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“Alright. For now, we are going to skip over all that crap about you possibly being an inconvenience. And it is crap because everyone loves you and wants to make sure you are in a good place. But we aren’t getting into that right now. What I want–need–to know is what little things you are talking about that have made you paranoid.”
“Like I said, just a few random things. Like… my mailbox was jimmied open, my mail itself opened. My work computer has a button that allows you to turn off the camera, so you don’t have to put one of those ugly covers over it. It was the first thing I did when I sat down at the desk. The fact that people can access the cameras has always freaked me out since I heard about it in high school. It was flipped on. When I got paranoid about that, I checked the logs for the computer. And there were several instances of someone being on it after I had left for the day. I ran to grab coffee once when Phillip had a meeting. I mistakenly left my phone in the lobby because I had an issue with my badge, so I had to talk to the security desk. When I came back, I was locked out of it. For twenty minutes.”
“And since the more you wrongly guess the passcode, the longer the lockout is, it suggests someone was really trying to get into it, not just accidentally touching it.”
“Exactly. It’s just… a bunch of small things like that. I’m probably overthinking it, but it has been freaking me out. I haven’t been able to sleep. And the more I didn’t sleep, the more jumpy and paranoid I was at work. It was a vicious cycle. I just… coming here eased my mind. I know I shouldn’t have done it. Quin would be pissed if he knew I did it. I just… I needed to sleep.”
For a few short snippets of time, anyway. There was truth in all of that. But not the whole of it. Not everything that had set me on edge. Not why that set me on edge. Not what was at stake. Not the fact that my emotional and mental health had been on edge, frazzled for longer than I was admitting to him, for reasons I wasn’t telling him.
To that, Lincoln sat back against the cushions again, silently lost in thought for a long moment before he sighed out his breath.
“Without more to go on, I can’t say for sure if you are being really paranoid, or a little paranoid based on some weird vibes. But I want you to feel safe. And be able to sleep. And have someone to talk to. Without, as you said, pissing off Quin.”
“How do we go about managing all that?” I asked, taking a sip of lukewarm tea that did nothing to settle my nerves.
“How about this,” he proposed, facing me again, keeping almost unnerving eye contact. “I want to keep an eye on you, monitor this shit that is going on. And I want you not to feel alone in this, even if it turns out to be nothing. Since we both know you are not quitting for reasons of practicality and damned stubbornness, at least not until you have a valid reason to quit. How about you stop staying here? How about you stay at my place?”
Maybe I should have expected that offer.
The guys in the office had been known to offer their places or offer to stay at clients’ places. It was what they did.
But for a job.
Because they were getting paid.
Sure, my salary was pretty good, but not ‘could hire a fixer firm’ good.
“I have the room, Gem. I have a great security system. No one would think to look for you there. But you could call it a temporary home. Without sneaking around. Without worrying about Quin or anyone else here. Think about it. It’s a solid option. If you insist on continuing to work at that place.”
I had to keep working there.
I had to know what they were up to.
No matter the stakes.
“You won’t tell Jules? Or Kai?”
“My original statement stands, babe. I won’t tell anyone if I don’t have to. But if I feel like you aren’t being paranoid, that shit is getting out of hand, then I have to bring them in. And you can’t hate me for it,” he added, giving me that boyish grin that so easily got him girlfriend after girlfriend. No matter how mismatched they always were.
“I don’t think it is possible to hate you.”
“That sounds like a yes.”
It sounded like my only viable option.
“It’s a yes.”
“Alright. Let’s get the fuck out of here before you get found out then.”
“You were coming up here because you were too tired to drive.”
