pretend I don’t feel?
It climbs like smoke in my throat, choking all the things I need to say.
Do they really wantme? Like the real me, not the app me…
Am I just something they’re protecting out of guilt?
Curiosity?
Or am I a project they got too invested in?
Is this obsession… one-sided?
