He chuckles warmly. “Come on, we’re going to be late.”
I swear, since the officer dropped this off at the house for him, he’s been foaming at the mouth waiting for Victor to do something so he can slap it in his face, publicly shaming him. Maybe that tent in his pants isn’t from my squirming after all, and is actually from the thought of beating his nemesis at his own game.
Not that I’d blame him. It gives me a lady boner too.
***
Aweek. A solid weekand nothing. Lucien is practically pouting, he’s so disappointed. We’re walking down the street, dodging yet another fae that’s roaming around the city.
I should expect it with the proximity to the fairy ring, and it might just be my imagination, but I feel like I’m running into more than usual. Even weirder, when we have crossed paths, they ignore me. No sneering, no insults. They just walk right on by as if they never saw me in the first place.
That actually scares me more than anything. I’m used to the cruelty, but I’m not used to being invisible. Without having any attention thrown my way, even if it’s negative, I could literally starve to death if I can’t siphon enough from the guys. I have a sinking feeling that something else is going on, something that’s going to end up being ten times worse than anything I’ve faced yet, but I don’t know how to prepare for it.
So mentally, I’m a wreck. I’ve been distracting myself with Atlas, Dorian, and Lucien, but apparently dicks will only take you so far in life.
I know, I was shocked too.
“Maybe you developed cloaking abilities,” Dorian offers, trying to ease my mind. “That’d be pretty badass. Imagine all of the things you could steal if you found a way to turn invisible.”
Lucien scolds Dorian, slipping a bit back into the man I first met while his nerves are running high. “Don’t encourage her. She doesn’t need to steal things to get our attention.”
We’re passing a storefront just as the news switches stories and I back pedal, the three of them continuing on sniping at each other for a little longer before realizing that I’m not with them anymore.
Atlas’ hand falls on my shoulder, his concern bleeding through his touch, but I just point to the television, smiling. “Look, it’s Luce’s birthday.”
“What are you talking about?” he asks before cutting himself off.
Unlike me, who’s getting a huge kick out of it, the three of them have tense jaws and eyes promising murder. Victor finally made his move, and he went all out. There’s a bold headline captioning the bottom of the screen accusing Lucien of abusing his position of power to coerce me into being a trophy wife slash brainwash me into being a sex doll for him and his friends.
It doesn’t bother me because not only do I know it’s not true, but I look fantastic in the pictures trying to damn Lucien; especially in the clip of the sex tape of Dorian and me.
I’m no lawyer, but I would bet my left tit that that would be Lucien’s calling him right now, salivating at how easy Victor made it to go after him for multiple charges. Lucien’s voice is clipped as he answers, leaving Atlas, Dorian, and I to watch the rest of the news story.
There are photos of me kissing Atlas and a close up of Lucien’s hand on my lower back. That one has a red arrow to show just how little space separates his fingers from the top of my ass like something out of a cheap gossip column that has my eyes rolling.
I turn to Dorian first. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have made that video, but at least he made it really obvious he hacked into our personal files at home. Luce will probably get half a million in damages for both of us on that clip alone,” I offer to try and remove some of the hardness from his eyes.
“Don’t be sorry, you didn’t do anything wrong, beautiful. And you look amazing in it, so I’ll probably get high fived on the street,” he jokes easily and I lean into his side, soaking up the compliments and the energy it offers me. “I just worry if he was able to hack into our network that easily what else he could have his hands on. Lucien has many dealings, and I’d hate for him to get hurt in this vendetta. I also wonderhowhe got it.”
Atlas growls his agreement. “If he had someone hack remotely or if he broke into our fucking house somehow and we missed it. If so, who knows if he planted hidden cameras or bugs? What if he heard us talking about the fae?”
I blanch, but speak with conviction. “If he did, we’re going to have to kill him.”
***
“Does it feel as goodas you thought it would?”
Lucien’s eyes are hard as we watch Victor make the walk of shame out of his building in handcuffs, thrown in the back of a police car with murder in his eyes, but a smirk plastered on his face.
“No. He got his hands on something, I know it. He wouldn’t be sitting there grinning like that unless he has an ace up his sleeve,” he replies, voice hard with determination. “I have people coming to the house this afternoon to do a full sweep and hopefully then we’ll know more about what we’re looking at.”
We drive over to his office, Belinda apologizing to Lucien profusely for her assumptions and he waves her off, the two of us heading to his office. Atlas is helping Dorian make repairs, but Lucien insisted I stick close to his side today. He’s been on edge since this happened, more so than usual.
“I feel bad leaving Atlas and Dorian doing the heavy lifting while I just lounge around your office watching you work.”
His eyes soften as he looks up from his computer. “You’ve been working so hard I barely get any time with you lately. Maybe I was getting jealous.”
I waggle my eyebrows at him. “That mean you’re going to remove the sex ban, oh chastity master?”
