Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 60768 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 304(@200wpm)___ 243(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60768 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 304(@200wpm)___ 243(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
I step into the living room just in time to see Tammy standing in the middle of the room, hands on her hips, grinning like she’s already won. Mark is hovering in the doorway, waving cheerfully. Orchid looks like she’s two seconds away from drawing her gun.
Before she can shut them down again, I speak up. “We’ll try to swing by for a bit later. Right, babe?”
Orchid shoots me a look that could cut glass, but she forces a smile. “We’ll see.”
Tammy claps her hands. “Perfect! We’ll save you plates. Don’t make us come drag you over!”
They finally leave, the door clicking shut behind them. The second they’re gone Orchid rounds on me, eyes flashing.
“What was that?” she hisses. “Why are they so annoying?”
I shrug, keeping my voice low. “They’re persistent. If we keep saying no every single time, it starts looking suspicious. We need to blend in.”
She crosses her arms, jaw tight. “You need to finish that hack. Serafina’s not going to wait forever.”
“I know,” I say. I step closer, lowering my voice even more. “But something about them feels… off. The way they keep pushing, the way they always show up right when things are tense. I’m starting to wonder if they’re more than just nosy neighbors.”
Orchid’s eyes narrow, but she doesn’t dismiss it. “Get to work. I’ll handle the neighbors if they come back.”
I nod and head into the office, coffee in hand. I sit down at the triple monitors and dive back into the dummy hack, feeding Serafina’s people exactly what they expect to see. My mind, however, is only half on the code. The other half is upstairs with Orchid, replaying every moment from last night, and wondering how the hell I’m supposed to keep my head straight when the woman I can’t stop thinking about is the same one holding all the cards.
Outside, the party noise grows louder. Laughter. Music. The sizzle of meat on the grill. I keep working, but my eyes keep drifting toward the window, toward the fence that separates us from whatever Tammy and Mark really are.
Because the longer this goes on, the more I’m starting to suspect that the real danger might not only be coming from Serafina.
It might be coming from right next door.
And if I’m right, Orchid and I are going to have a lot more to worry about than just keeping our hands off each other.
TWENTY-TWO
ORCHID
Fucking neighbors. I remember now why I never wanted to live in suburbia. It’s not that I hate people… okay, maybe a little… but it’s more like I want my privacy. Maybe Poe is right. There’s something off about them.
Poe’s still in the kitchen, sipping his coffee like nothing’s wrong. He looks calm, almost relaxed, but I can see the tension in his shoulders. He knows something is off too.
I turn to him, voice low. “We’re not going over there. You need to finish the hack today. Serafina is expecting results, and I’m not letting those two distract us any longer.”
He nods, setting his mug down. “Yeah. I know. I’ll get back on it.”
But neither of us moves right away. The silence stretches between us, heavy with everything that happened last night and everything we’re not saying. I can still feel the ghost of his hands on my skin, the way he obeyed every command I gave him, the filthy praise that fell from his lips while I rode him. My body warms at the memory, but I push it down hard. We cannot afford to get distracted. Not today.
I head upstairs to my room, needing space to think. The moment the door closes behind me, I pull out the encrypted phone and dial Marlo. The line rings. Once. Twice. Three times. No answer. I hang up and try again, pacing the small space between the bed and the window. Still nothing. Frustration coils in my chest. Marlo always answers. Always. Like fucking always.
I try one more time, pressing the phone harder to my ear as if that will make her pick up. The party noise outside grows louder, someone shouting about another round of shots, kids screaming with laughter. It grates on my nerves. I disconnect the call.
The other phone rings in my hand before I can do anything else. Serafina. I answer on the second ring, keeping my voice steady and professional. “Yes?”
“Orchid.” Serafina’s tone is smooth, almost too smooth, like honey poured over broken glass. “How’s our little project progressing?”
“The hack is moving forward,” I reply, walking to the window and looking down at the backyard. Poe is visible through the office window, hunched over the monitors. “He’s working on it now. We should have usable data within the next twenty-four hours.”
“Good. Very good.” She pauses. The silence stretches just long enough to make the hairs on the back of my neck prickle. “And how is our guest behaving? No unexpected complications? No… distractions?”