Page 17 of Edge of Control

I watchedJace from across the street as he settled into his usual corner seat at the café he appeared to love: Morning Brew, a cute little shop with a bright blue sign and a few tables out on the street. The scent of dark roast and cinnamon drifted out from the door every time someone opened it. We were pushing into October, so the season for pumpkin spice lattes and shitty weather was beginning to start. He had a routine: same time every morning, black coffee and a plain bagel, no cream cheese.

Predictable. Comforting, even. It made planning this encounter all the more straightforward.

Dangerous—as always—but easy. I liked that.

I liked watching him. I enjoyed watching people in general. Even as a child, I was always observing, always looking at the crowds, wondering about the individual lives that made up the web of this twisted society. It had gotten me in trouble before. Once, when we were still living inHawaii, I had gotten the habit of sneaking a pair of binoculars into my bedroom. We lived across the street from an upscale hotel that brought in people from all over the world, people who didn’t think twice about closing the blinds or seeking more privacy. There was something about having the beach only a street away with perpetual sunlight shining down on you that instantly lowered the guard.

It allowed me endless hours’ worth of entertainment. I’d scope out each room, trying to find the people that appeared the most interesting. I’d witnessed fights, idle chatter, lots (and lots and lots) of sex—of all kinds, too: group sex, wild sex, rough sex, straight sex, gay sex, self-love sex. It was like having a secret television with an infinite amount of channels, ever-changing, always entertaining. I even witnessed a couple getting engaged on their hotel balcony.

It all ended one day when someone complained to the hotel manager about a teenage boy spying on them from the home across the street. They showed up at my front door and told it all to my father.

The punishment after that was brutal. He had said, “You want to be a little freak? You want to watch people fuck? Then have fun sleeping in the bathtub for a week. And all you have to watch is this.” He rolled up a porn magazine and smacked me across the face with it, repeatedly, until he tossed it into the bathroom and locked me in there with it.

Fun times.

I took a breath, adjusted the collar of my jacket, and crossed the street. The morning rush had tapered off, leaving the café sparsely populated—ideal for what Ihad in mind. The bell above the door chimed softly as I entered, the rich aroma of freshly ground coffee beans wrapping around me. A couple of NYU students sat wearing their sorority letters, ignoring the books that were left open on the small round table in favor of showing each other TikToks instead. One of them started to laugh enough to bring herself to tears.

Jace was engrossed in something on his laptop, brow furrowed in concentration. Probably case files, given his relentless dedication. I joined the short line at the counter, ordering an Americano. As I waited, I stole glances in his direction, noting the way the light caught the strands of his dark hair, the way his fingers tapped absently against the mug.

His jacket was hanging off the back of his chair. He sat at a far corner, next to a built-in bookshelf holding a variety of beat-up board games. His foot tapped on the ground. Up and down, up and down. He wore a slightly wrinkled white T-shirt and a pair of dark black jeans, rolled at the ankles. His white sneakers looked like they needed to be put out of their misery.

Same white sneakers I had stopped from getting smashed down onto the concrete.

“Order for Theo,” the barista called out.

Perfect timing.

Jace looked up. His eyebrows jerked halfway toward his hairline. I acted just as surprised.

This wasn’t smart. It wasn’t a good idea.

But it was fun. And it was necessary. I’d been dreaming about this man ever since our singular encounter in thebathhouse. Nothing could shake him from my psyche. Not even planning my next kill could help me clear my mind of him. Jace had become a tumor I needed to excise, and I hoped that through this encounter, I could do exactly that. I could demystify him. Find something that repulsed me. A trait that sent me running in the opposite direction.

At the very least, maybe I could get him to fuck me in the bathroom one last time and scratch that persistent itch that left me with a constant erection.

I waved at Jace, grabbed my coffee, and walked to his table. “Fancy seeing you here,” I said, sounding as close as I could to a middle-aged housewife stumbling upon her kid’s science teacher out in the wild. Innocent. Aloof. Not predatory in the slightest.

Jace blinked away his shock. I stood next to the empty seat across from him.

“We’ve got to stop meeting like this,” I added with a wink.

Laying it on too thick. Calm the fuck down.

Jace chuckled at that. Good. Laughter was a way to chip away at someone’s defenses. A tiger couldn’t get a rabbit to laugh. But a rabbit pulled out of a hat could get even the most frightened child to laugh, to open their eyes wide with wonder.

That’s all this was. A show of illusions. Sleight of hands. Make Jace look there while the real danger was right here, standing directly in front of him.

Smoke and bloody mirrors.

“Want to sit?” Jace asked. He shut his laptop, straightened his back. An artery throbbed in his neck, pulsing. Hehad nicked himself shaving. The skin was still red and agitated where the razor blade had cut too close.

“Sure. I don’t have a meeting until three today. I’ve got some time to kill.”

“Do you come to this coffee shop often?” Jace asked.

I could immediately sense him slipping into detective mode. The underlying question there was: why the hell haven’t I seen you around here before?

“No,” I answered. I sipped on my Americano. The sorority girls behind us found another video that set them off, cackling like a cluster of overly excited crows. Fuck, they were annoying. “I recently moved into the neighborhood and decided to do some exploring. Do you come here often?”

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