Page 93 of The Villain

“You got everything, right?” Tera asks in a tense voice.

“Yeah. I don’t collect much.”

“Except anime stuff. I can’t wait to see how many figurines you have now.”

“I’m giving Shade some. His place is like a hotel room.”

“Be nice,” Tera chastises me.

“I am,” I frown. “He’s getting half my shit.”

“Oh my gosh,” she goes breathless and I hear a lot of movement going on. She’s probably dancing.

“Stop fucking celebrating,” Shade snaps. “You both had me convinced she was leaving last night.”

“If you knew how big a deal it is that she’s sharing her figurines with you, you wouldn’t be so mad,” she giggles.

“You were angry because I said my stuff was packed up.” The dots connect and I give him a light laugh. I cup his cheek gently at his continued glare. “I assumed Tera told you.”

“She isn’t a runner, Shade,” Tera says smugly as she shamelessly listens to us. I don’t blame her, he’s the one who put it on speaker. “She’s a fighter and annihilator.”

“And you’re a poet,” I smirk while I stare into ghostly gray eyes that are slowly beginning to soften.

“Thank you,” she says sweetly. She lets out a happy sigh. “No more pervy landlord and nosy neighbors. No more listening to TVs turned up too loud and murder documentaries.”

“I’m starting to like the murder docs,” I admit with a thoughtful frown. “Is that a bad sign or normal?”

“It’s just subliminal messaging,” she tries to reassure me. “We all fall into the trap.”

“I’m getting suspicious about the couple down the hall. They watch it non-stop.”

Shade’s lips go up in his tilted smile and I touch them with my own grin.

The phone beeps with another incoming call. My brows furrow.

“Can we change your number?” I ask him seriously.

He chuckles but his mask returns as he sees the caller ID.

“It’s Andi. She’s never up this early.”

“Oh crap.” Tera says, hanging up abruptly and Shade picks the phone up to answer his sister’s call.

“What?” He says in a tense voice and quickly gets out of bed.

When he takes the call out in the living room I sigh in disappointment. What kind of game should I play to get kidnapped again? Maybe a do-over will go better.

When he doesn’t come back I get up, trying to find something to keep me distracted. If there’s a chance we can get back to the morning I wanted, I want to be ready. I glance at the laptop on the desk. Being Shade’s I’m sure it has a million games on it.

I pick it up and carry it back to the bed, settling on my stomach to get comfortable. I peek out of the open door to see if Shade is coming back but he’s not in view.

It hasn’t woken up from the movements so I click the mouse just in case it needs a wakeup call.

The screen lights up immediately and my pleasant mood drops when I gaze at the open tabs.

I click on them slowly, taking in the information he’s found about me. He’s thorough. He knows some of the alias’s that Tera has given me as well. He was much closer than I thought. News articles. My hospital bill from my attack. My juvie intake. My move to Georgia and Maryland. How did he find all this? He’s just like Tera, a hacker genius. I respect that a lot.

I open the last few and feel the emptiness inside me snap awake.

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