Page 66 of Líadan's Code

“I’m vaguely aware this isn’t normal conversation, but it fits you two so well,” Jordan says, chuckling as he opens the door for both of us.

“I can open the door,” I tease him as I walk through it with Brendan. We look around the entryway of the hotel for signs that we’ve been found, but it’s pretty calm, which is normal for this hotel.

I love that we were able to get lost so easily in New York City. It may be time to find a new place to move to after we take care of business. Talking to Jordan about all of the places he’s visited made me realize that I don’t need to make my home base Chicago.

There are too many ghosts there anyway.

Jordan’s hand rubs my back as he waits for me to start walking. I don’t feel pressured to do anything, he’s just being supportive in whatever I need. It’s nice to know he’ll follow my lead. Brendan is the same way, though it’s different, because he worries so much about me.

He’s not wrong, life has fucked me over often enough that I should have a trophy in compensation. I’ll take a few days just like this instead.

“I know you can open it, doesn’t mean you should need to, Princess,” Jordan says, picking up the thread of our conversation. “Just like how I know for damn sure that Brendan can open his own door. I’m an equal opportunity door opener.”

Brendan chuckles at how normal it is to fake argue about such mundane things. Sighing happily, I ignore the elevator for the stairs. If anyone is going to be waiting for us upstairs, this is the safer option.

“I think I’m a terrible boyfriend,” Jordan says, eyes wide as he stumbles to a stop.

“Why do you say that? We just had the best date, and I got orgasms on my birthday,” I tell him with a grin.

I kind of forgot it was even my birthday until I said it. There’s been so much going on that it was just another day.

Jordan blows out a breath as he tugs me into his arms, dropping his lips to mine to suck the soul out of my body.

“This is what I mean,” he murmurs against my lips. “Happy birthday, beautiful.”

“Lía usually hates to be reminded of it, so I’ve gotten out of the habit of wishing her a happy birthday,” Brendan says. “We need to make new memories now, beautiful.”

“I think I’d like that,” I say with a nod. “We get to rewrite what today means now.”

The guys beam at me before we begin moving again. These stairs won’t climb themselves.

“Think they’ve found us yet?” Brendan asks softly as we trudge up the four flights of stairs.

“It’s possible, but it doesn’t hurt to play it safe. If we’re staying in the city any longer, we may want to switch hotels,” I say. The farther up we go, the more I can feel myself tensing.

“I can sort it,” Jordan murmurs, already on the same wavelength as we are.

“I feel almost twitchy,” I mutter. “I was fine a moment ago. It’s hard to explain.”

“Like something is going to happen and it’s weird that nothing has yet?” Jordan asks, surprising me.

“God, yes. Exactly like that,” I admit. It’s almost too damn quiet.

“It’s your intuition, baby. I’ll never discount it and neither should you,” he grunts.

Taking a deep breath, I nod as I peek out the heavy stairwell door into the hallway where our room is located.

“Did you bring any weapons with you today?” Brendan asks.

“There’s a knife in my left boot,” I murmur as I ease my way out of the doorway. “I always have something.”

“It’s the opposite boot I threw off, so that’s good to know,” Jordan mumbles.

Lips pressing together to hide the smile that threatens to come out, I nod. It feels odd to be able to show emotion. Everything has been stuffed away for so long, Daddy dying helped to be able to start unpacking things.

The only thing I’m worried about are possible nightmares, because they were terrible right after the rapes happened. I’ll deal with it all as things come up, but I think Brendan or Jordan will help with whatever feelings bubble up.

Brendan’s face was filled with wonder and awe when I started crying. To be honest, it was a surprise to me as well. I’ve never been very emotional to begin with. Emotions were always something Daddy hated when I exhibited them. He wanted me to be stoic and serious all of the time.

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