The first day in Evander's house was a total wash. Between the strange shadows in the hallway and the fact that I was basically forced to live here, I hadn't slept a wink. The morning felt heavy, like I was moving through water, so I escaped to Jack's Cafe to meet the girls. I needed a distraction before I lost my mind.
While we sat over coffee, it hit me that I'd been so caught up in the drama with Evander and the move that I'd almost forgotten Victoria's birthday. It was only a few days away. Victoria is everything to me, and I wanted to do something that would actually mean something to her.
That meant figuring out Victor. He's her twinโolder by only thirty-six secondsโbut they couldn't be more different. Victor is the definition of mysterious. He's mature, quiet, and honestly, a bit intimidating. He went to high school with Evander and Marcus, but I knew he was always tighter with Marcus.
"Victor doesn't talk much, Juliet, but he sees everything," Victoria had told me once when we were kids.
If I wanted to make this birthday perfect, I needed the inside scoop on what Victor actually liked, because Victoria's happiness was tied to his. I was just debating how to bring it up when my phone buzzed in my purse.
It was a text from the one person who could actually help me.
๐ก๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ๐ ๐ฝ๐ธ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ต๐ต ๐ถ๐ฎ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐น๐ต๐ช๐ฌ๐ฎ ๐๐ฎ๐ฝ?
I bit my lip, staring at Marcus's name.
๐๐ฎ: ๐'๐ฟ๐ฎ ๐ญ๐ธ๐ท๐ฎ ๐ช ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ ๐ป๐ฎ๐ผ๐ฎ๐ช๐ป๐ฌ๐ฑ ๐ช๐ท๐ญ ๐ฒ๐ฝ ๐๐ช๐ผ ๐ป๐ฎ๐ช๐ต๐ต๐ ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฒ๐ท๐ฐ ๐๐ธ๐พ ๐ด๐ท๐ธ๐....
His reply came back before I could even set the phone down.
๐๐ช๐ป๐ฌ๐พ๐ผ: ๐ฃ๐ธ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ป๐ท ๐๐ธ๐พ๐ป ๐ฏ๐ธ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ท๐ฎ๐ผ๐ผ ๐ ๐ญ๐ธ๐ท'๐ฝ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ป๐ฎ ๐ฑ๐ธ๐ ๐ถ๐พ๐ฌ๐ฑ ๐ฒ๐ฝ ๐ฌ๐ธ๐ผ๐ฝ.
My face went hot. It was a stupid reactionโit was just a text, not even a real conversationโbut my skin felt prickly. I forced myself to type back.
๐๐ฎ: ๐๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฝ ๐ถ๐ฎ ๐ช๐ฝ ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ป๐ป๐ฎ ๐ธ๐ท ๐ฎ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฝ.
๐๐ช๐ป๐ฌ๐พ๐ผ: ๐ฃ๐ฑ๐ช๐ท๐ด ๐๐ธ๐ญ ๐ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ธ๐พ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฝ ๐๐ธ๐พ ๐๐ธ๐พ๐ต๐ญ ๐ผ๐ช๐ ๐๐ช๐ป๐ฒ๐ผ ๐๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ท ๐ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ป๐ผ๐ฝ ๐ผ๐ช๐ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ป ๐น.
I actually laughed out loud, my cheeks feeling even warmer. I didn't like how easily he could make me smile, especially after he'd basically trapped me in a legal lease from hell.
๐๐ช๐ป๐ฌ๐พ๐ผ: ๐๐ธ๐ป๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฝ ๐ธ๐ท๐ฎ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ท๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ป๐ฎ๐ผ๐ผ ๐ฌ๐ธ๐ญ๐ฎ: ๐ช๐ต๐ต ๐ซ๐ต๐ช๐ฌ๐ด.
๐๐ฎ: ๐ฃ๐ธ๐พ๐ฌ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐ผ๐ฎ๐ฎ ๐๐ธ๐พ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฎ.
I shoved my phone back into my bag. Eight o'clock. Pierre. All black. I had a dinner to get through and information to extract. I just hoped I could keep my cool long enough to get what I needed without letting Marcus see how much he was getting under my skin.