SINCE I ENROLLED IN SCHOOL, Lucian had relaxed the leash a little. He was at work for the rest of the day, and I finally had the house to myself. A golden opportunity to snoop through everything.
And snoop I did.
But as it turned out, Lucian didn’t have anything of significance in this house. If he did, it was probably in the safe I found in the bedroom closet, but unfortunately for me, I didn’t know how to access whatever was in there.
Apart from that, I searched the house high and low but came up empty in the end. Even the desk key I thought might be my golden ticket turned up nothing but a bunch of office supplies. The only certainty I’d gleaned was that Lucian was a minimalist to the extreme. There wasn’t a single family photo in his home. Not a birth certificate. A birthday card. Literally zero evidence that he even had a life outside his office.
It only created more questions about him, and in the end, my Google search wasn’t any better. Page after page turned up endless articles about the controversial cases he’d worked, and there were simply too many to sift through them all. The ones I did manage to read reflected the same scathing opinions of his character. He didn’t do himself any favors by forgoing the opportunity to defend himself in interviews either. The persisting evidence suggested he declined any questions not relating to his clients. His standoffishness and permanent scowl only furthered the agenda of the media firing squad.
Admittedly, I had the same sour sentiments when he blew into my life with all the delicacy of a hurricane. But now, reading such awful accounts of him was somewhat sickening. It wasn’t that I had bonded to him, but I’d come to know a few things about Lucian in our time together, and I didn’t really believe he was quite the monster he was painted to be.
I decided it was probably best if I stopped reading those articles altogether and pushed my feelings aside, because at that moment, it was difficult to make sense of them.
Lucian had given me a set of rules for my time, and I knew at any given moment he could be tracking me. But he’d returned my phone and my car keys and even purchased a laptop for my studies.
Typically, I’d spend my days shopping or lunching or visiting the spa, but when I thought about doing any of that, it wasn’t as appealing as it used to be. So I called Birdie instead.
“Hey,” she answered. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” I squinted up at the bedroom ceiling. “Are you settling into Washington all right?”
There was a pause, some shuffling around, and I heard someone in the background before Birdie answered. “Uh-huh, I’m fine.”
She sounded distracted, and it worried me. “Who’s with you?”
“I’m having lunch with Trouble.”
“She went with you?” I knew Birdie would get defensive if I poked too much, but this was news to me.
“Yes,” she answered. “I figured that it would be better if we stuck together.”
I choked down the jealousy her words provoked. I wanted Birdie to have a life and friends, but for so long, it had just been me and her. I couldn’t help the childish notion that I’d been replaced so easily. That was until she spoke again.
“I miss you,” she said. “It isn’t the same without you here to boss me around all the time.”
I laughed, and it felt good. “I miss you too, B. Are you staying out of mischief?”
“Yes, Gyps. I’m being good, I promise.”
Some of the tension in my body melted away as I fell back on the bed and wiggled my toes. “Lucian enrolled me in school.”
“Oh my God, seriously?” Birdie giggled. “If that isn’t irony, I don’t know what is.”
“It’s not funny,” I grumbled.
“It kind of is, actually. Considering how hard you pushed it on me.”
“Are you still going?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
“Well, I guess we can both complain about it now.”
Birdie cleared her throat. “How is he treating you?”
I paused, not really knowing how to answer that. “Good. He has a bunch of rules that I hate, but otherwise, it’s not that bad.”
“Ace told me he’s a really good guy,” Birdie said quietly. “I wondered if it was true.”
“When did he tell you that?”
Another pause. “I asked him that night you made me leave with him.”
“Oh.”
“He hasn’t touched you, has he?” Birdie pressed.
A shiver moved through me as I recalled the feeling of Lucian’s body pressed up against mine. His fingers in my hair, his arm around my waist, and his beating heart so close to mine I could feel it. These weren’t the type of things she meant, and I couldn’t bring myself to admit that I’d allowed him to cuddle me every night.
“No, Birdie. He hasn’t.”
“That’s good,” she said. “’Cause you know I’ll kill him if he does.”
“That isn’t funny,” I whispered.
She was quiet then, and we both shook off the bad memories in our own way.
“I should go,” she mumbled. “I have to study.”
“Okay.”
“I love you, Gyps.”
“Love you too, B.”