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I chuckled to myself. She was doing a mighty fine job of winding her uncle up and once I told Carter, it would wind him up, too.
“Oh uncle Clay, we can buy these things called condoms. Anyway, I didn’t call you to tell you about my up-and-coming sex life.”
“LACEY,” the voice bellowed again, and she pushed the phone away at arm’s length. Turning to me, she smiled and rolled her eyes.
I smiled and nodded at her.
Moving her phone back to her ear, she turned her back to me. “Anyway, I know you said I have to trust my instincts, and I am. That’s why I knew someone was around me, someone bad. He has shown himself to me twice, and I felt him more times. The thing is Clay, sometimes he is around me but doesn’t show himself.”
She listened for over two minutes as Clay gave her advice.
“A demon,” she whisper hissed. “I don’t know how to deal with demons.”
She dipped her head and remained calm, not interrupting him.
“He is the opposite of the man in my dreams,” she said, typing something into her computer. “Carter said the same thing to me, but I don’t want to speak to him. Why are you so insistent?” She paused and turned to look at me again, narrowing her eyes. “I’ll come and visit Sunday. I think you need to tell me exactly what is going on, because Carter is desperate for you to tell me all about what happened that night in his house.”
She hit cancel on her mobile, put the phone face down on the table. Finally, took a seat and worked on something that didn’t look like university work. I couldn’t work, because I wondered why she stopped and stared at me as she made her call.
I expected to find out soon.
It was four o’clock in the afternoon and Lacey finally stood up, stretched her body like a cat that had slept in the sun all day, putting her notebook and laptop in her backpack. I stayed the whole time, waiting and watching her. She smiled as she walked past me and I rose from my seat to leave, too.
“Would you like to get a coffee?” I asked as she passed me.
She stopped, her mouth fell open, but she quickly brushed away her shock and smiled. “Oh, okay.”
She waited for me to gather my things, and we walked to the student café together. “What would you like?” I asked because I’m a gent.
“I’ll get them,” she said.
I raised my palm in the air. “It’s just coffee. Two flat whites to go,” I said to the server.
I watched Lacey as she rubbed her neck and glanced out of the window. Her hands splayed against the windowsill as she lowered her head, moving it left to right as she searched around.
We knew danger was moving closer, but we still had time before the bigger threat came. Before then, Lacey would need to know every single thing about her, which I had a suspicion wasn’t fully what we knew about her. But as Clay was a man who kept secrets, giving us enough information to understand why we were the men chosen for her—I knew it was more.
“Two flat whites,” the server said. I gave her a smile, took the drinks, and met Lacey outside the café. She was still searching around.
“Everything okay?” I asked as I handed her a coffee take out cup.
She took a sniff of her coffee before taking a sip.
“Yeah… I think so,” she said, hesitating. “Do you sometimes feel something strange is going to happen? Like something is building around you.”
“Sometimes. You know, intuition is a good thing,” I said as we walked quietly towards the canal. Her shoulders loosened a little, though she was still far too tense, and I really wanted to run my hands over her, massage her until she relaxed into my hands.
She turned to me as we reached a bench. “What’s your story, Ryan? You don’t seem the type to hang around with Carter.” She blushed, running her hand over her chest.
I smiled, glad she remembered my name, but Lacey got me all wrong if she thought I was gentle. But that’s for another day. “Carter is okay, and we all get on great, to be honest with you.”
I laughed when she rolled her eyes, and we took a seat by the canal. There was another moment of quiet before we turned and stared at each other. But I felt a connection with her the day I smiled at her at the dance school and I knew exactly how each of the others would make a play for her. Not that Carter would be happy about that. We were supposed to help get them back together, but that was never my plan, and as far as I was concerned.
I wanted the future queen for myself.
But I had to do it differently from the others. It was a long game for me. Bit by bit, I’d play it right and eventually, she’d come to me. Because I knew exactly how to do it—the only way she’d accept me. Because she had to accept me, I had to have her as my own, eventually.
I dipped my head to hers. Her eyes widened and kissed her once on her lips. Her eyes puckered at the sides as she smiled.
