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“That’s how you answer your phone? Hello?” Aria coos on the other side.
I smirk. “Well, I’ll be honest with you. I didn’t know the damn thing worked.”
“I called the main house number and chose your extension. It’s on my sheet here for if I ever need to speak to Lucien, though no one’s ever answered before. I mainly call so I can document that I did my due diligence.”
“Did you need something from me? A file? I thought I got them all in, but I could be missing some.”
“No. I was calling because I couldn’t get you on your cell, and I wanted to see if you’d be interested in meeting tonight for drinks.”
“Would I ever! But isn’t it supposed to get bad out?”
“Eh, when’s it not bad here in the winter? I’ll arrange a car for us so we don’t have to drive. Eight sound good?”
“Sounds perfect.”
“Good. I’ll see you then, girl.”
I hang up, a smile plastered to my face with the prospect of something to look forward to, now making me feel less heavy than I did before.
“What sounds perfect?” Kyrin asks, stepping into the room with my coffee. It’s our thing.
He brings me my coffee and then sits with me for a bit.
We never talk shop; we just get to know one another better.
Well, he gets to know me.
He seems to be a closed book, or at least one with a complicated plot.
“I’m going out tonight with Aria for drinks. She’s getting us a car.”
“The weather’s supposed to get bad in the middle of the night,” he says, handing me my coffee with a look on his face that says he expects me to change my plans because of the stern nature of his unspoken command, but clearly he’s not gotten to know me as well as I thought he had.
“We’ll be fine. If we get any weather alerts, we’ll head out.”
“I was saying that…”
“Oh, I totally understood what you were saying. I was telling you that I’m still going, and that I need this.”
His blue eyes narrow, as if assessing a way forward, when I’ve clearly put my foot down. “Alright then, but take your phone. If you need one of us, we’ll move heaven and earth to get to you. In fact, why don’t you take Elias? He’s good at blending and making himself scarce, and it’ll make me feel better if one of us is with you.”
I open my mouth to argue, and he adds, “I know it’ll make Lucien feel better about you being out in the weather.”
I know it’s sick. I know it’s a fucking problem. Warmth skitters through my body at the idea of not only being wanted here, but of doing something to ease Lucien’s fears, when he’s been the center of mine for weeks.
“Alright. I’ll take Elias.”
“Where am I going?” The man walks in, holding a box of Danish, and drops it onto my desk with a thud. “I got you apple. That’s your favorite, right?”
It is, but how he knows that is beyond me.
I nod. “Thank you.”
“You and Sera are going out for drinks with Aria. Girls’ night,” Kyrin adds. “Make yourself scarce; don’t crowd her.”
Elias leans down, hands on either side of my chair as he tips it back, his eyes perusing me like he hadn’t just seen me last night at the dinner table. “Mm. What if I don’t want to make myself scarce?”
“Elias,” Kyrin warns.
