Page 123
Theo’s in front of the mirror, rubbing product into the wavy hair at the back of his head, his brow creased in that familiar line that makes him look either wildly focused or a little bit lost. I want to smooth the lines, press my mouth to the spot, but instead, I settle for watching him through the fog of my mind still reeling from all the orgasms.
Yesterday afternoon turned into late night and night turned into morning. Morning into late morning. Late morning into the kind of late afternoon where your legs still feel shaky and you’re too hungry to function, but you keep finding yourself curled back around each other like magnets with no self-control.
The window’s open just enough for the breeze to enter and slice through the illusion that time isn’t moving. That this isn’t our last day here.
“Dinner’s at seven,” I say, leaning my head against the doorframe. “Emily said the caterer’s already setting up. Apparently, ‘farewell feasts’ are a family tradition.”
Theo snorts an of course they are kind of snort. “Well, we’ve got a solid track record now. One accidental chloroform incident, an eighteen hour sexcapade, and a modest pile of crimes we may or may not be accessories to. Plus a few unsolved variables with our fingerprints all over them.”
I step into the bathroom. “You forgot the part where we accidentally caught feelings.”
He turns to me and looks at me like I’ve said something scandalous.
His hand lifts, thumb pressing under my chin like he’s trying to keep this version of me from slipping away—slightly dazed, still tangled in bedsheet energy. “That happened way before this week for me, Dr. Jennings.”
My stomach clenches, something restless and bright bubbling up from the pit. It feels like the first time I’ve ever felt this. Maybe it is.
Theo’s phone buzzes on the counter.
The screen lights up. I look without thinking. I register the name first. The rest of the message changes everything.
Graham: The blood from the paint smudge is Baryn’s. Already had his elimination sample on file.
Everything in me tightens in that familiar way it does when the truth shows up without warning, and for a second my vision tunnels.
Theo reads it. I watch his face go pale.
This isn’t a clue. It’s a live wire, a fuse lit under the delicate scaffolding of almost-normal we’ve built together in this room in the last twenty-four hours.
He doesn’t look at me right away. Just stares at his reflection in the mirror, hands braced against the edge of the sink.
“We were right to suspect him,” he says finally, though he seems as uncertain as I feel. I can’t identify the reason for either reaction. “But I still can’t believe it’s him.”
“Whether it was him or not, we can at least prove he was there.” I reach for the hairbrush, but my hands don’t feel steady. Nothing does. “We’re running out of time.”
Theo meets my gaze in the mirror. “We’re going to have to confront him.”
I don’t know why I hadn’t considered it until now—that if we actually figured out who did this, we’d have to decide what to do with the information. It feels ridiculous that it’s only hitting me at this point, but he’s right. We do have to confront him.
I set the brush down again. “I have to do something. I can’t sit on this information and go to dinner like nothing happened.”
“Not on your own you’re fucking not.” His voice is strained.
There’s a small pull at the corner of my mouth. “I wasn’t planning on it, big guy.” I reach up and pat his chest.
He turns to face me, giving me his full attention. “So. How do we move forward?”
“I need to find a way to talk to him with no one else around.”
He considers that, jaw working. “That doesn’t sound safe. Not to mention the fact that he will simply try to lie his way out of it.”
“He won’t. I don’t think he’s that foolish. But he’ll try to spin it. Minimize.”
Theo draws in a breath and lets it out. “You think he did it?”
“I really don’t know,” I say, too fast. Because I was incredibly suspicious for so long, but now that we are here, I have an unease in the pit of my stomach.
My gut doesn’t usually steer me wrong. And it’s been circling Baryn from the start. But even with this new evidence that should settle everything, my instincts won’t let me land on him fully. Something’s missing. Something that would make the picture make sense.
