Page 28 of Imperial: The Corvidae Family
Rachelle propped her chin on her palm, watching me like she knew I was full of shit. “Baylyn…”
And I was indeed full of shit…
“There’s this guy.”
Her brows shot up. “A guy? As in, a man?”
I gave her a flat look. “Yes, Rachelle. Aman.”
“Who exactly is this mystery man? And yes he’s a mystery because I haven’t heard shit about him, but we’ll get to that later.”
I hesitated because what the hell was I supposed to say?
Oh, you know, just some arrogant, unfairly attractive man I’m crushing on. He also may or may not be a hired killer. Not to mention, he keeps showing up everywhere I am, buys me food like we’re dating, and refuses to leave me alone.
Yeah, no.
“Just someone I met,” I said instead.
Rachelle’s grin widened. “Someone you met? Does this someone have a name?”
I sighed. “Emir.”
“Emir? Oh that screams I can fuck your life into ruin.”
I burst out laughing. She leaned across the table, grinning.
“Baylyn, what the hell? You’ve been holding out on me! When did this happen? Who is he?”
“It’s not like that,” I said quickly.
She wasn’t convinced. “Mhm. Sure.”
I groaned, pushing my glass away. “It’s complicated.”
“Complicated how?”
How was I supposed to explain Emir in a way that didn’t sound insane? Because whatever this was between us was very fucking insane. Rachelle watched me carefully and rolled her eyes.
“Baylyn, you’ve checked your phone a million times since you sat down. So yeah, it’s damn sure complicated; now spill.”
I froze for half a second too long and Rachelle’s eyes widened. “Oh. My. God. You fucked him, didn’t you?”
I groaned. “No?—”
“You did and you were gonna keep this from me? That’s foul.”
I sighed, already regretting this conversation. “I didn’t and it’s not that serious.”
“You’re evasive, which means it is very fucking serious.”
“It’s not.”
“Okay, how exactly did Emir come into the picture then?”
I chewed my bottom lip, debating how much I wanted to tell her. Because there was no easy way to say he killed a man and I saw him do it. I didn’t run and now he was every fucking where I turned.
I shrugged. “He’s just… around.”
