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“We are dating. Just, you know. We’ve skipped the early stages, and we’re in a committed relationship now,” Ezra assures me.
“When did I agree to that, exactly?”
“You agree to it every time you don’t kick us out for breaking into your apartment. And by showing up here,” he tells me arrogantly, running a hand through his already tousled auburn hair. “Don’t lie to me, Ari. You like us alot, so why not just skip to the good part?”
“So we’re over youowningme?”
Ezra doesn’t answer, and Arlo runs his hands through my hair with a sigh. “I’m going to tell you a secret,” he says patiently, pulling me back to him. “But if you ever utter a word of it, I’ll never forgive you.”
Perplexed, I turn to look at him and find him closer than I expected.
“If you really wanted to be free of us, Cyril would’ve let you be a long time ago. Isaac would’ve too. You’relettingus keep you, aren’t you, Ari?”
I hate the way he asks like he already knows the answer. And the way I just want to melt into a puddle in his lap with him running his nails over my scalp and untangling my long black hair with practiced ease.
“I don’t know aboutthat. Maybe I just recognize a lost cause whenever you guys break-in,” I sniff, unwilling to give in so easily.
“Well, Iama lost cause,” Ezra assures me in a purr. “And I wouldn’t have left anyway.”
“You’re a psycho,” I tell him without any heat.
He grins widely, mirth showing on his face, though I can’t tell howrealit might be. “So kind of you to notice,” he agrees. “Iama psycho, and it’s probably one of my better qualities.”
“Your mouth is one of your better qualities when you put it to good use,” Arlo disagrees. “Don’t sell yourself short.”
“So, sketchy shit?” I remind them, bringing the conversation back around.
“Oh, right.” Ezra brightens. “It’s not reallythatsketchy, but we thought we’d go threaten someone with you along, then go play video games or something. Or watch horror movies. You really enjoy them, after all.” That’s also not a question, and I get a mental image of Ezra going through my DVD collection that sits in a folder, mostly unused since streaming is a thing, under my TV.
“I wouldgladlywatch a horror movie with you guys.” I contemplate the rest of his words. “And threaten a guy. Though I’m probably not very good at that, so I’m not sure how much help I could even be?”
“Oh, we can do the threatening,” Ezra assures me, rising to his feet and pulling me up with him. “Don’t worry about that. You just have to stand there and look hot and threatening. Or just hot. You don’t look very threatening.”
My brows slowly rise towards my hair. “Icouldlook threatening,” I sniff, hand going to my hip. “If I have to. I could pretend to be Cyril or something. He’s pretty threatening, right?”
“Cyril’s too pretty to be convincingly threatening,” Ezra disagrees, shaking his head as Arlo gets to his feet as well. “It’s why he has us.”
I disagree. I think he’s very threatening, in a very hot way. Though…maybe that’s not quite what they mean. And maybe that’s the problem. When Cyril threatens me, it’s hot as hell. It’s notactuallyfrightening anymore, and for a week out of the two weeks I’ve known them, I’ve been silently urging him to make good on some of his more creative threats.
Or any of his threats, really.
When Ezra slows, so do I, though I’m surprised to see that we’re at the plaza a few blocks down fromInkubuswith the fountain decorated in fairy lights in the middle. I look around, not shocked to see that on a Thursday, it’s not that busy, and wonder what in the world we’re doing here. Unless the sketchy shit was a lie, and we’re going to go get dinner or something.
“Are we here to go shopping?” I ask, my eyes on my favorite tea parlor that I should go to in order to stock up. Not that I foresee myself having many tea parties in my apartment, but I can drink alotof tea in a day if I really want to.
“We are not,” Arlo dismisses, leading us away from the main square of the plaza and going towards one of the shops at the very edge. I squint to see the sign above the door, which is not lit at this time, and finally make out the wordsMarlon’s Antiques.
Why in the world do they have business in anantiquestore?
I expect the door to be locked, but Arlo pushes right in, and I follow with Ezra behind me, stopping once we’re inside to look at all of the knick-knacks and larger items around the shop.
Everything here is definitelywaytoo pricey for me. Music boxes, old gilded weapons, and more decorate the shelves and dot the walls. Most of them are behind glass doors or in cases, and there are numerousdo not touchsigns all over the place to drive the point home.
Though, I would think the glass is deterrent enough for anyone just wanting to put their grubby fingers on the merchandise. And not at all sufficient for someone with nefarious means in mind.
Like Ezra, who opens a glass cabinet to poke at a fancy civil war era pistol with ivory decorating the handle and engravings traveling down the barrel.
“Don’t touch…” the person trails off, warning unfulfilled, as a balding man appears in the middle of the store, his eyes on my companions. I canseehis face going pale, and I watch as his eyes flick between them before finally settling on Ezra like he’s the bigger threat.
