“Lock it.” He barely glances at us as he pulls Ashlyn onto his lap, not gently, then types on his keyboard, arms on either side of her waist. Locking her in. “Let me search the cameras, and I’ll tell you where he is.”
“Valen could probably help with that, too,” Apollo says, squatting on the upholstered leather sofa across from the marble inlaid desk.
Aiden freezes for a moment. “I don’t know that he’d help me.”
“But he’d helpme.” Apollo straightens, then waves his fingers for me to join. I sit beside him, dress sliding up higher. He places his palm on my thigh, thumb stroking up and down in a soothing pattern. Tingles light up my skin like I’ve been burned with bliss. The feeling shoots right to my core.
I shiver. He darts a look over at me, and his expression is so concerned that I giggle.
“You okay?” he asks.
All I can do is laugh. “Yeah.” But he’s really funny when he keeps scanning my face.
“Where do you want him to be when you do this? Because I’m not seeing him in the—Therehe is.”
Apollo jumps up and rounds the desk to look at the monitors. As he does, his suit coat flaps behind him like a superhero’s cape. The light from the monitors illuminates his sweaty skin until it sparkles, each molecule vibrating so loud, they cast a low hum.
I shake my head. Squeezing my eyes closed, I try to swallow, take a deep breath, and reset. Surely, I’m not drunk from one glass of champagne.
My eyelids are heavy.
“A cloak? No… That’s not Ayan,” Aiden’s saying. But it’s hard to hear when the fluorescent bulbs above us buzz so loudly.
“Who would it be?” Apollo drapes a hand down his face, and as it moves, all of his features melt off. I have to blink a few times to make sure everything’s still there. Nose. Eyes. Lips… He’s talking so slowly, his mouth barely moves before the words escape.
“Grayson Noel Umbridge.”
The name hangs in the room like smoke from a firecracker.
Aiden continues, focused and serious. “The full name for the code GNU. We think he’s taking body parts and using them as some sort of sacrifice to an unknown eighth god.”
“You’re sure it’s not Ayan?” I hear my thoughts say. But everyone turns to look at me. The way theystareis almost terrifying. Blank faces. Bated breaths. Dilated pupils.
“I know Gray. We’ve seen him out of his cloak. He’s definitely not Ayan, no,” Ashlyn says. Her hair shimmers in the lamplight like gold.
Tapping on the monitor, Aiden then points to me accusingly. Each motion is deliberate. Stuttered. Trails from his hand fascinate me until I can’t look away.
Somehow, I raise off the sofa and make it to the desk.
“Do you know this guy?” Aiden points to a picture of a man on the screen. Dark hair. Mousy looking. And definitely not Ayan.
“I know him.” My voice echoes several times between the walls of my skull. The face shifts. It reshapes. It becomes my ex. But I know it’s not. “No… That’s not Ayan. That’s his close friend who goes by ‘G.’ He’s in a lot of my pre-med classes.”
Aiden and Ashlyn look at each other and communicate silently, though if I look hard enough, I’m pretty sure I can read their minds.
“It wasn’t Ayan hunting you,” Apollo says, his jaw clenching. He pulls out his gun and racks the slide. “But I’m still going to take care of him anyway.”
Aiden’s voice is dry. “I wouldn’t shoot him in the indoor pool.”
“Pool?” The word is so strange sounding. Is that how one says it?Pool. Just…one syllable like that?
My heart pounds violently in my chest. I can feel each chamber opening in sync. Perfect timing.
“Yeah. He’s in our indoor pool right now— Scoutie? You okay?” Aiden says, and I snap my attention to the three figures in front of me.
There’s such a long pause, I realize…I’m definitely not okay.
“I think I need to cool off in the pool. It’s hot in here.”
