AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Get it together, Ava Jade,I scolded myself internally, giving my head a little shake. It didn’t matter what the dick looked like when he was sleeping. All that mattered was how he acted when he was awake.
A new blade and a couple meals weren’t enough to fix anything. Though, I had to admit, if he kept feeding me, I might have to forgive him eventually. I’d gone through much worse than Corvus James to get a half decent meal and his weredivine.
Careful, AJ,my smarter self warned.You’re getting too close to them.
And I was. My walls were crumbling with each passing day since the start. I couldn’t afford to let that happen. I needed to keep them at a distance. If I let them in too close, I was terrified I’d only want more. That I wouldn’t be able to push them back out again.
It would only lead to pain in the end. When push came to shove, I knew where their true allegiances were. And I knew where I stood.
Carefully, without shifting the couch, I untangled myself from the navy throw blanket trapped in my legs and climbed from the couch, stretching until my spine and neck cracked. I winced at the ache in my neck, wondering how in the hell I’d managed to crawl into his fucking lap in the night. I hadn’t even meant to fall asleep. Didn’t think I would even if I tried to.
But there we both were, sleeping. Him, right next to someone with enough blades to ensure maximum bleed out and me, on the lap of someone I vowed to loathe for all eternity.
Quite the fucking pair.
Yep, they would be the death of me for sure.
After one more stretch, I tiptoed from the living room, resolved to use the opportunity of being fully unsupervised in the Nest to have another good snoop around. If I’d been smart, I would’ve done it days ago when I broke out of the windowless closet room, but I’d had only vengeance on my mind that morning, and the haze of the whiskey from the night before.
Not a great combo for productivity.
The stairs creaked as I ascended and I paused, waiting to see if the noise woke Corvus, but after a few more seconds without the sound of him waking, I continued. I stuck to the outside bits of the stairs instead of the middle, spreading my weight to avoid any more unwanted noises.
I wasn’t exactly sure what I was looking for, but I’d know when I found it. There had to be something here I could use as leverage. Or as proof of crimes that would see them all put behind bars. My stomach rebelled against the idea, and I pressed a palm to it, wincing.
May be wise to use the bathroom before Corvus woke up, too, since there was no door handle and I was pretty sure he’d stand in the open doorway while I peed out of spite. Ah well. Let him watch.
The first door belonged to Corvus’ bedroom and it seemed as good a place as any to start. Perfect, actually. His offer for me to sleep in any room I liked had me thinking it was possible I wouldn’t find a damn thing at all. If I was going to find something, I was willing to bet it’d be here, though. I would never have picked his room to sleep in, and he knew it.
I pushed the door open and stepped inside, finding it the exact same as the last time I’d seen it.
A bed, sleek with sheets and blankets pulled tight enough to bounce a coin off of, pushed against the far wall between two rectangular windows covered in modern blinds.
Against the wall to the right of me stood a tall mahogany dresser, it’s top wiped clean of dust. The only thing marring its mirrored surface was a slender lamp that was really just a slim steel column with a light bar running up one side.
Aside from the night tables to either side of his bed, there was only a desk. Low and long, it dominated the space along the left wall. Three monitors perched on its surface along with some other equipment. A folding chair leaned against the desk, ready to be opened and used when needed. A temporary fix, I had to assume. It looked like our dining room chairs back in Lennox. The likes of Corvus James wouldn’t be caught sitting on something socheap. Not when the rest of his room screamed modern luxury.
I decided to start with the computer, walking over to tap on the keyboard, making it whir to life. I felt around under the monitors, searching for the volume buttons and finding them before the power on could make any sounds.
The password screen popped up and I cursed under my breath, but my attention snagged on several cords running along the floor below the desk. I cocked my head, following them to where they disappeared into the wall next to a closet door.
The fuck?
I took a breath.Come on, baby. Give Mama something good.
I opened the door with a flourish and stopped dead at what I found in the dark room beyond.
My fingers slipped along the wall inside, searching for a switch. I found a dimmer instead and pushed it up, slowly illuminating the closet.
No. Not the closet.
The entire six by eight space had been gutted. The walls covered in dark bumpy soundproofing the whole way around. The cords jutted from the wall, snaking up a metal pole to the boxy microphone resting at its apex.
A barking laugh fell from my lips before I could squash it.
I had no fucking idea what I was expecting, but this sure as hell wasn’t it.
Did Corvus fancy himself a rock star?
