As if sensing my attention, he looks over his shoulder and presses the tip of his finger to the bridge of his glasses. I know I’m grinning, but his answering smile makes mine grow larger. “Someday, I will know every line and shadow,” I promise, referring to his tattoos.
“I welcome the process. Hungry?” he offers.
“Starving. What did you get?” I make my way closer to him. Even though we spent hours tangled together, I lean my head on his shoulder, craving the nearness.
“Gray ordered.” I can hear Felix’s eye roll.
“So, everything on the menu,” I confirm. The screech of a chair being pushed across the floor startles me enough that I jump.
When I turn around, there’s no one else in the kitchen. Felix is facing the direction of the sound too, his brows furrowed.
“What was that?” I mumble.
“I don’t know,” Felix replies, but he doesn’t seem bothered. I, on the other hand, am a little freaked out. It’s not the first time I’ve heard a chair move on its own recently.
Seconds later, Gray enters the kitchen. “Took them long enough,” he grumbles, making his way over to the island covered with boxes. I’m still looking around the kitchen. An uneasy feeling has settled in my chest.
When nothing else strange happens after a few more long seconds, I tell myself it was just my imagination or there’s a reasonable explanation. I don’t want to think about the other option.
Gray sets four plates on the island, the serving utensils already shoved into boxes. “You better make your plate before Remy makes it for you,” Gray warns.
He’s right—Remy always gives me way more than I can eat. That snaps me into action, and I take a proffered dish.
* * *
I’m just aboutto drift off to sleep on the couch, curled up with my head on Felix’s chest and my feet in Gray’s lap, when a loud noise has me nearly jumping out of my skin.
Remy is already standing when I glance around to see what could have made the crash. “What the hell?” Gray mumbles, and his hold on my legs tightens.
“The wards are up,” Felix says, looking around as well.
“There’s no way that was from outside, right?” Remy heads toward the entrance of the living room.
“Where are you going?” I sit up as Gray releases my feet and stands as if to follow Remy.
“To see what that was,” one of them responds, prompting me to follow with Felix right behind me.
Remy breaks off and heads toward the kitchen, while Gray continues toward the front door. I’m torn over which one to follow, so I end up walking down the long hall between them, flipping on lights as I go and looking around.
“Find anything?” Remy hollers.
“No,” Gray answers as we all meet up back near the entrance to the kitchen. “It didn’t sound muffled enough to be from upstairs.”
“Shit, where’s Percy?” I dart to the left, knowing his den is still in the room the guys gave me when I first came here.
Their footfalls on the steps behind me are loud. Remy manages to pass me on the stairs and makes it into the room before I can.
“Percy?” I call the moment I enter the room.
Was there a stampede planned and I missed the memo?he drawls.
“Are you okay? Did you hear that noise?” I kneel next to the closet.
Remy snorts. “Has he always sounded like an English teacher?”
I heard you clamoring up the stairs as if there was a coyote on your heels.Percy ignores Remy and the fact that he can be heard by yet another person.
“No, before that there was a loud crash. Like something fell or broke.”
