Page 122 of Tempest’s Torment

"Your face is making it weird."

"My face?"

"That."

"What?"

I circle my finger at him. "Whatever that smug shit is you're doing."

His grin breaks fully and he laughs, dropping his gaze back to his plate.

I love that laugh. I love him. And apparently, I love having his shit all over my apartment too, because when I look at the hoodie hanging over my chair, I don't want him to take it home. I want him to bring the rest.

I’ve changed since the day Evan took me again. Coming back to the apartment was harder than I expected.

Rogue finds a listening device behind the smoke detector in the hallway in under an hour, then spends another two going through the rest of the apartment finding another three throughout the apartment. Sniper comes over when he's finished and does the whole thing again, checking every room, every vent, every smoke detector, and anything else Marcus could have gotten into.

Then Kai does his own sweep.

Rogue finds this hilarious. "You know we've already checked it, right?"

Kai opens the cupboard beneath the kitchen sink. "I'm checking it again."

"For what?"

"Anything you missed."

Rogue looks at me. "It's cute that he thinks he knows what he's looking for."

"Fuck off."

He doesn't find anything. He still checks again before we go to bed, I don't make fun of him for it because I understand. I'm not much better. I make it as far as the kitchen before I stop and Kai stops beside me.

I look around at the table where we played cards, the counter where we made hot chocolate, the sofa where we've spent hours talking about everything and nothing. Even the hallway feels different now that I know something has been sitting above our heads listening to us.

Evan heard Kai make me laugh, he heard us argue over cards and food, heard the things I told Kai because I thought nobody else was listening, he heard Kai give me his name, and he heard us that morning—that one is harder to think about.

I stand there for so long my shoulder starts aching from the bag I'm carrying, but I can't make myself put it down. Kai takes it from me eventually. He doesn't tell me the apartment is safe now or remind me Evan is dead. He doesn't tell me none of it matters anymore because the device is gone.

He puts my bag down and stays beside me. Eventually, I walk to the table and sit.

The next morning, I made coffee in my kitchen and then we played cards at the table. Two nights later, I made hot chocolate. For the first few days, I looked up every time I walked beneath the smoke detector, even though it's brand new and I watched Kai take it out of the box.

Then one day, I didn't. I'm not sure when that happened; I just know I don't look up anymore.

Six days after the farmhouse, I’m sitting on the edge of my bed when my phone rings.

The number is from Connecticut.

I know before I answer that it has something to do with Lucy.

"Hello?"

"Ms. Allen?"

"Yes."

The detective introduces herself and asks if it's a good time to talk. I almost laugh. There will never be a good time to have this conversation.