Jett perks up again. Scott looks like he’s questioning all of his life choices.
“He’s attractive,” I admit carefully.
“Define attractive,” Alice presses.
I hesitate. Because there’s “attractive.” And then there’s him. “…Annoyingly so,” I settle on.
Alice grins. “Oh, you’re in trouble.”
“I am not.”
“You are,” Jett agrees.
Scott sighs. “I hate that I agree with them,” he mutters.
“I’m not in trouble,” I repeat.
Alice tilts her head. “Did he touch you?”
My brain short-circuits. “What- no!”
“Did you want him to?” she gushes immediately, grinning like the devil.
“ALICE.”
She laughs.
Jett nearly falls out of his chair. Scott looks like he’s reconsidering not quitting sooner.
“I’m just asking questions,” she says innocently.
“Stop asking questions,” I snap.
“Funny,” Jett mutters. “That’s what the detective said too.”
I grab a napkin off the pile at the center of the table, wad it up, and throw it at his head.
“Okay, okay,” Alice digresses, still laughing. “I’m done. For now.”
“For now?” I echo.
She winks. “For now.”
I groan dropping my head into my hands. Because this, all of this, it should feel normal. Like just another day, just another conversation with my coworkers. My friends. But it doesn’t.
Because underneath the teasing and the jokes, there’s still a threat looming out there, right by my apartment. A threat that I don’t even fully comprehend yet.
And the one man that may well be dragging the attention of that existential threat directly towards me, is the man that I don’t want to stop talking to.
The man I want more of.
Chapter 11
Liv
When Jett scampered off to take a phone call, I took that as my opportunity to head back home. But taking Alex’s advice, I kept a look out for anything “out of the ordinary,” a concept I’m still not exactly narrowed down on when it comes to the neighborhood.
But before long, I’d grown antsy again and when he’d inevitably texted me if I had any news on the neighborhood, I couldn’t help myself… and invited him over.
