He didn’t buy it. Smirked like he thought he knew what was going on.
“Was it from Kai?” he asked, low and amused.
I didn’t answer. Couldn’t.
He laughed-humorless and sharp. “We’re both so fucked, aren’t we?”
“Speak for yourself,” I muttered, wiping my hands on a napkin I hadn’t touched before and tossing it onto the plate like it could clean up any of this mess.
But my mind wouldn’t stop spinning.
The image of Kai behind the glass, vulnerable and unaware.
The guilt knotted in my gut like barbed wire.
I wasn’t Reyes. I didn’t flirt for sport or manipulate for fun. I didn’t parade my feelings in front of the world. I watched. I waited. I protected.
That was what the camera had been for, right?
That’s what I told myself when I placed it. For protection.
But somewhere between caution and obsession, I’d crossed a line I couldn’t uncross.
And if Kai ever saw what I saw?
If they even knew it existed?
They’d hate me.
They’d rip my soul out and never look back.
I didn’t want to be the monster.
Not for them.
I shoved back from the table, heart pounding like I’d run ten miles.
Derrick sighed and pushed his plate away too, stretching like he hadn’t just whispered his
way through another murder fantasy. “What now?” he asked. “We go back?”
“We go back,” I said, voice quieter now. “Act normal. Watch. Listen.”
“And the Hollowed Moon twins?”
“We follow them.”
He raised an eyebrow. “You’re not worried they’ll notice?”
“If they do… we’ll deal with it.”
But my voice lacked its usual edge. Even Derrick noticed, cocking his head.
“You alright?”
“No.”
He gave a low chuckle. “You’re getting soft, man.”
I looked away. “I’m getting smart.”
Derrick stood and grabbed his coat. “Whatever helps you sleep at night.”
I didn’t reply. Just tossed some cash on the table.
“Not partners,” I muttered.
He grinned. “Enemies with benefits?”
I didn’t laugh.
Didn’t even blink.
I just shoved my hands deep in my pockets, trying to ignore the heat of the phone against my thigh.
Because I wanted to look again.
Goddess, I wanted to.
But if I did I wasn’t just crossing a line.
I was burning the bridge to something I might not get a second chance at.
DERRICK POV
Dalton was hiding something.
I could feel it in my bones-same way you feel a storm coming. No proof. No smoking gun. Just this weight in my chest, this gut-deep certainty that he was keeping a piece of the puzzle from me.
And whatever it was, it had to do with my little mouse.
Kai.
Even thinking their name made something in me pull taut. Made it hard to breathe.
After what happened earlier-our little rendezvous, if you could call it that-I could barely stop myself from storming back to the twins and rearranging their faces until I couldn’t tell who was who anymore.
But I didn’t.
Because Dalton had said something I couldn’t ignore: that he didn’t know who they were talking to. There was a third voice. A third piece.
A third fucking threat.
And I couldn’t risk smashing heads and missing the real target.
So yeah-I agreed to his plan. Watch. Listen. Protect.
Until we had proof.
Until we found the third asshole.
Then?
I’d snap necks without blinking.
We walked back to our room in silence. Both of us knew the game we were playing was dangerous, and both of us were already too deep to back out now.
We slowed near Reyes’ room. I tried to catch any sound-breathing, laughing, anything that would tell me if Dalton was right.
Nothing.
They must be asleep already. Or maybe Reyes was smart enough to shut up when he needed
I opened the door to our room, and then-
There they were.
Kai.
Curled up on the far bed in one of those oversized pajamas they liked. Half-covered by the blanket, hugging a pillow like it held the answers to the universe.
Fu.ck.
I stopped breathing for a second.
Dalton stood next to me, still as stone. His eyes were locked on Kai too.
I knew that look.
I’d seen it in the mirror.
Possession. Hunger.
Need.
But with Dalton, it was quieter. Polished. Controlled.
Such a tool.
Not me.
I wanted. And I burned. And I didn’t hide it.
My co.ck was already hard just looking at them. So peaceful. So small in our space.
I’d never been jealous of a pillow before.
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