T
he two days off seemed to fly by. I spent it mostly naked with my mates. The sex was hot. It was great. We cuddled, we laughed, we played video games.
Turns out, Titus could kick both Billy’s and my ass at most of the video games we all played. Jack refused to play. He said it was because technology bugged the shit out of him, but I think he just didn’t want to admit that he’d never actually played before.
I’d gotten a few updates from Igor. She’d been following Samuel since I’d sent her the text with the go ahead. She said that he was a disgusting human. His eating habits reminded her of a starving rabid racoon.
The only thing that she’d noticed that was out of the ordinary, was that he seemed to be able to answer questions before they’d even be asked. Every time.
I’d agreed with her that it was suspicious. For all that we knew, Samuel presented himself as human. He was certainly as greedy as a human. His uncanny creepiness aside, there was nothing outstanding about him. There was
no obvious giveaway that he was anything but a standard human.
Quinten had texted me a few times. The delivery of supplies from Titus’ guy had arrived. It came at the right time. Quinten said he was down to just one gallon of my cider. I’d be making a ton when I opened the store the next day. Good thing Igor was going to come by to help in the front while I worked in the back.
“Why don’t you just come to our house for a few days?” Billy had his head in Titus’ lap. He’d already packed up his things last night. “You said this place practically runs itself, right?”
I watched as Titus offered a comforting smile to Billy. “I did say that.” He played with a stand of Billy’s hair. “I accept your invitation.”
My stomach fluttered. I squeezed Jack’s hand. “You’re coming, too. You can commute to work with me.”
Jack was flipping through his phone without his other hand. “I thought that was a given.”
“Good.” I pushed our shoulders together, laying my head on his chest. “It’s alright that you’re grumpy, you know? We don’t care.”
He set his phone down before stroking my hair. “I’ll get better with you. Probably Billy. Not Titus. Titus is a dick.”
I choked on my laugh as they both simultaneously flipped each other off. I think that meant future fights for dominance and I was here for it.
My phone rang. I didn’t recognize the number so I let it go to voicemail. Not more than five minutes later, the same number called again. This time I answered.
“Hello?” I sat up, away from Jack but kept our hands together.
“Hey, it’s Igor.”
I looked at the number that had called. “Igor? This isn’t your cell phone.”
“No,” Igor yawned. “It died on me. This is an old pay phone. Can’t believe it actually works. I’ve only seen them in old movies.”
“That’s interesting? Igor, what’s up?” If I didn’t get her to focus, she’d keep rambling. Jack raised a brow at me but I shook my head at him.
“I think I found out how Samuel got your secret recipe.” Igor started whispering into the phone, like she wasn’t alone. “When will you be back at the shop?”
“You found out? That’s great! We’ll leave now! I’ll call Quinten and he can have Lys meet us in the shop. See you soon?” I hung up and stood. “Guys! We need to go! That was Igor. She thinks she figured out how Samuel messed with my cider!”
Billy sat up as Titus leaned forward.
“That’s great, Cid!” Billy grabbed me around the waist and pulled me into his lap as I laughed. “Sounds like we need to get back.”
“I know we weren’t going to leave for a few more hours, but it’s important.” I glanced at the three of them. “I’ll make it up to you.”
“Cid, of course, we’ll go. This is important to you. A few hours isn’t such a big deal.” Billy ruffled my hair. “Dork.”
“Let’s get going. We can take my car.” Titus stood, offering to help me up but Billy stood with me.
“That sounds better than taking the bus again.” Billy set me down to grab our bags near the door. Jack was already at the elevator waiting for us.
Giddiness made me jump up and down a little in impatience. For the first time since Samuel showed up at my doorstep, there was hope for my store.
