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He enjoys my company. He buys me useful stuff that I love. He feeds me. He doesn’t tell me I talk too much. I’ll even let him call me baby. For some reason, it sounds right coming from his rasping tones instead of a childish pet name. He does cuddle a lot, but I’m used to it by now. He’s worth it.

“My home, my rules,” Ben says flatly to whatever look Mitri is giving him.

I let him go to pick one of the mugs and fill it with coffee.My first sip makes me sigh in pure bliss.

“You got my favorite coffee too. Are you ready to go?” I ask Ben with a sweet smile.

He laughs so hard he bends at the waist to hold his stomach.“Give me a second.I’m enjoying the look on his face.”

I wiggle my eyebrows and head to the front door before pausing.

“I’ll go first,” Ben cautions and moves ahead, which inadvertently makes me back into Mitri.

I refuse to move forward as Ben opens the door and approaches his car. I stand with Mitri pressed to my back and sip my coffee like he isn’t there. Once I’m sure he gets the fact that he’s getting ignored, I move towards the car, where Ben has the door held open for me and is stifling his laughter by chewing on his lip. Some people just get you; you know?

I try to signal Ben to shut the door behind me, but Mitri catches it and slides in right next to me, forcing me into the middle of the seat. Ben glares at him the entire walk around the front of the vehicle before settling in at my left. I notice that Mitri’s car is parked where it was last night, with no sign of Mal or Kimi.

If Mitri wanted to stalk me, he could do it at a distance like any other weirdo. Instead, he has to make his presence annoyingly apparent.

Ben pulls up the address on a GPS app, and we’re off.It says we have twenty minutes until we get there.

Twenty very quiet minutes.Filled with light breathing and the silent struggle I have to gain my own space in the middle.

I try leaning further into Ben, but he can’t steer and lean comfortably on the driver’s door the whole way. I sit primly with my knees pressed together, and my hands clasped around my mug. Mitri has his legs spread wide enough to press against me from hip to knee. I bet he has at least four inches of open space on his other side. His gun is digging into my thigh.

“How did you come to be in the Bowels,dorogoya?”

Aw, look at that. He wants to ask me questions. I’m so shocked. Too bad he isn’t here and I can’t hear him.

“An answer would be best for you,” he says silkily when my silence reigns. “Or do you require your usual payment?”

Ben starts chewing on the piercing in his lip. I can see his lips twitching with humor.

“If you do not respond soon, I would be within my rights to rearrest you.”

That’s just dirty tactics. Asshole. I’m trying to keep my elbows to myself, but the temptation to whack him a few times is eating at me.

“Any attention would be favorable to him.Don’t give in.”

I know, but damn, he’s right there!

“The silent treatment is working. He’s getting frustrated.”

Well, good.He torments me every chance he gets.I know he does it on purpose.The whole blank mask thing is a sham!

It isn’t until the masculine voice begins laughing that I realize I wasn’t internally talking to myself.I’ve heard that voice before.

My body stiffens, and I glance left and right warily. Neither Ben nor Mitri are paying me any attention, one gazing at the road, the other staring out the window with his arms crossed, having a mini hissy fit.

My mental seesaw seems stable. Have I lost touch with my sanity again?

Um, hello?

“Hi.”

I startle in my seat, which brings attention to me.

“Don’t say anything!”The voice warns me sharply, and I nod without thinking.