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Hopelessness. That’s what I was looking at, buried so deep beneath the terror I almost missed it. The knowledge that there is nothing in the world worth living for.
“No,” I say, “I wasn’t fucking her.”
That doesn’t mean I don’t want something more. But one day.
It doesn’t mean I didn’t see the haunting beauty, the vulnerability, or feel the pull of her. “You don’t fuck a girl like that,” I say in a low voice. “We have to talk.”
“You’ve said that,” Dariel murmurs, still not moving, “but not about what.”
“About her,” Kade says, speaking more today than I think he has in the last two weeks combined.
“She’s the one.” I look Dariel right in the eye because he hasn’t seen her. Hasn’t felt her pull. But I have. Kade has, otherwise, he wouldn’t be here. And he wouldn’t be without a drink in his hand.
His face is a blank slate, all harsh angles, and cold. Distant. Once he was the popular one with the women. When he smiled, every woman wanted him. There was no one as charming or as generous as Dariel.
It was the reason he became Nica’s favorite.
“No.” Just one word falls from his lips, but there’s a question in his eyes. He won’t admit to it, but he’s curious.
“Yes. So we need to talk. Now.” This time when I nudge on his shoulder, he turns and moves down the stairs because he wants what we all want—what we’ve always wanted— the woman who completes us.
A woman who belongs to us as much as we belong to her.
* * *
“Talk, Aden. What do you mean, she’s the one?” Dariel reclines in the black leather armchair behind his desk, the way he always has during our meetings.
Not that there’s been many of those in a while.
Kade has tucked himself beside the whiskey decanter, his black t-shirt and ripped jeans making him look like more of a brawler than usual. Or maybe it’s that he’s shaved his brown hair even shorter, and the dark circles ringing his gray eyes tell me he’s been fucking and drinking more than usual. The weight loss isn’t anything new, but the lack of sleep is a problem. Not to me, but to the person who takes one look at the leanly muscled man and decides they want to pick a fight.
But he’s not drinking. Yet. Just holding his glass. His gaze might be full of boredom. Disinterested, even, but he’s gripping the crystal glass just a little too tight for him to be as relaxed as he’s making out. He’s as eager to know about the girl I’ve named Lily as Dariel is. He’s just better at hiding it.
I focus on the monitor on the wall across from Dariel’s desk. Other than the black desk and chair which eats up most of the floor space in the windowless room, it’s the only thing Dariel keeps. That, and the whiskey decanter Kade brought up here.
My eyes study the narrow hallway which leads up to the apartment. The black carpeted entryway is empty, and the security guard I left near the bottom will make sure it stays that way. No one will be getting to Lily while I’m here.
“Pimps chased her into the grocery store,” I say, dragging my gaze away from the monitor.
She’s safe up there. No need to keep an eye on the monitor.
Dariel studies me without expression. His suit jacket is slung over the back of his chair, but just because he isn’t wearing it, it doesn’t make him appear any more relaxed than if he were. Even reclining, Dariel never looks relaxed.
At least not anymore.
“I was buying limes for the bar. It was her eyes.”
“Was that before or after she rolled in piss?” Kade drawls in that same lazy way of his, eyes half-lidded and darkly amused.
“You were watching her. I knew it, and so did she.” I tell him. “You had a half-naked woman with her ass so close to your face you could’ve eaten her out if you’d been so inclined, yet you couldn't take your eyes off the girl wearing a coat three sizes too big for her, a hospital gown, and smelling of piss. Why do you think that is?”
Silence.
“Pimps chased her into the grocery store,” Dariel prompts me.
After peeling my eyes from Kade, I turn to meet Dariel’s stare. “She was afraid.” I shake my head. “No, she was terrified. Something happened to her. I think even before the pimps were chasing her, something had already happened.”
“She could’ve escaped from a secure ward.” Kade straightens from his lean against the wall.
