Page 64 of Boneyard HEA

“Stuff?” He cocks his head. “That was the plan. In here though. It’s more private.”

We sit in the small living area and sip cocktails and beer while the birds outside flutter and swoop in to the trees to roost for the night. I could wait for someone else to start the conversation, but I don’t.

“I have been having second thoughts about what we are doing. I’m endangering you both and…” I clink the cold edge of my glass of piña colada against my teeth. “Maybe we should stop looking for bad men. Maybe I should accept what happened to Riley, pray no one works out what I did to Nathan. Actually, I should go sit this out in my own apartment for a year even.” I frown at that thought.

It would be for the best. I’d hate it, be lonely after all this, be bereft really without my men. After all⁠—

“Hell, no.” Loxland interrupts my thoughts. “You’re ours, remember. We get to keep you. We get to say what is best for you.”

“I don’t want to see you hu⁠—”

“Tomás? Your thoughts. Should we let her wander off by herself, or should we keep her and sew her pussy and her mouth shut so she can’t be annoying?”

I’m sure he’s joking, so I merely hiss my disapproval and stay where I am.

For once, Tomás looks wrong-footed and minus a good reply. His mouth hangs open for a full second before he shakes his head. “We’re back to pussy sewing? Look, we promised to help you in return for ownership.” He stops there, leans back into the brown leather sofa. “I do see your problem.” Then he raises his beer to Loxland, as if ready to hear his version of this.

“You know, when I first found out what you did, Miss Psycho, and you deserved that name on that day, I was both in awe of you managing to kill a man with a shovel and of you wanting to track down the others. I was also thinking with my cock.” He assesses me. “But you’ve figured that out by now. I’ve been more than a little obsessed with you. This, though… The danger is not exactly evident, is it? One incident with Morosov, who we suspect but are not sure of. And a vague statement from a guard. No scarred dicks. And Karsten hasn’t really overstepped.”

“I guess.” I can see this too. “It’s just this feeling, this revelation hit me. You know?”

“We can stop everything tomorrow, if you want, but first let’s look at something new. Also tomorrow is the masked cosplay ball, a big event. I think we’d all enjoy it.”

“Do that, then we go home. Your home, Aaron? If we have nothing new from that travel info hacker?” Tomás dips a cracker into the cheese dip then grabs a handful of chips.

This is so not healthy, but I copy him. The dip is… I open my eyes at the taste as I munch on the dipped cracker. “Mmmm. Yum.”

“See. We have some pluses doing this investigating. Like the cheese dip.” Mr. Loxland tries it, too, then feeds me another cracker when I try to speak. “Still me. I have the lectern. The speaker’s gavel? My other thought was to do with that message Riley sent you.”

“The day she died.” The food has lost its taste, but I listen carefully. “Yes.”

“Gremlin was your WoW username?”

“Yes, it was. We hadn’t played for years though.”

“Did you ever think to check for messages through it? Because we should look.”

“Oh fuck,” I whisper. “I’m not sure I know my password. How did you? Did I even tell you all this?”

He looks smug. “I have my ways. I already figured out your password, and all we have to do is log in and look.” He reaches down and grabs the laptop—the one that’s not air-gapped, obviously, and starts it up.

I wait anxiously as he types then swivels the laptop so I can see the screen. It’s logged into WoW.

“It’s still there. Would messages be there?”

“Try it.”

I tap the icon, and there it is, a two-year-old message from Riley.

“Fuck me,” I whisper. I’m dreading this, of course. This is a message from a dead friend, and it could wreck me. My hand is shaking as I prepare to click on it.

A moment later, I have two Doms sitting either side of me, one has his arm about me, and the other is squeezing my thigh.

“You don’t have to,” Mr. Loxland says quietly. “You don’t.”

Except I do. She sent me this, went to the effort on the day she killed herself. It would be disrespectful to ignore this.

I click and it opens: