“I know, we have to keep moving.” She had just over forty hours left, and she needed to make a move before it was too late. “If my phonewasbeing tracked, you took care of it.”
“You can never be sure.”
Titus’s bedroom was similar to the one back at his apartment, decorated in various shades of black, grey and white. Although it was at least twice the size. And just like his other place, everything was perfectly straight. His computer, which had three screens, and a computer tower which was directly to her right, and not one cable was out of place, each one pinned straight. His bed looked like it had been ironed, not a single wrinkle in the sheets, and she was sure the framed photographs on his walls were all angled at ninety degrees.
Titus sat, still shirtless, at his desk, leaning to plug his phone into the computer. Throwing his t-shirt onto his bed, she looked around the room.
“Don’t touch anything,” he said, not even turning away from the screens.
Ignoring him, she opened the top drawer, and everything inside was painstakingly folded. “I think you have a problem,” she muttered, wanting to mess something up and see whether he exploded, or just reprimanded her with his calm voice.
“What part of ‘don’t touch anything,’ didn’t you understand?”
“The part where you opened your mouth.”
Her phone vibrated, and pulling up the conversation, she typed out a reply.
There’s a fake bottom in the bottom drawer, and inside will be the black bag I need you to get. xx
A pause, Rae waiting.
Got it, where am I dropping them off at? Also, Viv is raining HELL. She thinks you did something to the locks? Since when did we even have those locks? xx
I’ll update you when I can, but drop at the usual place, I’ll get there as soon as I can. Thanks for this, Winter. I owe you, big time!
Give me that blade with the serrated edge you never use, and we’re square. xx
Deal.
I’ll let you know when I’ve made the drop. There’s no word on a forfeit yet, but I’ll give you a warning if I can. Be safe Rae. xx
The Ravyns she’d been saving were hidden back in her room at the Guild, somewhere Rae couldn’t risk going to until her assignment was done and Vivian had calmed down. She wasn’t sure how much she had, but prayed it was enough to cover the entire amount. She was running out of time, dread forcing her hand.
Titus continued working on his computer, the screens moving too fast for her to read even if she were closer.
“Why did you bring me here?”
He clicked a few buttons before he sat back, arms relaxed on the rests with his legs slightly spread. He looked like a tattoo covered god, his nipple piercing glinting in the light as she hungrily took in the sight. His hair was wrapped into a messy bun, with a few strands framing his angular face that was covered in a delicious stubble several shades darker. He bit at the ring in the centre of his bottom lip, watching her too closely. As if he could see beneath her skin.
“Well?” she asked, heart racing as if she were being hunted. “Like you said, you don’t trust me.”
His chair squeaked as he stood, and Rae tipped her head up to meet his gaze. “Keep your friends close –”
“And your enemies closer,” she finished for him. “Is that what we are? Enemies with benefits?”
“What else would you call us?”
“I don’t know,” she said, irritated at how her voice had become huskier. “You’re the man I’m forced to kill, and yet you just helped my brother. I don’t like owing people.”
“What do you want me to say, Rae? Would you have preferred they’d killed him?”
“No. I just…” She let out a sound of frustration. “I didn’t ask you for help.”
“You don’t owe me anything,” he growled, hands slapping against the wall beside her head. “I don’t need, or want anything from you.”
His attention on her was both infuriating and addictive, confusing her emotions that were a violent storm beneath her skin. She wanted to hit out, push him away, and at the same time drag him closer.
She was drowning in him, and she wasn’t sure which way was up.
